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Dsnov832

Dsnov832

Member
I have chosen to take a gap year before going to college. I'm now in the process of planning a backpacking trip through Europe. On September 6th my dad and I are going to Zermatt to climb the Matterhorn. From there we are heading to Germany for Oktoberfest and then to Barcelona to visit my brother. My dad will then head back to the states and ill stay in Europe to travel around and see a different part of the world.

My question to you is who has been to Europe and where should i go?

Thanks
 
personally i would recommend returning to switzerland at some point. i went there and really enjoyed it. lucerne, muren, interlaken, and laussane are really cool cities.

also visit france. go to chamonix or some of the cities around it. i was there last summer and it was amazing, great hiking and scenery. also visit provance. its basically the french equivelent to tuscany. just choose a town there and spend a few days exploring the surrounding areas.

italy is also really cool. go to the chinque terre on the italian rivierra. awesome relaxed place to have some fun for a few days.
 
Everywhere! see as much as possible no matter how high or low class it might be the experience is life changing.
 
Well the weather would be getting iffy/kind of shitty in to November, so head to central and/or SE Asia as the monsoon season will be ending.

But you can't go wrong any direction in Europe. I'm a fan of the Mediterranean and really old shit. Spain is ill, especially the south. Greece is the shit: Going around the Peloponnese, Aegina, hydra, crete, kos, Kalymnos (sick-as-shit rock climbing too), and in to western Turkey & Istanbul - Byzantines were and still are fucking underrated.
 
I just spent the month of November traveling around and I went to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Florence, and Perugia. Each city I visited I had a friend studying abroad so I had a couch to crash on. All of those cities were incredible and I would recommend each one of them but Amsterdam and Barcelona would be my top two picks (and it looks like you're going to Barca anyway).
 
I've been to Poland 5 or 6 times now. It's great. The people there are awesome, the cities and towns are great. The mountains are great. Poland is a nice place to visit. Also the Czech Republic is a great place as well. I only spent 2 days there so I didn't explore as much as I would of liked to.
 
You have to hit up Italy, at least go to Venice. Then you can roll over to Croatia, which is probably the hidden gem of Europe (no joke).
 
austria for sure. switzerland is horrible expensive. like the post above me croatia is the hidden gem of europe. everyone thinks it is still destroyed from the war but its not, it my favorite place in europe. and you could always come up to stuttgart ( 1.5 hours north west of munich) and chill with me
 
Fucks sake! I just wrote a fairly long reply but the internet stole it from me somehow.

In short form. Istanbul, London, Prague, Morocco (not Europe I know, but not far) if you fancy some good weather.
 
is it a german kid, or american. im here for the army. so i know quite of bit of american kids. ( im in highschool) and its an amazing place
 
South Germany is really awesome, the people are friendly and in general the climate is nice.

Ultimately my favourite place in Europe is southern France, I spent a month living there with my family last summer and we lived in a tiny stucco house in St. Remy de Provence. It's ALL Roman settled area and the history is incredible. If you can speak french, its a really nice accent, and easy to understand (not like in the north). Food is garlic-y, warm and the wine of choice is Rose. In general though, its HOT all the time, like a desert and the cicadas are killer loud. Every little town has its own history and trains can take you wherever you want.

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I also reccommend going through the valleys of the swiss alps into those small towns, more specifically Sierre (about 30 mins from Zermatt), Bitsch (a real place, google it), Meiringen, etc. If you want mountains: INTERLAKEN, Switzerland...take the train to Lauterbrunnen, where you can then from there take the mountain train THROUGH the mountain to the Jungfrau (highest observation point in europe i think). Its an incredible incredible place. The town of Wengen (on the way up to the peak) is so cool - no cars in the whole town. Cows much by the traintracks and this is really what Switzerland is like. PICTURE I TOOK (this is the real view from the train)

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Yes, I have been to Europe at least five times. I would highly recommend Southern Spain, la costa del sol if you can get down there. France is nice, Belgium is also wicked(Aalst, Brussels). I've only driven through Germany and that was 12 years ago, but it's pretty boss. I went to Denmark right before they foiled the airline bomb plot in the summer of '06, and Copenhagen is sick. I can't say much about Italy, or Switzerland. Have a great time on your gap year.
 
Thanks for all the responses! My only concern with going to some of the smaller towns is that I only speak english and spanish so i might have trouble communicating, has any one found that this is true?
 
I honestly don't know, the majority of the cost was to rent the house. It was small and minimal, but it had a pool and was very nicely situated, so I can assume it wasn't cheap.

The rest was just fresh market food usually every day, about 15-20 euro (we're a family of 5), sometimes more if we wanted wine. Even then, though the wine was cheap (it's all local).

Then there were touristy day-trips and admission costs to castles, archaelogical sites, etc. as well as diesel.

And flights.
 
Tuscany, Italy is beautiful. Lots of super interesting sights to visit and the food is AMAZING
 
Tuscany, Italy is beautiful. Lots of super interesting sights to visit and the food is AMAZING
 
paris isn't all its made up to be imo. it's a beautiful city, but i enjoyed london much more. the french countryside is very nice, but the beauty of the british isles can't be matched imo. you should go to ireland for sure. as i said, london is an awesome city, super tourist-y, but it's a really cool place. i haven't been anywhere else in europe, but some day i'd love to visit all the nordic countries.
 
