Europe Solo Trip - Where to Begin?
 

I am planning on traveling to Europe in late spring/early summer. I am in my early 30s and I will be doing the trip by myself for the most part, though I may have friends come over here and there. I plan on going for somewhere around three months and I want to see as much as possible, minus Greece since I was just there in May. I have no idea where to start planning this. Without any specific questions - yet - does anyone have any general suggestions about where/how I should start planning this trip?

Thats a tough one Becca.

People here are usually "experts" on a number of specific destinations. Fodorites generally expect some parameters around requests for information or assistance.

I don't know what "see as much as possible" means to you. A week in each of the countries in Western Europe and you will already be well over your 3 month allotment. And most of them can't be absorbed in anything close to a week.

You really need to decide what the things are you want to see or experience- food, culture, castles, natural scenery - beaches/mountains/plains, art, entertainment, etc.

Make a list of what you want kind of memories you want to come back with and that should lead you to some specific countries or regions. If a love of beer and castles needs to be fed there is one place that will be near the top of your list.

Once you have some must do regions on your list, pick up some guide books and find out exactly where you want to go in those regions to accomplish your travel goals.

Once you have some specific towns, cities, areas listed, you can start on planning how to get to them and between them.

Good luck - I already hate you :-)

Haha - thanks Aramis! I know I need to come up with more specific questions, but you've given me a good tip - I need to start making a list of what and where is important to me and then start formulating the specific questions.

Take a big map, a pin, say simsalabim and hit that sucker. Honest - with such a wide open mind about where to go, and with all that every nook and cranny of Europe has to offer, just stick it and go. If you hit water, you get to go again.

Then come back and tell us what country you hit, and we'll go from there.

Have fun!

Three months, lucky you! And to add to the suggestions Becca when you have figured out where you want to go if you have questions about lodging, restaurants, transportation, sightseeing etc. do post what you have in mind budget wise. One person's idea of a low budget is another person's idea of an expensive budget for example. Have fun planning your trip!

Think in general regions---UK, Scandanavia, the Alps, Med Europe, Iberia etc.
It will be hard to do it all. I would skip the UK and start in Madrid and end in either Rome or Munich. I do have sample itineraires on my web page if you are interested. Certain destinations demand 5 or more days--such as Paris, Rome, Venice, and the Berner Oberland. The better you understand the major rail lines the better you can plan. We did 8 weeks one trip in 1999 and folowed the spring flowers across southern Europe from Madrid to Munich---from late March to end of May, and included Austria and Prague. The planning will be part of your fun. Good luck !

Well, given the value of Sterling at the moment (and probably by summer 09) I might start UK. Then you can use the cheap airlines to move around. If it were me I would then try Madrid or Barcelona then fly to Paris and trains into Holland.

Then it gets tricky up North or down south. I think I would go the middle way and do Prague, Vienna, Budapest leaving you time for Italy on the way back

Lucky you getting three months at a time. One thing I'd keep in mind though, with that length of trip you'll need to "pace" yourself. Even on a three or four week trip I need to go at a slower pace than I do on a one or two week trip - otherwise you just burn out. While on shorter trips I often do two or three day stays (even some one nighters), on a three month trip I'd think the majority of your stays would be best if they were at least a week. So maybe choose some bases where you could stay for a week or more and do some day trips.

Second, since you say you don't have any idea where to go I'd keep in mind that "touristy areas are touristy for a reason". If you skim this board you'll see by far the most posts are about England, France and Italy. And while there are tons of other countries very worth while, the "major" countries have the most impressive sites and scenery and even ambiance. I'm sure Finland or Estonia or where ever have worthwhile things, but if you have no specific reason to go to them I'd stick primarily to the countries with the most to see. I think Bob's idea to start in Spain/Portugal and work your way north is a good one.

For me anyway, I decide where to go by looking at pictures - obviously then I do a lot of reading, but the visuals are important. So I suggest you go to a library or book store and look at travel books. Get the Rick Steeves video series (you can get the whole series on his website for a reasonable price) and watch them all and see what grabs you. He certainly doesn't cover everything but his videos are easily available and its a good intro. There are also tons of photos on the web. My Europe travel photos are at: www.pbase.com/annforcier.

I would definitely include the UK in your trip, either at the start or at the end, in case your "about three months" turns out to be more than three months.
The UK is outside the Schengen zone, so provided you start or end there, and don't stay longer than 90 days within the Shengen zone you won't need a visa.

ITALY--start in Venice and end in Rome. Close by Venice, stay/visit Verona, Padua, Vicenza. Decide for yourself by viewing these towns on the Veneto Channel of www.WebVisionItaly.com.
Then on to Rimini to the south, on the Adriatic, which attracts thousands of young people to its beaches and nightspots. If your interests include art and the Renaissance, visit Urbino.
Then on to Bologna for their incredible food.
On to Florence and Tuscany. Visit the Tuscany Channel of www.WebVisionItaly.com to see what's what in Florence and Tuscany.
Then way over to the west to the Tyrrhenian sea, to Pisa and the walled-city of Lucca, and the jewel of the Tyrrhenian, Portofino. Then Cinque Terra, which you can view on the Liguria Channel. Then off to Chianti country, visiting Siena for sure.
Into Umbria, which you view on Umbria Channel. To Perugia [there's a university for foreigners there and loads of young people] and a magnificient museum and Corso Vanucci where everyone walks and walks. Also the home of the Umbria Jazz Festival.
On to Assisi and Spello, and to Foligno for the train to Rome. Want suggestions on where to eat in Tuscany and Rome send me an email
For books of Italy visit www.ItalyInside.BlotgSpot.com

hi becca,

have you travelled alone before? 3 months is a long time to be going solo.

one idea might be to rent a small place somewhere you've been before, or have a particular hankering to get to know, and use it as a "hub" for exploring elsewhere.

it would of course need to be somewhere with very good transport connections. Amsterdam springs to mind, but there may well be others. it'd be a nice starting place anyway, especially in May, though that might be a bit late for the bulbs.

that way you'll have a "home" to come back to.

just an idea.

regards, ann

Becca,

<i>&quot;touristy areas are touristy for a reason&quot;</i>

isabel is right, they're the ones that have highly developed tourist infrastructures and have lots of places on the lists of the 'must-see' lemmings. Go to them and you'll see a lot of other tourists trudging round taking pictures of each other and getting in the way of your pictures.

