Europe next summer, any ideas?

All I know is that we're starting in Frankfurt and leaving out of Frankfurt. I will be going with three other people, one of which has inlaws in the Frankfurt area. We were planning on 7-10 days, the first 2-3 in Frankfurt, at least thats what it seems.

I've started looking on forums, eurail sites, airline sites, etc. and have come to the conclusion that it would be best to look a lot around Germany and maybe another country. I would love to see Munich and Berlin, but Im not sure what else we would want to see!

Any suggestions? Would any of you think Paris would add to much to the itinerary, even Prague. If you had a choice of those two, which one would you go with?

Also, just to add, Ive been to europe once before and I went to Belgium and The Netherlands.

You could spend 4 or more days in Paris, if you feel like a change of scenery from Deutschland (never been, still want to go). However, you've already been to Belgium, so I think Prague would make a better choice. I hear it's very beautiful there because it's so old -- Hitler saved that place from the Luftwaffe, lol.

Take Ryanair, it's the cheapest way, cheaper than the train. Just book well in advance and you could pay like, 20 dollars for tickets.

Ryan Air apparently will only go to prague from Frankfurt Hahn, not Berlin or Munich. For return flights, Prague will go to frankfurt, then Birmingham, Dublin and Stockholm. That is unless they have some weird timetable that shows which airports can go to where and on what dates, etc
Berlin is the closest to prague. A eurail pass for youth(age 12-25) for two countries might range from 300 and up.

Ah yeah I forgot, Ryanair only goes to specific and bad airports. There's always europcar but I don't know how hard it is to navigate the highways of Europe (are exits called sorties in France?).

Did u check out Easy Jet? they are the other low cost airline. Munich is a very cool city havent seen Frankfurt or Berlin though. If ur going to paris let me know When we went we found an awesome hotel literally right across the street of the Notre dame Cathederal that was ridiculously cheap. Its on the top floor of a hospital but the price and location cant e beat.

Driving is very easy but very expensive. I drove from Naples Italy to Lyon France (13 hours each way) one weekend and total cost was almost $600 and that was just for gas and tolls since i was staying at g/fs.

[quote name='homeland']Did u check out Easy Jet? they are the other low cost airline. Munich is a very cool city havent seen Frankfurt or Berlin though. If ur going to paris let me know When we went we found an awesome hotel literally right across the street of the Notre dame Cathederal that was ridiculously cheap. Its on the top floor of a hospital but the price and location cant e beat.

Driving is very easy but very expensive. I drove from Naples Italy to Lyon France (13 hours each way) one weekend and total cost was almost $600 and that was just for gas and tolls since i was staying at g/fs.[/QUOTE]

Driving was another idea I had. If we were driving, I would rather do the Frankfurt, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt route, which is a little over 1500 km(I think thats right). Im 23, but some rent a car places let you rent at that age, just restrict what you can rent. That and I need to learn stick, which I already had in mind haha.

Just go with a EUrail pass. It's cheaper and very convenient. Gas is really expensive in the EU. The DeutschBahn is top notch. Take night trains to save time (if over long distances).

Berlin is hands down my favorite city in the world. You definitely need to spend a couple of days there (preferably over a weekend).

Get a Capital One credit card for your trip. They're the only CC that I know that don't charge you a foreign transaction fee.

Good flight websites include
www.TerminalA.com
www.skyscanner.net

Also, to travel cheaply and meet locals (win win!) join www.couchsurfing.com

if any place you end up in reminds you of one of those Hostel/Touristas movies run, dont walk, away as fast as you can. also anthony bourdain says eat what the people eat dont be afraid to go to local places. take some time to learn the laws of the places youre going never hurts to be prepared. thats one thing ill say positive about twittering if you do make regular posts about where you are and where youre going if something bad happens people will have an idea of where to look.

Don't listen to him. Hostels are fine, just make sure to check reviews. The rest is just Hollywood garbage. I've stayed in hostels at Rome, Dublin, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Never had an issue. It helps if you make friends with your roommates if you're staying in a public room, and you get to meet some cool people!

don't miss Amsterdam

spent 2 months in europe a couple summers ago. germany is fantastic youll love it.

