September in Europe. Where should I go?

[m4same]

Right now, my top choices are Glasgow and London, Bucharest, or Greece. I'm finding lots of really cheap flights within Europe, but I'm told to look at baggage checking fees.  That's where they make the money.

[+ Pensant]

I’ll be doing a swing through Northern and Central Europe in a month. Amsterdam-Hamburg-Berlin-Leipzig-Dresden-Prague. First time in the middle 4. I hear Leipzig is becoming quite the arts center, and the former DDR is pretty affordable. I’ll report my findings.

[Marc in Calif]

5 hours ago, Pensant said:

I hear Leipzig is becoming quite the arts center.... 

I bet you heard that from JS Bach, R Wagner, or G Mahler. 😁

Edited March 19 by Marc in Calif

[m4same]

12 hours ago, Pensant said:

I’ll be doing a swing through Northern and Central Europe in a month. Amsterdam-Hamburg-Berlin-Leipzig-Dresden-Prague. First time in the middle 4. I hear Leipzig is becoming quite the arts center, and the former DDR is pretty affordable. I’ll report my findings.

Thank you

 

[+ Lucky]

I am looking at flying into London with train trips to Edinburgh and Paris. I have been to these places before.

It's the flight booking that I think has gotten worse...more difficult.

[Wolfer]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:20 PM, m4same said:

Right now, my top choices are Glasgow and London, Bucharest, or Greece. I'm finding lots of really cheap flights within Europe, but I'm told to look at baggage checking fees.  That's where they make the money.

Correct. The base rate is relatively cheap but only when you fly with a tiny bag with no extras and non-changeable flight. Adding baggage will quickly raise the rate (be sure to always add the baggage during the booking of your flight because at the airport it's double or triple that rate). And if you want a ticket that's refundable or can be changed it can easily double the rate. And they try to have you pay for a seat and be sure to check in online!! Checking in at the airport is crazy expensive (with Ryanair at least it is, they charge about 80 euro to print your boarding pass). 

[Thomas_Belgium]

On 3/20/2024 at 3:08 AM, Lucky said:

I am looking at flying into London with train trips to Edinburgh and Paris. I have been to these places before.

It's the flight booking that I think has gotten worse...more difficult.

 

Maybe you could try to search for a flight to Edinburgh and take trains from there to London & Paris.

[Thomas_Belgium]

19 hours ago, Wolfer said:

...they charge about 80 euro to print your boarding pass...

 

What a bargain because I thought it was even more expensive.

[m4same]

On 3/21/2024 at 3:51 PM, Wolfer said:

Correct. The base rate is relatively cheap but only when you fly with a tiny bag with no extras and non-changeable flight. Adding baggage will quickly raise the rate (be sure to always add the baggage during the booking of your flight because at the airport it's double or triple that rate). And if you want a ticket that's refundable or can be changed it can easily double the rate. And they try to have you pay for a seat and be sure to check in online!! Checking in at the airport is crazy expensive (with Ryanair at least it is, they charge about 80 euro to print your boarding pass). 

This is great information.  Thanks.

[Thomas_Belgium]

Some months ago I saw a TikTok from a Dutch guy saying you need an identity card (or passport) from the country where the Ryanair flight is leaving or landing, I could find no info on the Ryanair site. Anyone know if this is true & if so, where can I find this info please?

[m4same]

4 hours ago, Thomas_Belgium said:

Some months ago I saw a TikTok from a Dutch guy saying you need an identity card (or passport) from the country where the Ryanair flight is leaving or landing, I could find no info on the Ryanair site. Anyone know if this is true & if so, where can I find this info please?

Wow.  So many catches to a cheap flight.

[TelaramundItaly]

On 3/23/2024 at 4:43 PM, Thomas_Belgium said:

Some months ago I saw a TikTok from a Dutch guy saying you need an identity card (or passport) from the country where the Ryanair flight is leaving or landing, I could find no info on the Ryanair site. Anyone know if this is true & if so, where can I find this info please?

No, just you ID or passport, no matter where you are from

[JourneysEnd]

I'm in England but love to travel around Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is a fantastic city- interesting architecture in a number of styles, the biggest spa in Europe (Therme), great day trips (Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle, Peles Castle), friendly people, much cheaper than the bigger/Western European cities. I've not been since the war in Ukraine so I don't know how much that has affected things. Timisoara, another city in Romania, is just beautiful.

Glasgow is a fun city, a bit rough around the edges, and for my money more interesting than Edinburgh. Not that Edinburgh is a bad city, just a bit more sedate. If you're looking at Scotland though, you need to see the scenery- the Isles, Glencoe etc. I love Loch Leven and there's a lovely little hotel by the waterside and an incredible seafood cafe very close.

Vienna is a fantastic choice. Loads to see and do. It's very close to Bratislava, a city I adore. Easy journey by train and even nicer is the catamaran trip along the Danube.