Do you dare to be different? If so adopt a contrarian approach. Google the countries that isabel dismisses, also all the other countries in Europe. Do Google image searches too. See what appeals to your interests or curiosity and find out more.

By all means do the same with England, France and Italy but first get an atlas and Google the places that aren't on the must-see list. For instance a lot of tourists coming to England go to London, Stonehedge (I know), Bath, The Cotswolds and Stratford. If they're adventurous they might make it to York. Famous places, yes; worthwhile places, maybe.

But what about Beverley, Durham, The North Pennines, Ledbury and Shaftesbury? I would suggest these, which are only examples, will give a truer picture of the real England and also have a lot to see which isn't cluttered up with tourists. The same will be true of other countries.

You say 'I want to see as much as possible'. I think you often see more if you set out to see less. You have plenty of time, so why not plan to see fewer places but in some depth and get to understand what they're really like?

I would suggest you consider annhig's points about time very carefully. Three months away from base is a very long time, especially on your own. Frequent travelling in itself becomes tiring unless you are used to it in your normal life. Consider slowing down so moving on becomes exciting and not a chore.

Michael

These are wonderful suggestions - thank you all so much! I have never traveled alone before, and while it is a bit daunting, to me, that's part of the adventure. I particularly like annhig's suggestion of having a home base while I'm there. I'm definitely going to look into that, maybe renting a small house or loft during my time there. I mentioned my recent trip to Greece, but I failed to mention that I have been to England and France before, though it has been years, so it's somewhere I definitely want to return.

i get inspiration from looking at photographs of places... i once saw a photo of the pont du gard in southern france on a book about bridges and that launched planning for a trip to that region. same thing with the alhambra in granada. the local bookstore or library is a wonderful place to leaf through the giftbooks with large format color photos, and come up with your inspiration and itinerary!

I suggest a couple things to get started:

1. Put a map of Europe up on the wall &amp; start marking places you might want to see.

2. Check out guidebooks from the library, either that cover all of Europe or specific countries of interest to help you with the map.

3. Start writing down a list of cities or regions that strike your fancy, for whatever reason.

I don't think the &quot;home base&quot; idea works for an entire 3 months. Because it would cost too much in transportation to see all of Europe based in a single place. BUT perhaps figure out 3 places to base, and rent an apartment for one month in each one. For myself, I know Paris and Amsterdam would be seriously contenders.

I love to travel solo and have done it fairly often, but three months would be too much of a good thing (just for me personally). I think 6 weeks would be more my ideal timeframe.

Earlier this year a young man posted a question or two here, and also wrote a marvellous blog with pictures of his 3 month trip through Europe. Very well written and funny too.

http://www.tylernofziger.com/101Europe.html

While most of his travels were in central and eastern Europe you may still find some of his information helpful.

Hi everyone! After a lot of thought I've decided to break the three months up into renting a furnished apartment in three cities/areas to use as a home base from which to travel in the surrounding areas. I am seriously considering the following cities/areas: London, Paris (or the Cote d'Azur due to its proximity to Italy, Switzerland, Spain), Amsterdam. I'd be welcome to other suggestions, though. Does anyone have any recommendations for reliable apartment rental websites in these areas? Is Craigslist too risky? Thanks for any suggestions!

Becca, the idea of three one month stays sounds great to me but I've been to Europe numerous times, and if I were to do that I'd pretty much STAY in that city for the whole month and do day trips, explore that city in depth. Is that what you plan? Or do you want to see a more diverse area. While Europe is much smaller than the US, you still can't see that much of it in day trips from three central bases. You mentioned &quot;Cote d'Azur due to its proximity to Italy&quot;. You could maybe see a little corner of Italy as a day trip from somewhere in the Cote d'Azur, but you'd need several overnights if you wanted to see Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, etc.

Before you lock yourself into month long rentals, check out the transportation to other places you think you might want to see - both cost and time involved. If you find out you need several overnights to accomplish what you want, then you will be paying double for those nights. If it's only a few then that works since you nightly cost for an apartment might be fairly low compared to a hotel. On the other hand, one month rentals are not that cheap (per night) and if you'd be staying in B&amp;Bs/hostels/or 1-2star hotels anyway, you might not save that much with month long rentals.

There are plenty of week long rentals that (per night) are not all that much more than month long ones, you might consider several week long stays and maybe one month long stay (in the middle to break up the traveling), plus fill in with hotels. It's all about whether you want to just BE in Europe and explore in depth three areas, or if you want to see more. Both very valid ways to go.

It's just that I think most people hear statements like &quot;Sicily is the size of Vermont&quot; and figure they can get around it in the same time it would take here. I live near Vermont and in 11 days I think I could really see it quite well, but 11 days in Sicily I covered less than half what I'd like to have seen. Things just take longer, whether by car or public transportation.