sdonald

My daughter, who has never traveled outside of North/South America, wants to spend 2 weeks in Europe this summer. She will graduate from college in May. How should I go about planning a trip for her?? She isn't the hiking/hostel type, but doesn't need 4 star hotels either. Suggestions of places she should see, how to travel, and how to start planning would be appreciated.
Thanks,

MaureenB

With whom will she be traveling? Hopefully not alone, at her age and without experience. I suggest she plan her own trip-- it's a good time to learn what's involved. 'Two weeks in Europe'-- but what are her preferences for places to visit?

And there are little one-star hotels, listed on hostel websites, which are actually quite nice, so those sites are good places to search for budget lodging. Just make sure to get a private bath, if desired.
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sdonald

She is 21 and will be traveling with 2 or 3 girlfriends. She spent 6 weeks around Mexico City 2 years ago, but has never been to Europe. She needs suggestions on where to go. I think Rome, Paris, and maybe Norway. I just need to point her in the right direction.

Littlefrenchbird

I think you need to start by narrowing down the trip to ONE country (TWO at the very most and preferably side by side, like Italy and France, for instance) and then purchase a guidebook for that country to research the towns and places that will interest her the most.

For a young person, I think the larger cities (i.e. Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence) are probably most appealing, unless your daughter is active and wants to go cycling/hiking, in which case I would recommend a detour through the French, Italian or Swiss Alps.

Any guidebook will give you hotel recommendations for various budget/levels of comfort so you should have no problem finding places for her to stay, plus you can always come to this forum for additional input on accommodations in any particular city.

As far as transportation, given that it's a short trip, I would suggest an open-jaw plane ticket - fly into one city and leave out of another city. Once she's in Europe, she can use trains to get around. They are safe, fast and pretty cheap.

sdonald

A couple of guide books sounds like a good idea, maybe France and Italy. Any other countries she should look at??

Weadles

My 18-year-old daughter traveled to Europe this summer with 3 friends. The girls stayed in very reasonable and central one or 2 star hotels, and in one case ( Florence) a small B&B. Prices ran between $60-80 per girl per night in Zermatt, (Switzerland), Venice, Florence, and Rome.

I absolutely agree that if you narrow down their country/cities choice, you will have lots of suggestions on reasonable lodging, sightseeing,restaurants, etc. Good luck, and let her help you plan it out! I didn't do that, and I think I made it easier than it should have been, if you know what I mean...

Jufrpereira

I would probably stick to the capitals if she's only got 2 weeks. I would do Madrid, Paris, London and Rome and try to spread my time with 3/4 days per city... I KNOW you could spend a week on each if you wanted to, but if she want to "have a taste" of Europe, I'd choose 3 or a maximun of 4 capitals and stick to this. In terms of travelling in between cities, I suggest you have a look at some low fare airlines (easyjet.com, ryanair.com)as they usually have good deal for european flights, and also keep an eye on the big ones (British Airways has very good seasonal deals on a 2 months basis almost!). I think that if you can sit down w/ your daughter and and decide which capitals she would like to visit, it gets easier to advise on places to stay then. Cheers, Juliana.

nytraveler

I don;t mean to be rude - but am a little confused. If 4 young women are going to spend 2 weeks in europe together shouldn't THEY be planning the trip? Unless you're planning to go with them?

I would aim them towards a couple of guidebooks and web sites for young, budget travelers and then leave them to it. (If they can't organize the trip there's no way they'll be able to cope with actually doing it.)

sdonald

Do you think she will have a language problem?? She speeks Spanish, but hasn't been exposed to French or Italian. I like the idea of the small hotels and sticking to the cities/capitols.

sdonald

The girls asked for guidance on where to go. I told them I'd ask the forum. As far as picking the hotels/flights/etc. That is part of their adventure.

MaureenB

What about Spain? I hear from our 20-something friends that it's a very fun place to visit, with lots to see and do. Plus, she speaks Spanish.

She could probably even do Spain and Italy. Or Spain and Portugal.

We did London, Paris, Amsterdam in one two-week trip and it was a great itinerary.

Many, many choices.
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Eloise

I agree with those who have suggested that your daughter and her friends should plan their own trip rather than your doing so.

Two weeks mean, in my opinion, two countries, based in the most important city with day trips from there. (And Norway would not be one of them.)

The combinations are endless: London (no language problem, but very expensive) and Paris (always a classic destination); Paris and Madrid (to use her knowledge of Spanish); Paris and Rome (another classic destination, and certainly cheaper than London and probably cheaper than Paris); Madrid and Rome; Paris and Rome.

She should probably fly open jaw (i.e., into one city and out of another). It might cost a little more than a standard return but will save backtracking.) There are very inexpensive flights within Europe offered by discount airlines (check out www.whichbudget.com).

First of all, they should probably borrow from the local library guidebooks on the countries that interest them, then make up their minds which to visit, in the knowledge that they can and should only visit the most important city and take day trips from there.

Inexpensive lodgings are often available in convents. For Italy, they can consult www.hospites.it. Some convents have early curfews, but many are only at 11:00 p.m. or midnight.

I've only traveled in Italy for the past 30 years or so, but I would think that train and/or bus travel is the best within a country. Between countries, the discount airlines are the better choice.

I would suggest that your daughter and her friends start doing some serious research.

If it were my choice, I would probably choose Paris and Rome (with day trips).

Language will not be a problem in either city or even on day trips. The tourist industry in France and Italy is extremely well developed, and your daughter and her friends will always find someone who speaks English.

