Sorry I'm a horrible searcher, but I'm in the early stages of planning our 10 year wedding anniversary and wasn't sure where to start. I assume it's ok to post this here, if not please point me to the correct spot pretty please

The wife and I would like to spend 10ish days in Europe. I've never been, she hasn't been in 20ish years. I really enjoy history (WWI, WWII, Roman Empire, and anything medieval/castle related) whereas my wife is just happy to get to travel to Europe, and doesn't care where we go.

Is there a good podcast to listen to? Book to read? Thread to look at?

I was thinking we'd start in England, check out some cool old castles. Then head to Germany and visit some world war locations. Then finish our trip in Italy and check out things like the Colosseum.

Does that sound like a reasonable vacation route? Does it sound stupid as hell? I'm open to any/all suggestions and would love some blunt feedback Even simple things like "best times of year to travel" and "n00b mistakes to avoid" would be super appreciated it

Thanks in advance guys

First impression is that 3 countries in 10 days is stretching it thin especially when they're not really close to each other

I would advise you to spend a few days in Barcelona if you can. This city has a rich cultural heritage, one of the best places to visit in Europe. The Gaudí’s masterpieces are a must-see imo. And if you like castles there is an old military fortress there (Montjuïc Castle).

Pictures speak louder than words, the two most famous works of Antoni Gaudí

La Sagrada Familia






Park Güell (part of the UNESCO World Heritage)






Montjuïc Castle

Barcelona is so insanely overcrowded its hard to enjoy anything. I don't recommend it, although everyone seems to.

Very much this. I spent a week in Paris and didn't do everything I wanted to.

On travel days it's hard to have the energy to do anything interesting unless it's a short trip. You check in, drop off your bags and the museum closes in less than 2 hours. Best to stick to one city as a base and take nearby day trips to other places.

France has everything you're looking for. Obviously overloaded with WW1/WW2 history. Tons of Roman history still left in Lyon and the southern cities. Tons of great castles/palaces (Mont-Saint-Michel, Chambord, Versailles), tons of little medieval villages. Paris is the most romantic city on Earth.

Do a google image search of Carcassonne for example. I just posted in the other thread "Profile a Travel Destination..." with a couple pics of what you could expect in southern France.

imo the three most interesting cities in Europe are London, Paris and Rom (in that order). If I were you I would pick two, but you could do all three in these 10 days as well.

I've yet to travel to London but I can testify the same regarding the latter two. I know it's lame to pick such a popular place but they are popular for a reason.

I know it's not that intuitive but three countries really is a bit much and probably isn't optimal unless you're both go-go / type A. my number one rule when traveling is minimum two nights stay in any given hotel/airbnb, otherwise the travel percentages get a bit skewed. the feeling of checking into a place at 5pm and checking out by 10am is just not a relaxing one.

travel is really personal but if I were you I'd figure out the month I was going, and sort by weather. you really can't go wrong in Europe as there's history and wonderful architecture everywhere. The other thing you want to consider is whether you want an experience more curated for tourists or less curated.

I'll toss a super simple itinerary that you may like (provided you go this summer/early fall)
3-4 nights in london
3 nights in rome
3 nights in the tuscan countryside

london has so much culture and excitement, rome has beautiful architecture and history and tuscany is just loaded with castles (and beauty). renting a car is super easy and pretty fun.

maybe tell us some more about places you've been and liked?

I would restrict myself to two countries in 10 days. There's too much to see, and three days for each country would be too rushed. Ending in Rome sounds perfect.

Thanks for all the input guys, I really appreciate it!

Sounds like 3 cities in 10 days is too much, if I had to pick 2 I'd probably go with London and Rome. I'm assuming that both places have some interesting world war museums/places of interests, could you recommend some? Same goes with Roman sights and medieval museums/sights/anything like that

As far as what I've enjoyed when traveling so far, I honestly haven't done much. Costa Rica once 20ish years ago with my Spanish language class, Hawaii 5ish times because that's where my wife is from. Vegas a bunch for poker, and Seattle a few times because I'm only 4 hours away. My favorite thing on any of those trips was probably Hawaii and seeing pearl harbor. Sitting on the beach isn't really my thing, but going to museums and seeing old boats or walking in an old submarine is FUN!!!!

