for people that backpacked through europe or live in europe..safest to start?
 

So I'm planning to do a 3-4 weeks romp through an European country for next summer.

I want to spend all my time in 1 country. Which country would be the best to start?

My original plan was to goto Italy, but then I've heard Italy (espically southern) is notorious for robbers/pickpockets.

What would be a country in western europe to start in?

Spain. People are damn nice and friendly, safe place too.
Then again, steer clear of big cities (all countries). Small towns are much more fun anyhow, all big cities have the same shops and mcdonalds' you have everywhere.

When you go to italy, watch out.. you're gonna be run over by a car, and you're seriously gonna lose your patience with their arrogance and ignorance towards all the rules, such as trafficlights, trafficlanes or queues anywhere. Not even kidding. I'm NEVER going to italy again.

Nordic countries. Safe, but expensive :)

i would say germany....:thumbsup

Yeah, maybe start in finland.. can't get much safer than this.
Take a ferry to Sweden, drop by norway, back to sweden and then over the big-ass bridge to continental europe. Denmark's nice too.

..you just should have made your trip during summer. Autumn's not good.

True, I've traveled by myself through Holland, Germany and Denmark and found it to be friendly travels. Everyone I talked to was extremely nice :)

that's what I heard too, a buddy of mine just came back from 3 weeks in Denmark off of 1.8k, but his brother lives there. He came back with all these "fart" photos, which means stop over there haha.

I'd like to save Germany for another time...Love Parade!

I'm just wondering how safe it is if I backpacked outside the metro area in France or Italy, but I would definetly have to stay in Paris a couple days for the Louvre

Part of the reason I'm so hessitant is I'll likely be a bigger target for robbers because I'll be bringing my Canon 20D and assorted lenses. Even worse is I hear pepper spray and tasers are banned in most of the western euro countries?

yah, that's my intention, I read most of the hostels close show after summer.

As a norwegian I should recomend Norway. If you like cool nature, that is (ex. Saltstraumen. Fantastic diving place and fishing! But as said before: EXPENSIVE!! A beer 0.5l cost about $8 at the restaurants and $2-3 in shops.

My fav. is Spain! Clima is excellent, great food, good wine and pretty girls! I prefer to find a hotel outside the big cities close to the beach. Benidorm is cool.... a lot of tourists, all night all week parties (try Shamrock Irish pub in Benidorm). Denmark is cool but very laid back! Holland... GREAT! Party and fun (my kind of holliday)! Cypros/Greece - again, GREAT!

..probably, and the weather isn't nice either in northern europe. Dark, cold and miserable... people kinda turn that way too.

As an English I would recommend Eastern Europe. Czech Republic, Hungary are great countries. Or head up to Estonia. All small countries though so worth hitting a few.

I dunno about the eastern europe yet, are those place filled with crime? from what I've read and see anyway.

Have you guys seen that video of that guy that got some type of worms from eating in Hungary posted a couple month ago, gives me the goosebumps everytime I think about it!

You CAN get worms eating at a restaurant in good ole usa.
I don't think eastern europe is nearly as 'dangerous' as people make it out to be.. Estonia atleast isn't. Hungary and bulgaria aren't either as far as I know.

england is pretty cool

Spain, land in barcelona, make your way down the coast, then head up to madrid and then go on up into the basque country...

Too hard to pick just one country. Italy is very cool.

I had the best times in southern Germany.South of Munchen to Innsbruck.
My favorite town there is Garmisch.Great people and food.Plus the Zudspitz is right there and it's worth taking the trip up to the summit.

if i intend to return complete and healthy , i would suggest germany,swizzerland or austria for travelling -
italy:backpacked tourists are not welcome,special laws against them and crime has spread from south till north completely
france:8/10 friends came back either without money,cameras,car or at least their car got broken up...
portugal: one friend just got attacked

i can tell you nothing about northern countries, but there are already answers here

Do they still have the Love Parade? When I lived there a couple years ago they weren't doing it anymore.

start from Holland/Amsterdam then go outside Amsterdam and then go to France/Paris -> France/Champagne -> You could go to France/Alpes and at end -> France/Cote de Azur/Monaco

or Spain its great too but not Italy,

from East Europe safe is in Czech but its small country for a whole Month but much cheaper than France ;)