Europe Trip

February is generally the best time for skiing. The snow maybe gone by the end of March. It arrived late this winter as it had been so mild and there was little snow before Christmas. Skiing is never cheap. Moving location costs time and money. You don't give any indication of your budget.

February is probably the worst month to travel in Europe. Short daylight hours, the coldest and wettest month in most places and the risk of travel being disrupted due to the weather. Nor is it the best time for nature. It is a good time for city breaks. I suggest Alps for 4 full days then Paris for 6 days including half a day travelling there.

If you don't go skiing, Paris 5 days, Berlin 5 days. London 5 days, Paris 5 days. Rome, Amsterdam and Madrid. Scotland and Budapest. Venice, Istria and Dubrovnik. Athens and Crete. Scandanavia. Dublin and Rome.

The possibilities are endless and you need to give careful consideration as to where you want to visit and when. 10 days isn't long enough to cover more than 2 or 3 cities.

With the greatest of respect, the questions are so broad and the options so vast that giving a comprehensive answer here in less than 4000 characters is virtually impossible.

There are so many questions that need to be asked just to narrow down the choices. And 10 days is only the blink of an eye.

Can I suggest that you get to a library or bookshop and read like mad about Europe, preferably with a god couple of guidebooks, and try to narrow the possibilities?

Europe is vast and until you can get a short itinerary that can be honed you will continue to be overwhelmed. Remember that every change of location will take at least half a day, and often a complete day, and you don't have so many days.

By the way, your 10 days, does that include traveling days from home, and returning home, or are they part of the 10? It is usually much easier to think in terms of nights rather than days and makes planning much easier if you know where you will be sleeping each night. So how many nights do you have on the ground in Europe? 11? or 9?

I don't know anything about traveling from Lebanon. Are visas to particular countries an issue?

Hello,
Thank for your reply.
As for the budget, I know that such a tour is not cheap. I just want to the maximum fun out of my trip and not being robbed because I am tourist. I will reserve everything before starting my trip and most of the time we read something and we pay a lot for it and when we get there we will be shocked by what is present. I have enough budget, but what I want to get the value out of my expenses and not just pay a lot for nothing. As per your experience and curiosity what budget is good for such a trip?
As for the period, I will extend it for 13 days only (12 nights) excluding the traveling days. I do not want to go to all countries; I just want a recommendation for the best places to visit. We want to relax and enjoy our time (activities if possible).

I do not have problem with the visa thing, I need your advice to indicate the best location to start with, where to move next and where to end it.

Ahmad,
10 days is a limited time. Allowing for travelling, you should plan for a maximum of 3 locations, spending 3 nights in each.

If you want to go skiing, that is a full holiday in itself. You need to decide on a resort and stay there. Most ski resorts have slopes of different levels, and trainers who will teach beginners. But you need to allow at least a week to learn. Also, the best time for skiing in February, which is the worst time for the rest of Europe,

"What is the best time to do my tour" - depends where you are going. Pick 3 contrasting places. How about:
Fly to Paris (3 nights), train to Swiss Alps (3 nights) train to a northern Italian city (Venice or Florence) Fly home. Time: April to July.
That is just one from hundreds of possibilities.

According to what I can see on the internet, Lebanese citizens DO need a visa to enter the Schengen Area. And you have to apply for this from the embassy of the first country you are travelling to. Since you haven't decided where this is, you can't have applied yet. Unless you are a citizen of a different country and so do not need a visa.

For skiing, mid January to mid March is the best snow conditions. The month of February is usually school holiday period through out Europe and the resorts get busy with family groups and prices are a bit higher.
Switzerland has the best transport infrastructure by far, and the most scenic mountains and many-many ski resorts. On the downside, it is more expensive than other Alpine nations.

When looking at a piste map, blue trails are the easiest, but it can be deceiving as they attract a lot of other skiers and get icy. Hiring an instructor for the day is expensive, but worth it as they know the area intimately and can take you to appropriate terrain.

Paris and Venice are nice anytime of year and Venice will have the fewest (though still a lot) tourists at that time or year, unless it is Carnivale, which will be the last week of February in 2017.

ahmad,

For such a very short trip, you'll need to be very selective and limit your stay to a limited area to minimize transportation times.

I tend to agree with the comments that Nigel posted earlier. This is a very broad question and so it's difficult to offer many suggestions, as there's almost an unlimited range of possibilities. It would help to have some idea what your interests are and what you hope to see in Europe. A few other questions.....

• What prompted your desire to visit Europe at this time?
• Are there particular countries you're more interested in than others?
• Are there specific sights you want to see?
• Have you ever travelled in Europe before?
• What type of hotels do you prefer, and in what price range?
• Do you have access to guidebooks in your area, either at a Library or larger book stores?

If skiing is the main reason for travelling to Europe, you'll probably have to do that in the next month or two. However, February and March may not be the most pleasant for "relaxing time within the nature" in other parts of Europe. That might limit the non-skiing part of your trip to cities where you'll have indoor activities to choose from.

Ahmad

I assume you have never been to Europe and will suggest a couple of popular destinations which i assume would be relatively easy to fly in and out from Lebanon.

Fly to Venice 4 nights
Train to a ski resort in Italy or Switzerland 3 nights
Train to Paris 5 nights

Venice and Paris are great first time European destinations, and personal favourites of mine.

You could spend all 4 nights in Venice with a day visit to Verona or move and spend one of those nights night in Verona.

I have never been to the Alps, but there are ski resorts in Italy and Switzerland. I have excluded Austria because it is going the other direction from the final destination. Others here may be able to suggest specific ski resorts. I only budgeted 3 nights and 2 days because i would assume that is about all a new skier or a good skier skiing with a new skier will tolerate before getting on each other's nerves. Or you can move the 4rth night from Italy to here if that is your preference.

Long train ride to Paris which will take up most of a day. 5 nights gives you 4 full days in Paris. If you want to break up the train trip, consider spend one night in Lyon. Lyon is on the way and very lovely. However, my preference would be to get to Paris sooner and to spend the time there.

I like to avoid zigzagging or doubling back whenever possible. I also prefer staying in one spot and enjoying my time with my feet on the ground instead of my butt in the seat of a plane, train or automobile. In terms of where to stay and eat and what to do, there are just too many possibilities to list. You can research from travel books or websites and make a list.. If you have specific questions anout a particular hotel, restaurant or attraction, somebody here will probably have the answer for you. Have fun.