Souvenir Deals

The Netherlands is also known for their delft pottery, Germany for their wood carving - nutcrackers, smokers, etc. (I purchased Björn Köhler figures), Italy is leather and gold. Switzerland for their clocks/watches. In Austria we didn't shop too much. I am sure other posters will give you other ideas. Haven't been to France yet.

I love shopping for unique kitchen items in specialty shops when I'm overseas, especially in France and Italy. There are different brands and styles than the things you find at home. Coffee spoons, kitchen towels, espresso cups, finger bowls, utensils, etc...I have lots of things in my kitchen that you just can't get here! If you like to cook there are lots of options.
There are diamond districts in Amsterdam and Antwerp but the parts that are open to the public tend to be very touristy and you won't find any deals.
If you're going to buy gold jewelry in Italy head to Florence and go to the Ponte Vecchio. It's lined with gold shops...again, very touristy and you won't get deals but there are some unique shops with one-of-a-kind things that would be a great souvenir of your honeymoon!
Swiss Army knives aren't exactly romantic but you'll find styles and materials in Switzerland that are very different from those readily available here. If you want a forever watch, Switzerland is the place for these too.

I like the cashmere lined leather gloves I buy in Florence Italy at Roberta's glove shop. Even with the exchange rate, they are a good buy and the styles and colours are quite lovely. I also buy Florentine marbled paper/cards and usually use the cards at home for notes, gifts etc. to share them around.

In France I like to go the supermarket and get sea salt from the Camargue which is sold in round boxes. You can buy it North America, but for a much higher price and I enjoy seeing the box and using the salt when I'm at home. Of course, I did a tour of the salt producer when I was there and I now appreciate all the work that goes into the product.

I have never heard of Italy for gold - Europeans think of Dubai for gold.

Italy - clothing and leather goods.

Netherlands - diamonds, bulbs, cheese and pottery

Germany - wooden carved items, beer

Austria - nothing comes to mind!

Switzerland - watches and closcks including cuckoo clocks

France - clothing, wine, cheese

I always collect a fridge magnet from wherever I travel as they are light to pack, are globally available and don't break in transit.

You can find pottery of all kinds everywhere in Europe, all with a local or national variety. In the Netherlands well known is for most Delfts Aardewerk (Dutch for pottery), but also Makkumer Aardewerk or Brabants/Boeren Bont pottery are nice, the latter easy to get as well as Boeren Bont kitchen towels.

In Germany all kinds of beermugs, from small to enormous. Also excellent porcelain like Meissener or Selb (Hütschenreuther and Rosenthal) east of Nürnberg.

Everywhere dolls in local dress.

But with pottery and glass there is always the risk they can break and easily add weight to your luggage. So you can think of local flags, like Amsterdam has it’s own flag, you can find them in all seizes. Shirts of the local football club? Way lighter and easy to pack.

Anyway there are plenty of souvenir shops or shops in general with local stuff in all the countries you will visit. Enough possibilities for souvenir hunting.

If you plan to check a bag, you could bring back some typical food or spirits, to let you relive the taste of your travels, along with some more durable items.

Italy has been known for gold for a long time, along with leather, silk, and things like olive oil (soaps pack well), wine, regional liquors (limoncello is probably the best known, used to be amaretto).

Our most exciting shopping finds were actually at Saturday morning flea markets. We've been to one in Lucerne along the river Reuss in the middle of downtown. Also been to the much much bugger one in downtown Zurich on the Banhofstrasse. Really I much preferred the one in Lucerne, but the finds were great and it's fun to play the haggle game and just meet new people. Hint - when Europeans talk about antiques they've got a different mindset than Americans. We picked up some really nice pewter pitchers with date stamps in the early 1700s - very cheap. Nice pair of copper candlesticks, really nice piece of old stain glass still in the old wooden frame. Now THAT one was fun to carry home (not)! But it's a great memory maker.

My souvenir deals are probably far below what anyone else would be interested in - but I'll share anyway.

