Where to stay for extended time periods.

Vienna might be worth a look. There are several excellent art museums (including a roomful of Brueghels in the Kunsthistorisches Museum) as well as the outstanding Natural History Museum, which displays the Venus of Willendorf (and a lot else). Also some really nice day trips.

Thanks. I spent 4 days n Vienna a few years ago and loved it. It is a possibility. I'm thinking of maybe somewhere east spent time in Budapest and it was great.

Hi,

For "extended time periods" I would suggest Vienna too. It fascinated me on my first trip there at 21 in 1971, still is fascinating and marvelous

Last year's trip I spent just about two full weeks in Vienna, ie, 13 nights, which means ample time for day trip or two, downtime, and lots of time devoted to seeing the city by walking, riding the tram and U-Bahn, especially the outlying districts. I use the free public transport pass given by the hotel.

Cheaper than Vienna for an extended stay is Berlin in terms of exploring both western and eastern parts...Spandau, Zehlendorf, Köpenick, Karlshorst, Moabit, Wedding, Pankow, etc.

With your interests London #1 Rome #2 Day trips are really easy from London

I too love Amsterdam. But it's gotten so expensive on housing since all the B&B's were converted and sold into condos.

Have you thought about Budapest? It's our new favorite place. It's very inexpensive, the young people speak good English and the food is palatable to Americans. Museums? Over 200 are in the city. Vienna, Bratislava and many other cities are easily reached.

Madrid would be a good one, almost no big city in Europe has so many easy day trips. Its also very economical for a European capital. London would be good if you are no worried about how expensive it might get to do day trips. Also in London you might have to go half way across town to get to the station from which your day trip will commence. In Madrid we visited Segovia, El Esocrial, and Toledo as day trips. Florence might also be a good one, many places easily reachable from Florence. Sienna, Lucca, even Cinque Terre. Plus trains are on the cheap side in Italy. Obviously the art/mueums/history are great in Florence. A lot of people are luke warm on Florence but I had the chance to spend four nights there on a solo trip a couple of years ago and it was very enjoyable. I would tack on Rome for all of the above, although I don't really think of it as a base for day trips so much.

Major vote for London- I've already visited more than 40 times and would gladly drop everything and go tomorrow if I could. Plenty of day trips and short (1 or 2 night) trips. Plus plenty to see and do (and many museums are FREE!).

I'd also suggest selecting a not so big city destination as a break. Personally, I'd go to the Scottish Highlands- probably Aviemore, maybe Inverness. This might also be a place to do a bit more 'moving around' as a change, too.

Salzburg Austria would also be on my list. From there you can do trips into Germany and other parts of Austria.

Oslo Norway is another city I'd want to consider.

London has many free museums.

I spent a week in Berlin and didn’t get to see all that I wanted. It’s also great value and transport is easy. Potsdam is an easy day trip.

Although Madrid is interesting, I found it to be more expensive, as is Amsterdam.

Rome and Paris are the obvious other big hitters.

I like Lisbon and the many old towns such as Tomar and Evora between Lisbon and Porto. Great value too.

Budapest is another obvious choice, with a good vibe.

Morocco, staying in Marrakech, the hills and Essouira on the coast could fill 3 weeks, as could Seville, from where you could visit Cadiz, Jerez for the sherry and the Algarve of Portugal.

The Far East would offer something completely different culture-wise - India is great value and has many “must sees”. Sri Lanka would be high on my list too.

Thanks for some great suggestions. India for some reason has not gabbed my attention. Look at it often but for some reason. It does not call me . I am looking at doing Japan and South Korea at some point during my time off I have already done Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

Sofia looks interesting as well. The options are endless and exciting.

Settling in one place for two or three weeks and taking day trips isn't something I can directly comment upon. However, Belgium might well be an option. We spent two and a bit weeks there a couple of years ago and had accommodation only in Ghent and Ieper (and one night in Antwerp). Because it's a small country with a good transport system, we actually visited perhaps seven or eight other towns from those two bases, also going into Holland. Mostly, we were only really in the Flemish part. We did hire a car for part of the holiday. There were plenty of museums and a lot of historical sights, plus some famous art.

Probably not exactly suiting your preferred travel style/interests, but have you considered a month or two in New Zealand? You'd likely want to travel around rather than have one base, but that is straightforward there. And whilst it's better known for its natural beauty, there are museums and history. It's also, basically, the best country in the world (or second best anyway).

For places outside western Europe, you'll need to check local transportation options before planning a stay-put-and-day-trip vacation. That travel technique can severely limit what you see.

Bulgaria is a fascinating country (as is Romania), but there are few trains in the Balkans, and they are slow. Buses are used a lot more, and they are not fast. Figure about 30 mph. This tends to limit the day-trips that are practical from any one location. I found multiple places in those two countries that were much more attractive to me than Sofia and Bucharest, though each does have points of interest and there are folks on the forum who liked them better than I did. I basically blasted through each of those cities in about 24 hours, spending multiple days in smaller spots. I had five bases in Romania and four in Bulgaria, and there were large chunks of each country I did not visit.

Wendy, some airlines offer "around-the-world" airfares that might be of interest to you.

