Traveling to Europe After Belgium Attack

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by dazzleman

One of the cruise stops is Marseilles, which has a terrible reputation because of all the muslims. I intend to get away from Marseilles and go to Aix en Provence, but that was the case before the Paris and Brussels attacks. I sure has hell wouldn't go to a hell hole like Molenbeek.

I strongly suggest you not skip Marseille. I recently visited it while staying at Aix and Marseille turned out to be quite a pleasant city, at least from a tourist's perspective. I ended up going there the second day too, because as quaint and elegant as Aix is, it is a bit too small. Marseille offers a lot. I even took the bus to the outskirt to visit the calanques. Had an amazing day. Looking back, I wished I had stayed in Marseille instead of Aix--en-Provence.


Don't believe too much the "reputation". See Marseille with your own eyes.

[Eric1026]

In an attempt to try to help people who are concerned enough not to travel to Europe = maybe think about certain areas versus others. If Germany, Brussels or cities such as Paris were on your wish list maybe rethink the itinerary just a bit (remember this is for people who will simply not go due to being scared no matter what we say to them). Right now a lot of refugees are coming in via Greece and moving up the right side of Italy and into Austria before getting to Germany, Sweden, etc.

So how about flying into Zurich and spending a bit more time in Switzerland? How about going to Florence but maybe staying outside of the city in an awesome Agro Tourismo rental (that way when the time comes you are "safely" in Tuscany and are one hour out of Florence, which gives you the option to go into the city or not). The Lake district of Italy should be fine and so should the Dolomites.

I have to admit that we had not locked down our summer 2016 travel plans before the Paris attacks and when we ended up making our plans final we altered them just a bit.....and we are seasoned travelers that have been everywhere and back multiple times. It sucks that some of us (myself included) get scared just a bit but let's work around it and try to minimize our fears while we watch this whole thing play out.

AND BY THE WAY, don't think we are the only ones who feel this way. We were in Costa Rica several months ago and met up with two young German guys who lived in Munich. When we asked them about the current situation, they were very unhappy and very scared for their future. We visited Dubai over the Holidays and meet up with a couple from Austria. Once again we asked them about the current situation, and they were also very upset with what is happening to their country.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by botticelli

I strongly suggest you not skip Marseille. I recently visited it while staying at Aix and Marseille turned out to be quite a pleasant city, at least from a tourist's perspective. I ended up going there the second day too, because as quaint and elegant as Aix is, it is a bit too small. Marseille offers a lot. I even took the bus to the outskirt to visit the calanques. Had an amazing day. Looking back, I wished I had stayed in Marseille instead of Aix--en-Provence.


Don't believe too much the "reputation". See Marseille with your own eyes.

Thanks so much for the suggestion. Very much appreciated.