julza404

Me and couple of my friends are looking to travel to Europe for 5 days in July. We're all 26-28 years old and would like some suggestions that go off the beaten path. Good food and good sights are what we're looking for.

We'd be flying out of the New York - DC area. We've already been to Italy, Germany and France so we were thinking of either Belgium, Austria or the Czech. Of course other suggestions are welcome.

PalenQ

Base in Amsterdam and take day trips to quiet Dutch towns -come back to lively Amsterdam at night? Very active social scene for folks your age. For train info and where to go by them- BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Belgium would be nice too - especially Gent and Antwerp and Leuven - a lovely university town.

BigRuss

"Good food and good sights are what we're looking for."

Uh huh. That says nothing.

And no part of Europe is off the beaten path. Each path has been trod upon and tamped down many times over.

Want more help, be more specific. In the amount of time you have, you won't see much unless you select one base and make 1-2 day trips (MAX).

julza404

Thanks PalenQ! Any towns you'd recommend we visit around Amsterdam?

PalenQ

Haarlem very close by- Leiden - Delft (very popular one) - Utrecht for starters but there are a zillion of them. All off the beaten path for American tourists.

suze

It's difficult to get too far "off the beaten path" when you only have 5 days.

StCirq

If you are seriously looking for "off the beaten path," which is doubtful if you haven't been to new places, the last thing you'll find is "good food and good sights," whatever that means. All the places Pal mentions are serious tourist venues. If you are truly adventurous and the charms of small Dutch towns are too boring for you, get deep into Friesland and go cow hugging.

janisj

>>All off the beaten path for American tourists.<<

Not hardly . . . Plus there are tons of non-American tourists so not off the proverbial beaten path . . .

julza404 -- is your trip 5 days total - NY > Europe > NY? If so you will have a grand total of 2.5 days on the ground. Barely time for one city let alone some remote/off-the-beaten-path hidden gems.

PalenQ

All the places I mentioned yes have tourists but not nearly the hordes in say Amsterdam. And after staying in Haarlem several times I can say that it does not have 'serious tourism' -nor dpes Utrecht or Leiden. Delft does for sure. If one would go and stay in those cities like I have that would be obvious. They have a trickle of tourism vs Amsterdam and that is what I think Americans mean by off the path.

And if you went to a city with no tourists at all it would be boring for most.