Going to Europe next month and in need of advice (GAs inside)

You are probably not going to get many answers for the next couple of hours since the cities that you listed are still asleep (4 - 5am over there). Never been to any of those places myself so I can't be of much help :/.

Best of luck to ya and have a great trip!

Hey! I live near Paris and I may be able to list a few nice places to see but it kinda depends on what you like to see. Here are a few random :

• Montmartre is a hill with a nice view and the Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur, it's crowded with tourists but still worth a stroll
• you got the Louvre pyramid (and the museum if you wanna) then you can walk through the Tuileries garden and end up at the Concorde place it's a nice walk, then if you want you can follow with the Champ Elysées up to the Arc de Triomphe but it's a 30min walk
• there is also the Decorative Arts Museum near the Louvre pyramid, i liked it there is a lot of different things in there
• Centre Georges Pompidou for modern arts and Metiers Art Museum about science and industry are nice places to visit
• the Botanical Garden and the National Museum of Natural History are pretty nice, then you can go rue Mouffetard for a walk

There are a lot more of places i forgot about or I'm not familiar with, but that's a good start :)

tips that come to my mind right now
London -sightseeing: big ben, london eye, there some museums that are really great and i think they are free (at least last time i went there were free)
Paris -sightseeing: eiffel tower, Sacred Heart Basilica, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Louvre
Have never been in Madrid so i dont know, and i mostly ate in mc donalds because its cheap so i cant recommend restaurants :) but in paris you should eat onion soup its delicious.
tripadvisor is a good site with recommendations of things to visit, tours, museums, theaters, etc

In London, go to Leicester Square to get cheap last-minute tickets for west-end plays and musicals, one of the two best places in the world for it. If you have an interest in Shakespeare, I strongly suggest indulging there

For sports, Real Madrid should be top of your list, the Bernabeu is an experience to behold.

Sorry, I can only help with Berlin, Dresden, Venice, Brussels, Antwerpen, Granada, and Oslo.... Never made it to the other cities you've listed ;)

As for London and Paris... bring some self defence weapon...

Change Madrid for Barcelona, its better :p

Forget Spain, come to Portugal. Spain is overrated.

London:
Hyde Parc, or that other one. In one of them is a tree with fairy's! ^^.
Harrods, Sure, it might be an overpriced store, but just walking around in it is worth your time.

Paris: A piece of advice, don't be like me and go to the Louvre first if you only have a day... You'll end up spending the whole day in the Louvre and still not see everything you wanted to see.

If I remember correctly Versailles is pretty close to Paris, the parc/castle there might be fun to see, too.

In barcelona you can go to gaudi park and see some of his buildings, sagrada famiglia cathedral and in the evening go to musical fauntain. Also i managed to get best kebab in barcelona :)

When you are in London, visit Blackbird pub to have a dinner. Take a pint of Imperial Stout, it's the most incredible drink, but as any incredible thing, it is not cheap. Alternatively, you may have a pint of 1856, it is also very-very good and not so expensive. To eat, order a traditional English meat or fish pie. You will not be disappointed.

As for museums, there are a lot of free ones in London, but it does not mean they are bad. In fact, they are awesome and you need to visit at least couple of them. Probably, you will enjoy Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum. They are also located just on across each other, which is convinient. There is also Hyde Park situated near them, which is a great place to walk and relax a bit.

I don't have any advice on what to visit, but one thing I wish I did when I went abroad was taking more pictures. Bring a few SD cards!

http://www.timeout.com for all your town info
http://www.concertboom.com and http://www.worldticketshop.com for the bigger music events
for smaller events its depending on taste of music

The time out site is a real good one for all stuff from food, beer, music, theather, ....

For Paris

In Paris befriend a local, preferably some uni student, and ask them to guide you in the catacombs ( it's illegal thought, the small tourist part is nothing) There is 250km of galleries under paris, and a lot of uni students go there during the night for fun and to break from the noise and activity of the surface. Most parisians themselves don't even know about it. ( random pic attached )

To eat check out Gentle Gourmet in Paris

You can have a walk along the canal st martin in the evening between around republique to la villette, and a walk from the Jardin des Plantes to Notre Dame along the seine ( there is some arenas there where people tend to meet, play music, dance, smoke shisha etc when the weather is good )

In the Jardin des plantes there is some wallabies ( they are enclosed they won't steal your shoes like the australian ones do, i loved those shoes) and the mosque behind has some excellent tea.

As for the already mentionned Montmarte/Sacre Coeur, check it out at sunrise/sunset, when it switches from white to pink, and walk around the various long stairs in the area ( beware of the area at night thought )

the Museum Rodin is a must see, with among others its Thinker and its Gate of Hell, don't just visit the building, check the park behind,

the jewish area of the Marais has good falafels, and there is a hidden gem between the Park neat Bastille and the main street, where there is now a library of architecture.

And in any town, once you have seen the obvious, don't be afraid to just get lost by wandering.

Grab some cheap second hand guide from the sellers along the seine.

If you want a book in english, grab it from Shakespeare & Co ( check out the second floor as well )

Check out the chateau de pierrefond near Paris ( random pic attached ), and the rock forest near Fontainebleau.

For music the Bataclan is a nice chill place, small enough and not overly big.

If there is some strike going on, be aware that the cops might charge so keep your eyes open ( unless they tear gas you of course ). Strikes in paris are posiibly something of a religious tradition or something along those lines.

Don't buy your french bread in a place that just says boulangerie, make sure sure it says artisan boulanger, it's the difference between cheaply and badly made "bread" and proper french bread.

In London, museums are free, don't forget the Greenwich Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark, and bring some nuts to trick the squirells into walking on top of you.

Camden Town ( it has 3 levels and is relatively large ) is a nice place where i used to live, althought it has become quiete a bit of a tourist trap over the years, walk to there/from there along the docks by the zoo up to the mosque ( not so far from baker street on the other side of the park ), it's a nice canal.

The British LIbrary is worth checking in and out wether you are a reader or not ( not sure if the british museum library is opened or still closed )

London's Chinatown is better avoided at night (nothing that can't be handled thought, just white idiots on drugs and drunken prostitutes)

Be aware that a classic that i have regularly seen in both towns is to steal your camera or phone in the underground at the last second just before the doors close, so don't make it easy ( not to scare you, it's probably not gonna happen to you, but it's always worth reminding people not to walk around with a steal my stuff sign )

Bonus

View attached image.

View attached image.

In Madrid, if you are a big sports fan you have to go to see a game in Vicente Calderon (Atletico de Madrid Stadium). This team has the best supporters in the world.

Europe is overpriced, don't buy anything here.

Dont miss Camden Town on London. Its extremelly awesome. Oh, and go to as many pubs as you can and drink as many ales and ciders as you can before midnight. You will make a lot of new friends there this way. English people do love to drink.

Depending when you go, try the RBS 6 Nations.

Never been there myself, just watch it at tv.

here is a good example of national Spanish music

Ok. from paris i got:
4) i found (recommended to me) a great Italian restaurant. yeah, i know. in Paris? a very good one. worth it. want me to find the location? i kind of remember where it was ;)
as for everything else, eat as many Croissant as you can get. they are divine!

and from London:
3) Phantom of the Opera is amazing! a must see.
5) city walks. i can't stress enough how great that is. google it "London city walks"

Go and visit Natural History Museum in London, it's for free and it's really cool :)

Go in Saint-Petersburg, I will show you Russian insane hospitality)

No italy, I'm disappointed son... :/

you should visit portugal if you have the time
it's not an expensive place to visit and has a lot to see