My other big question would be "when" should we go? Our anniversary is August 25th, but we can travel whenever America's public school is out. I say that because we have a 4 year old, and our daughter is going to stay with grandma while we're gone and she's a public school teacher. So we were thinking about traveling the end of August because it's summer time for school so it works well for the grandparents, and that way we'd be in Europe on our actual wedding anniversary. However if that's a bad time of year, and say June or whenever is better to go, we'd rather choose a "good time to go" over the exact anniversary date.

Thanks again guys, really appreciating the feedback (and don't hold back, I'm a travel n00b, so anything that sounds like a dumb idea, feel free to bash me lol)

Imperial War Museum in London imo

I've actually it hard to predict when Rome is and isn't overcrowded. London and Tuscany would be great at those times. I think Airbnb a nice London flat (or boutique hotel) for 3 days, then drive from FCO to Tuscany for 3-4 days (there's a zillion awesome airbnbs and villas to rent, take your pick). then stay in an airbnb in Trastevere in rome. pretty hard to mess up to be honest. you said you don't care about the beaches as much but be prepared for some hot weather (just like all non-costal USA around that time). London has amazing museums (don't know about military specifically). Tuscany has boatloads of great castles (you can even stay in some!). Rome's roman architecture is as-advertised.

Just an fyi you can go from the center of London to the center of Paris on the Eurostar train in 2 hours if you want to see them both. Countries are close together in Europe, I think you can definately do 3 countries in 10 days.

Germany has both the castles and the WWII history. I highly recommend Rhineland-Palatinate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...and-Palatinate

You can exclude Spain and Italy from your list imo. Stick north western Europe and you'll find it all there.

You could also do a Munich-Prague-Berlin trip - fairly close together, I think train travel would be easy between them. Lot of history in Germany and Prague is a beautiful city.

Thanks again for the input guys, you're killing it! And helping me out a ton!

If we instead did London and Germany, where exactly would you guys recommend in Germany? (city/cities and museums???)

I'd LOVE to see a bunch of WWII stuff from the German side/perspective.

I would alter your suggestion slightly and recommend Berlin-Prague-Vienna. Not only is it on an easy and direct train line, IMO, Vienna is a much more historically and culturally interesting city than Munich.

+1 on Vienna.

No matter what you do, you're going to have a great time.
My wife and I were in Germany this past fall; the itinerary was "castles and WW2," and we were not dissapointed.

I've been to all the cities mentioned in this list and I'd have to agree that Rome, London, Paris are the "top 3" as have been mentioned. For 10 days, no matter what you do, I'd either pick 2 of the "big cities" mentioned and do day trips from there, or if you want to go to more places but for shorter times, do an itinerary such as Berlin-Rhine Valley-Nuremberg-Bavaria or something similar and spend some time zooming on the autobahn.

Berlin was far and away beyond my expectations but I wouldn't put it at the level of the other 3 cities since it is "newer" given that much of it was destroyed in WW2. However, it has the most unique recent history of any city, some great museums, lots of WW2 and Soviet history, not to mention the 1936 Olympic Stadium.

If your wife isn't as into WW2, though, I'd recommend picking 2 of London/Paris/Rome for your anniversary. You can't go wrong with any of those. If you do Paris, make sure to visit Versailles and the gardens. She will love it.

when are you going? i missed that

don't do 3 cities in ten days imo, yes everything is close in europe but the checkin stuff, transfer to hotel etc takes time too

i like the suggestion of london (ww1/2) + a base in southern france (medieval/roman empire/castles). seems like a good balance

(if you do go to berlin, stasi museum is very good)

London + Paris is good if you plan not to take any off days from travel.

I wouldn't do any more than 2 cities in a 10 day span.

Our anniversary is August 25th, so we were thinking the end of August. But we can go whenever as long as American public school is out (my mom is a school teacher and will be baby sitting our 4 year old daughter). If there's a better time then the end of August, we'd be totally open to changing it.

italy/spain tends to be dead in august bc of the heat (and humidity), museums might be closed etc

you can always avoid/plan around the afternoon heat* so it's not necessarily a reason to avoid those countries, but i'd do some research

*i once had the idea to visit budapest at the end of july. it was so humid and hot we had no choice but to spend the afternoons in our AC hotel room and then go out sightseeing at midnight. that was fun too though

Tourist attractions will be open in Spain. However many small businesses will be closed for either July or August as the locals go on vacation then.