European City Vacation

I am a regular visitor to Prague and it is a great city to wander around ,with 2 weeks you can se in in depth, spend a few days visiting outside the city as there are some wonderful and interesting places to see as well as many places to some country walks all easily accessible by public transport.You can also do day trips to other cities/ towns and possibly do an overnight in one of them.
http://www.prague.net/
this link will let you see some of the stuff you can do in Prague.
I am back there in 2 weeks time to catch the finals of the world Hockey championship, take in a beer festival , meet up with friends and do a bit of country walking.

Only one city?? I don't think I could decide. Each country is so different, and the cities in each country are equally as different. But, I can understand spending a longer time and getting to really know a place. Enjoy your trip!

The city you will spend 2 weeks you will have to choose yourself. There are many people with many advices on this Forum. Some even have emotional ties to their cities so their advices could be biased. Nevertheless I think that Budapest is not a bad choice. You could help advisers on this Forum if you publish your short list of 5 cities. Some can advise that you can see more cities in two weeks but I understand why you want to choose just one. That way you can experience it not just visit it. OK, if it was me here are the cities I would choose: 1. London, 2. Paris, 3. Rome, 4. Prague, 5. Budapest, 6. Vienna. My impressions: Most walkable and a big eye candy is Prague, most exciting is London, most ancient - Rome, most grandeur Paris followed by Vienna, the city where eastern and western influences are the most mixed is Budapest based on it's history. Budapest is sometimes called Paris of the east. B. is not a bad choice and I am sure James E. will confirm that.

That's a fairly long time for one city, which is great - lots of time to explore and do day trips into the surrounding area.

My shortlist of cites for a longer visit:
Paris
London
Rome
Istanbul (haven't been but it would be what I'd do if this were my trip)
Barcelona
Prague?
I've never been to Budapest so can't speak to it

Of the cities I have visited, the places I would be happy to spend two weeks (and take short trips to the surrounding areas):

Rome
Paris
London
Vienna
Berlin

And Rome, Rome, and Rome.

When Ilja speaks about people having emotional ties and clouded judgement I cant help but think she is referring to me. I accept the label. For a little context, I have spent time in every city listed above but Barcelona and Berlin.

If you were younger (sorry) I might say that Prague might make a good week long stay. But I suspect that most would burn out after a week unless something just clicked between them and the town. Vienna lends itself to an older generation very well, but my experience with Vienna is that while it is a little more varied in possibilities than Prague it is still very much a tick off the “Today I see” box sort of place compared to Paris or Budapest. Either of which I think you could enjoy immensely for two weeks or longer (see Ilja, I threw in Paris for balance).

You will see in a lot of reviews for Paris and Budapest references to concepts like “See Europe, Experience Budapest”. We travel a lot and it’s a concept that I think is accurate for both cities as compared to a lot of places in the world. Not that you couldn’t get the same out of Prague for instance, but it comes more naturally and willingly from Budapest than from many places. If you are going to spend two weeks someplace then this is what I would expect that you were looking for. When we first arrived in Budapest more than a dozen years ago we quickly discovered that the culture and the attitude and the arts and mannerisims were very familiar. It was a little like being in the best of what I remember as a youth (I am about your age). The people are exceedingly kind. There is rarely a visit when someone, young or old, does not approach us and ask if we need assistance. Yes, Ilja is correct, I am a little too emotionally tied.

You didn’t say a time of year. If at all possible avoid the summer. In order of preference; September, October, March, April, May make the best times to visit the region (Prague to Bucharest). Budapest has great theater. The predominant difference in experiencing a performance in Budapest vs Vienna or Prague is that in Budapest the overwhelming majority of the people in the theater will be Hungarian, and not tourists. But remember, in the old world tradition, most of the theaters are closed from mid-June until around the first of August.

Of course you want to do this in an apartment in a perfect location on the fringe between tourism and local. You want a place where you can walk left and see one of the sights the city is famous for or turn right to visit a typical neighborhood with shops and restaurants geared more for locals than tourists. On a two week basis that will cost you about $60 a night depending on the time of year.

