Visiting Europe for a month this summer

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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If I had two days to spend in Munich or Vienna, which do you guys think is better?

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Vienna is more beautiful and more interesting. If you haven't been to "Eastern" Europe, from Wien you can also take a quick trip into Bratislava and see the contrast.

[mwalsh2020]

My apologies for the last inquiry regarding Vienna and Munich, since neither easyjet nor ryanair fly to those locations. Instead, we are considering three choices in Germany: Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt. We REALLY want to see at least one old, cool German castle. I know that Berlin is great for 20th century history, but we'd like to see a castle so if anyone is familiar with the geography of Germany, which of these three places would provide the best combination of providing a good taste of Germany while allowing us to see a castle. Unfortunately, we only have 3 days for this part of the trip.

[rudolphf]

Beware of ryanair, I know its all about getting from a to b but if theres a problem and there often is with these, theyll be of no help whatsoever. Also they always fly to an airport situated in what can only loosely be labeled the city theyre claiming to fly to.
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/FR.htm

[mwalsh2020]

I used them this past summer and didn't have a problem, but then again, I didn't use them for very many cities. We are visiting London, Dublin, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, and somewhere in Germany but are not planning using Ryan air for Lisbon because they don't go there. Any of these other cities have an airport that is way far away that Ryan air uses?

[rudolphf]

Dublin is fine, theres only one airport.
Barcelona - Ryanair fly to Girona not Barcelona, it can be a nightmare getting public transport into Barcelona as the airport isnt used much, easyjet fly to Barcelona, much better option if its available. If youre going from Dublin to Barcelona AerLingus are your best bet, also check their prices wherever you fly from Dublin.
Paris - I dont know Paris but the Ryanair flight is listed as Paris (Beauvais) have a look where Beauvais is, its certainly not the main airport in Paris, same goes for the other locations, they put the name of the airport in brackets beside the city name, google the bracketed bit.

[RoundTower]

Beauvais is outside Paris a bit, the main way to get there is via shuttle bus which takes about 45 min and costs about 10 euro.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

[ QUOTE ]
My apologies for the last inquiry regarding Vienna and Munich, since neither easyjet nor ryanair fly to those locations. Instead, we are considering three choices in Germany: Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt. We REALLY want to see at least one old, cool German castle. I know that Berlin is great for 20th century history, but we'd like to see a castle so if anyone is familiar with the geography of Germany, which of these three places would provide the best combination of providing a good taste of Germany while allowing us to see a castle. Unfortunately, we only have 3 days for this part of the trip.

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FWIW Bayern has much more visible pre-20th history including medieval charming towns and castles (it wasn't so devastated during the war), so I would choose Munich if that is possible, and then rent a car. Then you can also visit "Disney":



Link

and Regensburg (100 km on the Autobahn is 45 mins or less):

Regensburg

Divert from the Autobahn whenever you are hungry and find a Gaststätte in a small village, they are usually very cosy and have very good, cheap food.

EDIT: That last picture did not really do the city justice, it is much much nicer.

[bpc009]

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I used them this past summer and didn't have a problem, but then again, I didn't use them for very many cities. We are visiting London, Dublin, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, and somewhere in Germany but are not planning using Ryan air for Lisbon because they don't go there. Any of these other cities have an airport that is way far away that Ryan air uses?

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I don't know your exact itinerary, but it sounds like you're bouncing all over the place and don't just have one push off point. If that's correct, then I highly suggest expanding beyond Ryanair and looking at the other discount airlines as well. There is a plethora to choose from, and could put Vienna and Munich back in play.

[mwalsh2020]

thats a great idea... i've only heard of and used ryanair and easyjet, could you recommend the names of others?

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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thats a great idea... i've only heard of and used ryanair and easyjet, could you recommend the names of others?

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There are very many of them, one way to go can be to look at an airport's website and see which airlines travel where.