smokointokyo1

So I'm going to Europe next year in summer to take a year off before university. I'm having trouble deciding where to go since everywhere looks great. Would anyone have any suggestions of which countries are good to go to in summer?
So far I'm thinking about going to France, Germany and UK and am also keen on checking out what the east has to offer.

Michael

Start reading some guidebooks, perhaps general ones that cover Europe and then narrow down the search by reading guidebooks about countries.

jamikins

Don't forget to look at how long you can stay in Europe without a visa...you will likely need some sort to stay for a year unless you have a European passport.

sparkchaser

<i>Would anyone have any suggestions of which countries are good to go to in summer?</i>

It depends on what is "good" to you: cool weather, hot and arid weather, beaches, culture, museums, castles, night life, hiking, cheap, low crime, etc.

bilboburgler

You might find this site interesting
http://www.findfestival.com/uk/

Gretchen

How long will you go for? How much do you have to spend?

smokointokyo1

What I meant to say was that I'm planning on going to Europe in the summer while I am taking a year off, not that I'm going for a year. To be honest, I have a pretty open mind when it comes to my definition, I would just like to know if anyone had anywhere they would recomend to go. I haven't decided how long I am going for yet, but I'd say somewhere hopefully around the majority of summer. I already have money for flights, I now just have to save up for everything else, how much money would you recomend I save if I'm considering going for the entirety of summer? And if it helps for me to narrow my idea of "good" I would have to say places that are: affordable, night life, culture, weather (although I don't mind weather too much) and beaches would also be nice. Places that are interesting yet also provide access to relaxing after a long year of school.
(Sorry if this dragged on a bit and appologies in advance for my horrible spelling!)

annhig

ok, I agree entirely that it would be a good idea to do some research.

but places that are a) interesting, b) reasonably cheap and c) have a large no of student age people around are more limited.

Places that spring to my mind are

Prague, Berlin [easy to get between those two places by train] Croatia, [lovely beaches and reasonably cheap] and Krakow. Italy can be cheap if you stay out of the tourist hot spots.

I'm sure that others will have other/better ideas.

sparkchaser

Barcelona, Ibiza, Lisbon, Corfu, Riga, Istanbul, and Varna would be my choices. All have awesome nightlife, are "inexpensive" (you're traveling during the high season so expect lodging to be more than the off-season), have tons of culture, and have beaches.

Budget? Depends on whether you are going to stay in hostels or hotels and how much partying you are going to do. A total budget of 50-75 Euro a day for hostels/food/partying and 150-200 Euro a day for hotels/food/partying, not including transportation between cities, is a generous starting point and you can tweak that number as you do a bit more research.

sparkchaser

Berlin and Prague are good choices too but I didn't mention them because no beaches.

adrienne

ann's ideas are great. You can add some other places in Germany to your itinerary or include Slovenia and the Ukraine for low budget places that are interesting.

The budget killer is to move around a lot and have an itinerary that includes long travel to the next location. Best to stay in a limited area and really see the sights rather than moving every couple of days.

How much money - this is always a tough one to answer. It depends on where you go and how often you move locations and how much you eat. You can find budget places to eat and sleep every where. Stay in hostels where the dorm beds are inexpensive and you meet other young people traveling. Buy food at supermarkets or from bars and trucks. In countries like Italy and France it's much cheaper to eat and drink standing at the bar than sitting down and sitting outside is the most expensive.

If you figure hostels are about E25 per night, I would allow E100 to E125 per day for all expenses except airfare (lodging, transportation, sightseeing, food, and drink). You don't want to be broke at the end of your trip and starve while you wait to go home.

Havana128

<weather (although I don't mind weather too much)>

Weather is unavoidable. Everywhere has weather. So it's good you don't mind it too much. Similarly everywhere has culture. What kind of culture is is that you are looking for?

suze

You need a guidebook. A general one that covers all the countries. And a big map. Just start picking out places that interest you. You mention France, Germany, and the UK, so start with those. With 3 months, I'd suggest adding Italy.

Planning a longer trip is not different from a short vacation (just don't overstay your 3 months in the Schengen countries). You need a plane ticket in and out, a rough itinerary in mind, and (optionally) some hotel, apartment or hostel reservations along the way. Depends your style of travel, but once the lodging and airfare is paid for, allowing $50-100usd per day for everything else is a number you can use to estimate overall trip costs.

Christina

I think just about anywhere is good to go to in summer -- except the ones that are extremely hot, of course. For me, that leaves out southern Spain, Italy, etc. So all of your ideas are fine.

smokointokyo1

I'm really interested in ex-soviet countries as they seem to have a mysterious appeal to them so Ukraine is definitely somewhere I am looking at going to. The only problem is the 3 places that I've definitely wanted to go back to are pretty much on the opposite side of europe so I'm not sure whether it'd be expensive to travel all the way over countries like Ukraine and what not. I'm also starting to think Switzerland looks interesting and might be nice to go to (I am well aware that Switzerland is expensive but I didn't go there last time I was there and have regreted it ever since). It might be useful to ass that I am planning on learn as much German as I can before I go there as I plan to stay with an Austrian friend of mine in Vienna and also visit Germany (Oktoberfest and so on). I also can understand French yet can't express myself very well so I'm planning on working on my French before I go as well. Croatia sounds lovely and I also have friends taht will be in Croatia during summer next year so I am sure I will also add that to my trip. I really appreciate everyones replies and would like to reply to all of them myself soon so give a day or so to get ome research done and i'll get back to you. By the way I think it's necessary to add that I'm Australian although I do understand the current exchange rate for the euro and american dollar in relations to the australian dollar

smokointokyo1

Ok I'll start from the top and work my way down to give you a clearer picture.

"but places that are a) interesting, b) reasonably cheap and c) have a large no of student age people around are more limited." I don't mind if some don't have as good night life or are more interesting than cheap, I want my trip to purely be about experience rather than what has better parties or is more interesting, ya know?

Prague and Berlin are both places I want to go back to as prague was beautiful and very cheap and I have friends in Berlin and it also a very interesting city. Croatia definitely sounds like a must go plave and Krakow as well, I've always had a facination with Poland. As for Italy, somehow it has never appealed to me (maybe becuase where I live has a strong population of Italians and Italian restraunts) but I do have a friend in Rome who I promised to go visit so I will most likely at least go there.

smokointokyo1

AS for Spain, I would really like to go but it is not high up on my priorities. I don't think I'll make it to Latvia although I would really want to, Greece however, I have a lot of friends going there who also have family I could stay with so that could be good. Istanbul would be a place I would definitely go to if I end up in Greece

smokointokyo1

As for places that are really hot, I live in Australia, it couldn't be any worse than what I've experienced.

sparkchaser

Once you get into Europe, getting around by plane can be very inexpensive, sometimes even cheaper than rail.

I really enjoyed visiting Ukraine and I highly recommend it. The language barrier will make things difficult but as a coworker who lived several years in Kiev and Chernobyl once told me: "gestures work, starvation is rare".

If you're looking to hit Oktoberfest, then I would add about 200-300 Euro per day of Oktoberfest you are planning to attend just to be safe (lodging gets crazy expensive).

Christina

As for places that are really hot, I live in Australia, it couldn't be any worse than what I've experienced.>>

Well, is that what you want to do with your vacation, go all the way from Australia to some place in Europe where it is really hot? If weather isn't the issue, I don't even understand what the point of your question was as to where you should go in summer? If it isn't the weather, what difference does it make if it is summer vs. autumn vs. spring?