If you do want to get out of the city for a few days during your stay there are some good options. Eger for the wine, Gyor for the Archabbey complex, Pecs for Roman ruins and mosques, the High Tatras of Slovakia for the mountains and fresh air and maybe some fishing; Transylvania for castles and villages. Further afield within about a 3 hour, less than $350 round trip flight you can be non-stop in Istanbul or Israel or Moscow.

I STILL HAVE 800 CHARACTERS to USE: Food in Budapest: Outstanding from street food to Michelin Star Restaurants. Getting around exceedingly easy on foot with a little help from the tram system for just a few dollars a day with an unlimited use Travel Card. Museums a plenty. But no charming little historic museum "old town" Budapest's old districts combined make up the size of a small city and a city that both alive and functioning and stuck in the turn of the 20th century in style and in a lot of ways in attitude (1880 to about 1930 for the most part). Hence the "experience" vs "see". (I still have 200 characters).

COST: among, if not, the least expensive of the major capital cities of Europe.

I am reserving my last 100 Characters.......

Considering your personal interests can have a lot to do with choosing a location for a long stay. My three of the list would be London, Paris and Rome (Rome!) but that's based on MY interests and not necessarily yours. All three are very easy to 'do' without any guided tours at all. Vienna was nice but didn't click with me like the other three for some reason.

Shoot, I could spend 2 weeks in Florence because of the vast amount of Renaissance art - which I particularly love - and amount of day trips which can be taken to surrounding towns so you see, it's all about one's own agenda.

I am just thinking, how about visiting my home city of Edinburgh, lovely place to be based for 2 weeks, lots to see an do and you can do a few days drips to various parts of the country and even overnights to other lovely places including places like Orkney.

Berlin or Munich.

what time of year is your trip?

Since you say you want to stay in a city I will assume that you like to do things like museums, architecture, music venues, etc. and maybe a day trip or two outside the city. Given that, my short list of 5 cities (for 10-14 days) would be:

1- Budapest
2-Paris
3-Berlin
4-Vienna
5-Rome

But it would help to know when you are going (which month) and where you have been before.

With 10-14 days I'd do 2 major cities--last year I visited Vienna for 7 days then took the 3 hr train to Budapest for 4 days, though in hindsight I could have definitely stayed longer, I absolutely loved everything about Budapest. Both cities were very walkable and had excellent public transportation.

Hi,

Reading you post I have the feeling you have not settled yet on any cities.

My choices on the short list of the five (easily to spend 10-14 days which I've done)....Paris, with a choice of day trips to any of the following: Reims, Amiens and towns/villages along the Somme, Soisson, Arras, Mieux, Laon, Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Versailles, Caen, Bayeux, Chateau-Thierry;

London; Berlin, with a choice of day trips to Potsdam, Neuruppin, Magdeburg, Frankfurt an der Oder, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Neustrelitz; Vienna; and Leipzig with a choice of day trips to Weimar, Naumburg an der Saale, Halle, Dresden, Erfurt

You are getting a list of all the predictable cities... they are all great, but a little more info would help. Have you ever been to Europe before? If so, what did you like? Are you interested in museums, ancient history, art, food & wine???
Do you have any emotional attachment to any city or country (heritage, etc.) Any city in Europe would make for a great visit, so you can just close your eyes, point to a spot on the map and be assured there is something wonderful to see. If it were me I would probably visit 2 cities.
A few favorites (without any further knowledge of what you like) would be Istanbul, Budapest and Krakow... also, of course Paris.

Too predictable? Okay, I could easily spend a week in Nessebar and another in Plovdiv. Didn't see that one coming, did you? Seriously great towns.

Here are my favorite cities and the length of time I'd give them on any one trip (if I had LOTS of time, like you)
London- 5-10 days
Inverness- 5-7 days
Edinburgh-3-5 days
Oslo- 4-7 days
Vienna- 3-5 days
Salzburg- 5-7 days
Innsbruck- 4-6 days

Places I haven't been to yet, but want to and time I think I'd want
Rome 7-10 days
Florence 3-5 days
Athens 5-7 days
Rekevick Iceland 5-7 days
Budapest (did once as day trip)- 3-5 days
Prague- 4-7 days
Well... you get the idea. If I were you, I think I'd pick the UK and spend maybe 5 days in London and then 5 somewhere in Scotland. 10 days is a long time in a city, unless you plan several day trips. If you really want to stay put, then London would win hands down. Plenty of day trips and more than enough to see and do to interest just about anyone.

