First time to Europe

SunnySky06 · January 2012

DH and I are planning on taking a trip to Europe(Rome, Venice, Munich and Paris) at the end of April-Beginning of May. I've looked up tickets now to get prices but we can't book them yet(military schedule ), does any one have experience with booking tickets 2-4 weeks out? Do the prices get really high with that short of notice?

I've read post over the last 6 months and have seen many recommendations for Rick Steve's books, if I buy the 2011 edition am I missing out on important things in the 2012? Should I buy the book that covers all of Europe or buy them by the city?

I'm lacking on my sights to see in Venice and Munich(I haven't researched much there) so can anyone give me suggestions.

TIA!

bonjourbelle05 · January 2012

I can't speak for the flights, but I have been using the 2006 Rick Steves book for France for a number of years (well since 2006) and the only thing I do is confirm hours and prices online for things I want to do. Besides that the info doesn't change too much (sometimes hotels, restaurants close, but I haven't had much issue with that).

MDGirl · January 2012

I personally prefer to get books that are as specific to my destinations as possible. IMO I don't want to haul around a big ol' country book when I could be using a little city-specific book that has more information I could use.

My favorite thing in Munich was just hanging out in the English Garden.

iLikeSloths · January 2012

We're going to Europe in March/April (flying into Munich and out of Budapest). We're on a budget so I've been watching and comparing flights for the past 2 months and they've gradually gone up. While no one can fully predict airfare, it's likely that they'll just keep going up from here on out, especially with such short notice.

I'm not sure if this is a possibility for you, but one thing that has helped us is being flexible with our itinerary, route or order of cities, since we'll be visiting multiple cities. We compared various places we could fly in and out of; MUC and BUD ended up being the best/cheapest options for us out of the places we'll be visiting and saved us a few hundred dollars. Also, if you plan to fly between countries then you can check Kayak and see there's a huge difference in price if you fly on certain days of the week.

Out of the cities you've listed, I've been to Rome and Venice. I spent 4 full days in Rome and loved it. I'm not a big fan of Venice (I adored Florence and would choose it instead but that's just my opinion!), but it's nice for a first trip to Italy. Two nights/1 full day was enough for me. It's a walkable city and small enough to where you can see most main sights (St. Mark's square, basilica, Doge's Palace, etc.) within a day or two.

sunshine_day_dreams · January 2012

I don't know about the flights. Within closer to the 2 week window you may be able to find some good last-minute deals, but it's a risky move, IMO.

With the Rick Steves books, the only thing that will really be different is prices. I typically use the previous year's books to plan our trips since I always start my research for trips several months to a year out. In fact, I would probably just go to the local library and see if you can check out one of the books rather than buying. And, IMO, it's way more useful to have each city's book vs. the entire country/all of Europe. It's much more specific, and a lot less to carry around if you decide to take them on the trip with you.

As far as sights in Venice, there's the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge, St. Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Campanile Tower. We did all of these in one (very busy) afternoon. The other day in Venice we spent just wandering around getting lost and exploring. IMO, you don't need more than 1-2 days there to cover everything.

The_Jen626 · January 2012

I would get the city books, personally. I really liked the "top 10 in Rome" book, we actually made a point to eat at restaurants in the book, and do the things in the book, and loved it!

sillygoosegirl · January 2012

Don't get an "all of Europe" book. You end up lugging around a big book that will be short on detail for the places you are going. We make this mistake on our last trip and there were sections that must have been cut from the same brand's country-by-country books, only often omitting the maps that the text referenced. It was really bad. I'd either get country or city books, depending on how much time you plan to spend actually in the big cities vs going to several smaller cities.

For Italy, Rick Steve distributes some fantastic free audio walking tours that you can download to your MP3 player or phone that will guide you through various famous sites and museums. Download them before you go.

We had good luck with cheap tickets to London in April purchased barely 4 weeks in advance a few years ago, and saw similar deals last March for April (but didn't have the money and time off to take advantage of them). On the other hand, sometimes prices do get high. It all depends on how many seats they have available a few weeks out.

mrs.ann · January 2012

We have used and enjoyed the free Rick Steves audio guides. Very easy to download before you leave.

