Hi All,

My Wife and I are in UK for 6-7 months and are planning to use some of our time ( Weekends mostly ) to start visiting other countries in Europe. We have our Schengen Visas ready. Our first trip is scheduled early march 2011 to Barcelona for a weekend.
I wanted to reach out to all of you who have travelled extensively to

1) What are the places in Barcelona that you would recommend covering over a weekend .. we love visiting museums, the beach and enjoying the local cuisine and dance and culture.
2) What are the other places you would suggest visiting over the next 4-5 months in europe given the weather .

Rgds,
Thomas

Depends on your interests, to some extent. But any of the major capitals, and plenty of other cities too, have their attractions and are often visited for weekend breaks - not just Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, but Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Tallinn: check the destinations at www.whichbudget.com for cheap flights, or www.seat61.com if you want to go by train.

Just to point out that the UK and Ireland are not part of Schengen and hence if you wish to visit either then you may need a separate visa

YOu may want to post this again using Barcelona in the title and tagging with Spain to get specifics. MOre people that know Barcelona will see it and respond.

Other places - they are endless, you can really fly anywhere in Western Europe in a 2-3 hours so grab a map and take your pick!

You may want to get familiar with cheap airlines like www.easyjet.com or www.ryanair.com to travel cheaply. Just note the luggage restrictions and extra costs added on top of the actual ticket price.

Thanks all will repost

Just another thought: there are still travel companies offering city break packages, which might give you some ideas.

And I've just found this on Barcelons:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...-le-cool-guide

www.eurocheapo.com great city guides for

food tours good prices...

www.weather2travel.com Climate guides head south on

www.ryanair.com www.easyjet.com in winter for sun and fun.

I suspect you have started using the cheepo airlines, in which case they may push you towards particular cities.

To make the most of the time I'd plan to visit small cities with easy access from the sirport. Barcelona/Madrid/Malaga come to mind, then Avignon/Paris/Bordeaux/LaRochelle/Strasbourg.

Italy; Pisa, Rome, Naples, Verona

Prague, Berlin, Mosel Valley from Frankfurt Hahn, Amsterdam

Barcelona, depends if you want to see vineries or fantastic coloured/shaped buildings.

Thanks so much for the responses .. its all very very helpful information for someone who has never travelled a lot in europe. Cheers.