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We are planning doing a 5 week trip in europe
We are starting in London and end in Rome via low lands down West Germany.
Much appreciate any tips or experiences, getting around/food/accommodation/recommended sites/how to not bleed money etc.
We can't fit much in so we are planning to do Greece, prague budapest a different time :(
So essentially, you're going to England, Germany, and Italy? Anywhere else?
London has so much stuff, it's insane. I was there for a week last year and barely got to see much (which is why I'm going again). In London, a lot of the sights are close together, so you can see a lot of things in one day. Avoid tourist traps like the London Eye (it's just a ferris wheel, you don't have to pay so much money to go on it) and Tower Bridge (again it's a bit of a waste to just pay and go up a tower). You can go near them and take pictures, sure, but it's really up to you if you want to spend the money to go into them. I highly recommend Tower of London's guided tour by the Yeoman Warders, as well as actually seeing the crown jewels, which are inside of the Tower of London. The British Museum, National History Museum, V&A Museum, Tate Modern, and National Gallery were my favourite museums. I wasn't a big fan of the Portrait Gallery, but it really depends on you. All museums in London are free, so definitely check them out. Do know that each museum takes a lot of time. Seriously, I could spend two weeks just seeing everything in the British Museum. Asides from the main tourist attractions, Hyde Park would be nice for picnics. Also, if you're into the more youthful/wild parts of London, I recommend Soho and Camden Town. Camden Town has a lot of flea markets for shopping and Soho is just kind of sexy on its own. If you like shopping, Oxford Circus is good, Harrod's is decent, and this other place I can't remember right now. In terms of money, London is really costly. You'll have to do some serious digging to find a decent but cheap place to stay. In terms of the food, Britain just isn't known for its food, but it'll be somewhat costly. If you want cheap, the only thing I can suggest is McDonald's. Oh, make sure you go to a real tea shop or patisserie for tea time. When you go to London, the best way to get around is using the tube. Get an Oyster card for that and just recharge it whenever it runs out (it won't cost more than five pounds a day if you travel a lot). You can return the Oyster cards at the end or keep them as souvenirs.
Germany - to be honest, the eastern parts of Germany have some very beautiful cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig). But if you'll mainly be in the west, I suggest Koeln (Cologne), Frankfurt, Bonn. If you can make it to southern Germany, then Nuernberg (Nuremberg), Muenchen (Munich) are great. If you can go visit Neuschwannstein or Hohenschwanngau (two very famous castles in southern Germany), that would be worth it. Since this is only what I know from living there, I'm actually not sure how expensive things are now, but I think you can find stuff like that on the Internet.
I really don't know anything about Italy, but I assume Venice, Rome, Florence, and Pompeii just because those are places I'd go to.
Thanks Jaded
Yeah we realised very early we can't do that many places in 5 weeks, will just end up spending 5 weeks travelling from one destination to another.
We are only spending 4 days each in London and Paris, with one day side trips to Bath/Stonehenge/Windsor and Versailles palace.
Will cross off L eye + going up the bridge :)
I've circled British museum, knowing we will only be spending 1 day there as well as Louvre. My gf isn't big on Museums, I am planning to take her to Met as well when we are in NY. I spent 2 days in Met and felt I only covered 1/2 of it - which involved me skim reading everything.
Originally we planned to go via Berlin to Prague to Vienna to enter Italy via Venice, but now we decided to go down west germany via rhine valley and castle route to enter via Alps. Would love to visit prague, but will have to do so another time.
And that's exactly our schedule in Italy.
I'm in Italy right now.
If you're still there go down to the Amalfi coast from Pompeii. It's less than 1hr's drive.
ps: hire a car. not the cheapest but most flexible and you can cut to less travelled places at your own pace.