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nwiniwn posted:Heading to Germany over Christmas. We'll be flying into Munich around the 17th and staying until New Years Eve. A little late but my 2ct: - 25th and 26th are ok in big cities, there are usually restaurants, bars and entertainment available. Book the restaurants fairly in advance though, for me it was repeatedly impossible to get a table for 4 people a few days in advance. - Book train rides early, too, and pay the extra 4,50€ for a reserved seat. It is necessary, believe me. - I can recommend a daytrip or more to Nuremberg (I live there), it is a 1 hour ride by train and there is also a decent youth hostel in the war castle ontop of the city: Youth Hostel in the castle: http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/youth-hostels/nuernberg253/portrait Guided tour through the historical labyrinth under the city: https://www.historische-felsengaenge.de/en/tours.html The christmas market, one of the biggest in Germany: http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de/en/ The NSDAP rally grounds documentation center: https://museums.nuernberg.de/documentation-center/ Just let me know if you want some specific advice about Restaurants or cultural stuff in Nuremberg, can't help you much with Munich although I lived there for a year: the beer gardens are awesome (but not in winter) and everything else is insanely expensive.
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Sep 20, 2017 14:47
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dogboy posted:A little late but my 2ct: That's great to know. Since we'll be in a hotel in Salzburg, dinner on the 24th is provided, but everything else is on our own, so we'll need to start looking at restaurants and making reservations before we leave, for sure. Does Germany/Austria use a site like Yelp that would be useful for food reviews or is there something else locals use? Also, regarding trains, is there one distinct way to book in advance? We have heard of Nuremberg, and we may look at doing that during our initial four days in Munich, perhaps leaving early morning and coming back at night to Munich.
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Sep 20, 2017 14:52
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nwiniwn posted:That's great to know. Since we'll be in a hotel in Salzburg, dinner on the 24th is provided, but everything else is on our own, so we'll need to start looking at restaurants and making reservations before we leave, for sure. Does Germany/Austria use a site like Yelp that would be useful for food reviews or is there something else locals use? For food I usually use this https://www.gaultmillau.com/ , I personally don't like private persons giving reviews and the Gaul Millau tests "normal" restaurants, too, and gives decent advice. And the Michellin Guide is more geared towards the top end restaurants. For trains, in Germany at least, go to http://www.deutschebahn.com/en/start/ and no further: they have a decent app and all the poo poo, also at least consider getting a "Bahncard 25" or even 50, it already makes sense with 2-3 non trivial tickets. (Check offers for 1 month versions of those.)
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Sep 20, 2017 15:20
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dogboy posted:And the Michellin Guide is more geared towards the top end restaurants. Yes and no. Michelin-starred restaurants are almost exclusively top-end, but they also review other "normal" restaurants from time to time, if I recall correctly.
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Sep 20, 2017 21:30
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Yea they do have both good value for money and too simple for a star but still good food grades.
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Sep 20, 2017 23:01
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I'm leaving for my Austria and Italy trip Tuesday. Would you recommend doing a guided walking tour in each city (Vienna Venice Florence Rome)?
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Sep 22, 2017 20:01
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I was going to recommend Sandeman's walking tours, since they're "free" in that you tip whatever you thought it was worth, and they will spend 10 minutes up-selling to paid-for tours like pub crawls, but it seems like they don't operate in those cities. Other free walking tours will be similar though. I'd say probably not in Venice, simply because wandering around aimlessly is part of the fun, and that a walking tour taking you to the highlights is going to be horrendously crowded there. For quieter back-street wandering, I'd hugely recommend both the Canneregio district (north of the Grand Canal and just east of the station), and the area away from the waterfront, between St Mark's and the Arsenale. Both of these were super quiet when I was there last week and you can still just stumble across gorgeous bridges and canal views. Make sure you pre-load google maps though, Venice is hosed to navigate around. There's also a new website called Walkli which has free self-guided walking tours for various cities, maybe look into that? I think they have a free app too, not sure where the hidden cost is.
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Sep 22, 2017 20:32
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If I fly into Zürich early afternoon (like 1 or 2), how realistic is it to try to catch a train or bus to St. Moritz the same day and not arrive super late? All I'll want to do that night is check in and have dinner before turning in.
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Sep 23, 2017 15:59
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ibntumart posted:If I fly into Zürich early afternoon (like 1 or 2), how realistic is it to try to catch a train or bus to St. Moritz the same day and not arrive super late? All I'll want to do that night is check in and have dinner before turning in. It's a three-hour train trip, you'll be fine.
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Sep 23, 2017 17:14
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ibntumart posted:If I fly into Zürich early afternoon (like 1 or 2), how realistic is it to try to catch a train or bus to St. Moritz the same day and not arrive super late? All I'll want to do that night is check in and have dinner before turning in. Also, Swiss trains are very easy to use. You don't have to buy in advance, trains don't sell out and your ticket is good for any train on that route on the day you bought it (or the day you selected to travel, if you want to buy it before even though it's not necessary). Just check SBB.ch for info, it looks I like the trains leave every hour with a couple trains sprinkled in between.
