1. Summary 2. Highlights 3. Culture 4. Getting In 5. Geography 6. Health 7. Communications

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edit Europe Travel Guide

Europe may be the worlds second smallest continent, but it is unique and diverse, holding a place of extreme importance, both in todays world and throughout history. The grand empires of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome were the early signposts, but the centuries since that time have seen the rise and fall of more great powers. Perhaps the era of Europe's greatest dominance began several centuries ago, as European nations set out to explore, colonise, and Westernise the rest of the world. Even now, decades after the official end of colonisation, Europe enjoys the power birthed and fostered during previous centuries. As a result, to travel to Europe is to study greatness in contrast: Compare the wealth and power of Western Europe with the comparatively underdeveloped Eastern Europe. Enjoy the warmth of Southern Europe; or take in breathtaking winter scenery in Northern Europe. Witness some of the world's most modern buildings in some of the world's oldest cities. In the end, travelling through europe is a bit of a right of passage, and something you should take in, not just head to the usual tourist haunts.

edit Highlights

Drive the Autobahn across pretend your a race car driver at crossing the German super highway at breathtaking speeds.
Scan for the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland
Climb up the extinct volcano to Edinburgh's castle in the capital of Scotland
Admire Stonehenge, and imagine the ancient rituals that took place there.
Ride the London Eye Ferris Wheel, visit Big Ben and check out the palace building all in the capital of England
Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris then relax in the evening in one of the many side streets sipping a latte and people watching.
See the D-Day Beaches of Normandy, remembering the history of WWII
Eat Belgian chocolate, cheese, and beer
See, cautiously, Amsterdam's Red Light District
Sunbathe on the beaches of the French Riviera
If you're extremely brave, participate in the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona Spain
See the windmills of La Mancha, imagine your Don Quixote fighting them
Take a romantic, but expensive gondola ride in Venice, ride the Traghetto as a cheap, non-romantic alternative
Cross the Ponte Vecchio, Go to the top of the Duomo dome, relax in Boboli Gardens, and tour the Uffizi and Accademia art galleries, all in Florence
Stroll through historic Rome, visiting the Forum, the Colosseum, the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps, and finish it off with a memorable coin throwing experience at the Trevi Fountain
Tour Vatican City, Seeing St. Peter's Basilica (including the crypt and top of the dome), and the Vatican Museums, including the famous Vatican staircase, Sistine Chapel, and Raphael Rooms.
Go to the top of Vesuvius and see the bizarre, lunar-like landscape then see the destroyed Roman towns of Herculaneum or Pompeii.
Go to the magical isle of Capri, ride the funicular, and see the Blue Grotto
Explore the Acropolis hill in Athens
Cruise in luxurious style to the various Greek Islands, notably Crete and Santorini
See the Northern Lights in Scandanavia
Visit Santa Clause in Rovaniemi, Finland
See the world's largest castle and tour the old and new towns of Prague

edit Culture

Regions

Europe defies easy categorization, with its compact size and complex history. The following are five (loosely defined) regions in Europe:

Western Europe - Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and France;
Northern Europe - Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark;
Central Europe - Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland;
Eastern Europe - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine;
Mediterranean Europe - Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Vatican City.

European Union

Europe, prior to the conclusion of the Second World War, was a region ravaged by large-scale wars. National leaders realized after World War II that closer socio-economic and political integration was needed to ensure that such tragedies never happened again. Starting with humble beginnings, the EU's first form was the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The founding group was Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Impressed with the results of the union the six countries pressed on and in 1956 signed the treaty of Rome, with the ultimate goal of creating a common market %u2014 the European Economic Community (EEC). In 1967 the union was formalized further with a the creation of a single Commission, as well as a council of ministers and a EU parliament.

Post-1967 the EU continued to grow; Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. The EU pressed on with economic integration and launched the Euro(%u20AC) across several nations on 1 January 2002.

In 2004 a further 10 countries joined the EU. These were: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In 2007 a further 2 countries joined the EU. These were: Bulgaria and Romania.

