Kycl

I am planning a trip my first trip to Europe this late November. I have a little under 3 weeks' vacation time and need help. I will be traveling solo if that helps (32M). I absolutely want to visit Paris and Rome. However, I am stuck on the third place. I am planning on staying in each city 5 days and have allotted one day of travel between each (flights). Interested in everything travel; Museums, historical sights, food, night life, etc.

I am torn between the following locations: Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Barcelona, Athens.

"Is there someplace I missed and should look at?"

Help please!

Michael

I've never been to Athens, but it terms of climate and daylight hours it could be a top choice. I really like Vienna, and if the weather is bad, it has plenty of indoor activities--museums, concert venues.

For restaurants: TIAN Bistro (vegetarian/vegan), reservation essential https://www.tian-bistro.com/
Stomach Restaurant https://www.yelp.com/biz/stomach-wien

Travel_Nerd

Your interests are varied and not exactly all that specific.So I'd just be shooting out stuff.

Vienna, Prague or Berlin would not come to mind for "food" necessarily, but you can find decent restaurants everywhere.

What sort of nightlife? Clubs? Or more concerts or events? Vienna is heavy on classical and opera. Prague and Berlin might be more known for clubbing, but I did that in my 20s. YMMV.

What sort of historical sites? Particular time period?

Perhaps ask yourself what draws you to each of these cities to help you set your priorities. Id personally prefer to do train, especially due to environmental reasons, so maybe the answer in the end is what makes the most sense in terms of transit (what flight schedules, train schedules, etc.), too.

bilboburgler

Paris Rome

Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Barcelona, Athens appear to be random cities chosen from a catalogue

These cities do not make a lot of sense, a more logical bunch of places to choose from would be Lyon, Nice, Milan or Florence. Given it is the poor weather of November I might focus on Nice. Trains are wonderful things you can get to understand them at seat61.com

Traveler_Nick

To me that sounds like Berlin. Barcelona can also work but so could Madrid. Florence would be the easy choice but I think if night life is high the list the other three would beat it.

bilboburgler

Milan night life is pretty good. Monaco does its best

Traveler_Nick

Do you mean Munich or Monte Carlo?

bilboburgler

ah good question Monte Carlo, the birds may have flown by November

dreamon

Maybe Lyon?

I would definitely pick places I could take the train between.

rouelan

Any place in the top 20 of most visited cities will meet your expectations.
I would suggest you go through that sort of list. I am sure it will help you to select a destination.

shelemm

My standard recommendation is to rent a car for at least three days to explore village Europe. I did this on my first solo trip to Europe and it was a life changing experience. If you meet other travelers along the way, maybe you could interest them in riding along.....

Here is a link that might give you some inspiration:

https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/it...rips-rome.html

BTW, The last site listed in that article is Tivoli, which is a short shuttle bus ride from Rome and should be included in any trip to Rome.

If you need a third city that is very different form Paris and Rome, then Prague and Krakow are among my favorite destinations in Europe. Prague (like Vienna) is Central European and Krakow is Eastern European.

Kycl

Bilboburgler, they are the cities I am really interested in seeing as random as they are lol.

Kycl

Thank you everyone! I think I have a lot of research to do. I am at the moment leaning toward Berlin. I think the history as well as the nightlife is very appealing.

KarenWoo

I can't speak to nightlife as I am in my 70's. But I think Barcelona would be an awesome choice because of the weather, which should be more enjoyable and warmer than northern Europe. Berlin is interesting but will be colder. I love Prague but the temps will be colder, too. Depends on if you prefer warmer temps or colder temps. Athens is warmer, too, and certainly has tons of history, the amazing Acropolis, museums, delicious food. But I think my preference would be Barcelona. IMO, the architecture is more interesting. Delicious food, too! And very different from Paris and Rome.

Green83

Since you like history, consider Seville, Athens, Crete, or Malta.

If you go to Athens, take day trips to Delphi and Mycenae, Epidarvos, Watch the BBC documentary “Delphi: Why it Matters.” It’s enjoyable. Also watch Mary Beard’s BBC series on the Romans. All can be found on YouTube or Amazon Prime. The BBC documentaries featuring Bettany Hughes are also very good,

bilboburgler

could be, or you have just read an airline magazine...

coral22

I agree with Barcelona. It would have a different flavor and a nice energy. I have heard Berlin is very fun, young and interesting, but I think it could be very dreary at the end of November. Athens is fantastic, but I think it deserves its own trip with other Greece locations included.

I think Vienna, Prague and Berlin sound like their own trip, better done in warmer weather.

Since you are so open, you might start checking airfare and connections. There can be a vast difference in prices, and where are the nonstops from your origination? Flying into one location and home from the third spot would be more fun if you don't have long days and multiple connections. And maybe a different location will show up as an easy third spot in your flight search. Enjoy!

Sassafrass

Going in winter, it may make sense to visit cities where it is easy to find indoor activities and to pop into cafes to get out of the cold. However, cities are such a small part of the culture of European countries, IMHO, visiting only cities gives a very skewed vision of Europe. You already have two large cities and while you could spend the entire time in those, I suggest your trip could be more interesting if you choose a country you are interested in and try to see more of the smaller towns. Also, try to put together a big part of the trip to do by train.

Spain could work well because weather is still quite nice. Consider Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, etc.

Another big city, one you did not mention, but is fun even in winter, easy train connection with Paris and perhaps even a good arrival or departure city is London. It has everything from Architecture to history to theater and great day trips or overnight trips, some nightlife too.

Another option is other places in France and Italy. For example, from Rome, not prime time for flowers, etc. but visit Naples to tour Pompeii and if weather cooperates, a day on the Amalfi Coast, or go North to Tuscany and see some of the truly magnificent small cities like Siena, Lucca, Florence, Pisa, etc. at a time when they are less crowded. Even closer to Rome is Orvieto. This can be done very easily by train or bus.

bhuty

I'm assuming that the nightlife interest is the reason for spending 5 days in Paris and Rome. Otherwise I would say that you could spend 4 days each and give you time to visit 2 more cities plus day trips, or one more city and a region/area.

If you do Berlin then you can add in Prague....but I did Prague solo and i stopped looking at things to wait until I could do it with my wife - which we are doing in about 3 weeks from now so yay me. If you did Berlin and Prague then you can stop in at Karlovy Vary on the way. Or you can do Prague and Vienna with a stop over at Cseky Krumlov in between. Or do Vienna and Athens - or do Athens and then surrounds.

One last idea - if nightlife is important to you then perhaps Amsterdam if you're into that kind of nightlife. Not for me though