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Sep 23, 2017 17:47
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I have 3.5 days in Rome. I already got tickets for the Vatican and coliseum. Would you recommend a day trip to Pompeii or are there other things in Rome that would be of more interest?
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Sep 25, 2017 16:47
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actionjackson posted:I have 3.5 days in Rome. I already got tickets for the Vatican and coliseum. Would you recommend a day trip to Pompeii or are there other things in Rome that would be of more interest?
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Sep 25, 2017 17:37
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HookShot posted:Don't go to Pompeii, do the Forum or the Galleria Borghese or one of the literally ten million other incredible things to do in Rome. I spent two full weeks there a few years ago and still didn't see everything. Okay. I'm staying right in between the main train station and the coliseum so I will definitely check that out. Anything else I should pre-book besides the Vatican and coliseum?
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Sep 25, 2017 18:09
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You might need to pre-book tickets for the Pope's mass on Wednesdays if you want to go to that, but otherwise not really I don't think. Obviously don't miss St Peter's (its entrance and the Vatican Museum entrance are in different places), but yeah don't go on Wednesday since it's super crowded when the papal mass is on in the morning. The Roman Forum is a highlight, as is the Pantheon. Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are requirements for first-time visitors as well. Piazza Navona, Centro Storico, Villa Borghese, Trastavere, man the list is long. If you're super into Roman ruins then yeah Pompeii is good, but it's 2 hours each way on an intercity train plus you have to transfer onto a slower local train at Naples (the Circumvesuviana). That makes for a hell of a long day. If you've still got a hankering for Roman ruins after the Forum, Colosseum and Pantheon, consider checking Ostia Antica instead. It's the old harbour port of ancient Rome and there's quite a bit still preserved there. And the best part is that not many people know about it, so it's not flooded with crowds like a lot of places.
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Sep 25, 2017 19:28
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Thanks for the list. I'm big into historical stuff so I'll see as much as I can. My Vatican ticket is for a Monday.
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Sep 25, 2017 20:38
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Another Swiss travel question: if I'm heading to St. Moritz solely for the Bernina Express, any reason for me not to book a hotel in a neighboring village rather than St. Moritz proper? I could just hop on an early bus or train and make the morning, or just get on at Pontresina, no?
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Sep 25, 2017 21:43
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Does anyone ITT know Porto well? I'm gonna be there just for one night tomorrow on my own and want to go out and have a nice and relatively relaxed time. I have to get a train the following morning so don't want an especially late night, just some ideas of where would be a good place to walk around so that I can see some good things and go for dinner and some drinks. Staying near Batalha Square and don't want to go too far. This is really last minute and wasn't originally in my plans which is why I don't have a clue 
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Sep 25, 2017 22:49
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ibntumart posted:Another Swiss travel question: if I'm heading to St. Moritz solely for the Bernina Express, any reason for me not to book a hotel in a neighboring village rather than St. Moritz proper? I could just hop on an early bus or train and make the morning, or just get on at Pontresina, no? Correct.
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Sep 26, 2017 08:22
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Going to be in Barcelona for a week on business in the near future. How's the beer, and is there anything local and good I should keep an eye out for (either at bars or at the supermarket)?
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Sep 26, 2017 13:27
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I'll be arriving in Vienna tomorrow. I signed up for a combo walking and bike tour for my first day. I'll only have one more full day. Is schonbrunn worth seeing? It's very close to where I'll be staying. I'd also like to see Naschmarkt, Hofburg and Stephensplatz
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Sep 26, 2017 13:33
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Paperhouse posted:Does anyone ITT know Porto well? I'm gonna be there just for one night tomorrow on my own and want to go out and have a nice and relatively relaxed time. I have to get a train the following morning so don't want an especially late night, just some ideas of where would be a good place to walk around so that I can see some good things and go for dinner and some drinks. Staying near Batalha Square and don't want to go too far. This is really last minute and wasn't originally in my plans which is why I don't have a clue I just came back from there. It's a small town so you can easily walk around. Batalha is on the east side of the historic center. You can walk onto the Luis I bridge for the view, walk under it along the river (Cais da Ribeira and some of the little alleys behind it) to see traditional houses, or walk towards the Sé cathedral and climb up to see some old buildings and a view also. Most interesting bars and restaurants are a bit north of there, in the area west of the Aliados metro station and northwest of Sao Bento. If you go around there you'll surely find something interesting, there are a bunch of good beer bars there too. But even in this area, watch for tourist trap restaurants. Good local food in Portugal is normally quite cheap. Some places have a reason for being more expensive, but make sure you can identify the reason. Alternatively, if you want port wine, you should cross the Luis I bridge and go down along the river on the other side, there are several wineries there and at least some of them have bars, though I don't know if they are open late.
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Sep 26, 2017 13:35
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actionjackson posted:I'll be arriving in Vienna tomorrow. I signed up for a combo walking and bike tour for my first day. I'll only have one more full day. Is schonbrunn worth seeing? It's very close to where I'll be staying. I'd also like to see Naschmarkt, Hofburg and Stephensplatz Depends if you've seen any other of the large 17-18th century European palaces before like Versailles or Nymphenberg or Caserta or whatever. They're impressive but after a while pretty same-y. If you've never been to one it's neat to see what Europe's last generation of royalty lived like.
