I'm going to study abroad in London next semester and I'm hoping to make it farther into Europe at least once. To achieve this end, I'm looking for an "off the beaten path" destination that also wouldn't be (relatively) too terribly hard on the wallet for between three and five days. Any suggestions?
if you can somehow make it away from london there are a lot of flights by Raynair, easyjet or HLX for example connecting you to Ireland and the continent, and if you book early enough you only pay amounts up to 99€ or so. And in every city in europe there are youth hostels, that means that you can sleep there very very cheap, but need to e member at the youth hostel club (that's efortable though imo...) What exactly you want is up to you though, tell us and we tell you what that could cost... ;-)
take the ferry to Zebrugge,,,,Brugge is a beautiful town thats worth a day trip, brussels, antwerp, Rotterdam and amsterdam are all within in and hour and a half ride from Brugge,,,,thats a good 4 or 5 day trip to enoy what each town has to offer. Take the Ferry to Calais and scoot down the coast to check out Mont st michelle and then check out the beaches at normandy and northern france...that will take a few days too....have fun
I'll vouch for Brugge, that place is great. Colmar in France is a really pretty town..so is Nantes and Lyon.
It's very easy and cheap to fly into destinations in Northern Europe from London. In Holland (which is fantastically cheap compared to the UK) visit Maastricht, a medieval city in the south and by far the most beautiful city in the country. If you're going to do the Amsterdam thing I'd advise you not to stay in the city itself. The hostels and hotels are a total rip-off. Instead stay in The Hague on the seaside, beautiful beach, much cheaper than Amsterdam and only a short train ride away.
Budapest and Prague are increaisngly popular weekend destinations for folks coming form the UK Budapest is served by Sky Europe (Stansted) and I believe Wizz Air flys out of Luton. Am not sure about Prague Both great cities, small enough that you can cover a lot of ground in a weekend
Brugge: A must... Hague: A must Prague: You'll kick your self in the ass if you don't go... I'm serious! The last time I was there a few months ago they were filming a movie .. I couldn't figure out who was in it..but it was hollywood...who knows. Place is b-e-a-utiful and very inexpensive. Take the chunnel if you get a chance...it's pretty cool.
I you get a chance you'll have to hit me up when you get here.. I'm here with about 25 other fellas and ladies (some of the ladies are lookers too!) from the States... 24-31 age range. Cambridge is a Good weekend trip.
flights can be a lot cheaper than that. Cheapest I've seen (admittedly not a lot of use to you) was a ryanair flight from Stockholm to Oslo for 7p. Yes, really. I once flew from Finland to Stockholm for £5. Flights for £2 are common, but you do have to book early. You can also go a lot further than just northern europe. A two hour flight, which can take you virtually anywhere in the EU, doesn't cost any more than a 1 hour flight.
This is a must. I did this coastal trip 2 years ago for a 4 day weekend and it was an amazing, enlightening trip. Make sure you see: Pointe du Hoc, the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, Mont St-Michel, Saint Malo, and Etretat's white cliffs which are spectacular at sunset <same with Mont St-Michel>
I can vouch for Colmar being gorgeous, and if you don't go to Prague, you don't deserve to spend a semester in Europe. Northern Spain is worth checking out. Especially Galicia, places like Santiago de Compostela. Santander is nice. San Sebastian....the list goes on. Money will be your only problem in terms of travel opportunities, because in terms of quality AND quantity, it's hard to beat Europe. But as mentioned above, you can get very cheap flights these days.
Places to be where you will find a lot of teenagers getting drunk: Lorret del Mar, Spain Kreta island, Greece Ibiza, Spain Palma de Mallorca, Spain (for spring break kind of things ;-) and it's the German's, Dutch and British most pop drinking vacs afaik...
Heidelberg is the most popular destination in Germany for Americans. Beautiful city & not too pricey.
Well I know that a couple of people have said Mont St Michel, but while it is very popular, it is also pretty tacky. In britain we have the budget airlines that mean you can be anywhere in just a few hours. Barcelona, Athens, Paris, Milan, Prague are all covered by the budget airlines and are all deserving of a visit.
EasyJet flys from London to Tallinn now. Tallinn is a wonderful city and Estonia is a great place to spend a couple days. It is a very cheap flight to go there, and i highly recommend it.