And don't miss the photos of his trip either....

Check out the dates on the postings guys......

The Tyrol region is amazing. I would suggest make it to Innsbruck (passing through Dijon and Zurich) then wind your way back via northern Italy and southern France.

3 weeks is plenty, just don't dawdle.

Oregon, offers rare scenery of migrating waterfowl & shorebirds. The area is closed to public entry but there are various points from which birds fly-outs can be watched. I think ots a perfect place for the Photography.

villa spain | villas lloret de mar

A shot from switzerland.

We have arrived at "La Spezia", north-west of Italy by the coast. Going toward Monaco, then Marseille, then spain.

Any good suggestion for good photos in spain?

I followed some of your advices and I am having so much fun. Switzerland is just amazing.

Now going toward Italy.

The Alsace area of France is especially nice, a lot of picturesque small downs on a wine route - and this is prime time for fields filled with sunflowers. Try Turckheim near Colmar, and Strasbourg is a very picturesque town. I live in Switzerland and can highly recommend the Berner Oberland Jungfrau region for stunning mountains. The Luzern area also has Mt. Pilatus, which overlooks the Vierwaldstattersee (lake of the four forest states), you can do a nice boat ride then go up the coast. The Jura mountains in French Switzerland are also nice, especially the Creux du Van and Areuse Gorge. In the Italian part of Switzerland I highly recommend a town called Lavertezzo in Val Verzasca, its stunningly blue, clear water winding its way through a gorge. If you will be near Genoa you can make a day out of Cinqueterra and Portofino, stunning coast line!

NSXType-R said:
Just curious, why in ruins?

The housing market collapsed?

It is not just a few towns but the whole area that is empty. Not sure of the reason, I was told that for economic reasons and lifestyle, people are leaving the villages for cities. Foreigners are buying some of the houses, dirt cheap for vacation.

Just curious, why in ruins?

The housing market collapsed?

While not a landscape shot per se, that photo above is cool. Not much like those roads and buildings in the states, particularly on the left coast. Sure you can take pictures of fields, but we have those, so unless they are uniquely European (the small houses, the Alps, etc) better to find images that you just can't get anywhere else in the world.

If you want landscape, then stay away from the cities! I'm in Zurich, depending on what you want I could give you a few tips -pm me. Lots of light pollution in Switzerland though, as the country is so cluttered. Northwestern France and Atlantic coast, or south (west of cote d'azur) would probably have been more interesting.

Now very close to Bern, Switzerland, was not very impressed by Geneva, looks a bit like Paris but not as clean and organized. Could not sleep the whole night, the hotel was in the "hot" area of night workers, if you follow my meaning.

The drive from Paris to Dijon was very nice, you find tons of villages like the below that are completely abandoned or with a car or two. Many houses are in ruines.

I would say, come over to Poland. It's relatively cheaper country than the old EU and has some great places to go, i.e. the masurian lake district which is a candidate for new 7 world wonders of nature, biebrza national park - the only one primeval forest in europe (at least I don't know about any other), Krakow (Cracow) - beautifull city in the south part of Poland, former capital during the medival period, Tatra mountains - alpine style mountains with picturesque landscapes, auchwitz - where nazis killed ppl during the WWII, and of course, if You happen to be in Warsaw, You will get a personalized city tour by the member of mod team;)

Hello Pierre,

I also think that this is a huge lot of driving in 3 weeks. If you stick to this plan, you will spend your time driving and looking for hotels. That doesn't leave much time for taking pictures ! Also, don't forget that gas is up to $ 7,5 for a Gallon (1,5 euro per liter), and that highways are generally tollways (For example, driving from Paris to Nice will cost you about $ 90.00 (64 euros), just for using the highway.
Weather wise, you have a better chance to get some good one in the south (Nice, Cannes, Monaco area), but if you haven't booked any hotel, I wish you good luck, unless you are prepared to use very expensive hotels. Everyone in France (except me…) is on holidays in the south at the moment.
So my advice will depend on what your finances are and what kind of scenery you prefer.
If you like mountains, visit the Alps, stay in remote places, and take your time to enjoy the fabulous scenery.
If you like nice weather, don't mind about crowds (And I mean CROWDS !), and can afford it, go to the south of France.
If you are ready to take a risk with some moody weather, do a reasonably short circuit like Paris > the Loire valley and its amazing castles > Mont Saint Michel > Normandy and the D Day sites. Finding hotels will be easier, prices will be better than in the south, and there will be less crowds.

At the moment the weather is wet and windy in the Paris area and the northern part of France but that may change soon. Expect some rain showers mixed with some nice sunshine periods for the next 10 days or so.

And about the wine, don't forget that you can only fully appreciate it while you're eating a good meal… And drink the local wines which are reasonably cheap and good, especially in the Loire valley. A good starting price when purchased in super markets is around 4 euros. Anything less will be awful mixtures that taste more like vinegar :)

Whatever you decide, enjoy your holidays !

gd said:
... suggest buying a coffee table book of each location and staying at home...

Gee, why I did not think about this before? I could even have saved the money wasted on the camera. Mmm, let me think, what about you staying home and buying my book? ;->

A few years ago, I did Florence, Pisa and south to Rome. I may go to Cinque Terre. Because of all the trouble in North Africa, Egypt, Greece and even Spain, the European are apparently all in southern France this year, potentially making it impossible for me to compete for hotels. I will definitely try to go there, but I may have to change my plans and stick to northern Europe.

I know of Google Earth, a fantastic tool and tons of pictures. Funny enough, as the skill level of photographer increases globally, you now find so many extremely good and artistic shots, tons of beautiful HDR etc. that it is becoming hard to have an idea of the real scenery of an area, especially in places where there is not much to see.

