Traveling to Europe for the first time, assume I know absolutely nothing, any tips, or things I should look into? The trip is going to be about a month-long, in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and maybe Germany. I've got about $7,000 USD saved up for the trip, but hoping to save money wherever possible.
you know absolutely nothing but have already picked destinations?
Assume I know nothing, in case I have overlooked something.
If you visit the big cities then learn about gypsies/slavs/african scammer tricks. Learn to ignore people who ask you something, especially brown people. Make priorities in where you can save money like avoid overpriced restaurants. Public transportation is pretty good overall apart from the one in cities. Be aware of spending money in some places where they charge 10 times more than usual. I know it can happen anywhere with tourists, but 10 times more than usual in switzerland means $9 for a can of coke. Don't go during July and August, unless you want overfilled places and 105F during the day.
german anon here; If you're trying to save money, minimize your stay in Switzerland, as it is rather expensive.
what said about street scammers is true, especially for southern & Eastern Europe.
You might experience a great variety of cousine and culture, if you don't follow the flock and look
for restaurants away from touristic destinations.
Also, you'll have a much better time, if you behave like a decent human being.
I like Switzerland a lot, but the French alps were so much cheaper, the food in France was significantly better, there was better nightlife and I prefer the aesthetics of the French towns to the ones in Swiss.
With all that said, Zermatt is worth the money if you can afford it. The Matterhorn is unreal. I've never been more awestruck in my life than taking the lift up those mountains. Photos cant do it justice
What kind of stuff do you like to do OP? You want to do museums, eat good food, go to the beach, wander the streets, meet chicks, avoid the crowds, bike? It's hard to help someone plan shit if you don't know what they like to do.
Personally, I like to do Europe the last 2 weeks in September when the crowds are thinner and the weather is cooler. IYou couldn't pay me to go to homosexual nightclub with techno music. I also won't vacation anywhere with a significant black population.
With all that said, I like your general itinerary. Look into a multi-city roundtrip flight that flies into one city and out of another so you won't have to backtrack. Maybe into Rome and out of Frankfurt. You could save Spain for another trip and add some stops in France. The French alps are the breasts.
Rome-Florence-Verona-Venice-Bolzano(dolomites)-Fussen (Neuschwanstein Castle)-Munich- Zurich-Bern-Jungfrau-Zermatt-Chamonix-Annecy-Colmar-Strasbourg- Heidelberg-Frankfurt
I studied History in college, so I'm very interested in many of the historical locations, churches, buildings like the Coliseum, sites from the world wars, et. cetera. I'm interested in food, I don't mind the big crowds, but I'm not desperate to join them.
A big part of the Switzerland portion is because many of the flights are $2-300 cheaper to fly into Zurich as opposed to Paris/Barcelona/Rome. I understand that there's likely an argument to be made about how I'm not actually saving money since I'd be paying the difference with how expensive it is in Switzerland, but I wouldn't mind spending a couple of days there just to see the mountains.
>Also, you'll have a much better time, if you behave like a decent human being.
Don't worry, I'm not black.
I would like to say I'm something of an Italy pro. First, DO NOT travel there at summer. Not only will you get stomped by masses of chinese, british and whateverthefrick tourists, the heat is absolute hell. If you're doing a trip to see the cultural sights, I would definitely recommend September or even October. Springtime is good too, but of course you won't be able to enjoy the many gardens of Italy as much.
For sights, almost everything can be reserved beforehand and everywhere you can, you should. The queues to ticket booths at stuff like Colosseum, Uffizi, Galleria Accademia or Palazzo Ducale can be hours even at off-peak times, but with a prepurchased ticket you can oftentimes get in with very little or no queue.
Restaurants: Use common sense. Avoid places at the big piazzas, or right next to famous monuments. Moving even just a block or a street away can be enough. "Ristorante" are usually more high-end places though that's not a hard rule by any means. Osteria are traditionally closer to wine bars but usually have full dishes nowadays. Trattoria are more like family-run cozy places. Also if you go to a café near(or in the case of museums like Uffizi *in*) a monument, be careful to look if they have separate pricings for table serving and standing/counter service. Uffizi at least charges a frickton for table service.
Between cities, use trains. Both Trenitalia and Italo are fine, but you might have to book your tickets via sites like Omio, which is no big deal. Taxis can be very expensive. The metro in Rome is good and safe, though the lines are a bit limited. Bus quality varies wildly between cities. And if you use the vaporetto in Venice, be really careul you always validate your tickets, some of the inspectors are straight up predatory in how they look for ways to charge tourists.
If you've got any questions, I'm more than happy to answer. Preferably north of Rome though, haven't been to the south nearly as much.
man I went to Rome in January once and it was a very pleasant 16 degrees celcius with few crowds
It was 4 degrees where I lived so that was t-shirt weather for me
>Bus quality varies wildly between cities.
OP, look at FlixBus. goes all around europe. cheap, reasonably comfortable, ususally on time.
I meant more local/regional bus service with that, Flix is mostly between major cities.
Southern Germany has the most soul
Don't sleep on the French riviera, Black folk can't afford it
As swiss guy I would recommend to get a tourist General Train Abonnement (tourist GA) if possible or something similiar because the public transport (taxis, uber etc.included) are really pricy if you just buy tickets.
Try to eat food out of convience stores like Migros, Coop and Denner. And I would personally buy some Läderrach chocolate (is extremely expensive) but trust me worth it.
Cities to travel to you only have to choose between Zurich, Bern and Luzern.
And If you need help just ask a pedestrian for some advise or help. 90% can speak english and will have some mid - good answers to your question.
What's the reception like for a Hochdeutscher down there? Should I just use English? I speak German but I've never been to Switzerland, I'm not sure how they feel being spoken to using Hochdeutsch
Does anyone have that map with German towns and a note about weather or not they're worth visiting?
>weather