If this were me, for large cities, and if I'd never been to Europe before, Paris would be my first choice by far, and London would be my second choice. My first trip was actually Paris, Nice, Venice, Florence and Rome…kind of classic, 3 1/2 weeks, in 1976…(Wow, I dare say that...). My first trip with my daughter(s) was Florence and Sorrento (for Pompeii, Naples and Amalfi coast), which was their choice, 10 days. I studied art history and history so that is where I have come from as I see the world. What are your interests? Your family background? While you can consider recommendations, you really need to study the potential cities to come up with your own conclusion based on your interests. I'm sure you knew this, but I do tend to pontificate… I'm sure you will have a wonderful time no matter what you decide to do. Wray

...Paris has an indescribable life to it, filtered by each of us differently, IMO. This is the city I will travel to time and time again, and when I am no longer too mobile, I'll stay in a hotel with a street side cafe and people watch.

And..., and then I'll go away, "Paris is always a good idea", Sabrina.

Yes, Paris is obvious, but it's obvious for a reason. I've never met anyone who likes travel to cities who doesn't love Paris. I'm not quite as 100% in love with it as others, but I'd still gladly spend a week or more there. Rome is obvious for a reason, too, but there is a chaos to it that not everyone likes. I do, and I'd do a week there instead of Paris, but at that point you're comparing two wonderful options.

There are more idiosyncratic choices, but these are more personal. I could spend a week in Granada, Spain (or Seville or just wandering around Andalucia), but these wouldn't be obvious choice. Plenty of people feel 2-4 nights in one of these cities is enough. It just comes down to what city resonates with you, which you can't know for certain. I'm sure there is someone here who loves Brussles and would spend a month there. I am not that person (Brussels = 2 days for me). So once you get past the obvious, it is personal and based on your interests, tastes, and something unpredicitable, some sort of chemistry. I'm planning Sicily for part of next year's trip and I think I will love it (it seems to hit all my buttons), but I can't say with certainty until I've been there.

If someone has never been to Europe and has no particular driving force then my suggestion is the following order of visits:

10 days touring Italy

10 days London / Paris with one overnight in a smaller town in England and Paris.

10 days Budapest / Istanbul with one overnight in a small town in Hungary or Slovakia

by this point you will have some driving interests and you begin following them.

@ Mira- I'm one of those people who didn't like Paris at all (and so is my husband). We found the city dirty, the people rude and stuffy ,and the atmosphere stifling. Sorry... just not for us.

That Paris has an indescribable life to it, a certain power of attraction, how true. All I know is when that my flight from SFO lands at CDG, and I cross the "bridge" passing the Sheration, heading to the RER, it's already the magnetism of Paris..."C'est ca Paris" as the song goes.

@Toni - I knew as soon as I wrote my post that I'd find someone! It goes to the point that it's all personal. Paris is a popular, but apparently not universally loved choice ;) I've never heard it called dirty before, though. Unfriendly or snobby, yes. Stifling, yes. In fact, one of my complaints is that it's too...manicured .So interesting how everyone sees the same place very differently!

As you see, other people can only suggest their favorites, and you won't know how you feel about a place until you go. I would never want to go for a first visit to a city for 10-14 days - what if you don't like it? You'd be "stuck." I'd hedge my risk with two stays of 5-7 days each; that way, you're not rushing around to see things, but it's not too long if you hate a place. I'd also research daytrips for the same reason. After my experience in a few places, I've learned to have an "escape plan" if I don't like a place, no matter how highly touted or how good it looked before the trip.

