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9. A massive romantic European itinerary

This itinerary will likely be updated over time.

This is going to be one of those blog posts where I day dream a little bit. I'll with a romantic ting and an atmosphere where I feel like I can relax, wind down, and enjoy life. I want to revisit cities that I fell in love with, and discover novel destinations that I feel would make me feel wonderful and special.

A goal would certainly be to do this trip on rail or bus. I don't want to just jet around in planes, fly in super narrow seats, and worry about airport to city center transportation. Railroads feel like the ideal mode of travel: I get to stop at interesting destinations, have that city-center to city-center convenience, be able to carry my luggage while having plenty of legroom space.

As a convenient starting point, I'll probably start in the Netherlands in Amsterdam. I want to revisit the lovely Bloemenmarkt, the flower market most well known for Dutch tulips. I'd also love to step into the Dutch countryside, ride the bike with my beloved, and breathe in the fresh air there.

The next destination I want to make is probably Strasbourg in France. The unique building style in Alsace-Lorraine that you would find as well in graceful little downs in Western Germany seduced my eyes. Colmar is also a fantastic place that I would want to check out. I visited Strasbourg in February 2023, and found it to be a fantastic experience.

I want to revisit Annecy, and share a kiss on the Pont des Amours (Bridge of Lovers) overlooking Lake Annecy (Lac d'Annecy). After that I would want to take the high speed rail down to the French Riviera, into cities such as Nice, Èze, Provence, having wonderful seafood overlooking the sea. I have not been there before, but I have friends that did and loved that area.

Then I want to visit Liguria and Cinque Terre, savoring the Italian seafood pasta and other wonderful dishes. Genoa apparently has lots of interesting history and was one of the cities that I skipped in Italy because I didn't have enough time during winter break from EPFL back then.

We'd make our way to Aosta valley in Northwestern Italy. I really want to take the Alpine Crossing Cable car from Testa Grigia, then take the Gornergrat Bergbahnen down into Zermatt. Skiing in Zermatt is an experience that I want to have someday, and this might be the trip I'd realize it.

Afterwards I'd probably set my eyes on Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, to see the lakes and waterfalls, and take a few hikes and admire the wonderful Berner Oberland. I want to revisit Zürich once again, and overlook the wonderful city with my sweetheart from Lindenhof Hill.

Next up in Switzerland would be revisiting Ticino. Ticino is a place that makes me really, really happy, people there are among the most generous people I've ever met in my entire life. They helped me look over luggage for a few hours, and a bar owner wanted to give me a free drink. He was super curious about me, as he doesn't see Asian travellers often. I want to visit Lugano and Valle Verzasca once again, and take the boat at least once on Lago Maggiore or Lago di Lugano.

Threading back into Italy, Como seems like a wonderful place to relax for a few days, stuffing our faces full of gelato and other wonderful Italian food. Then I want to continue onto Emilia-Romagna, to places like Parma, Modena, Ferrara, cities that I've been intending to go but haven't gotten there.

I've intended to visit Slovenia for quite some time now, and I might want to make a visit in Venice to indulge in a gondola ride before continuing on into the Balkans. In Slovenia I definitely want to see Ljubljana (this city makes more sense pronuncing if you pronounce the js as ys!) and Lake Bled.

Continuing down the Adriatic Croatia would be another cute country, with many coastal cities such as Split and Dubrovnik. We might then cross into Bosnia, as I've wanted to see Mostar for some time as well. I want to eventually reach Montenegro, and then start threading up to Central Europe. Along the way, we might stop somewhere in Serbia, but I haven't really researched destinations there.

The first city I want to see in Central Europe is Budapest, so we can get goulash in the Central Market Hall (Nagyvásárcsarnok) before enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the Széchenyi Baths. Next city I want to see is Vienna, with it's wonderful classical-style cafés and midnight Döner Kebab runs. I probably would take a baot on the Danube to see Bratislava, Slovakia once again like I did in February 2023.

After Vienna-Bratislava a train journey to Prague, Czech Republic would be fantastic. Prague is by far the most beautiful city I've visited, when I was twelve years old with my family. I want to revisit the Old Town and the Prague Castle. Others might disagree with this opinion, but after visiting Prague, Paris would look and seem bland in comparison. Combined with other things that didn't make me love the city, I specifically excluded Paris on this list. It is still a fantastic, culturally vibrant, historical city, but it really isn't a city that I would really associate with a relaxing, romantic vacation anymore.

Next up I want to strike Poland (okay, pun intended, I am not repeating 1939), again indulging our eyes in European eye-candy. Poland is one of my favorite countries I've visited. I want to see Wrocław, Kraków, Zakopane, Warsaw (Warszawa), before continuing on into the Baltics. All three capitals - Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn are cute and wonderful, but I especially want to see Tallinn. Afterwards, we'd take a ferry up to Helsinki, before flying down to Copenhagen and capping o

Afterwards, we'd take a ferry up to Helsinki, before flying down to Copenhagen and capping off the journey. Let's take a look at the countries that this trip would entail:

  • Netherlands
  • France
  • Italy
  • Switzerland
  • Slovenia

  • Croatia
  • Bosnia
  • (Serbia?)
  • Hungary
  • Austria

  • (Slovakia?)
  • Czech Republic
  • Poland
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania

  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • Denmark

16 countries for certain, 18 potentially. Ahh, what a time to be alive, with such a beautiful world at our fingertips, cities easily connected to one another. Revisions will probably be made to add stops along the way, or if I want to go crazy, add "entire arcs" to this itinerary. Southern Italian cities such as Bari & Lecce in Puglia and Taormina in Sicilia are looking real fine right now...