Good Diving in Europe?

[av8er23]

I have done lots of traveling throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Caribbean but have never made a trip to Europe. I was thinking about going somewhere over there for my vacation in October later this year. I am not set on any particular country or destination? We are considering Italy & France but are open to suggestions? Please share your experiences and information.

On the other hand....Not dive related
We will probably be doing some traveling from city to city once we are over there. I am assuming that we will have about 7 nights or so. I understand that there is a pretty extensive train system throughout Europe.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[chrisch]

Italy and France are nice and yes there are lots of trains

Chris

 

[Tomeck]

Europe is very great and it is difficult to choose! If you like warm water, you can go to Spain, Italy, Malta or Greece.

France is very special for diving system and with your certification OW, you can't dive autonomous and you have to be accompanied by monitor up to 66 feet (20 meters). If you like to dive autonomous to 100 feet (30 meters), you must avoid France. France is very good for gastronomy, but not diving.

Spain, Italy and Greece are very good for food and also for diving and you can dive autonomous.

 

[leapfrog]

Certainly agree on Spain, Italy and Greece. Italy tends to be more expensive. Within Spain you can do a great variety of dives without having to leave the mainland. If you do the Balearic Islands and the Cnary Islands too, then you have the whole shaboodle.

Greece is good but you have to dive from the islands.

What kind of dives are you looking for? Wrecks? Fauna? Shore Dives Boat Dives? I am based in Spain, so let me know if you want further info.

 

[Air One]

France is very special for diving system and with your certification OW, you can't dive autonomous and you have to be accompanied by monitor up to 66 feet (20 meters). If you like to dive autonomous to 100 feet (30 meters), you must avoid France. France is very good for gastronomy, but not diving.

av8er23, if you're searching for serious advices about France, ask Crisch.
An Englishman can't be suspect of favouritism in that case.

 

[av8er23]

thanks for the info guys. The main purpose for the vacation would be to see parts of europe. I just thought we may could fit some diving in if there are some good locations nearby. If we were to visit Italy is the diving better in the Adriatic or Tyrrhenian Sea? I am assuming that we would travel to several cities via train including: Venice, Florance, Rome, and maybe Naples. Would it be possible to hit all of those cities via train during a 7-8 day vacation?

 

[El Orans]

I am assuming that we would travel to several cities via train including: Venice, Florence, Rome, and maybe Naples. Would it be possible to hit all of those cities via train during a 7-8 day vacation?

Probably, but you wouldn't be seeing much of those cities.

I'd recommend taking 2/3 days per city excluding travelling days.

 

[chrisch]

... I am assuming that we would travel to several cities via train including: Venice, Florance, Rome, and maybe Naples. Would it be possible to hit all of those cities via train during a 7-8 day vacation?

You would see a lot of the Italian train system but not much of the cities.

Trains in Europe are generally very good and Italy is no exception. However it is a highly populated country and trains stop at all major cities. Venice and Naples are at opposite ends of the country and would take many hours travel. Most Italians would fly.

Diving is poor near, Florence, Venice and Rome. That means adding another city stop over in somewhere like Genova.

You can work out an itinerary for train travel on line: National HomePage - Trenitalia

If you're flying into Roma I would spend a couple of days there and a couple of days somewhere like Isola Elba and a couple of days general travel.

Europe is very different to the US and travelling big distances is generally not as easy nor as cheap nor as quick. Personally I would start out with where is the best place to fly into from your US start point. A few hours delay on a connecting flight and your vacation is ruined. (European airports are not ideal vacation territory )

Chris

 

[grazie42]

If you just want to say that you´ve been there you propably could do it all in a week but if you want to do more than "check boxes", I´d agree with the advice of doing two cities for 2-3 days instead...you´ll get some sense of the places you visit (3 days is very short for Rome anyway) and get a chance to relax and soak up the atmosphere instead of just running around...

ymmv