Europe Travel Guides

For short tourist stays, most visitors from the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom do not need a visa for the Schengen Area. Entry rules do change, and a pre-travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors has been in progress for several years, so check your own government's travel advice and the official EU entry pages close to your departure date rather than trusting a blog post, this one included.

Schengen is a group of European countries that have removed passport checks at their shared borders, which is why you can cross from France into Belgium without stopping. The standard allowance for visa-exempt visitors is 90 days within any rolling 180-day period, and it applies to the whole area rather than to each country. Three weeks in Spain and three weeks in Italy both come out of the same 90.

No, and assuming it is will cost you money in card fees. Many European Union countries share the euro, but the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Czechia all keep their own currencies, among others. A single two-week trip can easily involve three currencies.

The shoulder seasons, roughly March to April and September to October, are the reliable answer. Flights and accommodation drop from their July and August peaks, the weather across most of the continent is still comfortable, and the queues at the major sights are far shorter. Winter outside the Christmas market period is cheaper again, though the daylight is short and some smaller attractions close for the season.

For journeys under about five hours, the train usually wins once you count the trip out to the airport, the security queue and the wait at the gate. City center to city center is the honest comparison, not airport to airport. For the long diagonals, Lisbon to Helsinki and the like, a low-cost flight is the sensible choice and often the cheaper one.

Fewer than you want to. Two or three countries in two weeks leaves room to actually see places instead of spending your days in transit and your evenings repacking. Every border crossing costs most of a day once you account for the getting there, the checking in and the finding your feet again.

You can travel comfortably in English across most of northern and western Europe, particularly in hotels, restaurants and transport. It thins out in rural areas and in parts of southern and eastern Europe, where learning even a handful of words visibly changes how people respond to you. Set up a translation app that works offline before you leave, because the moment you need it is usually the moment you have no signal.

It varies so much by country that a single figure for Europe is close to useless. Norway and Switzerland will run several times the daily cost of Portugal or Poland for the same standard of trip. The country guides on this site give real costs for the places they cover, which is a far better starting point than a continental average.

For high-speed and long-distance routes, yes, and the saving is often substantial. Advance fares on the French, Spanish and Italian high-speed networks are released months ahead and climb as seats sell. Regional and local trains are usually a flat fare, so there is nothing to gain by booking those early and flexibility is worth more.

Far less than in North America, and over-tipping marks you out. Service is normally included in the bill, and rounding up or leaving a small amount for good service covers it in most countries. Some places, including much of Italy, add a cover charge instead. That is not a tip, and it is not optional.

Most of continental Europe uses the two-round-pin Type C and Type F sockets at 230 volts, while the United Kingdom and Ireland use the three-rectangular-pin Type G. One adapter covering both, plus a check that your charger accepts 230 volts, handles almost any itinerary.

Broadly yes, including for a first solo trip, and the density of the rail network makes moving between places on your own straightforward. The realistic risk is petty theft rather than violence, and it concentrates in crowded tourist areas, main railway stations and busy metro lines in the larger cities. Nothing valuable in a back pocket, and a bag you can keep in front of you, handles most of it.

Generally no. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, and withdrawing local currency from a bank ATM on arrival gives a better rate than an airport exchange desk. What matters far more is carrying a card with no foreign transaction fee, and always choosing to be charged in the local currency when a card machine offers you the choice.

It depends on what you want out of it, but for a first trip the practical answers are Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands or Portugal, because the transport is easy, English is widely spoken in tourist areas and the distances between highlights are short. If the budget is the binding constraint, Portugal, Poland and Czechia deliver more for the money than the western European classics.