Dreaming About Spring 2018

Posted by jen (Oregon) on 08/30/16 04:12 AM

This is the dreaming stage. So I'm thinking aways out, but we will have 40 to 45 day in late March through mid May a year and a half from now. We are very tentatively thinking about Central Europe and Northern Italy. We visited The Czech Republic for the first time this summer and fell in love. We would like to go back. We had a day in Munich and a day in Cologne and would like to see more of Germany. We would like to sample Hungary. We love Italy, but have spent most of our time in Rome and Tuscany. I have never been to Venice and would like to go.

Our rough idea is Berlin; Dresden; Prague, some combination of Telc, Brno, or Olomouc; Sopron, Bratislava, or somewhere else small on the way to Budapest; Budapest; maybe a short time in Vienna; somewhere on one of the Italian lakes; Padua, Belonogna, or Verona; Venice. Alternatively, Munich and/or Nuremberg instead of Dresden and Berlin or skipping Germany all together. Or more Germany and skip Italy. What should we skip?

We don't rent cars and whenever possible we prefer trains to planes.

We like wandering older towns, art museums (Renaissance, Impressionists, Art Nouveau, Dutch Masters), history particularly mideveal, WWII and the communist era. We like half day hikes even with a little rain, and climbing towers to look down. We love Italian food. I like beer. We both love cheese and game. We might take in a concert or play three or four times in a trip that long.

We like apartments and staying at least three days where ever we go but a one night stand every week or two is okay. We do a lot of day trips from central bases. We usually eat dinner and breakfast in and lunch, coffee, and drinks out.

My questions are is this trip better north to south, or south to north in spring. Are there places we should skip in the spring because they are mostly shut or because of weather. Which towns would make the best hubs for daytrips while still being nice places to walk in the evening. I know it's all subjective, but I'd like to heard from people who've traveled this part of Europe.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

08/30/16 04:49 AM

27609 posts

Central Europe isn't where I'd want to be in April, but plenty of folks are happy with that timing.

For someone interested in WWII and Cold War history, it is very, very difficult to beat Berlin. Unless you opt to start in the south (Italy) and work your way north, Berlin might be the best place to start your trip since you'd be spending a lot of time indoors in the museums and historical sites. In addition to the historical stuff, Berlin has some very good art museums.

Dresden also has great museums, though I'm not sure there's anything related to 20th century history. I loved the Historic Green Vault (timed ticket required); perhaps the most fabulous collection of decorative art in the world. Really unbelievable.

Hot tip: pretty much due east of Dresden, right on the Polish border and very near the Czech border, is the truly stunning German town of Görlitz. It survived the war basically intact and has thousands of beautiful buildings. Most are hundreds of years old, but there's a bit of Art Nouveau there as well. Wonderful place, but it's a town for walking around outside, so I'd want the flexibility to go on a day with good weather rather than locking down a specific date in advance. It could be a day trip from Dresden; it's less than 2 hours away by train. But spending a night or two there would be great as well, if the weather cooperated and you could enjoy strolling around.

I don't know what it would be like in the Italian lake district in early spring, and I've never been to Verona, but I'd happily return to both Padua and Bologna. Bologna's very large medieval district is full of arcaded streets, so it's a better option on rainy days than some other cities.