Vacation in Europe

familyfirst

Mon, Mar 04 2019, 11:19 pm

We have about 10'days vacation, including flying time, to spend in Europe and Israel. Can anyone suggest the best way to use this time?

Been to Israel a few years ago so a few days touring is sufficient.

We are located in U.S

Thank you!

doctorima

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 7:51 am

We did this once, though with a drop more time. After a short visit to E"Y, we spent about 8 (?) days in Italy - 2-3 in Rome, 2-3 in Venice, and 1 in Florence and Pisa. A beautiful and love trip, highly recommended!

Other options would be London, Paris, Switzerland, or Vienna and Prague, but Italy would be my 1st choice.

DrMom

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 7:58 am

You could easily spend 10 days in E"Y all by itself, but if you want to do a stopover, you may want to check airline prices (if money is a factor).

How did you want to split your time? 3 day stopover and the rest in Israel?

Mayflower

Tue, Mar 05 2019, 8:19 am

There are so many options, you might want to narrow down a bit according to your preferences. Would you like to do a city trip? See one country? See highlights from a few cities? Nature?

Italy is very nice, as doctorima said.

Greece is also stunning, beautiful scenery + lots of interesting archaeological sites.

I would also recommend Spain (you could do Granada (Alhambra), Cordoba, Lucena, Sevilla, and go to Gibraltar for a day, or add in Barcelona).

ggdm

Wed, Mar 06 2019, 1:47 pm

I woldn't go to several countries in only 10 days. Europe is a big place. Your question is like "I have 10 days in the US, suggestions". You can go to New York, Grand Canyon or Florida, but it's probably not a good idea to do all three in one trip. You'd spend more time travelling than visiting things.

Which season/month are you going?

doctorima

Wed, Mar 06 2019, 3:08 pm

May is a perfect time weather-wise for Italy, which is just a short flight from TLV, but Greece is also a nice option if that speaks to you more. Agreed not to try to cram in too much in only 10 days.

HonesttoGod

Wed, Mar 06 2019, 8:28 pm

If you want to go to Israel there is a Norwegian flight I believe that has a 10-18 hour stopover in Rome which is a great option to see a little bit of Europe.

Frumwithallergies

Wed, Mar 06 2019, 9:43 pm

If you're travelling with young children, I recommend taking jet-lag into consideration. You'll have to contend with at least a few days to get adjusted, which may mean losing a little bit in the beginning. (judicious use of melatonin can help here).

We just got back from E'Y. We did some 'typical' things and also some 'off-the-beaten-track' things.

If you feel you must do Europe too, I second Italy or Spain (see cities listed above), Prague, London, Paris, or even Berlin. All have interesting things to see as well as Jewish Communities. I don't think you can go wrong.

amother

Floralwhite

Wed, Mar 06 2019, 10:49 pm

I would do either 10 days in Europe or 10 days in Israel, not both Israel and Europe within 10 days. If you choose Europe you should really just go with your own bucket list. I've been to several countries and I personally enjoyed France and Switzerland the most. That's very doable in 10 days and you can fly to one country, drive through to the next and fly out of the second.

familyfirst

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 12:10 am

Thank you everyone for these wonderful ideas!
Where in Europe do you recommend we stay for shabbos?

essie14

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 12:47 am

familyfirst wrote:

Thank you everyone for these wonderful ideas!
Where in Europe do you recommend we stay for shabbos?

Shabbat in Venice in May is perfect. I second everyone else who recommends Italy.
I was in Venice from Friday - Monday and then Rome from Monday - Thursday and I felt it was the perfect amount of time to see everything.
I wouldn’t really do less. If I were you I would do one city in Europe and then go to Israel.

DrMom

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 5:14 am

essie14 wrote:

I agree. You have 10 days total -- including travel time. That's not much, and I assume you would rather spend time actually seeing/doing things than traveling.

BTW, May is also a great time to travel in E"Y. The North is lovely and green but not searingly hot.

doctorima

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 7:36 am

familyfirst wrote:

Thank you everyone for these wonderful ideas!
Where in Europe do you recommend we stay for shabbos?

Shabbos in Venice is magical!

ggdm

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 11:50 am

essie14 wrote:

One more vote for this. If you have no preference for a specific city, look which flights you can get with stopover for cheap. May will be nice nearly everywhere. You still haven't told us anything about what you like (culture, history, nature, ...). Rome, Paris, Berlin, Venice, London are all great cities. Switzerland has beautiful nature (but is very expensive). Prague has great Jewish history.

ggdm

Thu, Mar 07 2019, 11:52 am

familyfirst wrote:

Thank you everyone for these wonderful ideas!
Where in Europe do you recommend we stay for shabbos?

A bigger city will have a local Jewish community that you can contact. In some places there is also Chabad. I wouldn't normally recommend a smaller town, there will likely be no community and no kosher food.