I am going on a trip around Europe this summer with my younger sister (17 years old), and I thought with so many RMs here, I might find some good recommendations of things that are “must sees,” the best restaurants, or in general things to do that only a local would know about. This is a trip with a group of high school students but very loosely structured. We will have a lot of free time and plan to explore on our own for the most part. I have spent a few weeks in Paris, but my sister has never left the US so we are hoping to see as much as we can.

Here are the places we will be visiting:
Austria: Salzburg
Italy: Venice, Murano
Switzerland: Lucerne, Lauterbrunnen (a few days)
France: Franche-Comte, Paris (a few days), Rennes, Rouen
England: London, Bath, and Salisbury

I would really appreciate any recommendations/advice for experiencing Europe!

Edit: I just realized that I wrote out all the cities in the idiotic backwards mission way. Oh well…



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 02:02AM by bratschedan.

When I was 18 I had the most fun in Amsterdam. Now that I am old, married, clean and sober, it would not be the same.

London is great.

I forget who said it first, but one can never tire of London. There is simply no end to the things you can see and do there. And for Heaven's sake, stay away from American franchises like McDonald's and Pizza Hut, and try local cuisine. Pub food is usually worthwhile and inexpensive.

And Venice - oh, my! Pure enchantment.

Samuel Johnson: "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life."

Salzburg is pretty, only the town centre, mind you. You will come across the Sound of Music just about everywhere;-) Just walk around, it's not that big after all, and enjoy. Buy some chocolate and sweets there!

London is fab, Bath is very pretty indeed, Salisbury, try the Cathedral!

If you get the chance, go to Munich, it's only about 1.5hrs from Salzburg. Well worth a visit.they are in the US, except the UK so make sure you have enough cash.
Moneywise, it's a bit of a bother, since you'll be needing Euros, Pounds and Francs.

Bear in mind that credit cards aren't quite as ubiqiuous as they are in the US.

Sunday shopping may not be available in all the countries, UK does, the others may not.

France uses the Euro as does all of continental Europe. So the only exchanging you'll need to do is Euro to Pounds.

Francs for Switzerland!

Ahhhh!! You're right!

What we do when we are in London with the kids, is buy a travel card that lets you use all public transport for a fixed period. Then find one of those characteristics double decker busses, go to the first row on the upper deck and enjoy the ride.

If you see something interesting, get off and investigate. Then take another bus and see where it takes you.

Great fun.

Oh, and if you plan to visit any touristy things like the Eiffel tower, try booking in advance over the internet. Saves you hours and hours of waiting in line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 03:59AM by rt.

I agree that, whenever possible, it's worthwhile booking online for things like major museums, the Eiffel tower, etc.

When you come to Paris, it would give me great pleasure to buy you both lunch and have a chat.

You can find my email address by clicking on my pseudonym if you're interested.

Tom in Paris

Thank you, Tom! I will get in touch closer to our trip!

Advice for Franche-Comté: Ditch it and do the wine road in Alsace and the city of Colmar. If you only have time for 1-2 hours in Alsace, try the area around Altkirch for an hour or two. Very charming.

If you have good weather, there is an excellent hiking trail along the crest of the Jura mountains in Switzerland between Lac Neuchatel and the Swiss border. Hiking trails in France are often poorly marked. Switzerland is done right. If you must stay in Franche-Comté, the Jura Département is the best one if you are in the mountains relatively close to Geneva. Besançon is in a pretty setting but always seems kind of run down to me.

More advice: skip Rennes and go to the little towns along the Bretagne coast.the further west the better (except for Brest).

Catch the TV station that broadcasts in Breton. In Finistère signs are also in Breton. Try the megalithic very old sites at Carnac. Brittany beaches can have extremely large tides, so a Brittany beach trip can be very memorable if you are there on the right day.

I don't know Normandy well enough to give advice. You'll get lots of Paris advice, so I'll leave that out.