I would also second checking the books out from the library. Our library has tons of travel books, and it is much cheaper than buying a lot. We usually get a lot on our locations and then review for what we are interested in. We usually end up carrying the Rick Steves ones with us though

Definitely use the city/country and not entire Europe ones. I personally do not think a few years makes a difference; just confirm opening times and expect prices to be different.

Dreynol1 · January 2012

Another vote for the free audio guides. We used them in Italy as well.

For Munich, I would recommend visiting Dachau and taking a day trip to see Neuschwanstein Castle. Our favorite beer garden was the Augustiner Beer Garden and it was recommended to me by someone on this board before we left. We visited other beer gardens, including the famous Hofbrauhaus, but we returned to the Augustiner several times during our stay there. There was also a monastery outside Munich that sold Andechs (sp?) beer and food. We had wanted to rent bikes and go out to the monastery but we didn't end up making it. Next time!

ClareML10 · January 2012

I am a big fan of the Rick Steves series and have never used the free audio versions. I decided that I would bring a kindle or similar thing next time we are doing multiple cities though. We did a multi city trip last year and lugging around five full books and trading them in and out of my purse was too heavy really.

cmkuno · January 2012

I have no advice about the flights, but if there's nothing you can do about it, then don't stress.

Re: the books, I agree with PP's on the the city-specific books. Especially since you're just doing 4 major cities. I always use old editions (I just take whatever is available at the library) and I've never had an issue.

In Venice, we saw: the Doge's palace, St. Mark's Cathedral (pay extra to go upstairs - it's worth it!), the Ca'rezzonico museum, the Basilica S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (very cool old church), the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (take the elevator up the tower for an amazing view!), wandered through the back canals (we did Rick Steve's walking tour plus some random wandering - this was by far my favorite part), a vaporetto ride up the grand canal, a gondola ride at dusk, and a trip over to Murano.

In Munich, we saw: the Deutsches Museum, the Residenz, the English gardens, Rick Steve's walking tour of the city, and a day trip to Dachau.

Have fun! Sounds like a great trip!

ktkl09 · January 2012

I agree with PPs about books and where to visit in Venice.

DH and I just returned from a 4 day trip to Venice over Christmas. It was fabulous (I've been once before also). Not much was open on Christmas weekend but the weather was beautiful and we just strolled around the city drinking vin chaud and eating too much food. It was very easy to spend 4 days there, just relaxing. But if you're on a schedule, one to two days would be enough to see everything.

Rome is very chaotic, but a lot of fun. DH and I went there in April. We were there for four days. One tip: My mom and I went to Rome a few years back and spent a ton of cash and time going to Naples to see Pompei, DH and I decided to not spend the money on going to Pompei and instead went to "Ostia Antica", another city in ruins just near FCO airport in Rome. It was really interesting, so if you're in a time crunch there, this is something to visit as it's close.

I have no advice on plane tickets as we live in Europe and use Easyjet or drive.

Have a great trip!

hz80408 · January 2012

Another ditto to the free Rick Steve's audio guides. We haven't done this, but are in the middle of planning our first trip to EU in Mar/April and have been recommended this by a number of friends.

As for city/country books; get the city books. We checked out RS's France book from the library since we're going to Paris and then we borrowed RS's Paris book from SIL; there's a ton more information that seems useful.

For flights, per rec's here, you can track flights on yapta.com which is really nice compared to getting on kayak on a daily basis. Since you'll have a last minute purchase, it could be beneficial to get the instant emails when price drops.

SunnySky06 · January 2012

Thanks so much for the tips! I bought the RS Rome book today and unfortunately ours libraries here don't have any of this other books that we need. I'll for sure download those audio guides though! Thanks again, I'm very excited about this trip and may have more questions later.

First time to Europe

Re: First time to Europe

Choose Another Board

Search Boards