Open To Ideas For Europe Travel

We are now less than two months until our Big Europe Vacation.  The excitement continues to build!!!  Since we are flying over ahead of the River Cruise, the official countdown is 58 days.

 

As it goes closer, I continue to search the internet for travel tips and research our destinations for things to do.  If you have any ideas for London, Amsterdam, Basel, or Munich, I’d love to hear them. 

Here is what we have planned thus far:

London – Hop On/Off Bus Tour and Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour

We arrive in London at noon and plan to walk around/get out and about so we can combat jet lag.  We also have two full days as well.  We have booked bus passes that are good for 24 hours so we could use those and/or save them for another full day in London.  I’m so excited to see all the iconic sights.  We have a full day dedicated to the Harry Potter Tour since that is about 7 hours total due to transportation to/from the location.  We are open to any other ideas.

Amsterdam – Red Light District Tour

We will have about 24 hours in Amsterdam before we board our cruise and have booked our hotel close to the pier.  Amsterdam looks to be a very small town that is easy to get around.  I want to pick up some tiny Dutch shoes and maybe swing into some cheese shops.  It was recommended to take the Red Light District tour, which does look pretty interesting.  So, we plan to do that in the evening.  We are also open to any other ideas.  We don’t have any interest in the Ann Frank House or the Van Gough Museum, which gets suggested often.

Basel – Still Open To Ideas

There are no plans in Basel, which will be just one full day.  I would like to take a gondola ride or see how some cheese is made, but I’m having a bit of trouble finding anything close to town.  So, we might have to wait until we arrive to poke around.

Munich – Still Open To Ideas but beer and pretzels will be consumed!

Since we are missing Oktoberfest by six days, I am hoping we can still find some good German beer, food, and pretzels!  We haven’t really decided what else we want to do.  We will have an evening and one full day since we are taking the train from Basel to Munich.  I am excited to see the beautiful scenery from the train and I’ve never ridden on a train like this before.  There is a Hop On/Off Bus option that we might consider.

The excursions on our cruise are included and there is a new one each day.  I haven’t done much research on those since it is all coordinated/planned through Viking.  I enjoy seeing photos on the Viking Instagram.  I’m most excited to see the windmills in Kiderdijk and our visit to the Black Forrest where we get to see cuckoo clocks and eat black forest cake.