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[miauw62]

If you're going to want to get some beach time, the Belgian, Dutch, Spanish and French coast are all very nice that time of year. However, you'll be crammed like fish in a barrel on most beaches there. What's worse, most fish will speak German. Here in the Netherlands it's a saying that no nation will ever conquer our shores in the summertime, because of the hordes of germans entrenched in our dunes  (jk my german firends, you know we love you)

For beautiful beaches with some more peace and queit (that have not completely succumbed yet to mass tourism), combined with awesome weather, you might want to try Portugal.

I have heard that the beaches just West of the Belgian border are apparently very nice and comparatively calm.

[samrobins]

Decided it was finally time to take family up on the offer to hang out in Europe for a while. Specifically, I'll be starting off in Hamburg Germany, through the month of August.

I've been to Germany before for a couple weeks, and I'll have my cousin as a tour guide, but not for the first two weeks. I'll have a place to stay but otherwise will be on my own.

I wouldn't call myself an adventurous sort. I'm downright sedentary, if I'm honest. But I'm going to try to break that habit while I'm over there. Once in a life time, costs an assload, etc and so forth.

So anyways! Time for adventure! I've gotten a couple things nailed down like:

-Get a credit card so I don't have to fool with exchanging currency. (My dad says Discover is widely accepted over there.)
-Buy a disposable cell phone once I get over there, since my company phone I use now won't get service.
-Trains will get me where I feel like going for fairly cheap.
-Get the usual universal adapter thingy for devices.
-Get my passport sorted.

The general plan is, when my cousin starts her summer, to dip down into Italy for a little bit, then head over to the family vacation house in San Sebastian, Spain. I think her boyfriend might have some time to take me across the channel to England too, which would be rad. But there will doubtlessly be time for me to pick something to do myself. So, where should I go? What shouldn't be missed? What must be seen? What must be eaten and drank? What must be done? I've seen various suggestions over the years about being an American outside of America, but I'll take them all again.

If you plan to remain in the city then this city guide can help
http://www.travelettes.net/30-things-to-do-in-hamburg/

or if you are adventurous type then you and your bf could
rent a car and go to black forest. I have heard some great thing about the place.


A bit from where you are .



http://www.distancemonk.com/Hamburg/Black+Forest/6+hours+49+mins/730.028/

6 hrs drive from hamburg.
 

[nenjin]

Plans changed a little. I'll be based out of Frankfurt it seems. Which is closer to the Black Forest at any rate.

or if you are adventurous type then you and your bf could

<---- is a single dude.

[martinuzz]

The Black forest (or at least parts of it) is the last remaining piece of "ancient forest" left in Western Europe. All other forests you'll find in Europe are in fact hand-planted parks, like "the Hoge Veluwe" in the Netherlands, which was hand-planted, tree by tree, to serve as a hunting ground for our Royal family a few centuries ago.  It makes me chuckle every time I see our nature preservation corps scream it is nature that needs to be protected. ( I do agree that it needs preserving, I disagree on it being nature)
Both the Black Forest, as well as our National park the Hoge Veluwe are certainly worth walking through though.

EDIT: it is actually a nice combination trip that you can do in 2 days. Untouched nature vs man-made nature. The Veluwe has had a lot of interesting indegeneous and non-indegeneous species introduced to it's eco-system, plus the famous Kröller-Müller museum is situated in the park as well. Here's a link to the park's official site: https://www.hogeveluwe.nl/en/plan-your-trip/visitors-centre 
The Veluwe and Black forest are just a few hours driving apart, more so if you take advantage of the not-really-existing speed limit on the german highways (careful though, even though you are allowed to go about as fast as you want if you keep on the leftmost track of the german highways, you will NOT be insured if you go faster than, I think it is 120 km/h, plus if you do get into an accident at high speed (and manage to survive), you will probably face serious charges against you. Anyone from germany here correct me if this has changed since the last time I was in germany (over 10y ago now). Buddy of mine used to push his pedal to the metal there. I'm not sure if I really liked going 300+ km/h in a vehicle that does not have wings)
Frankfurt is really close to the Netherlands too. You could do Blackforest on one day, and Veluwe the next day. It's a nice contrast.

P.S. on the topic of German highways, I believe they recently instituted a toll law. Not sure what that means for tourists, but if you go for a rental car, you might need to prepare for having to pay toll to use certain (or all) highways.

[Meph]

Tolls are only for trucks. The Autobahn remains free of toll and speed limits.

[scriver]

I assume by "western Europe" you aren't including Scandinavia

[nenjin]

So Germany so far, with a good guide, had been rad. And it's only my second day here. No Japanese-style tourism here, just seeing it from a local's perspective. Recommended for all, would Europe again.

[PyroDesu]

I've not been myself, but if you ever go to Austria and have any interest, look into going to Großmugl (it's about 35km north of Vienna). They've got a Star Walk - it's basically a trail you walk at night (no flashlights, except for low-power red lights) with signs (bilingual, German and English) about the night sky and preservation efforts. Ends at an Iron Age burial mound (from which the town takes its name) with a wonderful view of the night sky. My parents went when they were in Vienna, and actually got the couple that established it as hosts (they were very nice, by all accounts, especially as my dad is now working, inspired by them, to make a Star Walk here).

[ancistrus]

I've not been myself, but if you ever go to Austria and have any interest, look into going to Großmugl (it's about 35km north of Vienna). They've got a Star Walk - it's basically a trail you walk at night (no flashlights, except for low-power red lights) with signs (bilingual, German and English) about the night sky and preservation efforts. Ends at an Iron Age burial mound (from which the town takes its name) with a wonderful view of the night sky. My parents went when they were in Vienna, and actually got the couple that established it as hosts (they were very nice, by all accounts, especially as my dad is now working, inspired by them, to make a Star Walk here).

I started thinking about going there, and then I realized how absurd and sad it is to plan a 5 hours drive to look at the sky