Pawleys

They might be able to get reasonable airfare through STA. As I recall there is an upper age limit.

I agree with the open jaw idea, that would save alot of back tracking.

If they get to Italy they might enjoy the Cinque Terre, both of my chilren did when they were in college.

suze

Here's my ideas for a 2 week trip:

#1- Geneva (Lac Leman area), Venice, Paris. Fly into Geneva out of Paris use an overnight train for the two legs Geneva/Venice, then Venice/Paris.

#2- Amsterdam and Paris, train or fly in between. One week each city. Fly into one and out of the other.

I have done both of these trips myself, with no language other than English and no difficulties.

I think it's great to ask the forum but doesn't you daughter and her friends have a feeling about which countries or cultures interest them?

You mentioned Norway, that seems out of the way to me for such a short trip if you plan to include other parts of Western Europe also.

wliwl

Here's how young people travel. They fly to a city. They rent a car. They throw in their meager belongings and start to drive. Maybe one of them looks at a map. They stop wherever it looks interesting.

Oh to be young again!

suze

How to plan? For me, traveling solo, all I ever do is buy a plane ticket, and make my hotel reservations. I stick to cities because I don't want to rent a car, only use public transportation. Maybe I'll read a guidebook on the plane ride over. And I always find good tourist information after arrival, in hotel lobbies, train stations, tourist bureau, entertainment weeklies.

How to travel? I prefer trains.

Hot to start planning? Just pick a couple places you want to see and start pricing plane tickets.

cjacob

For a first time in Europe trip with 2 weeks, I would stick to major cities. I have an affinity towards Italy, so I would suggest Rome, Florence, and Venice, and then stick in Paris or London.

My suggestion: Fly to Paris, stay for 4 days, fly to Rome for 4 days, Florence 3 days, Venice 2 days. It's a good mix of big city and small city. After Paris and Rome, they'll be exhausted and will have more down time in Florence and Venice.

I have a friend who went on a 3 week Europe trip after she graduated last year and jumped from city to city, she must have seen 6-7 cities, flying or training everywhere, and she was just exhausted at the end of it and very ready to come home. I would take the less exhausting route and try and use train travel as much as possible, i.e. stick to Italy with one other major city.

Or another trip might be to do Spain. I did a 9 day trip last year when I was studying abroad and worked from the Costa del Sol to Sevilla to Barcelona. They can add in Madrid too. I personally don't really like Spain, but I think I'm the only one.

nytraveler

If it's only picking the countries (although how to pick for someone else - without knowing their intrests) I would reco doing 2 countries - that are very different. In each country pick a major city to stay in and do a couple of day trips by train or bus or ???

I polled my stepdaughters and one of their friends (the younger did a month in europe last summer with 2 friends) and they reco'd in 2 weeks to do either London and Paris - or Rome and Prague or a major city in Germany (one was in love with Berlin).

Either trip gives a taste of two different countries/cultures, doesn;t waste a lot of time/money on travel - and all are very accesible to newbie travelers.

swatts1

I went through a similar situation in the summer of 2004. My oldest daughter graduated from college and she and I and my younger daughter flew to London and spent 2.5 weeks in London, Liverpool, Dublin and Edinburgh. We all returned to London and I flew home and they went on to Madrid, Grenada, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Munich. They spent a month on their part of the trip. My daughter that had graduated from Vanderbilt was a Spanish major and she planned the trip with my input.

However, I made all hotel arrangements in advance because we were paying and our girls are not hostel types, but they are Ritz Carlton types. I used www.tripadvisor.com and searched for small, clean, airconditioned hotels that were reasonably priced and in safe areas. About every other city I tried to book an apartment that had w/d so they could wash clothes. I had one bad accomodation with an apartment in Barcelona. They had to relocate, but I found another hotel quickly on the internet. My daughter made most arrangements in advance by buying tickets on the internet for Toledo, Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc. Except for some time in Spain where they used the train and moved from place to place, I tried to make sure they had at least 3 nights in a city so they wouldn't be constantly on the move. They were 7 nights in Rome. London took 5-7 days also.

We flew over to Europe on Delta, but once there found RyanAir and EasyJet to be cheaper than long train trips. This is only true if the plans were made in advance. Be aware that luggage limits are very strict on the cheap European flights. We had to carefully weigh our bags before we went because 32 pounds was the limit on those flights. My girls had the time of their lives and really connected with each other on the trip. It cost us quite a bit, but then my daughter finished Vandy in 3 years and saved us a whole year of tuition. We also used Delta frequent flier Miles for our 3 roundtrip tickets to London. That was a major savings! I would be happy to share the names of hotels if your girls go to any of the same cities. Be aware that doubles are the norm, triples are difficult and quads are very difficult to book. The best situation would be to have 4 girls traveling together so that you could rent 2 double rooms.

PS. My youngest daugher was in Prague during the summer of 2005 and loved it.

PSS. My recommendation for 2 weeks would be to fly to Paris, then Rome, Florence and Venice and home from there.
Alternative: London, Liverpool (if Beatles fans) and Dublin

rex

Was there a reason for mentioning Norway? We need to know why that was mentioned, it doesn't seem to be a random choice.

I don't think that Paris, Rome and Norway is inherently a bad idea... no more so than London, Amsterdam and Norway... or Venice, Munich and Belgium...

It all begins with motivations. What makes her (them) think that they want to go to Europe in the first place?

Best wishes,

Rex