<p>I posted this in College Life as well, but any input you guys could give would be great.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of traveling in Europe this May for about 12 days and I'm looking for any advice or stories that you have. I'm going with one other person. We are thinking about Dublin and London for about 5 days (we have both been to London and won't spend much time there), and about a week on the continent. We want to visit Amsterdam for the great museums, history, and art and such.</p>
<p>Where else should we go? What places have rich histories and/or good art and architecture? What's just a cool city? Maybe a cool smaller city might be better. Thanks.</p>
<p>Spend three days in Dublin and surrounds, five days in London and four days in the English countryside--or Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Or...if it is art and architecture you're after...three days in Venice, three days in Florence and six days in Rome. You'll be satiated after that trip.....</p>
<p>Imagine that this is the first of many trips abroad and you never know! It could turn out that way!</p>
<p>I would highly recommend Scotland, as well, for history and architecture. Italy is remarkable, of course. I've never spent time in Amsterdam. If you've been to London, why not go someplace new? It's a great city to spend time in, but there are so many other wonderful places to visit! I have been to Ireland several times, and I've really enjoyed myself. </p>
<p>Make sure you spend at least a night in each area, the more the better. Italy is really worth a 12 day trip by itself, and I spent two weeks in Scotland alone. Make sure you don't skimp on any of these amazing places, but try to visit and experience as many as you can.</p>
<p>We've been to London, Paris, and parts of Italy so we want to try new places, hence Dublin and Amsterdam. We were thinking 1 night in London, 3 nights in Dublin, and 4 in 2 different places on the continent. What do you know about these cities?</p>
<p>Fewer places, more nights in each one. Split the trip between London and Dublin or London and Amsterdam or just spend the whole trip in one place. The more I travel, the more I want to get to know one place when I travel.</p>
<p>Think about the less traditional places as well... for example i LOVED Portugal and the Croatian coast. Obviously it depends if it fits in with your schedule. Places like Lisbon, Sintra and Cascais were wonderful and can be much cheaper compaired to cities like Paris/Rome. </p>
<p>The only problem with places like this is you would most likely need a car to get around. There would be bus links but i am not sure off the top of my head how good they are.</p>
<p>myccname,
We live in Germany and greatly enjoy traveling Europe. If Dublin is a definite for you take a look at Ryanair.com Ryan Air is a cheap fare airline and flies in and out of Dublin. Ryan Air flies into small regional airports outside of Pisa, Rome, and Milan too. You may be able to get a great fare from Ireland to Italy.</p>
<p>Our favorite cities have been London, Edinburgh, and Berlin. We enjoyed the Cotswolds in England and the wilds of Scotland. The month of May can be unpredictable weatherwise in the UK and much of Europe, so pack your wet weather gear. You could expect nice weather in Italy.</p>
<p>Bruges in Belgium is rich in history and art --charming medieval town.</p>
<p>If you like cycling, visit the Hoge Veluwe park near Arnhem in the Netherlands--free cycles provided and a lovely Art Museum in the center of the park--many Van Goghs. </p>
<p>It can be nice to see Europe outside of the famous capital cities, sometimes. </p>
<p>If this is early May you can still catch the tulips in the Netherlands. My sister and I went on a bicycle tour in Amsterdam and environs, visiting a cheese factory, working windmill and even did a little row boating. Great fun. It can be cold during the day and will almost certainly be cold at night. </p>
<p>The flower market in Brussels is worth a visit. There are some great museums also. </p>
<p>I am a fan of the Rick Steves books/videos on Europe. Your library should have the books, and the scripts of his PBS programs are online.
