I'm on a month-long assignment to work in Romania. It's in the middle of nowhere and there isn't much sightseeing to do. There is no public transit and the taxi to the airport costs 100 EUROs one way so I don't want to travel around here. My return flight to the states has a layover in Paris and I plan to defer my flight for a week.

Any recommendations for just a week long trip? Which cities should I visit? I've never been to Europe before so I'm pretty excited to see any major city. I was thinking of spending half the week in Paris and maybe the other half in Berlin. Maybe I'll get a weekly train pass and sleep on the overnight trains so I don't lose any travel time, though I would smell from no showers!

Also, people have suggested that I visit Vienna/Prague/Budapest on my weekends. A $300 round trip weekend flight, 100 EURO taxi ride each way, and hostel/hotel cost doesn't sound appealing to me, is it worth it?

Can you rent a car to drive to some interesting places for the weekends that you are in Romania?

Do you have to pay $300 to fly to nearby cities? Have you checked out all the low-cost budget airlines in Europe which don't publish on the normal flight-hunting websites?

I would say not to try to visit both Paris and Berlin in a week, by taking the train between them. However I have done it and it's do-able. You can take showers for a small fee at some train stations. Also you can stay in a hostel/hotel every second day and take a shower as soon as you check in/before you check out to stay as "fresh" as possible.

The weekly train pass is often more expensive when bought in Europe than when bought in the US. Plus, you feel you are wasting money (and you generally are) when not covering a lot of miles, and when staying put in one place for a few days. You might just want to buy individual tickets in that case. Don't forget student-age discounts, etc., depending on your age (up to 26 normally).

My preference with a week in Paris would be to stay in France. Spend a few days in Paris and then a few days travelling to nearby places, such as Versailles or Giverny, or further places such as Provence/Nice on the Mediterranean (can be done on a high speed train). This would give you a small flavor of France, and then for your next trip you can go to another country for a week.

But maybe you don't think you'll be back to Europe for a long time. In that case, it would be nice to see 2 different countries while you are there (3 including Romania).

You could visit Paris and London. The Eurostar train goes from Paris to London in 2.5 hours.

Or, you could fly a budget airline between Paris and Berlin instead of the trundly, smelly night train.

You can't go wrong - most of the European places you could go see are great [except I'm not wild for Brussels or Frankfurt ]

Check out RickSteves.com for Europe (read: budget) info. His books are excellent.

Yauser: I can relate as I am currently trapped in Bulgaria trying desperately to get out and go anywhere else for a weekend at a reasonable price. I do recommend Vienna if you can get there. Access to the city from the airport is very easy and once you get to Vienna, it is so easy to get around. You can find some reasonably priced accomodations there if you spend sometime searching. Same goes for Prague. I was previously living in Slovakia where it was very easy to get a Ryanair or SkyEurope flight to a large number of places for the weekend. Here in Bulgaria - not so much. Anyway, I spent several great weekends in SW Germany (flying from Bratislava) - Trier, Heidelberg, Cologne, and even a short trip on the Rhine plus a trip to Luxembourg - all from flying to Frankfurt-Hahn airport on Ryanair. I fell in love with SW Germany. I also went to Stockholm, and London. I think the most that I paid for a flight last year was 69 Euros rt. Can't find any deals like that this year out of Bulgaria.

Enjoy Europe. It's amazing!

I actually enjoyed Pisa when I was there. Why not go. It's not the most fantastic place in Italy, but in Italy you could pretty much throw your camera in the air and whatever picture it took on the way down would be gorgeous. And the food, lifestyle, wine, setting sunlight, etc. are still a joy all over.

Also, I do think you should try to see as much of Romania and nearby Eastern Europe as you can, while you are there. You've got a supportive infrastructure there now (a paid-for place to stay, a company to work for and a presumed work visa, an expensed rental car) which you probably would not have in the future. The above-poster's advice to take the fast trains in the east is great.

You will always be able to visit Europe again - my advice would be to take it a little slow and gain some real connections with the cultures and the environments.

Seconding the above advice, I also think that Rick Steves' books are excellent for the newbie American traveller to Europe. You can even check out his website for a lot of info for free.

Constanta Train Station (Gara Constanta)
Address: Blvd. Ferdinand 45
Tel: (241) 614.960
There are daily trains from/to Bucharest, Iasi, and Suceava. Trains from/to other major cities in Romania and destinations in Europe connect in Bucharest.

I win.

Do a Contiki tour!! I did one and was one of the best experiences on my life!!

NantucketSunrise said:Honestly, Yauser, you could have spent 10 seconds on Yahoo and found out:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Constan%C5%A3a

http://www.mgsolution.ro/useful-info/city-of-constanta-constantza.php

http://e-journey.net/Constanta

http://www.traveltoromania.com/destinations/dobrogea/constanta

http://www.romaniatourism.com/constanta.html

and the piece de resistance, the website for the Constanta Train Station!
http://www.cfr.ro/default_engleza.htm

I second NantucketSunrise. Don't be so god-damn ignorant! Romania actually is a sweet place with a, well, OK train system. You may want to check out Brasov = Kronstadt with lots of history (including some fake Dracula stories) and exceptionally sweet situation close to the Carpathian Mountains; there may be a decent night-train from Constanta. The Danube Delta is said to be awesome (haven't been there myself).

By all means, do go to Berlin if you can. Berlin rocks (I use to live there for 10+ years). With some booking ahead, you can fly Paris--Berlin for as little as 30 Euros (try easyjet).