Agree with Nick - consider New Zealand as part of your year - although it looks like a small country (roughly the size of Colorado), I spent a few months exploring the North, South and Stewart Islands and was not lacking for things to do. I am also super into art, museums and history - and I found plenty of that in some of the larger cities like Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. The Maori culture was really interesting to learn about. And if you enjoy being outdoors, the scenery and wildlife (particularly on the South Island) is outstanding. It's not as expensive as you might think and they have a really well developed tourist infrastructure at many price points from hostels to 5 stars.

Also agree with Nick that Belgium is a great place to spend a few weeks. Very easy to pick a base and visit other cities from that location as the commuter rail times are fairly short and depart regularly. I disagree with the other poster that discouraged Amsterdam because lodging is too expensive. I've gone a number of times to the Netherlands and have stayed in Amsterdam and there is plenty to choose from that meet all types of budgets. The city is compact and walkable but also has a great system of trams if you don't want to walk. If you are going to be there for several weeks, you don't need to feel pressured to stay in the usually touristy areas that command the higher price tags (like the Jordaan). The Netherlands also has a tremendous rail system so you can easily base yourself from 1 or 2 locations and take multiple day trips on top of exploring your base cities.

A word of caution... you should carefully price out the difference between a round the world airline ticket and just booking individual tickets. I did a year of continual travel (and no, I'm not rich, a lottery winner, nor did I exclusively stay in hostels the whole year eating nothing but ramen noodles, bananas and water) and when I did the comparison, it made more sense financially and gave me more flexibility to buy individual flights. Same with trains in Europe - it was cheaper and gave me more flexibility to skip the Eurail passes.

A couple of sites/blogs you might look at from folks who've spent extended periods in different areas are: bbqboy.net and homefreeadventures.blogspot.com

Thanks again for the suggestions. I had a working visa to Australia when I was younger and I spent ten months in Australia and a month in New Zealand. I am not sure if I will do this as one big trip or a few trips of two to three months. Last time I had a year off I did three trips of about three months each
1. Jordan, Israel, Turkey and Paris
2. Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Hong Kong
3. Europe I moved fast on this trip and want to slow down this time

This time my dream/plan is
The U.K. And Ireland

Where ever I decide to base myself in Europe (this could be up to 90 days to ensure I don't stay longer than allowed).
Italy is on my list for sure I can only usually travel in July and August so I want to go when it's not cazy hot or busy

Japan and South Korea may be a differen trip

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Another place where a day trip strategy could make a lot of sense is Provence, lots of great places to visit in a small area. Avignon is a transit hub but Arles is probably a nicer place to stay (Rick says hotels are better value in Arles as well, which my research confirms; I have one listed Arles and not Avignon). To get to the smaller towns a car would be a good idea though, even if just for a week.

I would be careful to research the cost of transit for day trips, sometimes the distance and time may be very do-able but the cost if not purchased well in advance may be expensive. When you are already paying top dollar to stay in a big city, day trips may be less appealing if the round trip transit costs is $100. You can often save a lot by buying in advance.

In general I am not a big fan of "stay in a big city and take day trips" strategy because you are paying a lot to stay in the big city, and then for transportation to the day trip destination too. And depending upon the city you may spend a chunk of time just getting to the station to head out for your day trip. But it's your trip, so if that's what you want then go for it.

This time my dream/plan is
The U.K. And Ireland

Where ever I decide to base myself in Europe (this could be up to 90 days to ensure I don't stay longer than allowed).
Italy is on my list for sure I can only usually travel in July and August so I want to go when it's not cazy hot or busy

The UK allows stays of up to 6 months (although I think it may be 180 days). Italy in April/May or mid-Sept-Oct is ideal.

London is a budget killer. If you stay outside of the city you can find relative bargains, but then the commuting fare will take a bite out of what remains. A smaller city in the U.K might work. Italy is not bad on the budget. 2-3 weeks in any number of places. Florence is well-situated for exploring other towns, including Rome.

Have you looked at house sitting? Might allow you to stay longer. Check out www.TrustedHouseSitters.com. We use sitters from THS every year.

My concept on using cities as bases is a little different. Lodging, dining, parking (everything) is more expensive in cities. Based on that, I sleep in cities when I'm visiting that city.

If I were doing your idea, I'd find a place outside the city you're interested in, ideally with a train or other public transport into the city. You save money on everything and spend less time in traffic getting in and out of the city. Amsterdam has good public transport. You could stay in a nicer area for half and still take transport into A'dam for the days you want to tour the city. If you value nights in A'dam, plan some of your stay in the city and the rest outside.

Paris is similar. I enjoy spending nights in Paris but you could find a place outside of Paris, maybe on an RER line, for the time you intend to do day trips elsewhere.

London is huge but anything on the tube will get you around town. I don't find trains in Britain to be nearly as complete as on the Continent. There is a bus to Oxford and some other day trips that can be booked by bus without needed a car plus some train service.

Where ever I decide to base myself in Europe (this could be up to 90 days to ensure I don't stay longer than allowed).

Just double checking, you do know that the limit is "90 days in any 180" for the whole of the Schengen Area, not per country? Since arrival and departure days also count, as a Canadian citizen you need to spend at least 50% of your sabbatical year outside the Schengen Area (or get a residents visa from one of the Schengen countries).

Map showing the Schengen countries: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/schengen_map.jpg
UK is non-Schengen.

This sounds like fun. "* I will be off July 2020-August 2021.*" real long-term planning. The budget for this will be painful, basically 1 year's pay at big city rates (that appears to be where you are thinking of staying).