Amalfi coast Italy, best seafood in the world + the most delicious form of alcohol from its original birthplace, lemonchello
 
That is so awesome. My goal in life is to visit every country in the world. It will be pretty considering that i have never been out of the U.S. But a dream is a dream and when im down with high school and college im outta here.
 
Salsburg, AustriaBarcelona, SpainRome, if you're a history naziAmsterdam, Holland I think?
And if you go to UK just avoid Wales, unless you take a mtb (There's Brecon beacons.)
 
Really!? There's so much cool stuff in England, admittedly the cities outside London aren't amazing, but Brighton is pretty cool. The you have loads of really pretty villages everywhere. Also there are a bunch of National parks, and loads of historical stuff like castles etc. Most of our museums/art galleries are free, and the pound isn't even that strong anymore.
 
There are a lot of awesome places to go, just depends on what you are looking for exactly.

But what ever you decide, this might be worth to check out:http://www.eurail.com/passes/global-pass

I know it's a lot of money at once but if you don't really plan on staying in one spot for a long time it might be worth thinking about cause flying from one place to the next will probably be more expensive. Although.. maybe not with one of these:
http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares/regional-fares/europe-airpass/

or
http://www.skyteam.com/about/products/europe.html

But I've never really looked in to the Europass flight thing cause I can't use it since I live in Europe.

One way or the other, I think you will def enjoy your stay. And don't wait to long with getting tickets/a place to stay for Oktoberfest cause it sells out/city fills up pretty fast.
 
ooo... I did not like Venice at all. EXTREMELY expensive, smells like shit, and there isn't that much to do in the city. If you're going to Italy I definitely say Rome (good club scene, unbelievable history, beautiful scenery, great food etc) or Florence. Florence is my favorite place in Italy (along with Tuscany). If you're there with some friends, it can be a ton of fun. So either this or go south and rent a boat and tour the islands. Apparently its beautiful.

Hit me up if you're going to Oktoberfest. I'm studying abroad next semester in Luxembourg and will be there.
 
I've been to a lot of places in Europe, but the best would have to be Austria, Belgium, Spain and Italy. All amazing places!
 
ive heard this also. my aunt said it was way better then venice or paris or any where else she went to on her 4 month trip to europe
 
South of France in amazing!

Nice, Arles, all over the south, up north theres lots of castles

 
Not really on the continent but still part of europe, Iceland! I spent a week there a few years ago and it's amazing!1.) Glacier2.) Blue Lagoon Hot Springs I swam in3.) Volcano I climbed4.) Waterfall you can walk behind (It was on one of the Amazing Race seasons a while back)
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I lived in england for a year. its cool but not a lot to do. i went to rome and that is the best place i have ever been. you have to go to rome
 
I would totally agree with you that it is expensive, but it is such a unique city plus the history there is unreal. If you have the chance to go there, you should totally take advantage of it. Like Florence, there is a lot history/museum goodness to see (albeit Florence has more for sure).
 
I'd recommend going to Amsterdam, it's unique and unlike anything you've ever seen. Of course I'm from Amsterdam, but that left aside, it's not for nothing that there's SOOO many people that come visit the city ever year.

If you end up coming here you can shoot shoot me a PM - you can crash at my place if you want. Rooms here are crazy expensive, 50€ a night if you're lucky, which is about 70 bucks or so.

The thing you need to do is go INTERRAILING. It's basically a train ticket that let's you travel anywhere throughout Europe, whenever you want, wherever you want. It's the ideal thing for backpacking - you'll be able to see pretty much whole Europe for relatively cheap! If you're gonna end up buying a ton of train tickets it's gonna cost you a fortune.

Towns definitely worth going to:

- Amsterdam

- Paris

- Berlin

- Barcelona (you're already going there, yeah!)

- Venice

- Rome

- Prague

All VERY beautiful cities. That's more for the sightseeing I guess, if you want to settle somewhere for a longer time, I could recommend the southern parts of France for sure - the most rustic, serene place on earth probably. It's idyllic and super nice.

Like someone else already said, go to Croatia - I've never been there, but it's everything you could want from what I've heard:

It's cheap, incredibly pretty and a very nice climate.
 
Yeah, Florence is the best, I liked it way better than Rome. Tuscany in general is awesome. Check out Siena if you get a chance! And Edinburgh in Scotland is a really cool city. Good night life, lots of Universities with younger people, sightseeing, smaller city with sweet architecture. Just go there when it gets warmer.
 
Sorry for the triple post madness but I did not give any advice.

Could you give us more details please?

From what I understood in the OP you'll be on your own by the end of september right? (Imo a bit too late for Croatia but right on time for the semester beginning which means parties everywhere.)

How long are you planning to stay? What is your budget? And of course what do you want to see ? (Cities, mountains, see, party...?)

TijmenDal gave some solid advices about travelling here.

If your dad leaves you in Barcelona, I would consider doing Barcelona --> Marseille --> Paris --> Bruxelles --> Amsterdam --> Berlin. (LAST TWO ARE MANDATORY)

Then from Berlin just get on an easyjet flight to Eastern Europe, Italy or Switzerland...
 
I had a trip planned from Nice to Barcca last fall but couldn't go, I'd go from Barcelona up the Cote d'Azur to Italy. I really want to go to Turkey and the Greek Islands too.
 
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