I will definitely be trying some wine. Two years ago in Paris, I found the good French wine to be almost as expensive as in Montréal, I ended-up buying mostly Moroccan wine, only 2.5 Euros for an excellent bottle.

I will study your propositions, thanks guys. If everything goes well, I will be bothering you with my shots for quite a while in the PHOTO-A-24-HOURS-NOT-18-OR-22 forum :->

As others have said, I guess it depends how much you like driving and how much of a holiday you want. You could take lots of photos of where you've been but you'll miss out on a whole lot more that each country \ region has to offer. If all you want from a trip is a collection of photographs then I'd suggest buying a coffee table book of each location and staying at home ;-)

So ... from me .. another vote for the South of France \ Southern Spain. Mix in the mountains (Picos, Pynrennes) with coastal scenery and some cities (Marseille, Barcelona). And all the while, some great food and wine!

Monaco is great for urban landscapes and spotting the rich in their expensive cars :)

You could go to Avignon, it's where the papal palace used to be, and it has the half destroyed bridge, makes for a nice landscape. The inner city is really cosy too. Not too far from there is the Mont Ventoux, a legendary mountain. You can take awesome pictures from the summit.

BTW I was thinking, you should probably check this website: http://www.visapourlimage.com/index.do
It's a big photo festival in Perpignan, near the Spanish border.

Tuscany (Florence, San Gimignano and the monestaries on Tuscany/Umbria border) is I think spectacular for photography as is Venice, Cinque Terre, and Lake Cuomo. These areas seem easier in the sense you just walk around and take wonderful photos without trying too hard to find the opportunities-- just so much beauty all around.

France South is nice (I am less familiar with Nice/Monaco), more familiar with Savoie/Rhone-Alpes/Provence/Pays Basque/Toulouse but I think Italy is easier in the sense that France seems more commercial/developed even compared to Italy North. There are still great opportunities of photography in France but I think you need to take the slow roads (not pay roads) or base yourself in a spot and look for the good shots in which case you hit Tao Te's dillemma of time slowing down and 3 weeks not enough to hit everything.

I would also say that many places France/Switzerland, etc have changed alot in the last 10 years, places that uesd to have artistic boutiques (like Carcassonne) seem to have largely given way to more shops selling the same cheap tourist trinkets (and wooden/plastic/metal swords in Carcassonne). Aix used to be a great place to base yourself in the south, but now it's been so built up that the town looks incredibly different and sadly the Vieulle Auberge (awesome restaurant) closed down. So make sure whatever you research is still accurate in the last year or 2. Older forums and books may mislead.

A good alternative to driving is to take trains (TGV, Eurostar) for longer distances and rent car only to make a smaller circuit where you need it (Florence/Tuscany, Provence, etc). It is feasible to drive from paris to the south in a day or along the southern coast in a day, but frankly this can be tiring and you waste more time driving.

For wine if you are trying to be careful with budget, it's a good idea to buy few wines in local enotecas in Italy or Nicolas in France and drink in the hotel. In each case, you can give your inputs on price and what wines you like, get very good suggestions and opening a bottle in the hotel let's you share with friends a better wine at a lower price than in the restaurants. If you don't have a cork screw, the hotel will usually oblige. I've actually gotten pretty good recommendatoins on restaurants as well from the guy in the Nicolas in the Marais District Paris near Hotel De Ville. I guess if they know wine they probably know restaurants too...

Yes, way off topic. sorry...

I loved Italy when I was there. You mentioned you will be north of it though, but if you can try and make a stop. Verona is fairly north (sort of) and great for landscape shots. Of course Florence and Venice are amazing as well but maybe too far out of the way for you. Amsterdam was also fantastic for people and street landscape shooting. You will get some great shots all over as Europe is such an amazing place. You are in for a great trip bring plenty of memory! :)

Pierre said:
Switzerland, Austria, north of Italy, Monaco, then north of Spain and back to Paris

That is a lot of driving in just 3 weeks

If you are a petrol head, I would suggest Zermatt, Tuscany , Provence, Pyrenees, Barcelona, returning via the Loire Vally, or, you could just go straight to the Loire Vally and spend the petrol money on food and wine :)
(no need for a Hotel, find a cheap Gite and eat and drink with the locals)

Mont Saint-Michel is amazing - quite a distance driving from Paris. 3 weeks to be driving is not a whole lot of time. Roads are not like North America and wind a hell of a lot more - few straight shots to anywhere especially when you hit the mountains. If you consider wanting to hit peak magic hours for certain sites that might help. One could easily spend a week in any of the places you mentioned.

If you go to Google Earth and map a route, they have a feature of photos that were taken that you can look at. You may also want to look for local events that may be going on that would be great to get. In the end I guess it depends if you want to relax, or go balls out and take photos at a bunch of sites.

NSXType-R said:
Are you planning to drive? I heard the south of France is nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel

This looks like a nice place to visit too.

Yes, driving, as I said. I will bring my D700, N24-70 F2.8 and N70-200 F2.8 VRII.

Are you planning to drive? I heard the south of France is nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel

This looks like a nice place to visit too.

Starting next week, I will be driving through Europe for 3 weeks. I am landing at Paris and from there, I only have a rough plan. I was thinking going through Switzerland, Austria, north of Italy, Monaco, then north of Spain and back to Paris finding hotels as I go.

I do not know if it is a realistic schedule or if there would be a better plan.

What do you guys think? Where would you go for amazing scenery?

Pierre