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Where should I go if I spend one month in Europe? Take into consideration that I enjoy backpacking, beaches, castles, and I'm half Irish. Where should I go? I don't have a trip planned, but I'm starting to think about it.

Italy and France

*pokes lily*
hey!

Okay, why Italy and why France? I'm not too excited about the main tourist attractions such as the Eiffle (sp) Tower but I would be excited to hike 15 miles to find an abandoned castle. Where can I do that?

Portugal has lots of castles and beaches. How about you backpack tru Europe?

Yerss, You haven't got any beach !

Well, hiking in France... You can do it but IMHO it will be difficult...

Edit : Abandoned Castle(s) ??? http://www.killermovies.com/forums/images/moresmilies/confused1.gif Does that still exist somewhere ???

Most Americans go to the UK, France or Italy....stay away from those, visit something off the beaten path, Norway, Russia, Spain, Czech Rep, Poland, etc....

Norway is beautiful

austria or copenhagen. i was there in '86 and it was beautiful.

go to the south of france near spain... it's beutiful there!

Greece is the heaven of beaches
Then... I'd say London, Italy (Rome, Venece, Florence --I'm not sure about the names, I'm translating from the greek ) and Paris. I.e. Disneyland

I'm not Sure Tired Hiker wants to hike in a flying elephant and discover the cute pink castle...

There are many castles and beaches in the UK. I have been over to Ireland a few times just to travel around and visit castles, cathedrals and Historic sites. There are also many of these in England Wales and Scotland, plus certain areas do have beaches too.
Belgium is good for Old historical places to Visit, Bruge is particularly beautiful and you could get around Belgium quite easily and then into Holland, Luxembourg, France, Germany etc, they are all close and linked by a reasonable road and rail network.
For good beaches and almost Guaranteed weather you need to go to Southern European countries but if you are backpacking and going off the beaten track in say France it might be useful to know some French.
The benefits of UK are that everyone speaks English, as they also seem to do in Norway, although things are expensive in Norway.
Greece and the Greek Islands are Beautiful and you can travel around them on Ferries easily.

There's loads more I could say so if you want any more info about anywhere I've been just PM me.

you are both right
I would go island hopping on the Greek isles

i'd also sugest scotland..for a beautiful highlander atmosphere

Well you can find castles anywhere in Europe (I think). And beaches stick to the coast If you want 'warm' water I suggest somewhere close to the Mediterranian (sp) sea.

if u like beaches go to Dingle in ireland

*smacks GP*
we do!

*hits his head with a chair* Yes, of course...
Oh Sorry Yerss...

But the sea is not quite very warm, there, isn't it ?

oh, we'll fix that soon, we placed central heating there recently

Go to Hamley's in London then quickly head for Bosnia.

Scotland is a must if you like castles and the west coast is warm, a little touristy if you're not careful though.
Italy is good Rome is excellent for a couple of days lots of impressive old things but after a few days you've pretyy much seen it.

i'd say amsterdam or checz republic. i passed through france and i didn't care for it. i got lost near austria in south germany and that was nice. i'm reading the book "the drifters" (i highly recommend this book) and the characters are mostly in southern spain and portugal... it sounds like a nice place to visit. it the book they mention algarave and alte... but this book was written a while ago so who knows... they are described nicely. your best bet is to stay off the beaten path and explore.

Algarve is nice. Very good beaches, weather and water.

i'd like to visit algarve... i'd never heard of it till this book.... if i was 5 years younger or if i lost my job i'd like to visit the region this book is talking about... right now the setting is pamploma... the next chapter is mocambique... which i believe is in africa on the indian ocean side....

just alte, if that is a region. it also mentions albufeira. mostly it takes place in torremolinos, spain.

Albufeira is nice, Alte is 20km away from Albufeira but I don't recall ever being there My fave part is Tavira (its a litle island) just great beaches
Check this site not many pics but maybe it will convince you to came here
http://www.algarve.org/

my friend is going to the Algarve next week

Lucky guy

I know I am thanks , oh wait you meant my friend.

lol Funny man! Well I'm only 3h away. It's not much

kes i went to that website... it looks like a lot of places here in florida... only different... if that makes sense. i've added algarve to my list of places i want to go.... and its getting to be a long list.

lol Could be just way smaller. LOL

Maybe not, but he can do millions of things there! And there's a first time for everything

You all are being very helpful and I thank you very much. I've never heard of many of these places before, so I have a lot of research to do. I know someone in Spain, so by many of your posts, it might be my best bet since I could stay there free, at least in Santander (sp?). It's in the North of Spain . . .

Thanx, feel free to give me more info.