Why Do You Travel to Europe?
 

What call brings you to Europe - what lures - why do you travel to Europe - what attracts you the most?

Food? Restaurants?
Architecture?
Meeting Locals?
Museums?
Using your high school French or other language?
Culture in general?
Etc -

WHAT ARE THE MAIN REASONS YOU TRAVEL IN EUROPE?

For me it is European trains, trams, gondolas - all forms of public transit first of all - the reason I began going to Europe and the main reason I still do.

Other important things are my love of architecture and people watching - I also love large European cities that are so unlike those in America for the most part in that they are safe to be in and public transportation is so great.

Things I care little for are museums and restaurants - I'd rather buy stuff from a supermarket and picnic or eat in my hotel room..

WHAT ARE THE MAIN REASONS YOU TRAVEL IN EUROPE?

"Other important things are my love of architecture and people watching - I also love large European cities that are so unlike those in America for the most part in that they are safe to be in and public transportation is so great."
ditto
plus ...art museums, historical monuments, variety of languages and cultures ....
We have been to a few other parts of the world - China ,Japan, Egypt , Israel...
.....very interesting, but for return visits I prefer Europe.

It makes me feel sophisticated.

forgot to mention Australia and New Zealand.....places outside Europe we would like to visit again but for the cost and distance!

Some friends live there and it's a pretty easy get-away for a week's vacation, although from the West Coast. In the beginning of going there, when I was a teenager, I didn't know anyone there though. But, I then made friends over four decades.

However, I prefer to be in Asia over Europe. It just takes longer to get there although I have done it on a week vacation schedule. However, I usually spend 2-3 weeks straight in Asia.

Happy Travels!

Because there are still enough things different from where I live to make it interesting.

Because there are enough things --ancestral ties, a shared history, and the Western bias (for lack of a better word) in my education--that make it seem somewhat familiar, as if I were coming home.

It makes me feel sophisticated.>

perhaps said in satire but I think for many of us, moi included, that was a reason we first went to Europe... and then found that Europeans overall are no more or less sophisticated than any other developed countries' peoples are.

But yes European is for many of us a font of our cultural history - things we've studied in school - a collective European heritage (not so much anymore!) than why as a college kid I wanted to go to Europe - not Mexico or Canada (though I did no there because they were close) but the source of so many things, the English language included.

We like art and ancient architecture. For me, art and cathedrals, along with food, are the top attractions. This is pretty much why I go anywhere, not just Europe. I'm also a big fan of dance, so London and Paris, with their art exhibits, great churches, and dance performances top my list.

Of course, that holds for New York, too, but this is about Europe.

I don't go anywhere to interact with "the locals." In fact, that seems condescending to me. I find the residents of any place I visit to be a great resource. Actually the friendliest people I've had to interact with were in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A guy in Positano cut and handed me a bunch of grapes, but the girl at the Rite Aid in Philadelphia walked me up and down each aisle, finding the items I asked for.

I kind of cringe a little at the phrase "the locals." That said, we have met great people who were helpful and kind at locations all over. Also some people that were stupid, stubborn, unhelpful and rude.

There was a song in the 50's--"Far away places with strange sounding names, far away over the sea. Those far away places are calling, calling me...I long for the day I can be under way and look for those castles in Spain."

That's it for me. When I was about 20 years old, I developed this longing to see the world. It seems to grow stronger and stronger as the years go by, and especially since I retired.

I go for some of the same reasons Pal mentioned. The architecture is a big draw. I love baroque churches and gorgeous buildings like la Palau de la Musica Catalana and the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. I like castles and palaces. I like cities such as Sevilla where I can see traces of Moorish design in buildings. I've visited the Alcazar and the Alhambra in Granada several times, and have loved the experience.

I love local celebrations, like Semana Santa in Málaga and Corpus Christi in Bavaria, the Sardana in Barcelona, or even a good demonstration or May Day parade in Italy.

My home town is rather provincial. It has some pleasant enough older architecture, but it doesn't fill my need to see wonderful buildings. I guess I just love "old stuff."

I like the towns and villages in Bavaria and the distinctive architecture of cities like Quedlinburg and Wernigerode. I love to walk through those places, perhaps stopping for a coffee and a chance to watch the world go by. I also love driving through the country and seeing the fabulous rock formations near Cuenca and the tidy fields of the English countryside.

I'm not crazy about art museums, though if there is a particular painter like Van Gogh, Klimpt or Caspar David Friedrich, I will go out of my way to visit. I do like "Wohnmuseums"--which show how people lived in the past, such as Den Gamle By in Arhus, Denmark, or the Wohnmuseum in Stein am Rhein.

I definitely don't go for the food and wine, and I don't shop. Like so many others, I enjoy sitting at an outdoor cafe and watching the world go by.

I speak German and Spanish (though neither as well as I'd like), and I really enjoy being able to use them.

art, history, churches, palaces, castles and narrow picturesque streets.

I actually love trains and trams too, PalenQ. Even the lousy trains in Poland were kind of fun. I always find myself photographing trains, train stations, trams, etc.

Like Peg, I'm not crazy about museums either but still feel compelled to see a few here and there. On my most recent 10 day trip (Belgium, Luxembourg, Paris, Rouen, Giverny) I wound seeing six museums, which is a lot for me.

I guess I travel mostly for photography. I love cities and towns and in Europe enjoy a morning stroll, getting pastries from local bakeries as I walk, and just exploring. I'm certainly no foodie but I do love Italian food, and you can find good Italian food all over Europe not just in Italy.

I enjoy spending time after I get home sorting through thousands(!) of photos, trying to find a few hundred, at most, that are the "keepers" or at least not awful pictures. Most of my trips have been in the fall, so sorting pictures in the rainy winter where I live has been a favorite past time. This year's spring trip was sort of an anomaly. But the pictures keep my trips alive for years.

Art, architecture, history, music, landscape, love of language, diversity, and of course, family ancestry.

Don't care about fancy restaurants or shopping( except for a piece of art, perhaps).

One of my favorite things to do? Wandering through sidestreets, practicing my Italian or French, and actually managing a conversation.

Because I live there.

Because its my job to take you there and I am paid too? LOL

Because that's where Ireland is. (and Wales if I live long enough to go there too).

It is a broadening cultural experience.

I love museums and architecture. Plus, I need to have someone to practice my German and French on besides the dogs.

Plus, it tends to rain a lot when I go.

What pegontheroad said.

What pegontheroad except I do like to shop!

like hetismj, i live here, so I don't have much choice.

if you had asked the less "US-centric" question, Pal, ie "why do you choose to spend your holidays in europe?" i would say culture, scenery, food, and language, not necessarily in that order.