There's lots of interesting cities in Eastern Europe to consider,: Ljubljana, Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas, before you get to the heavy hitters of Prague and Budapest.

Reykjavik is incredible but quite pricey. Blue Lagoon is closed just now but the Sky Lagoon is just as good.

Athens if you've not been before.

Istanbul is amazing.

My favourite is Malta. It has it all- architecture, food, scenery, beaches, friendly people and English is one of their official languages if that's a concern. There's a friendly gay scene in Valetta although it's small as you'd expect.

Enjoy your trip.

[+ Charlie]

9 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

I'm in England but love to travel around Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is a fantastic city- interesting architecture in a number of styles, the biggest spa in Europe (Therme), great day trips (Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle, Peles Castle), friendly people, much cheaper than the bigger/Western European cities. I've not been since the war in Ukraine so I don't know how much that has affected things. Timisoara, another city in Romania, is just beautiful.

Glasgow is a fun city, a bit rough around the edges, and for my money more interesting than Edinburgh. Not that Edinburgh is a bad city, just a bit more sedate. If you're looking at Scotland though, you need to see the scenery- the Isles, Glencoe etc. I love Loch Leven and there's a lovely little hotel by the waterside and an incredible seafood cafe very close.

Vienna is a fantastic choice. Loads to see and do. It's very close to Bratislava, a city I adore. Easy journey by train and even nicer is the catamaran trip along the Danube.

There's lots of interesting cities in Eastern Europe to consider,: Ljubljana, Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas, before you get to the heavy hitters of Prague and Budapest.

Reykjavik is incredible but quite pricey. Blue Lagoon is closed just now but the Sky Lagoon is just as good.

Athens if you've not been before.

Istanbul is amazing.

My favourite is Malta. It has it all- architecture, food, scenery, beaches, friendly people and English is one of their official languages if that's a concern. There's a friendly gay scene in Valetta although it's small as you'd expect.

Enjoy your trip.

You hit a lot of the places I love in southeastern Europe, but you left out Dubrovnik, always a tourist favorite, and Salzburg and Graz, which are worthwhile if one spends much time in Austria.

[JourneysEnd]

6 minutes ago, Charlie said:

You hit a lot of the places I love in southeastern Europe, but you left out Dubrovnik, always a tourist favorite, and Salzburg and Graz, which are worthwhile if one spends much time in Austria.

Dubrovnik was like a Game of Thrones theme park the only time I visited. Kotor is a much more interesting walled city. And if you can sail into it or out of it, that's incredible.

Salzburg is ok. I tend to think of it as a work city cos I've only ever been for conferences.

Graz is nice, as is Bern, Belgrade, Tallinn, Helsinki, Krakow, Munich etc but I don't think they're as interesting for a flying visit as the others I listed.

[+ Charlie]

3 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

Dubrovnik was like a Game of Thrones theme park the only time I visited. Kotor is a much more interesting walled city. And if you can sail into it or out of it, that's incredible.

Salzburg is ok. I tend to think of it as a work city cos I've only ever been for conferences.

Graz is nice, as is Bern, Belgrade, Tallinn, Helsinki, Krakow, Munich etc but I don't think they're as interesting for a flying visit as the others I listed.

Although I've been to all of those places, I suppose I'm partial to Graz because I spent a summer there.

[JourneysEnd]

1 minute ago, Charlie said:

Although I've been to all of those places, I suppose I'm partial to Graz because I spent a summer there.

I feel the same about Chitwan. Not the most exciting part of Nepal but my home for a while so it's special to me.

[m4same]

18 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

I'm in England but love to travel around Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is a fantastic city- interesting architecture in a number of styles, the biggest spa in Europe (Therme), great day trips (Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle, Peles Castle), friendly people, much cheaper than the bigger/Western European cities. I've not been since the war in Ukraine so I don't know how much that has affected things. Timisoara, another city in Romania, is just beautiful.

Glasgow is a fun city, a bit rough around the edges, and for my money more interesting than Edinburgh. Not that Edinburgh is a bad city, just a bit more sedate. If you're looking at Scotland though, you need to see the scenery- the Isles, Glencoe etc. I love Loch Leven and there's a lovely little hotel by the waterside and an incredible seafood cafe very close.

Vienna is a fantastic choice. Loads to see and do. It's very close to Bratislava, a city I adore. Easy journey by train and even nicer is the catamaran trip along the Danube.

There's lots of interesting cities in Eastern Europe to consider,: Ljubljana, Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas, before you get to the heavy hitters of Prague and Budapest.

Reykjavik is incredible but quite pricey. Blue Lagoon is closed just now but the Sky Lagoon is just as good.

Athens if you've not been before.

Istanbul is amazing.

