About Us

Welcome to EuropeUpClose. Let us take you away to this fascinating continent. Depending on who you ask, there are 26 to 51 countries and cultures that share this common landmass. From Iceland to Belarus, Italy to Greenland, Europe is a continent of contrasts, and with so vastly different cultures, it will never get boring to visit Europe.

We hope you enjoy reading our blog, as we bring you the best advice, tools, tips, and website links for planning – or just dreaming about – your next trip to Europe.

We have recruited talented travel writers who live in Europe or travel there often and are eager to share their knowledge and experience with you. You will find hotel recommendations, destination ideas, itineraries, and interesting travel stories on EuropeUpClose. WARNING: Browsing this website might lead to acute Fernweh and lead to trip bookings. Proceed at your own risk!

Editor-in-Chief: Maria Haase

Tech Support: Greg Haase

Want to Write for Us?

Please take a look at our Writer’s Guidelines and email us your pitch at Editor@EuropeUpClose.com. We are specifically looking for Itineraries, Things to do in…, Must Try Foods in xxx, day trips from…, 1 day in…, 2 days in…, 3 days in…, etc. We are also looking for thematic roundups like Best Rooftop Bars in…, Best walking tours in…, as well as general travel tip articles, like packing tips, travel planning tips, and how to articles etc.

Please use the search function on our website and ensure we have not covered the same topic before.

Please follow the following pitch outline:

Destination:
Proposed article length:
What is your knowledge of SEO copywriting (no knowledge, basic, intermediate, advanced):
Angle & format of the article (1-3 sentences, for example: I will showcase the traditional foods of Greece, their history, main ingredients and preparation (not recipes), and where to eat them in a listicle format.)
When you visited:
How long was your visit at the destination:
What makes you an expert on the topic:
Was it a sponsored/hosted stay:
1-3 articles on similar topic:

Our Writers & Contributors

Andrea MacDonald

Since her first visit to Europe, Andrea MacDonald has seized every opportunity to return. She has finally settled in lovely Valencia with her very own Spaniard, where she is learning that when life hands you lemons, you grab a Valencian orange too and make a sangria.

Angela Eldering

Angela Eldering is a writer and translator based in the Netherlands. Even though she’s ticked off many places to visit in the world, she finds that her list of places to go just keeps getting longer! You can find out more about Angela at ScribingHand.com.

Anne Siders

Anne Siders is a foot-path traveler who delights in the off-beat, the ancient, and the active. She travels for work and for pleasure, and for the opportunity to write and photograph it all.

Anne-Sophie Redisch

Anne-Sophie Redisch is a bilingual writer who loves hopping off a train in a new city. Her two daughters often come along, enlivening the travel experience. She has lived in the USA, New Zealand, and Norway, and her work appears regularly in in-flight magazines and various Scandinavian and English media. She blogs at Sophie’s World and tweets as @SophieR.

Barbara Rogers

Barbara Radcliffe Rogers is the co-author of CitySpots Milan, Travellers Lanzarote & Fuerteventura, AA Sardinia and eight other guidebooks to Spain, Portugal and Italy. She covers Italy for Planetware and writes regularly for Global Traveler, Destinations, WhereverFamily and BellaOnline, and blogs about culinary travel at Worldbite.

Bram Reusen

Bram Reusen is a freelance travel writer, translator and photographer from Belgium who currently lives in Vermont, USA. Bram’s preferred ways of traveling and getting around are hiking, cycling and road tripping – you can follow his adventures at Travel Experience Live.

Brigitte Aflalo-Calderon

Brigitte Aflalo-Calderon was born and raised in Rabat, Morocco. She now divides her time between France and the US where she became a US citizen on September 11, 2001. She is an artist through and through, not only enriching the world with words but also with her paintings.

Caitlin Dwyer

Caitlin Dwyer is a writer from Portland, Oregon. Her journalistic writing pursues subjects in depth, resulting in complex, comprehensive features that explore the nuances of a particular issue. Based on careful observation, interviews, immersion and scholarly research, Caitlin’s articles build characters and tell amazing human stories.

Cam Hassard

Cam Hassard is an international penman, editor and musician. A Melbournian at heart, he has spent extended stints in Dublin, Ireland; the UK; Duluth, Minneapolis and New York City, USA, and currently calls Berlin home. You can follow him at www.camhassard.com

Carrie Uffindell

As an experienced travel writer, her print and online articles include general travel topics as well as family travel, NW destinations, culinary travel, cider and other handcrafted libations.

Cheryl Tucker

Claudia Flisi

Claudia B. Flisi ’69 has been writing professionally since the age of 16, with articles appearing in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, web publications and several books.

David Hill

Writer and translator of prose and verse for informative and entertainment media; event organizer and speaker. Career since mid-nineties spans US, UK, mainland Europe.

Eric Barrier

Erin Connelly

Erin Connelly travels frequently in the UK and Europe. She particularly enjoys outdoor excursions, points of historical interest, and experiencing new cultures.

Fiona Gaze

Hannah May

Hedge Metreyeon

Hedge combines their passion for travel and writing in their career as a freelance writer. They love Europe and can’t wait to share their top tips about traveling to Europe with you.

Honor Kennedy

Honor Kennedy is a Berlin-based photographer specializing in travel, interior and editorial photography, as well as food and social media content.Born in Adelaide, Australia, she relocated to Berlin in 2014 to establish herself as a full-time freelance photographer. Her aim is to capture indoor and outdoor spaces with artistic flair and creativity.

Hope Tarr

Hope C. Tarr is the award-winning author of twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels. IRISH EYES, set in her beloved New York City, is her women’s historical fiction debut.

Inka Piegsa-Quischotte

My name is Inka Piegsa-Quischotte is a freelance travel writer and photographer. She wants to encourage female baby boomers who, in theory, love to travel but do not yet really dare to go out and actually DO it.

