Where Would U Go With 2 Weeks To Travel?
 

Hello Fodor's travel experts! My husband has invited me to plan a 20th ann. trip for us for app. 14 days in either late Feb/early Mar or late Mar/early Apr. It is a weight on me, albeit a good one, as I have never been fortunate enough to travel in Europe-husband has many times but always on business & hasn't the time now to help me plan the trip. We are both in our early 50's, enjoy beautiful places, great food, music, friendly people, museums/culture/architecture. Would enjoy train travel but open to renting a car. We also both prefer cooler climates to warmer. I am hoping that some of you will be willing to share your favorite travel spots in Europe to help out a 1st-timer who has too many destinations to choose from. We have not booked our airline tickets so we are not yet tied to a certain area. Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts or suggestions!

I suggest Sicily in April.
Here are reasons why.

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/show...y.php?cat=3828

Music is the most distinctive interest that you've mentioned, and if you combine that with an insistence on great food, it can help narrow down the list to something manageble.

You don't say what kind of music you like, and what kind of food you like. But most great music venues in Europe are in cool-ish places with fairly good train transportation. (Anyway, everywhere will be cool in Spring in Europe.)

So what kind of music do you like and what kind of food do you like? Are you beer or wine fanciers?

Sicily has terrible train travel.

Actually, it has fairly lousy driving too.

How stupid of me !
Of course, Sicily is a very bad idea.
Go to Pistoria instead.

Zeppole, sorry, I left myself wide open for that one. We love most kinds of food, husband loves wine, my choice is beer, lean towards classical music because we have 2 daughters who play in orchestras & appreciate the beauty of mountains, castles, etc. I have read so much info on here & other travel forums & am just looking for some favorite places that others have. Thanks!

<<I am hoping that some of you will be willing to share your favorite travel spots in Europe to help out a 1st-timer who has too many destinations to choose from.>>

With your interests and the time of year, I suggest 7-10 nights Paris and the balance in Venice, two of my favorite cities in Europe.

Fly into one city and out of the other (Multi-City). kayak.com is good for researching flights.

Fly between Paris and Venice.

In 2011, Venice Carnival is Feb 26 - March 8. Based on those dates, either plan to attend or not. I prefer the city immediately following carnival when it is more peaceful, but you may enjoy the festivities.

Why would a FIRST time visitor to Europe go to Sicily ?

You have to do a bit of reserach yourself. many here have their favorites.
Concentrate on 2 countries max.

I'd go to Germany - southern Germany to be specific. Maybe I am biased because that was MY first experience in Europe, but I think it fits what you are looking for:

Great food - while not gourmet, German food is very good
Friendly people - absolutely
Easily traveled by train - German trains are great. If you do decide to rent a car, driving in Germany is easy.
Mountains - Hello Bavarian Alps :)
Castles - Fairytale castles in the south, real castles further north along the Rhine and Mosel (in addition to other places)
Beer - YES!
Wine - Head to the Mosel Valley and Wurzburg
Music - I'm not sure about classical music in Germany, maybe someone else can chime in. Salzburg is an easy train ride from Munich though.
Museums/Culture/Architecture - Yep, got those too :)

Plus Germany is really easy to travel around - trains run on time, signage is top notch, people are gracious and helpful.

november_moon, thanks for responding! Germany actually sounds like fun. I appreciate your input-it was just the kind of post I was looking for.

danon-thanks to you for answering also. I have done lots of research already. Just wanted to see other people's favorite places.

Classical music to me suggests Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Salzburg... Beer and wine..lots more. You could use trains or a combination of train and car.

o.k.
My favorite country is Spain (not on your list) ..culture, music, palaces, wine, food, history, museums, diverse cultures and scenery. Spring weather would not be warm and is much nicer than in central Europe or Ireland.
From your list, I would go with Italy.

The first dates you mention are late winter and will be cold and possibly snowy (definitely both in the alps/mountains) in much of europe, your later dates are very early spring and will still be quite chilly.

For music I would focus on Prague and Vienna - with a host of options - the former at excellent prices.

As for food - you can get good food and wine or beer in alk thes places (beer in prague is incredible). Food in Belgium is the best in all europe IMHO - but you can eat well almost anywhere.

Forget Europe. Go to Japan.

hi bandmom,

based on your preferences, Berlin would be a great choice.

terrific museums, beer and wine, food is fine, transport vey easy. you could do day trips by train or go further afield - the train to Prague woudl be easy and provide a nice contrast. music in both cities is excellent.

From Prague you could carry on to Vienna, perhaps stopping off in Salzburg - more lovely museums, parks and of course the music.

that would make a super 14 days trip, IMO.

Forget Japan. Go to Canada.

You win Peter. Great idea.

in the spring I would either go to Greece for two weeks or spend a week in Barcelona and then a week in Mallorca.

The food in Germany is great if you like a piece of meat slathered in brown gravy. By the 8th day I started to gag just at the thought.

Germany does meet your other needs though. And every person needs to experience the autobahn at least once.