<p>DH and I are more than a year overdue on our “25th Anniversary” trip to Europe. It’s time to start planning </p>
<p>Happily we more than enough United Airlines frequent flyer miles to cover the airfare. So the next step is to plot out the where/when ideas. We’ve both been on a family Ireland trip, so we’d like to try somewhere else. Open slate.</p>
<p>The dates are still TBD. So far we are thinking maybe late April / early May. Or perhaps early Sept or early Oct. </p>
<p>Ideas? Websites? Tour company suggestions? DH is looking now at some Mediterranean cruises. I’d consider a bus tour (we liked our Ireland Celtic Tours trip), not sure way. We’d want a few days on our own somewhere too I think.</p>
<p>I’m European born and have lived in north and south parts of the place. I also love cruising. I would not recommend cruising to Europe as most of the port cities are the ‘meh’ cities and not ‘wow’ cities (for every Venice you have several “what were they thinking” ports where the main city is 2 hours away or the only interesting thing is a set of ruins nearby). For a ‘getaway’, cruising is hard to beat. For more ‘intellectual’ tourism such as art or museums, you gotta do it the hard way.</p>
<p>Decide on the format first. Europe is deceptively compact compared to the US, but Munich to Venice is not quite the easy trip one may think - or Munich to Paris for that matter. You can do one or two cities and get good exposure or hop from place to place. Driving is fairly easy (easier than Chicago for example :-)) in places like Germany…</p>
<p>So, what do you want to see/do, and what format? And for how long. And budget? Lots of options.</p>
<p>River cruises? There are a variety of routes though central Europe, and they do hit some interesting places. Smaller ships, nice scenery. No personal experience, but it looks great! One of the most awe inspiring places I’ve ever been (and I’ve seen more than some) is the coast of Norway. </p>
<p>I’d never been to Paris till last spring, and though never cared about it previously, was quite impressed by France. If you’ve never been, why not? A feast for the senses.</p>
<p>Do you speak any European languages or will you be more comfortable using staying where English is prevalent? </p>
<p>If you’re comfortable, I’d recommend renting a car and creating a circuit of small town visits where there won’t be hoards of tourists, where you can enjoy good food and really experience Europe. The Vallee de Somme and WWI sites around Amiens in nothwestern France, most of Belgium and places in Holland make a wonderful circuit. Southwestern France around the Baie d’Archachon, the Bordeaux wine region, and crossing into Spain is another. Doing the coast road from Nice toward Italy and the Italian Riviera or crossing the mountain passes toward Mont Blanc is also wonderful. There are many others.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. Oh… I like the idea of small town visits. But we really do need to do English (or have tour crutch). </p>
<p>We don’t speak any foreign languages. (I took german in hs, and DH took french. but neither of us has used it). DH originally liked the idea of France canal houseboat rental, but that is beyond my comfort zone … especially for the first trip. That’s what got him thinking on cruises.</p>
<p>We’re in the dreaming stages, but vacation availability may be early May… not sure if that allows enough planning time.</p>
<p>I’m a fan of small towns too. I’ve always traveled in cars and speak fluent French and German, but I’ve travelled places where I didn’t speak the language and coped. </p>
<p>Wonderful trips we’ve had:</p>
<p>Scotish highlands - especially if you like hiking and/or tasting scotch
Baroque churches in southern Germany (also lots of good hiking in the Alps)
Venice in the spring before the tourist hordes get there
Italian hilltowns and some of the garden villas (basically the drive between Rome and Florence) - Assisi is gorgeous, Siena is stunning, the Villa D’Este is worth a detour in Michelin parlance
Brittany - seeing Stonehenge like structures
Biking in Holland when the tulips are in bloom</p>
<p>Do you have other interests that might lead to trip suggestions? For example, if you love Roman history, you can go to Italy; if you love classical music, you might want to go to Vienna.</p>
<p>If you go on a cruise, stay away from European cruise operators. There is heavy smoking onboard that you don’t get with the US run companies, and they are not near as upscale. Unless, of course, you are a smoker. I have heard the river cruises are by far mostly senior citizens. Which might be fine, of course, but if you’re a little more active, that might not be a positive. </p>
<p>We went on the most amazing trip last summer. It was a Rick Steves tour (ricksteves.com). We did the Heart of Europe, what a fantastic itinerary, from Rome to Florence to the Cinque Terra. They have tours all over Europe. They stay in nice hotels, small groups, they are adventurous but not crazy. Very active, you walk 2-8 miles a day. They optimize every minute of your trip, as they know exactly what times to go to the museums and restaurants, they hire local guides to give you the history. It is really a first class experience. We have traveled all over the world, but this was the highlight of our travels, for sure. They give you some time on your own, but you don’t have to arrange anything or go through the frustrations and hassle of traveling. They made sure we saw the best of every place we went to.</p>