In Rome, about two small, easy blocks (north, I think) from the Pantheon (Piazza della Rotonda) is a small street called "Via delle Copelle." There is a small restaurant there called "Taverna delle Copelle" that specializes in a thin crust wood-fired pizza and wonderful red house wine. I love the place and always go back.

Most people go to Florence. Personally, I would never go back and waste hours in great long queues hoping to get into see the art. If you're there for only one day, you have to either see the city, or the art. Choose wisely.

If you have a car:

The German-speaking part of Italy (South Tirol) is also extremely nice and scenic, and the capital city (Bozen or Bolzano) is a wonderful place with arcaded shopping street.

North of Rome is Orvieto, a hill town off the autostrada. Extremely well worth the visit. So are Montalcino, Pienza, and Multipulciano, none of them very far away. Rick Steve's is kind of responsible for discovering and saving a small mountain village Civita di Bagnoreggio, not far from Orvieto. It's accessible only by foot bride.

Germany and Scandinavia rock. If you see Sweden, you will not want to come back home. Then there's the UK. And France. And Spain. It's all too hard to take in. Stay a couple of months or risk not seeing much. Don't do the one day here, one day there thing.

"Foot bride?" I meant foot bridge. Foot bride sounds cool, though. I'm not sure I could drum up a good meaning for the phrase.

And Siena and the crete? Volterra, and the Etruscan tombs in southern Tuscany. And Umbria, with Gubbio, Assisi and Spoleto? And the Grotte di Frasassi in the Marche, and Urbino. And what about Ravenna and the mosaics, in Romagna. Oh well... Did they say how long their trip to Europe will be? All Europe in ten days in typical American fashion? They might need a month only for your Italian suggestions, and of course about three weeks only for Germany. And I would skip Switzerland.

Ciao, cludgie!

England, London

Borough 'Food' Market (underneath London Bridge)
Tate Modern
London Eye
Brick Lane
Try and get tickets to watch a Fulham FC match
Do the open top bus tour
Tower of London

I completely second the Tower of London and the open bus tours. They are a really good way to get an overview of the city without walking everywhere. You will find the Beefeater tours at the Tower worth it. Don't be afraid of the Tube. They have great maps of it; it's cost efficient. Buy a pass. Also do Hampton Court. Much like when Henry the 8th lived there. Take a boat up the Thames to it. The London Eye, btw, is worth the overview. You can book it online from the US and skip lines. Personally, I never tire of The British Museaum. It also has the advantage of being free.

Also, when you do Bath, don't miss the ancient Roman Baths.

I completely agree about the food advice. Do not go to a restaurant that you recognize. You will find McDonalds and other US chains. Be daring. Try local. Try pub food. It's cheaper and traditional.

Venice is great.

I would encourage to read ahead. The more you know about where you are going the more you will appreciate and enjoy your trip. Or maybe that is just me.

Ooh Ooh Ooh

The National History Museum!

How did I forget that one....

I've been to London and loved it. I recommend the Tower of London. I also did a tour of Kensington Palace that was well worth it. I second Catnip's suggestion that you eat in a pub. For all the fun we make of UK cuisine here in the US, I can say I never had a bad meal in a pub. If you get a chance, try something with treacle (it's a very sweet dessert talked about in the Harry Potter books). Also, some UK train stations sell milk steamers--steamed milk with a shot of flavored syrup. They're very good.

Btw, I would NOT waste your time on the wax museaum. There are much better ways to spend your time and money.