STAY AWAY from ryan air. i flew them a couple of times. they fly out of obscure airports and youll probably end up paying for a taxi, bus or train to get to the actual city and maybe spend as much money in the end. (flying ryan air from dublin to paris was a nightmare).

eurail was fantastic though, never had a single problem with them. prague is amazing, you can go there. also close to germany is vienna, which is a fun city.

i would veto paris, only because the city has so much, only spending a couple of days there doesnt do it justice. i spent 5 days in paris, still didnt do all i wanted to do.

switzerland is very and the train ride is amazing.

amsterdam is a great city too. theres legal pot (if youre into that) which was good and cheap (though ive had just as good out here in california, wasnt impressed, even with cannibus cup winners). but they have the van gogh museum there, which was one of my favorite museums i went to in all of europe (maybe even my favorite).

if youre willing to take a night train and go to rome, its an amazing city as well. very very very fun. but like paris, a couple days is tough to do it all. spent 5 days there as well. that being said, if i had to choose between a short trip in paris or a short trip in rome, id take rome in a heartbeat.

as for hostels, they are fine, dont be worried about them. never had a problem with the people (in fact met some great people at them), never had anything stolen (though it happens, done leave valuables in your bag while youre gone. and for what its worth, the best hostels i stayed at were owned by the same company, famous hostels. http://www.famoushostels.com/ i stayed with them in edinburgh, interlaken, rome and munich. they were all quality and in good areas. all of them had bars as well where you can meet fellow travellers.

Ive been to amsterdam already, so that's not really in the question. Great city, just want to go to other places before I go back.

I was thinking Germany and Prague (or just Germany)and via car since it could be cheaper for 3 people in a car instead of 3 eurail passes for multiple countries.

Did you check out http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/index.asp ? When I lived in europe thats who I flew with. They fly out of Berlin too it seems. The only issue is, they fly out of the smaller airports. For instance They fly out of Rome but not the major one. Its really not a problem since you can just take the bus to the downtown Rome which is only 20 minutes away if memory serves me right.

Also if you're thinking about driving are your friends family Germans or American military? If they are Germans, in france its common to be part of an organization which gives travel vouchers that can be used for anything including tolls. Maybe they have something like that there. If they are American, if its like it is in Italy, they get vouchers for gas maybe you could buy some off of them).

theyre german

know that it will be pretty cold and traveling by train eats up a lot of time. Anyway, my plan: Frankfurt (few days to see family) -> Dresden (1 day) -> Prague (1 or 2 days) -> Vienna (2 or 3 days) -> Salzburg (1 day) -> Munich (2 or 3 days). I only had 1 night free in Frankfurt (in a 2 day business trip) so I cant say much about it. But then I "lived" in Dresden for almost 3 months. Everything is close in the old city of Dresden but there's also the Palace in the grozer garden which would be a nice walk or go to Sächsische Schweiz 30 min outside of town by car for some heavier hiking w/ more of a forest feel. Prague was good but I had my Ipod touch nicked by two czech girls on the train and the language is impossible. Also there are some REALLY seedy people out at night trying to get you into their clubs, buy drugs, etc. I also went to one of the supposedly better clubs (club duplex) and it sucked. Then vienna. Really nice. Dont miss the main museum. Salzburg is good for a day. Possibly skip it if you're low on time, its not too far out of the way. And then finally Munich, my favorite german city. Besides the main city, we went to the english garden, the olympic stadium, and allianz staium. Dachau (the first concentration camp) is just outside Munich (1 city tram) but it might be too sombrous or cold.

In all, I think you can do this in the time alloted. lots of walking though. Every city gets better in this order (IMHO) and you can see the difference btw dresden and prague from vienna and munich.


alternatively, if you're w/ the wife, maybe go to paris as it's the typical thing to do. So maybe go Frankfurt (few days)-> Munich (2-3 days)-> Black Forest (1 day)-> Zurich? -> Paris (few days)... i dont know. never been to these last few places. you'd have to ask someone else. But these places are on my list.

hope this helps. pics are from my trip last summer. i was there for a while and traveled almost every weekend so let me know if you're looking at other cities.


I traveled by train most of the time but there's also bus and car sharing. car sharing is totally normal, really cheap, fast, safe, etc. if you know some german and have a cell phone you can use then look into it. Otherwise, renting a car should save you some money. It might limit the number of places youd be willing to visit but you can do it if youre determined.


P.S. In my opinion, German Americans are the most unrecognized and undervalued minority in the US. They assimilate well and then make huge contributions to our country. Forget the "Identity Crisis of Latino Americans," German Americans are symbols of accomplishment.

im not the married one haha. If her husband were to go, it would just be him.

I was mentioning renting a car because there might be a chance he's stuck with the inlaws and the three of us go off for a while. That and I love driving, just need to learn stick haha

I've been to Munich and thought it was pretty damn boring IMO. But I do think that the factory that was used for Charlie and the Chocolate factory is there, so that's something.

Paris is definitely worth going to and while I haven't been to Prague almost everyone I talk to that has done the Europe tour says it's their favorite place.

as for your question ajumbaje - you should check out prague
havent been to europe - but would love to go to berlin, munich, prague, rome, madrid, venice and maybe paris. no idea when i'll be able to make it to any of these though

Don't stay at any hostels. They kill American tourists. They made a documentary out of it. Two of them.