Last weekend I visited Gemünd, in the German Eifel region. While I was walking around town with my friend Shira, we noticed that it was so quiet there. Ofcourse, we added, nobody travels in winter around here. Everybody seems to want fun in the sun and doesn’t consider winter chills. And that’s a pitty. Because a wintertrip has a lot of bonusses as well!
When I got home, I read this blogpost of Europe Travel Net, summing it up quite correctly. They gave 5 reasons why it’s a good idea to travel off-season: you can easily find bargains, the climate is often really good in the southern part or you could just dress up warmly in North or Central Europe, you have fewer crowds, the locals have more time to spend with you and there are often stunning views to be seen. You can read the full article here. I might add a sixth one right now: it gets dark early in the night, often providing stunning city scenery. And if you are really lucky, the whole area gets covered in a thick blanket of white snow.
So, the whole week I’ve been thinking about all the beautiful trips I made in wintertime. Trips to Paris, Liverpool, Bretagne, Normandy, Venice, Austria, … I’ve never had the feeling that the cold was unbearable, though I did have to dress up quite warm (layers ftw!). I’ve never experienced trouble finding a place to sleep (in France we would often drive around, looking for a Chambre d’Hôte without making advanced reservation and we never got into trouble finding a spot) and it was always sooooo great to get into a warm restaurant or café for a local meal or a hot drink. And best of all: you almost have the whole of Europe to yourself.
Enough talking about it though. Let’s take you guys on a short trip around Europe, to show you what I mean. If you still have doubts after this… you can’t say I didn’t try my best 😉
-A-
Austria – December. An area where you can be certain of finding snow…
Austria – December sunrise
Austria – covered in December snow
Liverpool – on a cold January day
Liverpool – on a cold January day
Liverpool – on a cold January day
Belgium – Tombeaux du Geants in November
Belgium – Bouillon in November
Belgium – typical December landscape
France – on our way to Bretagne in February
France – Bretagne in February. Notice the flowers. It was 2°C!
France – a rough sea in February
France – aereal view in February
France – one of the many castles of Bretagne, bathing in a February sun
France – one of the many castles of Bretagne, bathing in a February sun
France -one of the many castles of Bretagne, bathing in a February sun
Belgium – Gent covered in snow – February
Belgium – Gent covered in snow – February
Belgium – Gent covered in snow – February
Eurodisney – you can avoid all the crowds in November
Paris – around Christmas in December. Avoidable if you dislike crowds… Christmas shopping attracts masses in Paris!
Belgium – Gent at the light festival last January
Belgium – Gent- an evening in January
Belgium – Gent- an evening in January
France – visiting Normandy in February
France – as you can see, dressing up is needed in February
France – but, then again, February gives you stunning, foggy views of the Seine
France – a town in Normandy, almost deserted in February
France – abbey surrounded by February trees
France – February shows you loads of mistletoe in the trees
France – february
Belgium – Brussels on an October morning
Venice – skip the masses in summer and visit the city in November
Venice – San Marco Cathedral bathing in November sunlight
Venice – the lagoon in November
Venice – the Jewish quarter under a November moon
Belgium – a January sunset
France – empty dunes in early March
