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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Summer advice for Western Europe
 
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Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

DonnieBravo posted:

Hey goons, I've always appreciated your travel advice in the past, so lets go again.

My partner and I are planning a 6 week trip to Europe, starting in Lisbon in early August, and flying out of Sicily in mid September. We're both chefs, so we wanna do it right.

We were thinking a combination of using the Bus/Train to get from city to city for quick movement. We'd like to rent a car and take our time in the south of France, before driving over to Italy, hitting Marseille and Montpellier on the way. Should we plan to drop the car off before crossing the border? We're not sure where in Italy, but have heard the Cinque Terre is sick. Not too fussed about Venice or typical touristy spots.

We've travelled before and have always gone day by day booking the next city as we go, but this time we were thinking of pre-booking the Portugal/Spain portion and just going along for the ride. Basically I'm asking for any great cities we should spend some time in, and what would be the best way to move between them. Thanks in advance.

One-way rentals are usually ridiculously expensive, even more so if your one-way ends outside of the country where you rented the car, to the tune of €500. Sometimes you can get it for less, but you'll have to look around. Trains work pretty well around the south of France especially between big cities like Montpellier and Marseille. I'd stick with trains unless you really want to hike in the Pyrenees. Make sure to check out Carcassonne. Also absolutely make sure to check out the calanques and Cassis. The only part around there you NEED a car that I can think of is the Luberon national park, e.g. Menerbes, Apt, Lacoste, etc. It's great, check it out if you rent a car. Aigues Mortes is also really weird and interesting but does not need a car to get to. I found the Camargue to be underwhelming, hot, and miserable in August, but YMMV. If you really like flamingos I guess it might be up your alley.

Driving in France (and Italy) can often blow on the weekends in August as everyone gets dogpiled into the tolls. Weekdays aren't quite as bad, but I'd be worried about Friday afternoons too. If you do drive on the weekends, make sure you have a data plan and check in advance your route on Google Maps, which can steer you away from ten kilometer long bouchons: http://archives.nicematin.com/media...5f2e090f187.jpg

Cinque Terre is almost certainly the most touristy spot in all of Italy on a per capita basis, blowing Venice and Florence out of the water. 2.5 million tourists went through cinque terre in 2015, which has a resident population of like 4000 people. I would recommend the Amalfi coast as way, way better in every way than Cinque Terre. It's still touristy, but not as utterly overwhelming, and IMHO the vistas are slightly better and the towns (Positano, Sorrento) are, while touristy, are not as bad as Cinque Terre.

Saladman fucked around with this message at 15:09 on May 22, 2017

* # ¿ May 22, 2017 15:07
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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 17:34
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Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

PT6A posted:

It's me, I'm that goon! Go to Logrono! :v:

You talk about Logrono so much that, some day when I end up going there, I know I'm going to be disappointed with it if Jesus doesn't come down on high and serve me a tinto de verano with a plate of manna.

* # ¿ May 30, 2017 16:52
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Summer advice for Western Europe