Spring Trip to Europe
 

I'm starting to plan a trip to Europe in the spring (April) for about 9 or 10 days with my girlfriend (both in our mid 20s). We'll be flying out of New York so virtually any city should be convenient. I've been to France before and she has never been to Europe.

Since we don't have a lot of time I was planning on focusing on one (or maybe two) major cities and taking day trips from there. Some of the obvious candidates would be London, Amsterdam, Paris or Madrid. But, I was also considering something less popular such as a trip to Geneva, Lake Como and Milan or Copenhagen or Oslo via Iceland.

I will likely be taking a family trip to Rome, Venice and Florence at some point in the near future which is why I'm not including those cities, and I'm less keen on Paris since I've already been.

We're mostly looking for some place to explore with beautiful natural scenery, good museums and palaces/castles as well as plays or opera.

Please let me know if you have any preferences among the cities I mentioned above or cities I haven't thought of yet!

I’m picking up on a few cues in your post and come to the conclusion that Amsterdam or Milan should be it.

Both can deliver on your request for beautiful natural scenery, good museums and palaces/castles as well as plays or opera. (The latter not in English, of course).

North of the alps it is barely Spring - in many locations you’re not seeing much green and flowery scenery yet, but the Keukenhof and other tulip paradises (www.keukenhof.nl/nm/english.html) should be happening, especially later in April.

And Amsterdam has plenty of museums and historic buildings, it’s a fun city overall, great for walking, and it is in easy reach by train or car or bus from many more such towns - Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam and on and on. The weather might still be brisk - be prepared to bundle up.

South of the alps spring will have sprung - from Milan with its historic center and the Duomo (cathedral, roof access is very cool for statues and views and photo memories - http://www.chiesadimilano.it/or4/or?...amp;oid=401086), La Scala opera (book early! - http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/ve...biglietti.html), and much more.

Then head north, book a room near Stresa on the Lago Maggiore (on the fast trainline from Milan to Switzerland) and go out on the Borromeo islands - they will be in full bloom, pretty incredible. www.borromeoturismo.it/scripts/home.php?lang=en

From there it is a short trip to other great places, including a bit of southern Switzerland (Ascona, Locarno, Lugano on the other lake that is shared by Switzerland and Italy).

For trains in Italy, look at www.ferroviedellostato.it - the prices are only shown for trips 60 days or less into the future.

For Swiss trains (including the connections with Italy) it is www.rail.ch

Now if you want to kill both these in one trip, use multi-city (not roundtrip or one-way) as the search criterion when looking at websites like www.kayak.com or www.mobissimo.com or www.airninja.com - fly into Amsterdam and home from Milan, or the other way around.

This kind of ticket often costs no more than a straight roundtrip, and it gives you the best of both worlds.

Hey md,

You would deprive your SO of her first visit to Paris, solely because you have been there before?

((I))

Ira, surely that must be his business? Like Paris is all that Europe has to offer? And just what "beautiful natural scenery" do you suggest for Paris in April?

Instead of thinking about where you have been, think about is there a more romantic city on the planet than Paris. Methinks your priorities may be a bit skewed. What about Prague ?

If you want to include the Geneva area, I highly recommend you go to Lausanne, Vevey, and Montreux (instead of Geneva proper which is a city without a soul imho).

Personally I'd do Amsterdam & Paris.

I can't believe you'd eliminate Paris just because you have been there ONCE before!!!

I can. I'd probably do the same thing, given their circumstances (age, haven't traveled that much, want to experience new things). I've been to plenty of cities where I would not go again in lieu of new experiences.

I really love Spain, so I'd go for Madrid and Andalucia, which would be great for 10 days. Also, April is a perfect time, as you wouldn't want to go to those places in summer, so I'd take this opportunity to go to Spain, if you have that desire. You could even throw in Barcelona now that there is a high-speed train between Barcelona and Madrid. So you could fly into Barcelona, take the train to Madrid, then take the train to Seville and fly out of Seville (which will route you back through Madrid, probably, as you can't go to Seville nonstop). But you won't waste a lot of travel time that way. Or you could do it in reverse.

I haven't been to Scandinavia or Iceland, so can't comment on that, but I think you could also consider Germany and Denmark. For example, fly into Munich, then go to Berlin, then Copenhagen and fly home from there. Or you could throw in Hamburg, maybe, but the others are ones people particularly like as tourists, I think.

Thanks for all the input! I've narrowed it down to London or Amsterdam. Is it feasible to take the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam? I've read that its about a 5 hour trip. If so, I was thinking that we could spend 4 full days in London to hit most of the major sites and then spend the morning of the next day traveling to Amsterdam followed by an evening and three full days in Amsterdam and its surroundings. Or should I just pick one city and focus on it?

I see you say that you've narrowed it to London or Amsterdam (good choices) but I'll give a second to Spain and particularly to Madrid and Seville. You can fly into one and out the other and take the train between. Both are very interesting and feel totally different from one another. I really enjoy Madrid itself but if you want something more, there are many cities a short train ride away.

London and Amsterdam or London and Scotland(Edinburgh) would both be nice trips in that time frame and much easier for a novice visitor. Be sure to do an open jaws ticket as some suggest and from NYC that should be easy(fly into London, fly out of Amsterdam). If going to Amsterdam I understand that it may be easier to fly out of London on the cheap rather than taking the train. Easyjet and Ryanair come to mind but there are other posters who would know better. BTW did you consider Ireland that would be a grand time to go?

I was about to suggest Paris and and a fast train to the Riviera, given the time of year. But you've already decided on London and Amsterdam. Be prepared for rainy, windy, cool weather.

If you go by Eurostar, be sure to buy your tickets early. It will make for a considerable savings.

Hi everyone! I've finally made progress on the itinerary and wanted to get some input. As a note, the fares on Icelandair I've been seeing are significantly cheaper than any other airline(~$300-$400/person), for obvious reasons, which is why we are including the stopover there.

April 9 (night) - Overnight flight from New York to Reykjavik.

April 10 - Catch a few hours of sleep and spend the day and night in Iceland (since we have to connect through there anyway and will give us a chance to catch up on our jet lag before heading to London).

April 11 - Fly to London in the morning and spend Saturday - Wednesday morning there.

April 15 - Fly to Amsterdam in the late morning on bmi or KLM and spend Wednesday afternoon - Sunday morning in Amsterdam.

April 19 (afternoon) - Fly from Amsterdam to New York with a 2 hr connection in Reykjavik.

I will work out a more detailed intinerary for each destination later, but this gives us 4 full days in both London and Amsterdam and flights + hotels are less than $1,500/person.