June to September are the best months to visit Europe, summer-fall season means gorgeous beach weather and a packed festive calendar. Planning a trip to European destinations can be a fun and most exciting thing to do. To fully enjoy a European tour, you need to plan every little thing about it to ensure time and cost are well spent.
Here are some 5 travel tips to Europe that you might find useful in organizing your travel.
1. Decide your destinations
Always decide the destinations that you would like to visit during your vacation in Europe. This will also help you to create a budget and save you time as well. There are a number of hidden destinations in Europe that are a must-visit, 2 suggestions below are our favorite, with prominent shores and beach adventures you can enjoy.
Positano, Amalfi Coast, Italy
We start off with Positano, situate along the UNESCO protected area of
Amalfi Coast in Italy. A must visit for those Instagram travelers as the unforgettable view of colorful, steeply stacked houses are packed onto near-vertical slopes next to the shore. Travelers can take a walking tour of the surrounding hills as a day-time activity.
Piran City, Slovenia
Further up from Italy, we have Piran City, another picturesque destination for sun, sea, sand, and beach. Piran is actually the western-most point of Slovenia, much like
L'Agulhas, the southern-most point of South Africa or the more familiar Cape Horn in South America.
A good sight in Piran, other than the beaches, is the famous Cathedral of St. George with the soaring bell tower, built in the 12th century, modeled against the St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Also, don't leave Piran without experiencing salt-water spa in
Thalasso Spa Lepa Vida.
2. Research on the places you would like to visit.
Some of the online resources that would help you to dig a little more on the destinations you have picked may include some travel websites, trip advisors. You can also download some travel apps that will give you useful and relevant information. However, you need to be cautious of some publications and websites that are ad-supported as some of the information given may be biased.
Use Instagram hashtag as a research tool
As we live in the digital and social media age, Instagram can actually be a really good user-generated content research tool. For example, you can basically search for a location hashtag (#positano #italy #piran #summertrip #paris) and you will be able to find plenty of places you can visit. If you have done enough research, you can even go hyperlocal to search for a specific place or tag.
Use TripAdvisor review function
This should be a no-brainer for the frequent travelers. However, you can go more granular with filtering on the reviews by selecting "Time of the year" and "Traveller Type" to see how these reviews are relevant to you.
3. Create a routine and timeline
It is important that even as you plan, you establish a particular routine to guide you. You need to factor in aspects like the weather, which will determine what you put in your backpack, geographical aspects and topography of your chosen destinations, time and how these may affect your European tour. You may want to balance big cities with nice, cozy small-town stops. For instance London with
Cotswold, a city like Paris with
Loire Valley.
4. Consider carrying a backpack and travel bag
When preparing for your European tour, you might also consider investing in a good backpack or travel bag to help you conveniently have things that you might need during your journey easy in your reach.
Some of the items that you will need to have in your backpack may include your sunglasses, camera, your credit cards and perhaps local cash requirements, you may also include your sunscreen lotion and quick make-up kit for those Instagram moments!
A good backpack or travel bag will definitely come in very handy during your trip.
5. Consider transportation & food
When planning to travel to Europe, it is also key to put in logical considerations for your transportation. This will help you know how to move from one destination to the other without much hustle and will also save you money in the long run. For instance, traveling by train from point A to point B may be affordable if you are traveling solo while hiring a ride might be convenient for a small group.
A good tip would be to take full advantage of local ride-sharing apps. Uber can be significantly useful if you have a credit-card pre-loaded, this way, you don't need to worry about carrying small changes of local currency. A big advantage of Uber is transparency of your destination and duration, against local cabs that will try to rip you off. Make sure you have
added your credit card into the app and you have notified your card company of your overseas travel beforehand.
In a nutshell, purpose to make your tour of European destinations a memorable and exciting one by planning well in advance. Remember to do your homework on the places you intend to visit and not to forget your backpack.
P.S. Location featured in the cover photo is in Barcelona, Spain.
