It’s now Saturday, May 7, and we arrived in Portugal just 2 days ago - though it feels like we’ve been here forever! After 2 flights from NYC, we arrived in Lisbon around noon, and proceeded to get the Via Viagem card in the airport , took the metro 3 stops to the Oriente station and changed to the Sintra train, which was sitting in the station wai... Read More

We are making plans (this is third year attempt) of going to London and Scotland. We have been to London before and stayed in the Bloomsbury neighborhood (next to British Museum) but that was many years ago. Looking to leave in first part of Sept this year. Not including travel days, we plan a week in London and a week in Scotland. Our flights... Read More

I had heard of the annual vote for the most popular village, and came across this vote for the preferred monument. Each region nominates three which are voted for. After one is selected from each region, there is a vote from those to select the winner.

Just arrived in Porto yesterday. Overwhelmed. So much to see and do, so much lovely wine. Must pace myself.

We are a few days into our first trip to Scandinavia, so I thought I’d try to post a few notes and pics of the trip in progress, similar to what I did in Portugal and Croatia last year. Our itinerary will be as follows: Copenhagen 4 nights Stockholm 4 nights Oslo 3 nights Bergen 2 nights Norway’s western fjords between Bergen and Ĺle... Read More

The two of us with our 8 year old kid Will be in Paris for 4 nights and 5 days in first week of June. Need recommendations on hotels or apartments & areas to stay. We stayed in an apartment in St. Germain 10 years back - few steps away from Cafe De Flore and loved it. We liked being able to stand in the balcony and watch/hear people. Get down and... Read More

So, I was having dinner with some friends last night and someone brought up the point that airfares were likely to skyrocket with fuel prices being so high. I made the only rational decision I could - I went home and started looking at airfares, saw a relatively inexpensive direct flight to Paris... and apparently in 5 months I will back in Europe... Read More

Had planned to take my brother and SiL for 4 days in Paris in early June.. Due to family health issues, they cancelled. My wife and I will arrive in France on Eurostar from London about noon on a Monday and fly out of CDG Friday morning. Having been to Paris and Versailles before, we'd like to drive/train places around... Read More

I'm posting this because prior to my recent trip I looked for this type of information so in case anyone else is too, here's my experience. I wanted to buy a French-brand luxury watch. I knew I was going to Paris. It ended up being less expensive for me to buy it in Paris than it would have been for me to buy it in the U.S., even though the US p... Read More

I have a question for those of you in the Netherlands or folks who know the Netherlands well. We will be leaving from AMS in mid-November and will probably be driving from France with a car since we will have a leased car using the Open Europe program with Peugeot. Since it will be late fall we don't expect great weather of course, so probably woul... Read More

Hello Everyone - Please Help Us We just found out that our travel dates and itinerary has to change last minute due to my son's school. We really need help and guidance. We are going to see family in Darmestadt Germany for 3 days and then family in Chexbres, Switzerland for 5 days. We have 4 days for another City by our selves- This is ou... Read More

Hi I'm prepping my travel stuff, here's what I have: - security luggage from Pacsafe ( it has wire mesh in the fabric) - travel door latch - travel door/window alarm - rfid sleeves for credit card and passport - vpn app For those of us that are security conscious ( some may say paranoid) what other security gadgets/apps (android)have you used/sugg... Read More

Hello everyone! My husband and I are planning a winter trip to Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands & Austria for 6 weeks from mid December to late January. We fly into Frankfurt and out of Vienna (these flights cannot be changed) We are in our 30s and huge foodies. It’s our first winter trip to Europe and our first time in these countri... Read More

Hello everyone, I am interested in people's thoughts about Palladio's Vicenza. Do you recommend for only a day trip from either Padua or Venice? Or do you recommend staying there and using it as a base to visit the surrounding areas for a few days? If so, what restaurants do you recommend? What other museums--houses do you recommend visiting... Read More

Hello Everyone, Thank you in advance for any help you can give. A friend and I are visiting Scotland in September with 10-11 nights planned. We are currently flying in and out of Edinburg but that is still open so if it makes sense to fly in and out somewhere else that's fine. We will rent a car once we leave Edinburgh and we have experience dr... Read More

Hi, My partner and I will be in Croatia from May 28 - June 16, and I am wondering if someone might be able to give me some sense of the crowds so far this season. I am hoping they are still a little less than in typical years, but I realize this may seem selfish - and overly optimistic. Specifically, we are hoping to walk the Dubrovnik city wall... Read More

Has anyone been to Barcelona or the French Riviera? I'm trying to book flights in Europe right now. Staying 3 days in Southern France (Nice, Eze, a day trip to Monoco) and 3 days in Barcelona. Have one extra day and can't decide whether to spend it in Barcelona or France. Have never been to either. I speak Spanish, not French, so I thought I wou... Read More

Hi all, My son (age 9; third grade) and I went to Virginia (Charlottesville + Williamsburg) in April 2022 during school vacation week. We had a great time.Thank you to all of you who gave advice, and also to those who made this initial suggestion. I have never been to these areas so it was interesting and educational for me as well! Why Virgin... Read More

I have previously only visited Paris, France and am returning to France with a friend next year to more extensively see the beauty that lies beyond Paris. We would both like to visit Mont St Michel but are mindful that as we won't be visiting Normandy, the only viable option for Mont St Michel would be as a day tour from Paris (we don't have tim... Read More

My friend has expressed interest in visiting Nice and Tolouse while we are in France next year. At this stage it looks as though we will base ourselves in Avignon as our gateway to Provence and from what I have initially researched, being that it is tricky to travel by TGV east-west or west-east, it would be difficult for us to visit both Nice a... Read More

Can you help me figure something out? The French government website says: “People aged 18 or over who wish to enter French territory must have received a booster dose of an mrna vaccine no later than 9 months after the last required dose to be c... Read More

First, sincerest thanks to so many Fodorites who gave such great advice, including Maribel, Helen Fatima, mlgb - I hope that I haven’t forgotten anyone. I know that several people are leaving soon, so hope that I can share something that will be helpful for your own trip. My husband and I (mid-70s) and our son (40s) went to Sintra (2 nights) and... Read More

Is this plan too ambitious for a late summer holiday? Flying into Athens (at night), flying out of Santorini (in the evening). In total 10 nights to play with. Currently my plan looks like the following: 2 nights in Athens, then catch the early train towards Meteora with a 1 night stay in Kalambaka. The following day, leave by evening train a... Read More

Hi there. We are traveling to Italy from Australia at the end of June. I'd like to book the 1010am direct train from Rome to Salerno on Thursday 30 June but the traghetti website has this message: "Seats sold out on the train 8863. Solution not saleable; Travel solution temporarily not available for the selected date". It seems to hav... Read More

Hi everyone! I'd like to get the opinion of some people here. I'm planning to visit Venice, Florence and Rome in late June / early July, at the end of a work thing. Something like 3.5 days in Venice, 4 days in Florence (and day trips to nearby places) and 3.5 days in Rome. I've heard that Italy in early July can be hot, and from some places I've... Read More