Hi all,
Its been just over 2 weeks since getting my Cirrus. In that time I’ve flown 28 hours, most of that was instruction with a lot of IFR approaches, holds and missed approaches etc. I’m getting more familiar the plane, its systems and of course the G1000. We done our first IFR trip on our own last weekend to Guernsey which went well, with SID’s and STAR’s each end.
Flying to nice places in Europe has always been the end game for us. Can you suggest some nice (and perhaps easy) places to go initially? Maybe a couple of hours flight time from UK, easyish approaches, terrain, avgas available, longish runways. We need to build our experience gradually.
Thanks
Rob
La Rochelle, Carcassonne, Caen, Colmar, Paris
EGEO/Oban, although you probably want to do it VFR.
EGNS/Isle of Man
Antwerp: friendly well-equipped airport quite close to town. Historic city with plenty of museums but also fine food and drinks (not really cheap, though), and (or so I am told) a paradise for shopping. Do not forget to visit the diamond quarter, with its own diamond museum. And the Stampe & Vertongen museum at the airport grounds – the G/A parking is just in front.
You might also like the sights from the skies, over the port and its chemical industry, and the long estuary of the river Schelde.
The answer depends on what makes flights “count” for you. I was actually going to start a thread on that…
I think you Rob (if you are the “Rob” who I think you are) have been flying for years so you know about flying. What I found, nowadays, is that what gives me value is
Frankly, the first two are not easy in N Europe. From the air, much of it is just fields and more fields, the occassional town… The northern half of France, for me, really wants a mach 2 plane 
For high value flying I tend to do the Alps, the Adriatic, etc. Spain also has a particular “Martian surface” quality and one can see why they made the spaghetti westerns there.
I am happy to meet up at LFAT (Le Touquet) with nice people. It’s a quick flight, the airport is easy, a nice walk into town, etc. I know a French pilot who says LFAT is the best airport in France and I agree.
There are many scenic cities. I’d say the nearest is La Rochelle, but there are others at a similar distance. Paris is a hassle nowadays due to having no GA-usable IFR airports capable of non-Schengen traffic.
It’s all a matter of opinion. I know someone who thinks Wolverhampton is spectacular
But one thing is for sure: you need to make each flight count. It has to deliver value. It could be a trivial local with a friend who really enjoys it. Or it could be a flight straight across the Alps to Mali Losinj (4-5hrs). Don’t do burger runs at all. Just avoid them. I have 2k hrs and have never flown (from Shoreham) to Goodwood or Sandown. I do Lydd but only for specific meet-ups.
Some places I have been to myself and which I recommend also for their touristic value:
- Belle Ile LFEA
- Ile d’Yeu LFEY
- Colmar LFGA
- Cannes LFMD
- Carcassonne LFMK
- St. Johann LOIJ
- Zell am See LOWZ
- Krems LOAG
- Venice Lido LIPV
- Portoroz LJPZ
- Losinj LDLO
- Split LDSP
- Tivat LYTV
For Rob, how about:
Peter wrote:
Frankly, the first two are not easy in N Europe
You really should go properly north some time 
! Scotland is spectacular from the air, the Faroes and Iceland are incredible, and Norway is stunning.
Agreed on northern France, Benelux, the top 90% of Germany, most of Denmark, England etc…
I’ve just looked through my map of visited aerodromes and can suggest the following as ideas for destinations for a weekend getaway:
- Stornoway EGPO
- Ouessant LFEC
- Calvi LFKC and Figari LFKF in Corsica
- Valence LFLU (if you like very good food)
- Roanne LFLO (again, if you like very good food)
- Pula LDPL and Mali Losinj LDLO (have been mentioned before I think)
- Ljubljana LJLJ
- Schönhagen EDAZ for Berlin
- Heringsdorf EDAH
- Bornholm/Roenne EKRN
Wels – LOLW -good gateway to Alps giving you an option to go in mountains or just watch them…If you cross Apls do not forget about Portoroz LJPZ.
