Europe in the winter

Depends on your interests, if you like winter sports you'll have plenty of choice.
Also it would help if you tell us which part of Europe you are planning to visit, as their is quite some variety in climate between the various areas.

It can be argued that the weather in places like Greece and southern Italy is better in winter. Plus you have fewer tourists and it is way easier finding places to stay.

I assume "shoestring trip" does not mean skiing in the Alps.

Everything north of the Alps will have more or less unpleasant weather for travelling on a limited budget. Some camping grounds will be closed. It will rain a lot.

Southern parts of Spain and Italy should be OK, so is Greece and Turkey.

I would prefer a different season to go!

A lot depends on what you want to do or see. If you want to sightsee in Moscow, for instance, winter might be a pretty cruddy time to be there. (Ask Napolean or Hitler about that.) If you want to ski, of course the winter is the time to do it, but as noted that won't be cheap. If you want decent, outdoor weather, you'll have to go to the far south of Greece, Italy, Spain. Weather during the day can be decent in those countries, but it can still get quite chilly, especially at night.

Dave

Thinking london, paris, amsterdam, naples, rome, poland and prague.

And i said waste of time because i was told by a couple of other people that europe in the winter is pretty balls and itd be better to wait till aprilish

Again, that depends on what you want to do. Weatherwise spring and autumn are best and if you are able to travel any time of the year I would choose for April/May or September/October, especially in the places you mention that period would be ideal. But if you really want to visit Europe and only can come over in winter, there is no reason not to do it. Weather cannot be predicted anywhere, especially not here in the Netherlands or in the UK and if you're the type of person who likes museums and other indoor activities there is absolutely no reason to stay away.

By the way, don't take people who say that "Europe in winter is pretty balls" too seriously, Europe is not a small country but a rather big continent and therefore has many regional varieties in climate etc.

Thanks Aribo.

Yea, thinking museums and stuff. Coming al the way from new zealand so its as much the experience as it is what we see.

You have still given no real indications of what your interests are, what you hope to see and do while in Europe. How exactly do you expect anyone to help you determine whether winter would be a good time for you to come or not, if you don't provide the information on which to make an informed decision?

Saying you are planning to visit some cities doesn't preclude anything in terms of museums etc. Most attractions that a city has to offer are generally available year round. Saying you wanted to go hiking or do some nude sun bathing would have some seasonal implications on the other hand. What are you hoping to do that might be affected by the time of year?

I'm beginning to wonder if you are actually able to articulate what it is you want to see and do.

If its weather you worried about just remember it can be very unpredictable here in Europe. There are hardly any seasons in some places anymore! Current weather in the UK, and been for last 5 days is 10degrees warmer than average, about 15. Last week it was nearer 4-5 and it seems the weekend will be back down to 4-5. Weather in winter can be a lot better than summer, last summer large areas of the UK were flooded!

Would you enjoy travelling around NZ in winter? I would say the climate in Europe and NZ are pretty similar. Winter in Southern Spain would probably equal to Bay of Islands/Auckland, and winter in Scotland would be similar to Queenstown. Weather in both Northern and Southern Alps would be similar. This is just a rough idea of the varity of weather expected in Western Europe in winter