Where to go in Europe in the Winter?

[andreios]

I'm overwhelmed with so many suggestions for Prague.. Anyway, should you (or anyone) decide to visit, give me a shout! Suggestion about Cesky Krumlov isn't bad either - lovely old place, and beautiful country surrounding it also. Depends on your interest.

But, given that you have 5 days and will be in london, why bother with flights - rent a car in the UK, make a small tour around England / Wales - whatever your taste is - you'll find plenty of cities / architecture and landscape.. check in a welcoming pub in the evening and enjoy your time with leisure.

[Ari]

As others have suggested, Prague is a great place to visit and photograph, and I would heartily recommend Budapest as well.
If you prefer to stay warm, Malta or Corsica would be a good choice from London.

[miesnert]

I wouldn't fly and use the saved money to rent a car and drive around the UK for a few days. How about the midlands, there is a lot of industry and powerstations which look great, or maybe drive to Cornwall.

[spkennedy3000]

Why don't you stay in LONDON!

[cgrab]

I think that it would be quite inconvenient to rely on public transport outside the big cities, with the possible exception of Switzerland, so renting a car would be very useful, at least. Skiing season will be in full swing anywhere in the mountains, so prices will be higher. Flying, especially with budget airlines, tends to be a pain with extensive photographic equipment. By train, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are probably as far as you would want to go, otherwise you would waste to much time on the train. On the plus side, almost any place in Europe is quite safe, and as other posters said, setting up a LF camera will allow you to make contact with lots of curious bystanders.
Personally, I would take the train to Paris and/or Brussels, and depending on the weather, go from there to other Belgian cities (Bruges; Charleroi is the supposedly great for industrial ruins), or to the Normany coast.
Prague has my vote for the most beautiful big city in Europe, Vienna is photography-friendly in my experience, January weather can be unenjoyable, like anywhere north of the alps.

[tigger_six]

The issue is roughly this- Europe has nice landscapes outside of the alps, but January weather is unpredictable. It can be cold and snowing and you may have wonderful landscapes in the accessible mountains of Czech and Slovak Republic, or it can rain and you will have a muddy, wet, foggy, and in general unpleasant experience.

So I would suggest going to places where bad weather isn't a problem- Alps, cities, perhaps coast. If you like hiking, you could try going snowshoeing somewhere in the mountains. But never go on Glaciers without proper equipment and be vary of the weather.

[mathieu Bauwens]

If you come to Belgium, let me know, I live not far from Brussels, so I can go with you taking pictures on several places with a car, if you want.

[gliderbee]

If you come to Belgium, let me know, I live not far from Brussels, so I can go with you taking pictures on several places with a car, if you want.

Same here: I live about 10km from Louvain, hence about 35km from Brussels. We could make it a gathering and visit some places.

Stefan.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Trying to select a single nice location for LF photography in Europe is like
- trying to select one out of the hundreds of European cheeses (about 400 different kinds of cheese in France, as the legend says)
- or trying to select one out of thousands of beers and thousand of different wines in Europe (our Belgian friends can comment about the number of different Belgian beers ; not mentioning Real British Ale ; real German lager ; and real Czech beer from Budvar !!)

Enjoy Europe and LF photography !

[soeren]

Same here: I live about 10km from Louvain, hence about 35km from Brussels. We could make it a gathering and visit some places.

Stefan.

And have some beer eh A Geuze??
Best regards