Top 10 cities in Europe to visit (best city, real estate, live)

[AnthonyB]

Originally Posted by nativeDallasite

If nobody has already suggested Edinburgh, go there. It'd probably be faster (and cheaper) to fly there than to take the train, but it's a lovely city.

Sucks in the spring. Still dark and rainy. 2 days and your done. Honestly. I lived there.

All this talking makes me miss Europe and the proximity to so many amazing cities, countries and cultures.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll drive up to Montreal for a couple of days.

[nativeDallasite]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Sucks in the spring. Still dark and rainy. 2 days and your done. Honestly. I lived there.

All this talking makes me miss Europe and the proximity to so many amazing cities, countries and cultures.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll drive up to Montreal for a couple of days.

It's lovely in summertime, though.

[CMDallas]

Lisbon- one of Europe's most prominent and different cultures.
Madrid- one of Europe's most prominent and different cultures.
Prague- History, castles and architecture's
Moscow- so much mystery and History
London- haha the NY of europe
Brussles- NATO hq
Athens- the history
Rome- the History...
Warsaw - such history, castles and architecture.
Tallin - what has changed since the soviets left? what is it like?

other cities:
Copenhagen
Sarajevo
Andorra La Vella
Bucharest
Budapest
Kiev
Paris (is over ratted)
Bern
Vienna
Berlin
Minsk
Helsinki
Fu*king, Austria - the name is just tooo cool

[caseras]

Originally Posted by CMDallas

Lisbon- one of Europe's most prominent and different cultures.
Madrid- one of Europe's most prominent and different cultures.
Prague- History, castles and architecture's
Moscow- so much mystery and History
London- haha the NY of europe
Brussles- NATO hq
Athens- the history
Rome- the History...
Warsaw - such history, castles and architecture.
Tallin - what has changed since the soviets left? what is it like?

other cities:
Copenhagen
Sarajevo
Andorra La Vella
Bucharest
Budapest
Kiev
Paris (is over ratted)
Bern
Vienna
Berlin
Minsk
Helsinki
Fu*king, Austria - the name is just tooo cool

Andorra la Vella

surprising....

[caseras]

Originally Posted by decafdave

What are the best 10 Euro cities to visit?
It will be in the late spring if that matters. Oh, and don't include London please because that's where I'll be based. I will have a Eurail pass so alot of Eastern European countries will be out of reach-I still might be able to make it to Prague though.

Top 10 cities without London.....

Well, it depends on what you want to do in this city

Museums and History :

Paris (France)
Florence (Italy)
Rome (Italy)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Barcelona (Spain)
Venice (Italy)
Bordeaux (France)
Vienna (Austria)
Madrid (Spain)
St Petersburg (Russia)


Party

Berlin (Germany)
Paris (France)
Dublin (Ireland)
Ibiza (Spain)
French rivieira (Make a pick Cannes, Nice, St Tropez)
Milan (Italy)
Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Brussels (Beglium)
Munich (Germany)
Stockholm (Sweden)


IT's just my opinion, and to be honest, I have never been in Portugal (everybody told me Lisbon was a gorgeous place) nor in Finland nor in Norway.... .

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by caseras

Top 10 cities without London.....

Well, it depends on what you want to do in this city

(.

This was the first thing I thought of, too.

The other question is, how much time do you have?
Because one city might make the cut over another one, depending on the time involved. Since you have a pass, I assume you have at least 3 weeks.

Late spring is a really nice time to travel, it might be my favorite.

Anyway, *not counting* London, I would pick these top ten:

1) Paris (not over-rated IMHO: it is a walkable, easy to negotiate feast for eyes, mouth, mind. It has history, nightlife, beauty, great food and drink, and the hostels are cheap and clean.)

2) Berlin (vibrant, youthful atmosphere, lively club scene, more history--some of it sad but important)

3) Rome (the eternal city is a must-see for art, history, food, la dolce vita, gelato)

4) Dubrovnik (dramatic setting, ancient history, walkable,gorgeous, and a good jumping off place for Sarajevo, Budva and other interesting, picturesque Balkan cities. Not too expensive yet, they are still on the kuna, but they do try to part you with your money any way they can)

5) Strasbourg, France, on the border of Germany (another beautiful and walkable city, as one of the European Union Parliament cities it has a very international atmosphere)

6) Barcelona (Nightlife, art, history, color. Following the Spanish coast up through Barcelona and southern France would be a treat)

7) Venice (the first time I saw Venice, I hated it. the second time, I fell in love. It's well worth at least one try, for anyone. The best thing to do in Venice is get lost.)

