My first trip to Europe

After 36 years and more than half of those playing music, I'm finally going to Europe thanks to Walter of Roadburn and YOB.

Tentative plan is to buy a Eurail pass after Roadburn and chase the Thrones/Nadja/OvO tour through Austria, Germany Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

So I'm looking for any tips from people, and especially couches/floors to crash on. European music fans, hear my plea.

Thanks for listening. I couldn't be more excited for this trip!

Well jeez.

The reason for the lack of posts is that the thread was started at 2:28AM CET, and now it's a Friday night so everybody's out drinking!

Yeah - I reckon this'll pick up over the weekend, although I never really know who the posters are from europe and scandinavia except for the most active people. They need to come out of the woodwork!

I can only offer opinion from northern england, and a shame you don't look to be hitting the uk, but Austria and Germany are both fantastic countries to visit and getting around via rail in Europe is both efficient (mostly) and fun, and with a little planning you can see some incredible scenery on the way. I've never been to Scandinavia, but have always wanted to, so reckon you'll have a blast there too.

What Bill said. Also, don't overestimate the distances involved - now the European rail network is really getting its act together, you can travel far & fast really easily. Breakfast in Munich, dinner in Rome, say, is no problem (hope I've got that right).

I'm afraid I've barely been to those countries, but Berlin is fantastic and I really want to go to Gothenburg some time soon.

if you're looking for tips and couches, my mountain of envy isn't going to be of much help
have fun! this sounds dreamy.

I will gladly send my Belgian couch to some train station along your route.

Actually pretty sure I'll be flying into London first. Then heading to Tilburg from there.

Tentative itinerary. Still looking for couches...

mon 12-Apr-10 fly
tue 13-Apr-10 London
wed 14-Apr-10 London
thu 15-Apr-10 Roadburn
fri 16-Apr-10 Roadburn
sat 17-Apr-10 Roadburn
sun 18-Apr-10 Amsterdam
mon 19-Apr-10 Amsterdam
tue 20-Apr-10 Vienna
wed 21-Apr-10 Vienna
thu 22-Apr-10 Venice
fri 23-Apr-10 Venice
sat 24-Apr-10 Hamburg
sun 25-Apr-10 Hamburg
mon 26-Apr-10 Hamburg
tue 27-Apr-10 Berlin
wed 28-Apr-10 Berlin
thu 29-Apr-10 Berlin
fri 30-Apr-10 Copenhagen
sat 1-May-10 Copenhagen
sun 2-May-10 Gothenberg
mon 3-May-10 Gothenberg
tue 4-May-10 Oslo
wed 5-May-10 Oslo
thu 6-May-10 fly

Thinking maybe Stockholm instead of Gothenburg...

Gothenburg is great (I haven't been to Stockholm), and I reckon a pretty decent place to catch the tour. We went for three days last year and spent the entire time having various luminaries of the Gothenburg death metal scene pointed out to us in every pub we went to. Beer is stupidly expensive though.

If this had been last year, I could have pointed you in the direction of a mate of mine who was working there and spent almost every night at gigs, he'd have been right up for this. If you need any Gothenburg pointers, I can ask him if you like.

Sure!

Cool, I'll be seeing him this week sometime, will ask about pubs, clubs, places to stay, etc. What sort of things would you be interested in doing when you're there?

I don't care about bars that much... unless there's great music playing in them. More into museums, epic architecture, rural spots, and good local food (that's cheap and won't make me sick).

I found Germany fantastic for food - cheap and unfussy, and lots of it

Sounds promising. I'm 50% German anyway so I've always felt drawn there...

I was in Oslo last month and loved it. Two of the places that blew me away were obviously touristy, but totally great nonetheless: the Viking Ship Museum and the Vigeland sculpture park. The other thing I adored was walking on the frozen fjord and chatting to some ice fisherman, but I'm guessing things will have thawed a bit by the time you get there.

