At the end of July/beginning of August I will be heading to Iceland, but stopping elsewhere in Europe on the way. We want to spend a week there and a week in Iceland. My question is this, where should I go in Europe? I only have a week, I don't want to spend the whole time traveling. We are thinking Amsterdam, with some day trips from there. Any suggestions? veen
Let me know what dates so I can put it in my calendar! I have a bunch of suggestions. It mostly depends on what your preferred method of transportation is, how much you wanna see and how much you're willing to spend. While Amsterdam itself is pretty good to base yourself in, I have two less popular, train-based options: The Hague and Brussels. The Hague has direct trains to Amsterdam Airport (30 minutes), Amsterdam (40m), Utrecht (40m), Delft (13m), Leiden (20m) and Rotterdam (20m) as well as Antwerp (67m with Thalys high-speed) and Brussels (2h with Thalys), all cool to visit if you ask me. It's a seaside city with a long urban beach to cool down in the summer. It has the Parliament, a great city center and because of all the politics there it's internationally-oriented. Rotterdam, Leiden and Utrecht are also good places for similar reasons but each city is different. Train tickets are usually around 10 to 20 euro per person each way, highspeed trains around 30-40 if you buy them a few weeks ahead. If you wanna see more of Europe and don't mind a bit more travel, Brussels might also be a good base. Amsterdam is 2h10 with highspeed trains, London 2h30 and Paris less than 2 hours.
Amsterdam, London, and Paris within 2.5 hours? I am on the wrong continent my dude.
Well in August we can safely exclude all southern countries cause chances are you won't be able to enjoy anything in the heat. Don't want to risk it. Scandinavia is fun but steep on a budget - so not a priority on the list. I get the feel from your post you don't really want to be in a big city (correct me if i'm wrong) so no Paris, London or Berlin. Amsterdam is a good bet - cheap flights, kid friendly, not too hot in August. Plenty to visit and do - but research some day trips, I feel 1 week might be a little bit too much (unless you're really taking it easy). It's a relatively small city so you'll do the main tourist things fast IMO. I find Copenhagen has a similar feel as Amsterdam, but less overwhelming tourist-wise with still plenty to visit. Amsterdam can get a little packed with stag parties and stuff sometimes, but that's just my impression. Brussels also fits the criteria. If you're feeling adventurous, I really liked Riga in Latvia. Architecture is amazing, it's a little different from everywhere else, I really enjoyed the food + there is a beach not far.
The Centre Pompidou in Paris if you like art. It's less well known than the Louvre but the building is supposed to be amazing itself. It's modern art so that may not be your thing. Also don't confuse modern art with contemporary art. We're talking like early 20th century to mid here so there's going to be actual incredible stuff and not a tampon in a teacup with a three page for artist statement
Well! Dude, let me know if you decide to come Ireland! I'd outright suggest it, but since you're already thinking of Amsterdam, a day trip isn't really feasible owing to the pesky bodies of water between there and Dublin. I'm currently back home in the west of Ireland, but I'd definitely trek up to the capital to meet you if I could. Dublin has a bunch of nice places to visit - some good free museums and whatnot, Phoenix Park (apparently the largest park within city limits in Europe), a lovely walk around Howth Head peninsula (and fish and chips at the end) - oh and some of the finest drinking holes the world has ever seen. You can also pop down to Galway or the Cliffs of Moher, and actually very close to Dublin is Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains if you fancy a bit of day hiking and some beautiful valley scenery.