Never Been to Europe. WHERE SHOULD I GO?? (train, eat)

[J.R.]

Absolutley Bavaria, Austria and Northern Italy - Gorgeous scenary and full of history. And a little jaunt to Venice is not out of the way. Anywhere you go in Eurpope, you will will find someone that speaks english, so don't worry about language issues.

Fly into Munich, rent a car and hit the road!!

Have fun!

[irman]

Originally Posted by J.R.

Fly into Munich, rent a car and hit the road!!Have fun!

Dunno if this still works but here is a tip anyway. Used to work for me when I lived and worked there (80's).

Book beforehand (on line or by phone) with a reputable company (we had a Hertz account). If you work for a decent company, check if you can use their corporate account.
Insist on a BMW 3 series .....
Don't feel surprised ... BMW and Mercedes are as common in Munchen as Ford and Chevy in the USA ....
All taxicabs are mostly made by Mercedes ....
Hmmm .... they never have one .... (a 3 series unit)
So ask for a 5 series for the same price, but ...., since it uses more gas, thus you therefore like to have a break on the rental price ....

good luck.

[Dark Khan]

Update:

Still not sure where we're going but right now we're leaning towards an Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Norway/Finland trip. Any opinions on this? Or would a Germany/Switzerland/Austria/Italy trip be more fun?

I'm so torn.

[Apple_91]

Scandinavia during the summer is wonderful ! Pleasantly warm & sunny summers !

Stockholm, Sweden is must a see ! Also visit Paris, London, Rome, Istanbul

[irman]

Originally Posted by Dark Khan

leaning towards an Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/Norway/Finland trip. Any opinions on this? Or would a Germany/Switzerland/Austria/Italy trip be more fun?

Geesj, I feel for you ....
If you have time enough (at least 30 days ...), do both, else do one, one year and then the other another time !!!

For *more fun*, I can not answer, since I have no idea what kind of fun you like ...

I have lived and worked in Denmark and Sweden, and also in Germany and Switzerland, so for me any of the countries you mention are familiar to me.

When you say *we*, you mean adults only or with kids ?

[Tjukken]

scandinavia is oki, but its not funfun fun city thing :

city vacation i bet wud be borring in scandinavia espesaly if u dont have a local to show u stuff. (thus turist busses trains etc is so freaking borring)

but if u like to se outside cities. and like landscape sceanries. u wud like scandinavia. but not to long in one place. and u shud try bussing around. u can take buss from denmark to sweden. and from sweden to norway. (less time than crosing the states)

if u choose scandinavia i wud not take plaine from one city to another. maby exept tromsø.
bus or train, yeas takes time, but u will see alot more.

10K maby not so much in scandinavia...
i just spent 15k in my vacation now, in the Philippines but im male travling alone

[GhostInTheShell]

It's hard to go wrong...but if it was me and I'd never been to Europe, I'd spend about eight days in Italy and six in either Austira or Switzerland. My time in Italy would be spent touring the Amalfi coast and one of the nearby islands (e.g. Capri) or Florence/Tuscany. You could do both if you spent the whole two weeks in Italy, which would allow you perhaps a two day excursion through Rome in transit. In Switzerland/Austria I'd probably include Bern, Interlaken (and nearby villages), Innsbruck and Vienna. It would be hard to visit all three countries in two weeks without feeling rushed (which you should never feel on vacation!). So, I'd probably just choose two out of the three.

Edit:
For background, I've visited all the countries you've mentioned except Finland...some, a few times. They're all great places, but if it was my first trip to Europe, I'd follow a plan similar to the one above. Just my 2 cents.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by GhostInTheShell

It's hard to go wrong...but if it was me and I'd never been to Europe, I'd spend about eight days in Italy and six in either Austira or Switzerland. My time in Italy would be spent touring the Amalfi coast and one of the nearby islands (e.g. Capri) or Florence/Tuscany. You could do both if you spent the whole two weeks in Italy, which would allow you perhaps a two day excursion through Rome in transit. In Switzerland/Austria I'd probably include Bern, Interlaken (and nearby villages), Innsbruck and Vienna. It would be hard to visit all three countries in two weeks without feeling rushed (which you should never feel on vacation!). So, I'd probably just choose two out of the three.

Edit:
For background, I've visited all the countries you've mentioned except Finland...some, a few times. They're all great places, but if it was my first trip to Europe, I'd follow a plan similar to the one above. Just my 2 cents.

I think the above is good advice.

[Dark Khan]

Again, thanks everyone for the replies.

We're getting closer to figuring it out. For sure we're going to Italy and Switzerland. But, I'd also like to squeeze Germany (Munich) in for the last couple days. Judging by the replies in this thread though, that is probably out of the question unless we want to rush through.

How about when to go? We were thinking mid/late September. Decent time?

[dougie86]

Originally Posted by Dark Khan

For sure we're going to Italy and Switzerland. But, I'd also like to squeeze Germany (Munich) in for the last couple days. Judging by the replies in this thread though, that is probably out of the question unless we want to rush through.

How about when to go? We were thinking mid/late September. Decent time?

Mid/late September is a good time. Less Tourist traffic. Not so hot and humid.
Since you are covering northern Italy and Switzerland, how about squeezing a few days at Cinqueterra.

I tend to combine German cities with my visits to previous Eastern bloc (Hungary, Poland, Chec Rep, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro ...).
And Scandinavian cities with Latvia, Estonia and Belarusia.
Or Scandinavia cities with St Petersburg and Moscow.