Eurotrip! Thoughts & suggestions welcome

[CraKaJaX]

Food and beer are quite cheap there as long as you stay out of the tourist traps. First time I went to the CZ (in 1999) you could buy beer for 15cents. Last time I was there beer was ~75 cents. A big increase but still cheap.

Is that both in grocery stores and at bars? That could be dangerous. She also mentioned how having a "little" bit of any drugs on you is legal there. Crazy.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Prague is obvious.
Munich - OK ... also have lovely parts of Bavaria to explore ...

Munich is very meh to me. Agree with the advice on Bavaria. My advice to the OP? Maybe take a train to Munich, rent a car, and explore rural Bavaria with a place like Fussen as home base. From Fussen, you can see Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and drive to Linderhof. There's also a beautiful little rural church called the Wieskirche that is really cool. If you like WW2 stuff, Berchtesgaden is a nice town and the view from the Eagle's Nest is pretty spectacular.

Zurich - NO!
Italy: Cinque Terre is too good for a day trip. Also Pisa - Cinque Terre would be better combo.

To your list also consider Budapest.
If you had more time, I would add Dresden too.
Avoid Vienna IMO.

I actually liked Vienna quite a bit and would also advise the OP to visit Salzburg and specifically, the Salzkammergut if he/she likes mountains, lakes, and natural beauty.

 

[Exterous]

I am also considering using AirBNB instead of a traditional hotel, but this would be in London. For those that have used it (especially more than once) have you run into any scammers? Today Show had a Rossen Report regarding the failures of AirBNB.

I'm going to London in December for three weeks and thinking about spending just under US$8K on a place across from Harrods in the Hyde Park area, but compared to the hotels I'd be spending >US$12-14K. The property I am considering is nice in the photographs, but only a handful of feedback (all positive).

Still, the thought of spending US$8K on my first AirBNB transaction seems risky, but the savings seems really good.

Haven't used AirBNB but you might want to look into the Premier Inn County Hall. I don't know if its a nicer place than the AirBNB place or not but the location is right next to the Eye and for Dec 6th - 29 I came up with a cost of $4,200. You can only book for 9 days at a time but you might want to see if they'll cut you a deal for a lengthy stay by calling anyway

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Is that both in grocery stores and at bars? That could be dangerous. She also mentioned how having a "little" bit of any drugs on you is legal there. Crazy.

The prices I quoted were from restaurants. In 1999 I remember my father buying a 5 course dinner with booze for 10 people. Cost was ~30 bucks. And it was very good food.

It has been 6 years since I was last there, so prices have probably gone up some.

Also FYI - a lot of beer there has an alcohol content of at least 5-6%. So drinking one is like drinking 2 bud lights. Good local beers to try are Staropramen (Old Prague) Velvet and And Mutuska Zlata Raketa (Matthews Golden Rocket)

 

[CraKaJaX]

The prices I quoted were from restaurants. In 1999 I remember my father buying a 5 course dinner with booze for 10 people. Cost was ~30 bucks. And it was very good food.

It has been 6 years since I was last there, so prices have probably gone up some.

Also FYI - a lot of beer there as an alcohol content of at least 5-6%. So drinking one is like drinking 2 bud lights. Good local beers to try are Staropramen (Old Prague) Velvet and And Mutuska Zlata Raketa (Matthews Golden Rocket)

Good to know! Are you familiar with the "digestive aid" shot that you can buy before eating a meal over there? The name slips my mind, but it was described to me as a cinnamon, nutmeg, spice type of liquor.

Is it March yet?

 

[flexy]

If you're already down in Munich, you're basically already at the foot of the Alps, and Austria is close buy. (To Salzburg/Austria only 80mls or so).

No reason to go to Switzerand (IMHO) because you can have all the Alps mountains galore either south of Munich or if you head into Austria.

Also..as someone mentioned, if you're in Munich you should def. check out the Deutsche Museum.

Also...and this is so cool about Europe...it's of course merely a short little jump from Munich to Italy. You can down towards Innsbruck/Austria, cross tiny Austria and then you're already in Northern Italy with Lake Garda, Verona, Venice, Milan etc. all relatively close.

 

[flexy]

Well, good thing that Europeans tend to brew much stronger coffee than what we typically find in the States.

"Europeans" Yes, great Coffee in Germany and sure fantastic Coffee in Italy, no doubt. But don't get me started with Spain. Coffee is very "meh" here, any German Supermarket ALDI brand would be better what they sell as "coffee" here. (In fact I would kill to have some German supermarket store brand coffee here, but no go.)

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Good to know! Are you familiar with the "digestive aid" shot that you can buy before eating a meal over there? The name slips my mind, but it was described to me as a cinnamon, nutmeg, spice type of liquor.

Is it March yet?

I think you are talking about Becherovka

http://www.becherovka.com/

Its an "acquired" taste to say the least. I would not describe it as tasting like cinnamon or nutmeg. It is more like really bad alcoholic herbal tea. As a sidenote, Becherovka is made in Karlovy Vary, which is where one of the medical "spas" in the Czech republic is located. The Czechs have very good modern medicine. But a lot of them believe in more holistic approaches to healing, and so spas remain quite popular. If my memory serves, the Karlovy Vary Spa was (and maybe still is) a place where many people go to have mental disorders treated, primarily by drinking water from one of the many springs located on the spa grounds. When I visited many years ago (not for treatment) my father told me that and I refused to believe him. Until I saw a chemical analysis of the content of their spring water that showed that it contains a substantial amount of lithium (a known antidepressant).

Slivovice (Sliv-o-vit-zay) is another liquor you will hear a lot about over there. It is basically the Czech equivalent of moonshine in the U.S. Many Czechs have their own private recipe, and they all taste like turpentine mixed with bad plums IMO. A slivivice fizz is drinkable, however.

Also - absinthe is the real deal over there. Be careful if you decide to try it. Some people react really... strangely ... to it.