8) Amsterdam (more canals! Lots of history, art, people watching, nightlife.)

9) Antibes/Nice/Monaco, France (late spring would be enchanting here. Again, you've got beautiful scenery, walkable towns, art museums and nightlife--and beaches. From here you could continue to the Cinque Terre in Italy.

10) Prague (has been loved to death and the pickpockets abound. other eastern European cities mentioned might be less crowded, but Prague would be much easier for you to get to.)

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Interpol76

Constatinople!!! I wouldn't toss that word around in Istanbul!!

Yes, I understand what you mean.

Perhaps interesting to note however, during the time when Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, many people simply referred to it as "i poli", "the city", like if you live near Manhattan, you may simply refer to it as "the city".

I believe that Istanbul is the "Turkishization" of the Greek expression of "the city" or "in the city" or somesuch ...
"eis tin poli", "Istanbul", "in the city".

I also would have liked to include a city of Portugal, notably Lisbon, on my top ten list, but, personally at least, I like Portugal as a whole country - to live in - not necessarily any one city to visit. Lisbon is great, of course, Coimbra is very nice to visit, but so are Evora and Braga, and the whole region of Algarve. Well, that just about covers the whole country (don't know Oporto unfortunately).

Spain would be worth 2-3 weeks by itself, going from city to city. I mentioned Madrid for obvious reasons, but there are so many others, like Cordoba and Toledo, we could go on.

I think everyone agrees that the top three in Italy are Rome, Florence, Venice. But of course there are many others that are worthwhile.

I tried to list the top choices in some kind of geographical order, assuming that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip within a limited time frame (2-3 weeks).

Whatever you decide, enjoy!

[Mooseketeer]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

Sucks in the spring. Still dark and rainy. 2 days and your done. Honestly. I lived there.

All this talking makes me miss Europe and the proximity to so many amazing cities, countries and cultures.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll drive up to Montreal for a couple of days.

I adore Edinburgh in any season and I always find things to see and do there. When I lived near Glasgow, we used to drive there all the time just for the sheer loveliness of it. And who cares about rain anyway ? It's Scotland for goodness sake ! We lived there for almost 5 years and I actually found the summers too be much more wet than Spring and Autumn, the best seasons in Scotland IMO.


It's a vibrant, cosmopolitan stunning city with plenty to discover, excellent museums, wonderful to walk around, great restaurants,, shops and a sense of history which pervades its every pore.

Edinburgh is not just about the festivals, there is so much more.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by cil

4) Dubrovnik (dramatic setting, ancient history, walkable, gorgeous,

7) Venice

Not an expert on Dubrovnik as such, but I have a hunch that much of its charm comes from its experience during the heyday of the Venetian Empire (same can be said of some towns along coastal Greece).

Originally Posted by cil

10) Prague (has been loved to death and the pickpockets abound. other eastern European cities mentioned might be less crowded, but Prague would be much easier for you to get to.)

Absolutely, Prague is a bit further west than Vienna (I need to change the order of my list). We think of it as "eastern" Europe because of the 1945-1991 experience of living memory, but historically the Czechs have played a meaningful role in the history of western Europe.

Well, we could get into endless arguments over the definition of western and eastern Europe, and so on.

But the fact remains that it is geographically located a bit west of Vienna and about equidistant to Berlin going north, slightly further west.

If you travel north to south, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest would be easy, maybe side trips to Bratislava and Cracow.

If you travel south to north, then Venice, Trieste, Vienna, Prague, back south through Bratislava, and then Budapest.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by bale002

Not an expert on Dubrovnik as such, but I have a hunch that much of its charm comes from its experience during the heyday of the Venetian Empire (same can be said of some towns along coastal Greece).
.

Oh, yeah, those Venetians sure did get around. We saw many of their ruins on Croatia's Dalmatian coast, the Montenegro coast, as well as Greece. The telltale Winged Lion always told us who had been there.
One of the most amazing was Frangokastello, on Crete.
It had a beautiful beach, too.