Small towns to visit?
 

Just wondering if anyone had any recommendations for some good cities to visit while in Europe. I plan on hitting all the capitals of the major countries but I am quite interested in what some of the smaller, quieter places have to offer. Any ideas for the likes of Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands? Thanks alot.

For how many years will you be traveling?

StCirq is right!
When in France you can ad Dijon to your trip :-) I know you're looking for hostels and we have one here!
have a look at :
http://www.auberge-cri-dijon.com/
and my Dijon personal pictures to give you an idea :
http://www.kodakgallery.fr/BrowsePho...id=43499444733

happy travels!
corinne

Date: 11/15/2005, 02:38 pm Just wondering if anyone had any recommendations for some good cities to visit while in Europe. I plan on hitting all the capitals of the major countries but I am quite interested in what some of the smaller, quieter places have to offer. Any ideas for the likes of Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands? Thanks alot.
Author: StCirqDate: 11/15/2005, 02:52 pm For how many years will you be traveling?

If I look for quiet, old, beautiful cities in those countries I think of
Stralsund, Gorlitz, Celle, Verden, Oldenburg, the Rhine valley from Boppard to Mainz, Worms, Augsburg
Rouen, La Rochelle, Bordeaux (not very small)
Padua, Bologna, Palermo (not small), the town up above Trapani
Groningen, Enkhuizen, Haarlem, Utrecht, Middelburg,

The site www.hiddeneurope.co.uk/ tells you how to subscribe to a small newsletter that discusses places that few people go to, and if you can afford it you should take out a year’s subscription to the printed magazine, which tells of such places, in more detail. A one year subscription (6 issues) costs € 39,00 or £ 27.00 (within Europe) or € 51,00 or £ 35.31 (the rest of the world).

You name as major countries old Nato countries. But the cold war is over, Europe is greatly changed, and if you can get cheaply to Frankfurt, Vienna or Berlin then an overnight train east or south will take you to many countries of the “new Europe”, rich in small baroque cities not touched by bombs nor by decades of tourist marketing, and half the cost of such cities in western Europe.

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

For Germany I'd like to add to Ben's list:

Meissen, Bautzen, Zittau, Freiberg, Schwarzenberg, Pirna, Torgau (all in Saxony), Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Duderstadt, Mühlhausen, Schmalkalden, Naumburg, Altenburg ... I could go on with this for an hour.