I live in Atlanta and I have decided to take a trip to Europe for six weeks! I fly into Dublin in the last week of September. I am going to hit dublin, belfast, glasgow, edinburgh, london, oxford, paris, brussels, amsterdam, berlin, prague, vienna, budapest, innsbruck, munich, berne, milan, venice, florence, san marino, rome, bologna, genoa, monaco, marseille, barcelona, valencia, madrid, lisbon and then back to dublin.
Needless to say, I am pumped. Any tips on where to stay cheap, what to do, where to eat? Remember, cheap is the key! Thanks.
First thing's first, get yourself a copy of 'Lonely Planet: Europe On A Shoestring' full of tips, recommendations, maps travel advice everything you could want.
How are you planning to get about? There's various rail cards available which make getting about between cities so much easier. Try googling for Eurail if you haven't come across them before.
A few of my tips:
Useful site for finding accomodation used it myself loads when going round Europe and by referring to the rating system always seemed to end up in really nice hostels and budget hotels
...and give yourself a ton of time to explore Rome. There's just so much to see. The Vatican is an essential visit, it's breathtakin and you could spent almost a full day just wandering through the museum.
Andrew, that was really nice of you to give him lots of links and a book recommendation. One suggestion I can give you is to pack and then remove about half of the clothing you think you need. You will be very thankful when you're hauling your bag around.
The only thing about Lonely Planet is, you've got to be careful with hostels they call "cosy" or "run by a friendly Spanish family". I stayed in a "hostel" in Madrid that was highly recommended by Lonely Planet Europe - and it was, well, the appartment of a very strict couple who wanted us to ring the bell every time we came home and wouldn't help us with anything...
But apart from that, Lonely Planet is great, of course ;)
you've got a VERY long list there... (Are you quite sure about going to Innsbruck? I'd go to Salzburg instead, hm)
Anyway, a few tips for my wonderful home town, Munich:
--> if you're going to try Bavarian food and beer (well, you have to do that, of course) : I'd recommend the Augustiner am Dom (it's next to the Frauenkirche=Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady, the "Symbol" of Munich) or the "Weißes Brauhaus" (also in the city center) - and if you want sth cheap and slightly bavarian:the Atzinger in the University-area.
--> the Atomic Café ( http://www.atomic.de ) is "the" alternative music club in Munich, but it's ~ 7€ admission (or up to 14, if there's a concert) and you'd better wear nice sneakers ;-) - it's really nice inside, though, they play Travis songs, of course ;) and the concerts are usually worth it.
--> Hostels: the Wombat's Hostel is said to be great (and cheap)
-->amazingly, there is a FREE Tour(in English) every day.
--> see: German Museum (famous science&technology museum, it's huuuge and really worth it), Pinakothek der Moderne (great building, modern art, Sunday admission €1!), English Garden, Cathedral of our Blessed Lady (there's the footprint of the devil himself in there), Theatiner-Church, ...
--> http://www.munichfound.de is the Munich magazine in English, but they list the expensive as well as the budget stuff, so be careful
I live in Atlanta and I have decided to take a trip to Europe for six weeks! I fly into Dublin in the last week of September. I am going to hit dublin, belfast, glasgow, edinburgh, london, oxford, paris, brussels, amsterdam, berlin, prague, vienna, budapest, innsbruck, munich, berne, milan, venice, florence, san marino, rome, bologna, genoa, monaco, marseille, barcelona, valencia, madrid, lisbon and then back to dublin.
Needless to say, I am pumped. Any tips on where to stay cheap, what to do, where to eat? Remember, cheap is the key! Thanks.
skipping glasgow would be your best bet for a good holiday ;) - if you can stomach hostels, then go with them in scotland, but maybe not in mainland europe - VERY cheap. You can also find sites and hotels that do deals with eachother to give you the best financial outcome if you stay at one, then stay at the other blah blah blah
(at the Parque del Retiro, I was traced by a fortune teller AND by a guy in a Whinnie-The-Pooh costume. Oh, oh, those days in madrid were really eventful ;) )
Ahh, stoppppp! It won't work that way for him, because your country of residence must be in Europe when you buy the ticket. You have to show your passport when you buy the thing, and even though you can buy the ticket in the internet, you still have to fill in your passport number when you purchase it :(
But the good message is that there's Eurail: http://www.eurail.com/ I think it's basically the same system, but it's not only for Europeans ;)
