7-10 day trip - London + 1-2 other countries but not France/Spain

[skyao]

Great suggestions...see responses below:


What about Italy?

My wife has family in the south of France so our next trip would be to visit them and combinethat with an Italy trip

Or what about Berlin to Prague to Vienna? Prague and Vienna are marvelous historic cities and Berlin is fascinating in its own way.

I would like to go to Germany and Vienna, but i would have to sell that trip to my wife.

How would London-> Germany->Vienna compare to London->Belgium->Amsterdam.?

I assume we would have to fly from London to Germany...

thanks

Originally Posted by Tallybalt

London is a great starting point because of all the cheap discount flights on EasyJet, Ryanair, Air Berlin and a slew of other discount airlines. All of Europe is pretty much easily reachable.

What about Italy?

The great advantage of the discount airlines is that one way tickets are quite cheap. So you could fly to Rome, then take the train to Florence, then to Venice, and fly back to London from Venice (presumably you'd fly back to the US from London). 7-10 days gives you a decent vacation in Italy. May is a fabulous time to see Italy.

Or what about Berlin to Prague to Vienna? Prague and Vienna are marvelous historic cities and Berlin is fascinating in its own way.

Scotland is a beautiful country and May can be a good month as it starts to get a bit warmer and less wet. Take the train to York for a day, then go up to Edinburgh for a few days. The trick, however, is figuring out how to see the highlands and the west coast, where the real beauty of Scotland is, without relying on private cars.

[MisfitBanana]

Originally Posted by skyao

Thanks!

I think it down to the following:

1) London-->Belgium->Amsterdam.

2) London->Scotland->Ireland.

Can anyone compare and contrast these two trips? I really enjoyed our France trip last year because we could take the TGV no more than a few hours to each destination and it was a mixture of urban and rural.

I love Scotland and Ireland, and really want to go back. You have up to ten days, and I think you would do fine being in Scotland for five and Ireland for five.

Originally Posted by skyao

thanks for the advice.

Travelling time in Ireland is a factor to consider. I have heard that alot of driving is required to fully enjoy the Ireland experience.

Would you agree with this?

Personally, I don't think it's a big factor if you rent a car and aren't afraid to drive on the "wrong" side. I went to Ireland, and stayed with an Irish friend. His parents were nervous before we left (we were both in our mid-twenties), "Call us when you're halfway there so we know you're safe! Don't forget to blahblahblah" I thought for sure that the trip would take HOURS. Nope. It was only a 40 minute drive. I was astounded - my one-way commute to work every day was longer than that! To an American, Ireland is incredibly small.

Think of it like this:
Scotland, Wales, and England all together are only slightly larger than the state of Minnesota (England, Scotland, Wales = 88,627 sq miles, Minnesota= 86,938 sq miles).

Ireland and Northern Ireland together are only slightly larger than the state of Indiana (Ireland, Northern Ireland=37,940 sq miles, Indiana=36,418 sq miles).

Scotland itself is only 30,265 sq miles (smaller than South Carolina), so if you feel like you could get a pretty good idea of South Carolina in five days, and Indiana in five days, then go for the Scotland/Ireland trip.

I am biased, because I LOVED Scotland and Ireland. I loved walking into little shops, walking around little towns, I loved the scenery, and the various archaeological sites and castles, etc. It was a lot of fun, and I really hope to go back one day. I'm also biased because I love road trips, and would choose a car over a train any day.

It may make your decision easier to go to Trip Advisor and look at the various things to do in each country you're thinking of. Then quickly use Google Maps to map where each location of something you'd like to do is, and see how much traveling would be involved.

Also, it will make your decision easier if you plan on renting a car. I personally think you need a car in both Scotland and Ireland to really get the full experiences. If you mostly want to travel by train and by foot, then you may want to go for Belgium and Amsterdam.

[Tallybalt]

The only city in Belgium/Netherlands I genuinely loved was Bruges. It's a magical place.

Amsterdam can be charming, but on cold, gray days it's not. Notwithstanding the canals it's not a particularly pretty city but the museums are outstanding and it's still worth a few days' visit. It is, however, exceedingly expensive and hotel prices are shockingly high, really, too high for what's otherwise a mid-size city of minimal importance.

Brussels has a few interesting quarters, excellent food and chocolates. It's not a city where one would want to linger for more than a day or two.

Prague is....special. Yes, it's very touristy these days, but it's still quite reasonably priced compared to Amsterdam. It's a stunning city and it's hard to believe how beautiful Prague is until you've been there.

Vienna is bigger than Prague but the Inner Stadt is lovely and there are several great palaces to see. You could do a Prague-Vienna-Budapest tour quite easily and it's a logical one to make as these were the big cities of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Fabulous beer, excellent food, wonderful pastries. Budapest is also quite cheap and Vienna isn't too bad compared to London.

Originally Posted by skyao

Great suggestions...see responses below:


What about Italy?

My wife has family in the south of France so our next trip would be to visit them and combinethat with an Italy trip

Or what about Berlin to Prague to Vienna? Prague and Vienna are marvelous historic cities and Berlin is fascinating in its own way.

I would like to go to Germany and Vienna, but i would have to sell that trip to my wife.

How would London-> Germany->Vienna compare to London->Belgium->Amsterdam.?

I assume we would have to fly from London to Germany...

thanks