To help you decide, Rick's videos are on this site. I'd watch as many of those as you can, to see what grabs you. There is not right or wrong answer - just where you want to go. http://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show

OK, with that out of the way, here are my suggestions:

Paris (already detailed above).
Berlin (many days worth of sights, and the amazing sensation of 20th century history under your feet).
Rome (a wonderful place to just soak the ambiance; the more time you have and the more relaxed your pace of sightseeing, the more you'll enjoy it).
Istanbul (fascinating place with great hospitality and food).
London (I personally don't like it there, but no one will run out of things to see and do).

Much as I liked Budapest, Prague, Stockholm, Venice, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Glasgow, and some other places, I didn't find that they had enough to keep my interest for 10-14 days. But if you do, go for it - as I said, I really liked them.

I didn't "cotton" to Munich, Barcelona or Madrid, to name three cities that others love for various reasons.

Hello fellow Nova Scotian! I really have no suggestions - I have too many favourites. Honestly, I'd split the time between two or three cities...like London and Paris, or Venice/Florence/Rome or...or...the list goes on...what were the others you were interested in? (You said you have a list of 5).

OK, I have a few suggestions just based on what we've done...

We've spent at least 10 days in London over 4 trips, Rome over two trips (2 5 night stays and barely scratched the surface), 9 or 10 days in Venice over 4 trips, heading back to Paris for a 3rd time this year which will bring our count up to 9 or 10 days. Having only spent 3 nights on the Amalfi Coast, I could certainly see filling 10 days there...same goes for the South of France and Provence...

And time of year will make a difference...London slightly better over Italy in the summer months (even early Sept was hella hot)...but I'd rather do Italy or South of France later in Sept/Oct or in the spring...

Paris, Rome. I'd do one week each and rent apartments for that length of stay.

Two-city (one week each) combo trips that I've either taken already, or would highly consider. They all involve two countries/ cultures/languages and daytrip possibilities:
London-Paris
London-Amsterdam
Paris-Berlin
Paris-Munich
Lisbon-Madrid
Munich-Venice
Munich-Nice
Barcelona-Rome
Vienna-Rome
Vienna-Budapest
Prague-Budapest

Two weeks is 15 days in Europe if you count from day of arrival to day of departure plus the extra weekend.

Rent an apartment for 2 weeks as home base.

1 Bpest arrival and Andrassy ut lower end to the river front
2 Bpest district VII and VIII
3. Buda
4. Train to Kosice
5. Train to Poprad and a night at the Grand Kempinski in the High Tatra Mountains.
6. See a castle or two with a guide, Kempinski Hotel
7. Train to Bratislava
8 train to Bpest
9. See Obuda
10 District V / market
11 High end of Andrassy ut and Margaret Island
12 Basilica to Parliament and No2 ride
13 Train to Szentendre and boat back
14 special day
15 return home

For the special day you would spend one more day in Slovakia or attend the service and a meal in a small Shul (they love guests and treat you like part of the community), cooking lessons in the small apartment of a wonderful woman, drive a Russian tank, visit a vineyard or go to the lake. Depending on the time of year you could see a different musical, opera, ballet or concert each night.

Paris was just ok for me and I don't have a big desire to return. Everywhere we went, it smelled like urine. It was really off-putting. The people were friendly, but it still just didn't do that much for us. Munich was nice enough, but no huge desire to return.

Berlin is a favorite and there is so much to see there, as well as the opportunity for great day trips, one could easily spend 2 weeks there. Cities like Dresden and Hamburg are close by and Potsdam could easily fill a couple of days too and it is just a short S-bahn trip from Berlin. Prices are good too. You will get more for your euro in Berlin than in most cities in Europe unless you head to the East.

Hi,

The suggestion to see two cities within the time period of 12 days or so is a practical one and would agree with me, if you decide to see 2 cities along with a few day trips. I would suggest dividing your time when pairing up the cities this way: London/Paris, Paris/Berlin, Paris/Vienna (choosing any day trips to Graz, Eisenstadt, Baden bei Wien, Melk, and Wiener Neustadt ), Berlin/Vienna. To maximize the time you have the flying option plus the night train option.

Seeing which attractions, cultural, historical? Any particular ones?