<p>Just some things to know. Dang, there is alot of wine drinking on that trip (not to excess, but I drank wine every night and Italian wine is so very good). You have to be pretty fit to enjoy it the most. Though it is not overly strenuous, there are alot of stairs in Italy to be climbed, and I didn’t gain a pound. You can’t be a whiner, they let you know up front that not everything is going to go as planned, so just enjoy the adventure and lay off the complaining so you don’t ruin it for everyone. Just loved every person on our trip, such nice and interesting people. Only 24-28 people per trip, so the tour buses are only half full…not that you use them that much, you spend at least 2 nights everywhere and do some train travel. I honestly didn’t study or arrange anything for this trip before we did it, except the first two days we went early and stayed in Lake Como.</p>
<p>I can’t wait to do it again. Have fun, whatever you do!</p>
<p>Seconding Busdriver’s Rick Steves’ recommendation. We went on a Rick Steves’ tour to Rome a couple of years ago and loved it. The tour approach is different in that the tour introduces you to the city and hits the high points, but also leaves you a lot of free time and great ideas for exploring on your own.</p>
<p>We spent a wonderful week in the Bavarian Alps last April. Flew into Munich, rented a car, and drove ourselves. None of us speak German, but nearly every person we spoke to spoke a little English, and we carried a phrase book. Stayed near Garmisch the entire week. There were more day trip options available from that base than we had time to do. Toured Dachau on our first morning, as it is close to the Munich airport. Took the train from Garmisch to Munich one day. Took a train/cable car to the top of the Zugspitz one day. Skiing is possible in April at the top. Took a one day bus tour of several castles, and a cathedral we wouldn’t have found on our own. The weather was beautiful, and the area was charming.</p>
<p>Some trips we have enjoyed:
Paris and the Loire Valley
Tailloires, Annecy, Megeve, Chamonix-France
Geneva, Lausaunne, Montreux, Gruyere, Wengen, Jungfrau -Switzerland
Spending a week in a foreign city with a day trip out (by train or with driver) to local small towns (Rome, Florence, London, Paris, etc.)
Lake District in Italy and Venice-not in high season</p>
<p>Note that in France the TGV train minimizes travel time and is very good. </p>
<p>If you are staying in hotels, the concierge can be a huge help in optimizing your trip and minimizing the impact of not being fluent in the local language. They can get museum passes and have them waiting for you, help with meal preferences and reservations, suggest and book day trips, etc. Email really works in this regard.</p>
<p>Enjoy planning your trip. Sounds like great fun.</p>
<p>If you have not traveled much to Europe, I would recommend visting the large cities to absorb the history & culture with museums and architecture. Late April/early May is a great time - flowers will be out and the weather should be reasonable. </p>
<p>Paris is a must - it has both and good food, plan at least 3-4 days. </p>
<p>Amsterdam is another city with interesting museums and lots to see (rent a bike to travel around). Good train service from Paris. From Amsterdam you can easily get to Germany. (Bruge Belgium is another quaint. although touristy, town, however small Dutch towns would be a good substitute). I work for a Dutch company, so I’ve seen quite a bit of the Netherlands. Maastricht in the south is old city and quite nice. A big plus with the Netherlands is nearly everyone speaks English (100% in the North, the south, less so). The beaches on the coast near the Hague were surprisingly beautiful and worth spending a night near. </p>
<p>You don’t mention London - again, lots to see and the train to Paris is a breeze.</p>
<p>You can do a canal boat holiday in the UK, no foreign language ability necessary. You see the gaudy house boats everywhere (called narrow boats if you want to google them). There are lots in Oxford, but the places most people seem to hire them are around Stratford-Upon-Avon. </p>
<p>H and I spent our 25th anniversary at the lakes in Northern Italy - Como, Maggiore, Garda, and my favorite, little Lake Orta. May would be a gorgeous time to go, and because it’s an area where tourism is the main industry, just about everyone speaks English (which is true through large swathes of Europe - even when you try to speak the local language, people will often reply to you in perfect English).</p>
<p>We like big cities, and have especially liked Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague. I have to say that in all of those cities you will be able to get along with absolutely no problems if you speak only English.</p>
<p>We are in the early stages of planning a trip to Italy in the May/June timeframe. If our son is there teaching English as planned, then we will visit.</p>
<p>But if you go to France, no problem if you speak only English. Speak loudly and firmly, and say gar-son a lot to the waitresses (it means sweetie, but they like it).</p>
<p>My favorite trips are when we rent a flat in a city for a week. Barcelona is a favorite…great architecture, food, culture, shopping, the Med sea, great day trips.</p>
<p>Also nice (but more of a packing challenge) is City + Nature. This summer we did Amsterdam + the Swiss Alps. (I would not recommend Switzerland right now unless money is no object because the Swis franc is crazy strong.)</p>
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