Irene Butler

Irene Butler is an award winning travel writer and author of “Trekking the Globe with Mostly Gentle Footsteps: Twelve Countries in Twelve Months” now on Amazon Kindle. She and her photographer husband Rick explore the world for six months of every year. Visit her website at: www.globaltrekkers.ca

Jen Westmoreland Bouchard

A curious traveler, insatiable foodie, literary junkie, and international film and art aficionado, Jen Westmoreland Bouchard has traveled throughout Europe and written about her adventures for over a decade. She is the owner of Lucidité Writing, Inc.

Jessica A. Colley

Jessica Colley is a freelance writer and curious traveler. She writes about food and drink, culture, the arts, people with compelling stories, and experiential travel.

Joan Malling

For over ten years, Neil and Joan have been spending their summers cruising the canals and rivers of Western Europe aboard their Dutch motor-cruiser, the “Estate.”

Joseph Riley Pisari

Julie Diebolt Price

Julie Diebolt Price is a professional photographer, freelance travel writer, and teacher of photography and business. Along with extensive travel in the United States, she has many European, Mexican, and Chinese stamps in her passport. She enjoys planning, researching, creating and sharing experiences.

Julie Ferguson

Karin Leperi

Karin Leperi is a multi award-winning travel writer and photographer based in the land of terra cotta soils and turquoise skies – Albuquerque, New Mexico. With more than 1,500 articles published in over 100 outlets, Leperi is known for embracing the natural world while savoring the spirit of people and place. You can see her photos at:
www.travelprism.com and
www.imagebrief.com/photographers/kd#/portfolio

Karla Ramos

Karla Ramos is a former preschool teacher turned travel blogger/ travel consultant and social media manager. She writes at Karla Around the World and Hungry Travel Duo. People call her an energizer bunny, a never-ending source of energy and laughter, who is a lover of adventure. She was bitten by the travel bug early on and enjoys talking about my action-packed and adrenaline-filled experience. While traveling, Karla loves to experience local culture, trying out the local cuisine, meeting new people, most of all adventure.

Katherine Sazdanoff

Katherine Sazdanoff is a freelance travel writer who explores Europe at every opportunity. To chronicle her wanderlust adventures, visit her website at Katherine Sazdanoff.

Katie Hammel

Katie Hammel a travel writer and editor based in San Francisco. She been working in the travel industry for a decade and has written for travel publications including BBC Travel and Travel + Leisure. Previously, she was the content manager and blog editor at Viator (a TripAdvisor company) and the Iceland-based startup TripCreator.

Kevin McGoff

Kevin McGoff is a freelance travel writer following a career as an Indiana lawyer. He lives between Isle sur la Sorgue and the US. Kevin enjoys crisscrossing the hills of the Luberon on his bike and escorting carloads of visitors around the sites and villages dotting the region. His travel articles are available on his website Surlaroutekm.

Marie Sherlock

Marie Sherlock is an award-winning freelance writer, editor and author based in Portland, Oregon. Marie has written dozens of travel pieces as well as countless features, essays and opinion pieces. Her work has appeared in diverse publications, from Family Circle and Your Money to Northwest Travel & Life and Oregon Coast as well as a number of online sites including MapQuest (Travel/Parachute), EuropeUpClose, FrugalPortland and LivingOnTheCheap.

Marilyn McFarlane

Marilyn McFarlane, a long-time world traveler, freelance writer, editor and author, has written several guidebooks and many articles for print and online media.

Mattie Bamman

Mattie John Bamman is a culinary-travel author and freelance writer focused on Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, South Africa, and Cascadia. He lives in Portland, Oregon, where he has coauthored 10 books on culinary travel and is a strong proponent of the local poetry scene. Catch up with him on his wine blog or his website.

Michael Orr

Michele Herrmann

Michele Herrmann writes about travel, arts/entertainment, culture, history, food and drink and other fun stuff for various publications and companies. Her adventures have taken her as far as Fiji, to date.

Mihaela Lica Butler

Morgen Young

Neha Puntambekar

Noreen Kompanik

Noreen Kompanik is a travel writer and photographer based in San Diego. Her favorite place to be is somewhere with a beach but she also loves traveling to destinations with spectacular views, fascinating history, and a myriad of outdoor activities to keep her happy.

Qin Xie

Rachel Newcombe

Robert Lovik

Roy Stevenson

Roy Stevenson is a professional freelance travel writer and photographer based in Seattle, Washington. Roy has lived in Belgium and visits Europe annually on multiple assignments. For samples of his travel articles, please go to Roy-Stevenson.com.

Sascha Matuszak

Scott Kendall

Scott is a freelance travel writer, photographer, and videographer based in The Woodlands, Texas. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Special places of interest include the Texas Hill Country, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, London and the Cotswolds, Paris and Normandy.

Susan Guillory

When Susan Guillory isn’t running her marketing company, she’s traveling and writing about it on The Unexplorer. She’s written several books (business, as well as travel) and has been published on Forbes, FOX Business, and other sites.

Suzanne Ball

Terri Fogarty

Since her first trip to Europe more than 25 years ago, Terri have fallen in love with all that is Europe; its exquisite beauty, its varied cultures, its intriguing history, and, of course, its welcoming people. As a seasoned traveler, she hopes to share the wealth of their knowledge and experience with you, the Independent Europe Traveler.

W. Ruth Kozak

Ruth has been a travel journalist for 35 years. She also writes historical fiction and her novel, “Shadow of the Lion” will be published in UK in two parts. Part 1 “Blood on the Moon” in August 2014 and Part 2 “The Fields of Hades” in 2016 Ruth also edits and publishes a travel e-zine Travel thru History.