That's a pretty awesome itinerary you've got there.

Yeah, Vienna followed by Venice is pretty much perfect.

Might not be a possibility on this trip, with only a few days in Oslo, but a train trip to Bergen is ideal, if only because Bergen is so much prettier, picturesque, and practical a tourist city than Oslo. Mostly all the old buildings remain and incredibly charming small streets around living quarters dot the outskirts of the city centre. And you can walk everywhere. It's also a gateway to the actual fjords of norway.

thinking of a Bergen to Oslo to Gothernburg type trip soon myself

I'm going for the first time in June, to Rome with some random side trip - Amalfi, Florence, maybe somewhere else. Any interesting places to check out?

Also, my main big question - how the hell do you pack for a 10 day trip overseas? What do I need, what can I live without, and what do I fit it all in?

go to florence for sure

This must be the year for Europe! Am contemplating Germany/Croatia in some combination in...July or Aug? Not sure. But enjoying the day when I will need this thread!!

joygoat I recommend visiting mountain fortress town Orvieto to anyone travelling between Rome and Florence. gorgeous place. you need wheels tho (car or by coach).

This is great. Keep it coming people!

Also, would it make more sense to hit Prague instead of Venice?

Venice is so implausible that you really have to go there - but then I haven't been to Prague and it looks nearly as amazing.

Trips from Rome - both Florence and Amalfi are great, but Florence is a bit easier to get to (maybe two hours direct by train, against four with a slightly awkward change in Naples). From Florence both Siena and Pisa make lovely day trips, though you don't really need them because there's so much in Florence itself. If you go to Amalfi, visit Pompei. I liked Naples, but it's a bit of a mess.

Packing - travel really light, you can always buy stuff there, it's not like you'll need anything expensive. You won't need a coat and you don't really need change of shoes of trousers for that length of stay. It can rain insanely heavily for short periods - no point in going prepared for that, if it happens just stay indoors. Top tip for Italy is to eat a lot - doesn't really matter where or what, it's almost all good.

Gothenburg - if you like rural spots, the word on the streets is to get the ferry to the Southern Gothenburg Archipelago. It was a bit too cold for us to be bothered getting out of town when we were there (were only there for three days), so we didn't go, but it's supposed to be beautiful.

This Air France site celebrating midsommer in Gothenburg is what turned me onto the place - I won't make it this year, but I'd like to next.

Oh, that makes me want to go back again.

Anyone know anything about Seville?

Seville is gorgeous, it's worth going for the palace gardens alone.

^ this. It gets stupid mad hot in summer.

I've had a great time the couple of short times I've been to Seville, though I can't remember a great deal about it other than the monumental cathedral, pretty back streets and the fabulous girls. There's also a ton of terrific places close by - Jerez, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Cordoba; lots of smaller towns; Malaga and Granada a little further away.

Gibraltar is awful once you've done the rock/cave/apes thing, unless you want to get stupidly cheap booze and fags. Ronda's a nice wee place for a visit if you are planning a smaller town, you get to look down this and go wobbly at the knees:

http://www.igreens.org.uk/ronda_puente_nuevo2.JPG

i'm thinking of going to Seville too! like maybe next month

Hmm sounds good. Stupid mad hot will not be a problem since I'm going tomorrow! Not sure how much time there will be for trips out of Seville as we're only there Fri-Wed, and have to fit in a wedding, but I would like to look down that!!

We stayed in the parador in Ronda, which was right on the edge and might even be that building at the top left. Fortunately our room faced the other way.

We did a sort of parador tour round the area for a week, which worked out really cheap because there was a five-night-card offer which was a great deal - and it was February. Fantastic places to stay. Granada's is actually in the Alhambra, and the one in Jaen was so stunning (castle on a bluff right above the city) that we didn't even bother going into town.

Yeah, that building on the left is a hotel. We only went for the day, but some nice cafes and that view is awesome. The train ride up from San Roque is gorgeous as well.