What are some good unique places to visit in Europe?

I'm going to Western Europe in September, any good places to visit?

• Im planning to go to Italy to visit family, and i'll be there for about 3 weeks then I want to visit France(Toulouse), Spain (Barcelona, Madrid), and Portugal. I'll hopefully be in Europe for about 2 months. I'm trying to make a list on where to go, but i am soo stuck. I need help! I want to know more inside of the countries, like small places to visit that locals go to. Places to eat, hotels, small private beaches etc. And if you know awesome places for art, i would really appreciate it because im majoring in art and love renaissance art, Gothic cathedrals, and Roman Catholic art. And another small favor, good music to download :) haha Grazie!

• Answer:

  September is a great time to be here in Italy. There are several interesting festivals including the historical regatta and the film festival in Venice (plus the Biennale will still be running), the Giostra (joust) in Arezzo and another in Quintana, the Ischia Jazz festival, the Rificolona in Florence, the Palio delle Contrade in Trento, and the Italian Formula One race among many other things. Given your background, you'll definitely want to include Florence and Rome in the trip. I use this site for finding hotels when I'm out exploring in most of Europe: http://www.venere.com/ It's pretty hard to go wrong no matter where you choose to visit in Europe. It is almost never worth having a Eurail pass for Italy. You would have to take a trip equivalent to Milan to Rome or beyond every day to make the pass worthwhile here in Italy (see the section called Common railpass mistakes: Italy... in the site below. However, it may be useful to have one for the other countries you visit. This site will tell you how to determine whether a pass is better than individual tickets and which pass to buy: http://www.seat61.com/