Places to Visit in Western Europe?

[shadow]

Anyone have any recommendations for places to visit in western Europe?

I was thinking about going to a few other places for the ISU game in Ireland next year. I thought I might fly into London to see some things there and do a day trip by train to Paris before heading over to Dublin. If you got much further away than those cities, it was getting to be a bit of hike though not as bad as I had thought.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Make sure you spend some time in Ireland, the western part is beautiful

 

[cowgirl836]

Did a day trip to Paris from London, more days is better but 1 day was a good taste of the city. We pent a week each in Scotland and then England. Didn't get to Ireland.

 

[CyDude16]

Paris is great. Amsterdam is my favorite city in the entire world. Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and Utrecht are great cities in Netherlands. Belgium is very underrated. Absolutely loved Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Brussels. The beer is amazing.

 

[jsb]

Do a few days layover in Iceland.

 

[LivntheCyLife]

There's many great cities in the UK
Liverpool - probably my favorite, blue collar city with its dock history, rich music history with the Beatles and lots of live music, great passion for soccer
Manchester - more modern, lots of industrial revolution history, storied soccer teams
Edinburgh - historic/royal feel, good museums
Glasgow - more blue collar with a lot of arts and culture

In Ireland
Galway and the west coast is beautiful

Renting a car or taking a train to cross the country side between a couple of those cities would be my vote. You could go farther to experience other more different cultures and a non-English speaking country, but even among the cities I listed there's a big difference in how they each feel and their culture.

 

[CyDawg23]

Depends what you're in to. But if you like a mixture of old town square and college town, I found Freiberg Germany to be a hidden gem in the Black Forest. 3 to 4 hour train ride from Paris. Also agree that Brussels is a great city.

 

[HFCS]

If you're going to fly somewhere might as well fly straight south to Barcelona or Madrid for something very different before or after spending some time in Ireland. Flight \to east coast is still relatively short the same way Dublin or London would be.

I've been to about a dozen major European cities and Barcelona is my favorite so far. I haven't yet spent time in Netherlands, Belgium, Germany or Scandinavia most and would like to see them all.

 

[ghyland7]

Brugges and/or Brussels in Belgium are amazing stops relatively nearby the areas you've mentioned.

I was able to visit Normanday/Caen, and if you're into WW2 history, visiting the American cemetery is haunting. When I was over there, I took a ferry from Portsmouth, England over to Caen, which is more-or-less the same route as D-Day, and seeing those cliffs was unforgettable.

London is a really cool city, and the big museum is free (and fantastic, although potentially ethically questionable).

 

[WISCY1895]

Prague and Vienna are also amazing cities to visit.

 

[dmclone]

I'm in Gent, Belgium right now and it's a decent location. I would recommend a rural region. Places like western Ireland, Scotland, southern France, Normandy region, hill cities of Italy, etc. I've been to a lot of the big cities in Europe, which I like, but the most memorable have been the rural areas. On a side note, just took a half day tour in Ypres that focused on WW1, which was amazing.

 

[WISCY1895]

Wife and I are headed to Norway in a couple months for our anniversary. Anyone been there?

 

[cytor]

Prague is my favorite city in the world.

 

[clonechemist]

Bruges is super cool for 1-2 days. Beautiful medieval city to walk around, a decent little art museum, and good restaurants and pubs that are hundreds of years old. Also very convenient to Paris by train

If you like Belgian beers, the bar ‘t Brugs Beertje is a must

 

[clonechemist]

For Paris, to be honest I feel like 1 day isn’t enough. I was there 4 days and wished I had at least 2 more.

If you like art, Musee d’Orsay is less crowded than the Louvre but similarly impressive.

And the food and wine truly is amazing.

 

[cowgirl836]

For Paris, to be honest I feel like 1 day isn’t enough. I was there 4 days and wished I had at least 2 more.

If you like art, Musee d’Orsay is less crowded than the Louvre but similarly impressive.

And the food and wine truly is amazing.

2nd musee de orsay! And eiffel at night is way better than day.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Why only Western Europe? The Adriatic is amazing. Slovenia to Croatia to North Macedonia to Albania to Greece is fire

 

[WISCY1895]

Why only Western Europe? The Adriatic is amazing. Slovenia to Croatia to North Macedonia to Albania to Greece is fire

Dubrovnik was amazing. Some of the best seafood, wine, and olive oil I’ve had

 

[EnkAMania]

Stockholm in the summer.

 

[pourcyne]

I would strongly recommend to any American to visit France, specifically Caen (le Musée d'Embarquement), the museum made out of a German bunker in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Omaha Beach, and the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. It is only in these places can one come to a full realization of how the world teetered on the brink in the 30's and 40's and how many people were slaughtered in the process.

I'm not at all crazy about London, but Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge are okay. Go to the top of St Paul's to the whispering gallery in the dome. The rest, meh. (and the food, my god, the food, horrific). If you want to say you've been to England, go somewhere more interesting like Bath, Oxford, Salisbury (near Stonehenge), and/or Penzance.

A day trip to Paris would be worth it just to experience the Chunnel (never have). Once there, one of those bus tours that take you around the city would be your best bet, because seeing the monuments themselves is the thrill. Standing in line to tour them is less so. To be truthful, Paris does not feature any great food to speak of, so go to a French fast-food like Pomme de Pain (sort of like Subway, but with REALLY cold beer).

Brussels is an okay city, very livable, and definitely where to go if you want great food, anywhere you want. It doesn't have to be the high-end frou-frou joints. Order moules-frites (mussels and French fries). Anywhere. If you go to the Grand Place, go into the Roy d'Espagne for a beer and to pet the taxidermied horse.

As for Spain, I really hate Madrid (but you will probably have to change planes there if you decide to go a different Spanish city). You will also have to go through European customs if flying from London because of Brexit. (yeah, a real pain in the culo). Barcelona is a great city, but it deserves several days, as does Seville, my absolute favorite. I LOVED that city, and I've been to a ton of them around the world.

I do not recommend Amsterdam. It is the smelly, hairy armpit of Europe.

I guess if I were you, I would just try to enjoy Dublin and some day trips to other parts of Ireland (European trains are great) to explore the area, rather than try to cram in other countries in a short space of time.