London
there are some great markets
Borough market is one of my favourite. It's right next to London Bridge and Southwark Cathedral
http://boroughmarket.org.uk/
Spitalfields is in the east of the city, close to the east end and Brick Lane - lots of the 'jack the ripper' tours walk through here and Brick lane (heart of the bangladeshi community) is a marvelous place for a Curry.... lots of city people go here for lunch
[Curry is typically British fare, in the same way that Rijstafel is Dutch, or Pizza is from Chicago]
http://www.spitalfields.co.uk/
I hear that 'Big Bus tours' are pretty good. they take you around the tourist sites and you can hop on and off - some of them are open topped double deckers.
but, if you're more independant, you can use standard london bus routes to take you to the same places, just needs a bit more planning
http://eng.bigbustours.com/london/home.html?gclid=CKa84srBsrwCFUnjwgodKU8ATg
if you're going to be in london for a few days, it may be a good idea to buy an oyster card to use on bus, underground, river bus, DLR and some parts of the overground rail network.
The downside is that they cost £3 before you even put any cash on them and when you leave you wont be able to redeem any cash left on them
http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/oystercard/product/oyster-card.html
if you are only going to be in london for a couple of days, then get a daily travelcard each day - it works the same as the oyster, but you cant use it on the riverbus
http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/travelcards/1-day/product/day-anytime-travelcard.html

Every tuesday you will find people outside the main rail stations giving away 'Time Out' free - it's a great resource for shows, theatre, comedy, music, food, art and general 'things to do'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 08:05AM by EssexExMo.

If you are going to London I'd get on to one of the tourist web sites that gives 2 for 1 discount vouchers for attractions. It's a lot better to pay 20 pounds for two to see the Tower of London rather than 20 pounds each.

I'll give Edinburgh a plug too...lots to see but quite a small city centre.

Thank you so much for all of the ideas so far. I really appreciate it. The more specific you can be, the better!

You're going to Europe but you aren't going to Rome!

Lauterbrunnen is heaven on earth, you will love it.

You should go to Zurich, it is a super enjoyable place.

London: Maybe visit Buckingham palace if you are here when it is open.
walk along the south bank.
London Eye
The museums
See a show

Bath : as above the Bath's and a Sally Lunn Bun to eat!

Have fun

Palaces - Hampton Court and the Tower of London. Both are fantastic. Get the audio guides for both. Worth it.

I loved walking along the Thames. My usual route was to take Northumberland Street from Trafalgar Square (check out the National Gallery of Art - my fave art museum in London) to the river and walk towards Westminster, which is a right turn at the river.

Definitely ride the Tube and the double decker buses. If you can find one of the old schools ones that run near the Tower, take that.

If you want to get a bit out of London, take the tube up to Greenwich. The Prime Meridian is there and some really cool stuff.

Librarykim2

Salzburg
Me? I'm into architecture and history. If you want to feature these things, a tour of Hohensalzburg Castle is a must. The view is also fantastic! Of course Mozart was born there. Nonnberg is one of the oldest abbys in Europe and is the oldest German speaking women's abby. It is one of my favorite cities in Europe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2014 10:58AM by Heidi GWOTR.

If you're going to Austria-spend a few more hours & go to Prague for a few days. You'll be glad you did.

Design your own bus tour in London (hop on any bus, as someone earlier suggested), queue for the Half Price Theatre Tickets in Leicester Square (the actual building; don't get sucked into the sellers claiming to be "official" on the walk from the Tube station to the Square), pre-book tickets to Book of Mormon (!), at Duck Island in St, Jame's Park, eat a sandwich from Pret A Manger, about two months before you leave, pre-order free (free!) tickets to the nightly Ceremony of the Keys: a completely different atmosphere in the Tower of London, after hours, small group. You don't get to see the jewels or armouries, but you'll have a magnificent experience. At no cost! Fly the London Eye (ferris wheel) for great views. Stay cheap (book now) with Travelodge or Premier Travel Inn. Or a hostel.

If you head as far as Lauterbrunnen, then please at least spend 1/2 day in Muerren. Wonderful, car free village. Take the cable car to the top for a wonderful view. If you are a hiker, then hike down (assuming no snow). Piz Gloria at the top is where the James Bond movie "On Her Majesties Secret Service" was filmed. If you decide to stay here (in Muerren) for a couple of days, then stay at Hotel Alpenruh.

Email me and I'd be happy to make suggestions about Salzburg. It's a jewel, accessible and beautiful. Don't buy the Salzburg card unless you do turbo tourism. Depending on how far out of the centre you stay, the bus passes that come with it aren't going to be that important. You can walk everywhere in the center.

Susan I/S can give you my address.