My favourite is Malta. It has it all- architecture, food, scenery, beaches, friendly people and English is one of their official languages if that's a concern. There's a friendly gay scene in Valetta although it's small as you'd expect.

Enjoy your trip.

This is great information.  Thanks. Lots for me to consider. I'm ending in Paris so I want to do something that makes sense geographically.  Are all these places good in September?  The continent is large and I would like to go somewhere that is not going to be too rainy.

[m4same]

9 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

Dubrovnik was like a Game of Thrones theme park the only time I visited. Kotor is a much more interesting walled city. And if you can sail into it or out of it, that's incredible.

Salzburg is ok. I tend to think of it as a work city cos I've only ever been for conferences.

Graz is nice, as is Bern, Belgrade, Tallinn, Helsinki, Krakow, Munich etc but I don't think they're as interesting for a flying visit as the others I listed.

Thanks for the feedback

[m4same]

9 hours ago, Charlie said:

You hit a lot of the places I love in southeastern Europe, but you left out Dubrovnik, always a tourist favorite, and Salzburg and Graz, which are worthwhile if one spends much time in Austria.

I've never been to any of these places. I only changed planes in Dubrovnik on a memorably bad flight. I recently visited Vienna for the first time and enjoyed it.  It's the only birthplace of a grandparent that I have visited.

[m4same]

18 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

I'm in England but love to travel around Europe, particularly Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is a fantastic city- interesting architecture in a number of styles, the biggest spa in Europe (Therme), great day trips (Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle, Peles Castle), friendly people, much cheaper than the bigger/Western European cities. I've not been since the war in Ukraine so I don't know how much that has affected things. Timisoara, another city in Romania, is just beautiful.

Glasgow is a fun city, a bit rough around the edges, and for my money more interesting than Edinburgh. Not that Edinburgh is a bad city, just a bit more sedate. If you're looking at Scotland though, you need to see the scenery- the Isles, Glencoe etc. I love Loch Leven and there's a lovely little hotel by the waterside and an incredible seafood cafe very close.

Vienna is a fantastic choice. Loads to see and do. It's very close to Bratislava, a city I adore. Easy journey by train and even nicer is the catamaran trip along the Danube.

There's lots of interesting cities in Eastern Europe to consider,: Ljubljana, Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas, before you get to the heavy hitters of Prague and Budapest.

Reykjavik is incredible but quite pricey. Blue Lagoon is closed just now but the Sky Lagoon is just as good.

Athens if you've not been before.

Istanbul is amazing.

My favourite is Malta. It has it all- architecture, food, scenery, beaches, friendly people and English is one of their official languages if that's a concern. There's a friendly gay scene in Valetta although it's small as you'd expect.

Enjoy your trip.

Malta sounds great.  It's a place I'd love to see.

[m4same]

On 3/22/2024 at 11:39 AM, Thomas_Belgium said:

 

Maybe you could try to search for a flight to Edinburgh and take trains from there to London & Paris.

This sounds logical.  And I love trains.

[JourneysEnd]

5 hours ago, m4same said:

This is great information.  Thanks. Lots for me to consider. I'm ending in Paris so I want to do something that makes sense geographically.  Are all these places good in September?  The continent is large and I would like to go somewhere that is not going to be too rainy.

If you want proximity to Paris then Istanbul and Bucharest are probably a bit far away.

Europe isn't really that big compared to other continents but can still take a chunk of time if you're traveling by train. More interesting views than planes though. I use RomeToRio to work out travel plans to start with.

I'm not sure about rain, to be honest. I'm English and I lived in Ireland for over a decade so rain is just something I accept as a fact of life and generally ignore. The climate section of Wikipedia pages is generally a good guide. The only European city I can remember being kept indoors by rain recently is Bucharest and that was only one day so I went to a spa.

[m4same]

23 hours ago, JourneysEnd said:

If you want proximity to Paris then Istanbul and Bucharest are probably a bit far away.

Europe isn't really that big compared to other continents but can still take a chunk of time if you're traveling by train. More interesting views than planes though. I use RomeToRio to work out travel plans to start with.

I'm not sure about rain, to be honest. I'm English and I lived in Ireland for over a decade so rain is just something I accept as a fact of life and generally ignore. The climate section of Wikipedia pages is generally a good guide. The only European city I can remember being kept indoors by rain recently is Bucharest and that was only one day so I went to a spa.

Yeah. As long as I'm prepared, weather is not a problem. I'm vacillating between adventure and proximity to Paris.  I love having options. I would like to go somewhere I haven't been. That is a big factor in the decision making process.

[JourneysEnd]

36 minutes ago, m4same said:

Yeah. As long as I'm prepared, weather is not a problem. I'm vacillating between adventure and proximity to Paris.  I love having options. I would like to go somewhere I haven't been. That is a big factor in the decision making process.

I tend to waver between discovering somewhere new and going back to somewhere I know I'll love.