I go to the grocery store and buy items that can't be purchased at home - generally spices I can use in my kitchen. Last time I bought a bunch of (hot and sweet) paprikas, paella mix and spices for skewered meats that are pretty standard fare in Spain but not seen at home. Because I purchased them from a grocery store, rather than a kiosk at a farmers' market, I don't run the risk of having them confiscated by customs when I bring them home like open packaging would be.

You still can't bring home most meats or cheeses and certain items, like Kinder Eggs, aren't allowed into the U.S. but you're much more likely to bring acceptable food items home if they are normally packaged items that were purchased in a grocery store.

Before I go on a trip I look at the county's tourist website for what are specific crafts or traditional items.
In Austria I got a beautiful Petit Point earring and pendant set. There were over 1000 stitches per inch. Just beautiful.

I got a very nice watch in Switzerland that had beautiful enamel flowers around the face , Italy an Olive Wood bowl. In Germany we were in St. Goar and there was a Christmas store an I got some very cute ornaments. I also usually buy a nice piece of jewelry. Then every time I put it on I remember exactly where I was. It does not have to be expensive. One of my favorites is a 10 Euro pair of earrings I got in Sarlat, France in a Saturday market.

Also Chocolate!!!!!!

As a kitchy souvenir I bring back a fridge magnet and zip front sweatshirt .

Oh my gosh, Wonderful! Those slippers are perfect for my Mom! They are super cute! I love ALL the suggestions! Please keep them coming!

Sylvia

For Austria:

Swarovski
Augarten Porcelain
Gmundner Pottery
Red Bull paraphernalia
Traditional Austrian clothing, "Tracht"

We have bought coffee mugs from different countries. We also have some of the laminated placemats to remind us of different places. A coffee mug from Delft would definitely be cheaper than a diamond;-) Also like to get jewelry, scarves. How about a cowbell n Switzerland? A nice print that you can frame is good. I agree with kitchen items. So many things. After 45 years of travel, our whole house if full of things. I love it!! Enjoy...

I always buy at least one coffee mug when I travel and my desk at work now has a growing collection of miniature snow globes from various countries. That's about all I buy that's brand-new or a typical souvenir. I'm a collector of old things so everywhere I visit includes antique shops or flea markets and I now have a lovely bunch of little things in my curio cabinet at home: 1930s china match or toothpick holders from Prague & London, 1930s pottery couple in Hungarian folk costume, carved wooden dog from Tallin, 1950s totem pole from Victoria, BC, small Steiff stork from the Flohmarkt in Vienna.

This May I'll be in Paris & Budapest and I cannot wait to see their flea markets, probably more excited about that than almost anything else.

I would probably love to own all of the items suggested above. However, shopping takes time and I only get around to it for the items that most interest me. The Best of Europe tour moves pretty quickly. In St. Goar, for instance, you can find a shop with a large selection of cuckoo clocks and beer steins, but in between the castle visit and river cruise, you'd have to make a purchase decision pretty quickly. Some large items can be shipped for you by the store, or you'll be able to store any heavy purchases under the RS tour bus until the end of the tour, but then have to wrestle then into the last hotel and at the airports.

Laura is so right about moving quickly on the tour. There were a couple of folks on my BOE who did purchase cuckoo clocks in St Goar. They had done some research, knew typical prices and styles. Their clock was shipped for them and according to their FB pages are still thrilled with it...almost 2 years later.

I'm not a big shopper but I do go for scarves in Florence.

I think a good souvenir to buy is a print or painting from the favorite places you visit. You can hang them up in your home and have great memories every time you look at them. If you plan on buying prints, just pack two small lightweight pieces of cardboard in your suitcase and you can place the prints between them as you buy the prints. They don't take up any space and hardly weigh anything and you can find some really nice looking prints for very little money.

Where are you going to be in Italy?

Frank, we'll be in Venice, Florence, Rome, and Cinque Terre.

Congratulations!

About 20 years ago, we started collecting little items from our travels to hang on our Christmas tree. Now, every year when we decorate our tree, it brings back fond memories of our trips. Our kids are now grown and travelling on their own, and they have started doing the same.