Language

Central Europe

German has the largest number of native speakers in the region and is the official language of Austria, Germany, and Liechtenstein, as well as the dominant language in much of northern and eastern Switzerland. There is a small German speaking minority in Poland and Hungary. Czech phrasebook|Czech and Slovak phrasebook|Slovak are very closely related and are quite similar to each other. Polish is the dominant language in all regions of Poland.French and talian are also spoken by the majority in the southern and western regions of Switzerland. Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages for other Europeans, as it originates from a different language family. Slovenian is the official language of Slovenia, but also spoken by the Slovenian minorities in Southern Austria and western Hungary. There is also a small Croatian minority in Austria. Sorbian and Frisian are Germany's minority languages and are found in Saxony and Brandenburg, (Sorbian), and Schweswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen (Frisian). Both are endangered languages. Efforts are underway to preserve the languages and their culture.

Finding people who speak and understand English is not a problem in most regions of Central Europe, especially in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. In Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, English is widely spoken in the larger cities and by most younger people; German and Russian are also spoken and understood by many older people in these countries. Russian, since the end of the Cold War and the unification of Europe is in steady decline. Today German remains important, more for financial and economic reasons than for cultural reasons, as was the case in the past.

Northern Europe

The name Scandinavia comes from the Skandage body of water that lies sandwiched between Norway, Sweden, and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. The culture of Scandinavian countries are relatively similar, and the languages are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Where the written word is concerned, Danish and Norwegian are approximately 63% identical, differing roughly to the same extent as Scottish & Irish Gaelic. With regard to conversational similarity, the two are still quite close but share a number of notable differences. A Germanic ear untrained in any Scandinavian language can sometimes distinguish with the two. The Scandinavian languages are North Germanic, and strongly influenced by Low Saxon (Ancient German).

Iceland was a Norwegian and later Danish colony until 1944. Icelandic was originally of the same root as the other four languages, seeing as it derived from Old Norse, but the island's seclusion resulted in its isolation and, as a result, it hasn't changed profoundly from the 13th century. The spoken language and its written counterpart are unintelligible to other Scandinavians, but not to the Faroese, who speak a variant of this language that is also unintelligible to Scandinavians with its own lexical base.

Finnish, the native language of Finland, belongs to the Finno-Ugric family and is entirely unrelated to the Scandinavian languages. However, the country retains a 6% Swedish-speaking minority and is officially bilingual.

edit Getting In

By plane

Europe has lot's of airconnections with all the other continents, except for Antarctica. Indeed, for some connections from Asia to the America's it makes sense to pick up a flight to Europe and then head on. The largest air travel hubs in Europe are, in order, London (LON: LCY, LHR, LGW, STN, LTN), Frankfurt (FRA, HHN), Paris (CDG), and Amsterdam (AMS) which in turn have connections to practically everywhere in Europe. However, nearly every European city has direct long-distance flights at least to some destinations elsewhere, and other smaller airports can make sense for specific connections: for example, Vienna (VIE) has a very good network of flights to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, while Helsinki (HEL) is the geographically closest place to transfer if coming in from East Asia.

By train

The Trans-Siberian Railway from Beijing and Vladivostok to Moscow is a classic rail journey.

By car

Asia and Europe share the longest continent border of the planet, though most people will cross from/to Asia in Istanbul, where a bridge spans the gap between the continent.

To Africa the most used route is without doubt the crossing of the Street of Gibraltar, which is easily done, but there are also ships between France and Algeria and from Italy to Tunis, Lybia and Egypt.

edit Geography

The geography of europe varies from snowcapped mountians to medeterrainian beaches, for more information on where you are going and the geography of that area see the guides for the specific country(s) you plan on visiting.

edit Health

Health

There are no specific precautions required for staying healthy in Europe as most restaurants maintain high standards of hygiene and in the majority of countries tap water is safe to drink. However, for more precise details on these matters as well as for general information on emergency care, pharmaceutical regulations and overall health standards etc, please consult the 'Health and Safety' section within our specific country guides.

Safety

The biggest risks to your safety in Europe like in any major tourist area are pick-pockets and muggings. Using common sense and being aware of your surroundings can help to greatly reduce the risk of these occurrences.

Most European countries have very low levels of violence. The few "trouble areas" that should be avoided (eg. certain suburbs of London and Paris) are of no interest to the average tourist. Northern, Western and Central Europe are generally a little safer than Southern and Eastern Europe.

edit Communications

Phone

If you are staying for an extended period look into buying or renting an international cell phone, many airports rent international cells at reasonable rates. If your phone at home uses a SIM card look to see if you can just swap out your SIM card.

Internet

Europe has many internet hotspots, generally look for rates to be $2-4 Euro an hour, however if you have your own computer you can find many cafe's which offer free wireless internet.