European trip, no idea where to even start

[stlouie_lipp]

All i can add is that I've only been to France, but it was really awesome.

[lukethedrifter]

I would say there are good times to visit the Louvre and there are better times to visit the Louvre. I don't think I would ever describe it as underwhelming, although I did prefer the Pompidou Center. I find modern art museums more engaging the classic stuff, for whatever reason. I was underwhelmed by Versailles.

Normandy is impressive enough, but as I get older, I wish I had spent time at WWI sites.

Italy can be its own trip. There's just too much I'd want to see.

I’ll just put it this way, you’ll view the Mona Lisa with 900 Japanese tourists taking selfies using her as a backdrop. I enjoyed the little Van Gogh Museum & exhibit in Arles much more. As far as Paris, my French friend says he prefers Musee d’Orsay.
Louvre was cool but trying to view the art was stressful.

[heyzeus]

Can I put in a word for Spain? Spain is awesome. Madrid - great museums, great food, great culture. People spend all night drinking and eating and listening to music in public. Barcelona? Half of it is ancient and mesmerizing and sits on a perfect beach, the other half is modern and vibrant and littered with the surrealist architecture of Gaudi (you've heard of the Sagrada Familia, but GO TO IT, it is worth it). Southern Spain, ie Andalusia, is rugged and remote and full of pockets of breathtaking beaches and little friendly beach towns, and it's where they filmed the sphagetti westerns because it does look like the American southwest. Oh and Granada! Home of the Alhambra, the ancient Moorish temple full of intricate mosaic work and gardens with running water.

Basically, every month that goes by, I'm more ready to move my family to Spain.

[IMADreamer]

Can I put in a word for Spain? Spain is awesome. Madrid - great museums, great food, great culture. People spend all night drinking and eating and listening to music in public. Barcelona? Half of it is ancient and mesmerizing and sits on a perfect beach, the other half is modern and vibrant and littered with the surrealist architecture of Gaudi (you've heard of the Sagrada Familia, but GO TO IT, it is worth it). Southern Spain, ie Andalusia, is rugged and remote and full of pockets of breathtaking beaches and little friendly beach towns, and it's where they filmed the sphagetti westerns because it does look like the American southwest. Oh and Granada! Home of the Alhambra, the ancient Moorish temple full of intricate mosaic work and gardens with running water.

Basically, every month that goes by, I'm more ready to move my family to Spain.

You are the second person this week to recommend Spain. Sagrada Familia is on my bucket list for sure. I love Basilicas and Cathedrals anyway and always try to visit them if I'm in the vicinity. It sounds like we might need to put a Spain trip on the list. We actually have friends in Barcelona who have told us to come over an stay sometime. I have another set of friends who plan to retire there in about 10 years.

[Swirls]

Can I put in a word for Spain? Spain is awesome. Madrid - great museums, great food, great culture. People spend all night drinking and eating and listening to music in public. Barcelona? Half of it is ancient and mesmerizing and sits on a perfect beach, the other half is modern and vibrant and littered with the surrealist architecture of Gaudi (you've heard of the Sagrada Familia, but GO TO IT, it is worth it). Southern Spain, ie Andalusia, is rugged and remote and full of pockets of breathtaking beaches and little friendly beach towns, and it's where they filmed the sphagetti westerns because it does look like the American southwest. Oh and Granada! Home of the Alhambra, the ancient Moorish temple full of intricate mosaic work and gardens with running water.

Basically, every month that goes by, I'm more ready to move my family to Spain.

You are the second person this week to recommend Spain. Sagrada Familia is on my bucket list for sure. I love Basilicas and Cathedrals anyway and always try to visit them if I'm in the vicinity. It sounds like we might need to put a Spain trip on the list. We actually have friends in Barcelona who have told us to come over an stay sometime. I have another set of friends who plan to retire there in about 10 years.

A buddy of mine honeymooned on the Spanish riviera. He said it is the same geographic area as the French riviera, but because you're in Spain instead of France it's only half the price. Same wine, same food, same atmosphere... but half the price.

[thrill]

I want to go to San Sebastian, but I'm a very cliche dude because all my travel ambitions are based off Bourdain episodes.

[Popeye_Card]

The big thing to keep in mind is to keep your expectations in check when it comes to the bigger sights. The crowds are everywhere at popular tourist places, especially during the summer travel months.

For example, you might imagine the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to be like...

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When in reality it is more like...

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Or you may not have had this in mind when you think of the beauty of Venice...

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There's a few things you can do to help avoid the crowds:
* Go during an off-season. Which for you as a farmer will be hard, because the best times to go without it being too cold are March/April or October/November.
* See the bigger sites early in the morning or late in the day. That helps avoid some of the bigger tour groups and cruise ship excursions.
* Anything you can reserve in advance (i.e. museums), be sure to get reservations. The lines for tickets can literally be a few hours long. The absolute worst way to see Europe is wasting time in a ticket line.

That said, be wary of "skip the line" tours and such that you'll see on TripAdvisor or other sites. If you want a guided tour, they can be OK (though really annoying for people trying to visit sites solo, because the huge tour groups clog things up). But otherwise you're just paying extra to get a reservation that may only cost a couple dollars if you reserve through the official site.

There's other tricks for each site too, which is why I recommend Rick Steves videos (and books). He's more nerdy than most travel videos you'll see, but he makes good common sense recommendations for what to see and how to save time, and where to eat that aren't tourist traps.

[GeddyWrox]

I also highly recommend Barcelona. I went there for a work trip. I didn't get to tour everything to the degree I wanted, but the architecture is incredible, Sagrada Familia is incredible, the beach front is incredible, the people are friendly, the food is fabulous, and my oh my the women are gorgeous.

[33anda3rd]

Paris and Barcelona are my two favorite European cities and there's a TON to explore near Barcelona. San Sebastian is awesome, the Basque region, the south of France esp the Languedoc wine region is pretty phenomenal, a drive down the sea to Valencia to eat some paella is great. That area IMO is best not coupled with another major European city so you can really dig into everything around there.

Edit to add: Also Monserrat. Utterly unbelievable. You take the train outside town, you see this monastery and a boys choir, you take a funicular to this place on the mountain where in like 1400-something some little girls supposedly saw the virgin Mary and all these people are up there crying and praying. [expletive] wild, man. Never seen anything like it.

[Jocephus]

There's other tricks for each site too, which is why I recommend Rick Steves videos (and books). He's more nerdy than most travel videos you'll see, but he makes good common sense recommendations for what to see and how to save time, and where to eat that aren't tourist traps.

i can only add that my folks have done at least a dozen rick steves european tours and really enjoy how they are run (not to say you need to go thru his tour but that he would be a good well of info)

if going to italy, watch jordan schlansky on/with conan.

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