I find a lot of souvenirs are kind of ticky tacky. (Diamonds and gold aren't, of course, but those are beyond my budget.) I don't mind when tree decorations are a little bit kitchy, so this works for me. Also, these don't take up a lot of room in our carryons, since we don't travel with checked baggage.

We try to find items that both appeal to us and are representative of the places we've visited. If we can't find an actual ornament, we find keychains work well, also, and other small items can have a hook or string attached or glued onto them. For example, we have a "cornament" (beaded cob of corn with deerskin leaves) from a pueblo in New Mexico, a little Eiffel Tower from Paris, a red lantern from Hong Kong, a Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier medallion from Monaco, a little streetcar from Lisbon, a bull keychain from Madrid, a miniature Gaudi lizard from Barcelona, a maple leaf made from part of the old Parliament roof from Ottawa, a miniature stein from Munich, a tiny "Sisi" plate from Vienna, and so forth.

If you are someone who observes Christmas and puts up a tree, perhaps something like this would be an option for you. It would be great to start off the collection with your honeymoon trip.

When I travel I purchase a gold charm from each country then I can carry (wear) them everyday and remember all my great trips. I have 2 spots left on my current bracelet before I have to buy a new one, which I will purchase in Italy, where I bought my first one. As a side note, Italy has been known for gold before people even heard of Dubai.

Besides the few souvenirs we purchased during our first trips - an Italian pitcher and a beautiful dining room table runner, my favorite souvenirs besides photos are the hotel shampoo & lotions. I bring the ones home that have the hotel name on them. My bathtub has 4 windows, so I have some nice sets displayed. It's very relaxing to think back about the special time at specific locations after a long day at work.

I'm not a shopper, but I often get CD's in Europe. I know what I'm looking for and what it costs in the US, and if I see a deal I can snag it. So, I got box sets of Edith Piaf, Billy Holiday, and Chet Baker in France from FNAC, for far less than I would have paid for the same item in the US. I also spend time haunting the few used CD stores that remain (but it sounds like you won't have time for that).

If this kind of thing interests you, note that CD's are a universal standard and play the same anywhere. However, DVD's and Blu-Rays are different between the US and Europe, and you have to make sure you have a multi-region setup, or your European purchase will not play on your US equipment. It's easy to get free software to play DVD's from any region on a computer (I use Video LAN from VLC), but Blu-Ray's are more complicated, as are stand-alone DVD players for the television set.

Harold reminded me about all the cd's we have purchased in Europe... Actually many came from the better performers in the metro in Paris... There are wonderful single musicians as well as groups performing and many have cd's for sale...

For a small inexpensive souvenir, I've started buying reusable shopping bags from the grocery store. They're inexpensive, easy to carry home, and something I can pick up when I go picnic shopping. Using the bags at my local farmers' market makes me feel very cosmopolitan. I treat the grocery stores and markets on my travels like another museum. I'm always interested in what people use and eat in their daily lives.

Just wanted to add PERFUME for France. Or, those perfumed soaps. Little ones are cute and easier to stash into corners of a suitcase. Definitely cheaper than perfume.

Shirley mentioned visiting a salt producer in the Carmargue. Shirley, could you share the name of this place please as my boyfriend and I will be visiting there in the fall. I like to travel light yet enjoy a remembrance of places I've been to so I pick up paper bookmarks in museums and historical sites. They are inexpensive, easy to pack and, one glance brings one back to the day.

Thank you, MrsEB! We are hoping it will be a trip of a lifetime! And we hope to go again! The bookmarks really come to mind (I'm a librarian after all) and they will pack well. Still love those slippers!

In Austria you can find some LOVELY handmade lace and embroidered items. I brought back bread basket liners, placemats, book marks, and Christmas ornaments. They also make intricate straw and red thread Christmas ornaments. And there is a good bit of wood carving (German influence). Scarves and silver jewelry with the Edelweiss featured are also nice. We do the magnet and Christmas ornament 'thing'- now have so many we can't put them all on the tree at once. Anything crystal from Swavaroski is lovely, too!