For some reason my computer won't copy the link, but google "Rick Steves" and "PBS." Go to the first link, "Europe through the back door" and poke around. The scripts of the program are in "Rick on public tv."</p>
<p>Rich history, great art and architecture and coolest city in Europe--Barcelona, hands down. However, that's a whole different trip than London, Dublin and possibly Amsterdam. I second the recommendation to go to the Hoge Veluwe, in the Netherlands--the museum and sculpture park there is called the Kroller-Muller, and it's fantastic. Additionally, this year the Netherlands is celebrating Rembrandt's 400th "birthday", so there are all sorts of interesting things happening in Amsterdam and Leiden (his birthplace) especially (Leiden also has great museums, including one on the pilgrims and a wonderful natural history one). Also very worthwhile is a visit to the Hague to see the Mauritshuis (art museum),the International Peace Court and much more. Check out <a href="http://www.rembrandt400.com%5B/url%5D">www.rembrandt400.com</a> for more info. In Amsterdam, aside from the usual stuff, make sure to visit NieuwMetropolis (best childrens/science museum) and Rembrandt's house and castles on the outskirts (Muiderslot is one). 12 days--already gone! Good luck!</p>
<p>Actually, I just saw that you are talking about May. The Keukenhof gardens (in Lisse--easy to travel by train) is usually open until about mid-May, and is well worth the trip. You might be lucky enough to still see the tulip fields in full bloom while on the train, though they are starting to cut them for bulbs around then. Also off the beaten bath is to actually go to an early morning flower auction (kind of near Schiphol airport). I don't have any references nearby, but you can probably find out about it in any really good travel book or through the NL tourism board.</p>
<p>I suggest Amsterdam. If you want to travel on day trips you can catch the train to Brussels or Cologne (or even Paris but it is 4 hrs) from Central Station.</p>
<p>I've traveled quite a bit in Europe, both for business and pleasure. Amsterdam is not only a great city, but it's easy to get around and there's lots to see. But if you are interested in architecture, Prague cannot be missed. The major downside is the number of tourists, but May will ensure that you'll miss most of them. </p>
<p>Some places I am neutral about (OK, but did not fall in love with them):
[ul]
[<em>]London
[</em>]Vienna
[<em>]Rome (actually most cities in Italy, although there is a LOT to see and do)
[</em>]Brussels
[<em>]Geneva
[</em>]Most cities in Germany
[/ul]</p>
<p>Disclaimer: In all my travels, I've never been to Spain or Portugal</p>
<p>Mmm... After Amsterdam you can pretty much go anywhere else on the continent from Schiphol airport so... Suggestions: Belgium for the food (Bruges and Bruxelles are fine cities to visit too). Munich, for the beer. Austria is great (never got to spend enough time in Vienna, but loved Innsbruck and Salzburg). Copenhagen (take a detour by Bilund in Jutland to see the original Legoland if you want) and Stockholm are great cities too (consider Visby as well if your trip happens to be in August).</p>
<p>See if you can fly into Shannon, stay one night & go to the medievel banquet followed by a long visit at Durty Nelly's pub (right next to the banquet castle), rent a car and go to Galway the next day/night. Hop on a train to Dublin for the last day/night. There's your 3 days in Ireland.</p>
<p>You could depart from Ireland via ferry to Scotland if that's of interest.</p>
<p>Sounds like you've done the London thing, but there's always something else to find there! You've received lots of good suggestions for other cities/countries...</p>
<p>Wow. Thank you all so much for the great suggestions. All of this is really helpful.</p>
<p>Nothing is set in stone for us yet; Dublin seemed like a good place to see but it might ended up being too removed and we may ended up staying on the continent the whole 2 weeks.</p>
<p>We are 18 and will be staying in hostels/ moderately priced hotels. Renting a car is not really an option for us. We are thinking of getting a 15 day youth Eurorail pass to get around.</p>
<p>You've thrown some awesome stuff out for me and I really appreciate it. When I get a clearer idea of the cities we are thinking about (probably tomorrow), I will post them to see what your thoughts are. Thanks!</p>
<p>mycc, there are great museums, culture and history in every single European country. You can either hop from capital to capital (e.g. London, Amsterdam, Rome. . .) or you could do an in depth around one country or culture (eg Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp).</p>
<p>For two weeks I think you could do well with England, Holland and Belgium. Plenty of art, history, museums, big cities and charming villages. </p>
<p>What kind of art/architecture are you most interested in? Amsterdam and London are wonderful because they offer both old and new -- For example, The National Gallery :: Tate Modern, The (Museum that starts with a K and is full of Rembrandts :: The Van Gogh Museum. Brussels is more medieval, but the big museum in Brussels (I seem to being having memory problems this morning) has an EXTRAORDINARY collection of Bruegels. Then there's the Prado . . .:)</p>
<p>I haven't been to Dublin. I don't think of it as being an art destination, though I just read a great book about how a real Caravaggio was rediscovered there and is now in the national museum.</p>