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Trip across Europe... UK to St. Petersburg

I don’t know if Venice or Corsica is a logical choice, when flying from Wick to St. Petersburg, but they are indeed great. However, you really need sometimes a day or two, to visit places. Flying is for sure great, otherwise, we wouldn’t have this hobby, but if you truly want to visit places, you also need enough time on the ground and not just in the sky. To give you some ideas, which fits more to your intentioned route, I can highly recommend:

Traben-Trarbach (EDRM) – A classic one above the Mosel valley, between the wine fields. Very scenic. There are several trip reports on EuroGA about this airfield. Definitely take a walk down into the town for some lunch or dinner. You have also Koblenz-Winningen (EDRK) and Trier-Föhren (EDRT) close by, which also deserve both a recommendation and have asphalt instead of grass, plus 100LL. Definitely take a rental car at those last two airfields, to get easily into their cities, however, public transportation is also possible with a bit of walking through the wine yards. Trier is the oldest city of Germany, with the Porta Nigra as the main “attraction”. Koblenz is also nice, with a nice ropeway over the river Rhine, close to “Deutsches Eck”, where the Mosel flotes into the Rhine. The airfield of Koblenz also offers a great Greek restaurant.

Helgoland (EDXH) – Very beautiful small German island in the Northsea. Actually, it has 2 little islands, as you land on the “Düne” and then get a ferry transfer to the main island, which takes only a few minutes. Helgoland is tax-free, so if you continue to another country, make sure you land at an airport with customs. The airport offers also tax-free 100LL, but you need to call for availability before you go. Helgoland has very short runways, but there is always a lot of wind.

Dresden (EDDC) – The most beautiful German city if you ask me. It was destroyed in WW2, but they managed to rebuild the old city in all her glory again. Definitely a big must on a trip through Germany. Dresden is a nice and cheap international airport with direct public transportation into the city. It also offers 100LL. Not far from the airport, there are also several very scenic castles to visit: Moritzburg, Festung Königstein, Burg Stolpen etc.

Praha-Letňany (LKLT) – Not far from Dresden lies the capital of the Czech Republic. Another great and scenic city to visit. The airport is a grass strip, but the condition should be OK. It offers all kinds of fuel. There is a subway station very close to the airfield, and last but not least, a big aviation museum with free entrance (only closed on Mondays). Be aware of the fees and procedures at Letňany, some people reported strange fines there. However, I can only speak good about the airfield, so don’t get scared by some strange stories you can find on the internet.

Poprad-Tatry (LZTT) – Located south of the High Tatra mountains. Very scenic to cruise around for a few days. There are also several castles and ruins in the area. You can get a rental car from the airport and it offers 100LL. If you can manage a short runway up to 544 m, then Jasná (LZJS) would be even more idyllic, but it doesn’t have 100LL. Slovakia is in general a very cheap EU-country. If you want to learn more of it, check out my trip report here.

Also, don’t forget Poland. They have also several beautiful cities to visit: Wrocław, Krakau, Warszawa etc. And Scandinavian countries of course: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki etc. Unfortunately, I don’t have so much flying experience there yet, so I can’t tell you much about airports there. But maybe others can help with that.

Last Edited by Frans at 26 Jan 12:41
Switzerland

You could try a more ‘exotic’ route: from Vick to the Shetland Island. I’ve been told they are beautiful, but I not been there yet. From there, cross to Bergen and follow the Norwegian coast to something like Ålesund or even Trondheim, just because the Norwegian fjords are worth seeing from a plane :-). Then some mountain flying through central Norway, cross to Sweden to Stockholm and then Finland.

ENVA, Norway

Frans wrote:

Dresden (EDDC) – The most beautiful German city if you ask me.

I’d agree with that, and it’s not overcrowded which further adds to its appeal. Hamburg is a close second. Dresden, Ljubljana and Rome are probably my three favorites in Europe as a whole.

Corsica is one my favorite places in the world (I’m still holding tickets & reservations for a fourth visit) but as others have said not centrally located.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 26 Jan 14:52

Differentiating customs and immigration is a must.
EU (Customs union)
Schengen (Immigration union)
The difference is crucial.

You can fly EU to EU (no customs required) but you need immigration. Example: Italy to Croatia.

You can fly Schengen to Schengen (no immigration required) but you need customs. Example: Austria to Switzerland.

Then there are exceptions like Greece (Schengen & EU, but airports of entry/exit required).

Generally Avgas availability decreases and planni ng woes increase the further south you go.

Germany, Austria, Slovenia, parts of Italy are all scenic and easy going.

I’d recommend Portoroz LJPZ and as mentioned LIPV Venice!
LDLO Losinj in Croatia.

Innsbruck is good too and always worth a visit.

Last Edited by Snoopy at 27 Jan 00:13
always learning
LO__, Austria

Depending on budget an hunger for adventure, why not fly into St. Petersburg, then continue on to Moscow. It takes some time to organise and will cost you some money, but hey! who said flying was cheap. You could contact the Russian AOPA here: https://aopa.ru/index.php?id=184 but my experience is that they are not very responsive. It might help if someone who speaks Russian helps you communicate with them.

Then from Moscow, you could make your way again towards Western Europe one way or the other. I once planned to visit an airshow in Russia organized by AOPA and we were going to fly there with a N-registered Cessna O2 still having the paint of flying in the Vietnam war. The event was cancelled so we did not go, but if you could link into one of their (AOPA RU) events, they would love to have you over at the event and fly there.

EDLE, Netherlands

Thank you everyone that has responded to this so far! Your suggestions and information are all extremely helpful! I’m sorting through everything, and I hope to build out an itinerary with your best ideas. Keep ’em coming!

I’ll be replying with some specific questions as I work through this too…

United States
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