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Sep 26, 2017 18:28
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A story, friends. We went on a road trip in Iceland, and rented out a Ford Expedition. Unfortunately, on our last day, about 16 hours before our flight, it broke down in the middle of nowhere, about a 4 hour drive from Reykjavik. A quick call to the rental service laid out our situation as follows: There was no coolant left, there was probably a hole in the radiator from driving on rough roads, the company didn't want us driving the car any further to the nearest stop, and they'd be sending us a tow truck that would arrive in SEVEN hours. They recommended that the six of us hitchhike to Reykjavik if we wanted to make sure we'd at least catch our flight (and hope the tow truck gets to the car and gets our baggage to us in time)--of course, we'd have to do that individually, or at best in pairs, since it's unlikely anyone passing by would have room for 6 people. So what I really wanted to share was my experience of hitching a ride. Cars were few and far between, and thankfully, all of them at least stopped, but what stood out was this pair of Danish campers who said that they weren't heading to Reykjavik, and whose car was clearly quite packed with stuff. They apologetically moved on, and we continued flagging down cars. To our surprise, though, 20 minutes later, the two Danes came back from the other direction--they got out and told us they'd talked about it, and decided that if it were them, they would want someone to take the trouble to help them. So they tetrissed their things up to make room for two of us, cancelled their plans, and took a 170km detour to get us to Reykjavik! So in conclusion, being a good person is cool and totally underrated and if you guys are reading this, thank you! And we can't really pay it back since we don't even know your names but I promise we will pay it forward someday!
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Sep 27, 2017 12:51
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Things that would never happen in North America.
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Sep 27, 2017 16:18
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You're probably not black though
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Sep 27, 2017 16:21
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VelociBacon posted:Things that would never happen in North America. Yeah, every North American (possibly Latin America also) knows that as soon as you hitchhike, the only people who will stop for you are people who are both rapists and murderers.
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Sep 27, 2017 18:46
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A friend of a friend of mine hitchhiked from Tallinn to Tehran a while back
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Sep 27, 2017 20:25
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A friend of mine hitchhiked from Vladivostok to Paris and still lives.
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Sep 27, 2017 21:33
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Saladman posted:Yeah, every North American (possibly Latin America also) knows that as soon as you hitchhike, the only people who will stop for you are people who are both rapists and murderers. Hitchhiking in Australia almost completely stopped after the Backpacker Murders
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Sep 27, 2017 23:04
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webmeister posted:Hitchhiking in Australia almost completely stopped after the Backpacker Murders My husband picked up a guy hitchhiking in Kozsiosko National Park wearing only a t-shirt and shorts in -10 degrees once, mainly because he thought the guy was going to die if he left him walking 30km from Jindabyne.
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Sep 27, 2017 23:41
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I've heard that exact story before. Consider your husband lucky.
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Sep 28, 2017 01:42
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Vienna is pretty cool so far. I'm doing the walking (2.5 hours) + biking (3 hours) tour today, which should be pretty tiring but hits up all the main spots in the city. I'm staying at a really nice little boutique hotel (Stadthalle) that has this incredibly good breakfast. Austrians really take their coffee and bread seriously! Also pretty much everyone speaks English (and well) which is nice.
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Sep 28, 2017 07:06
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WaryWarren posted:I've heard that exact story before. Consider your husband lucky. Of a murderer/robber waiting around in freezing weather in inappropriate clothing in order to find a mark? Also, globally, regularly hitchhiking as a solo woman seems like a pretty terrible idea except maybe under very specific circumstances (e.g. ski areas, Iceland). I mean obviously you only hear about the cases like Pippa Bacca and not the times when things went fine, but given how rarely I have ever seen female hitchhikers or even heard stories of people picking up solo female hitchhikers, it seems like it's an unreasonably high risk.
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Sep 28, 2017 09:27
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Student associations in my country (the Netherlands) sometimes organize hitchhiking competitions. Basically, you sign up as a pair of students (always a pair, because solo hitchhiking is considered unsafe) and then about 10 mins before the start the contestants get told to which destination they have to hitchhike. Like Copenhagen, or somewhere in a remote corner of France, or whatever. Crossing a couple of countries at the least. And then one by one each pair gets dropped off somewhere at the edge of their city and they have, and the point is to hitchhike to the destination as fast as possible. There's no real reward for winning, except the cool stories you get to share and the fact you get to grab a beer with the organizers who went there ahead of time to welcome you. There's no real incentive to cheat. I've never heard of a case of anything going wrong, other than people getting stuck in the middle of nowhere halfway there and someone needing to drive out there to go pick 'em up.
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Sep 28, 2017 20:19
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Saladman posted:Of a murderer/robber waiting around in freezing weather in inappropriate clothing in order to find a mark? yeah it's interesting how you'll hear way more rave reviews about Couchsurfing from men than women, too. as a woman travelling alone I'd never hitchhike by myself - other women might, but honestly I'd rather not.
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Sep 29, 2017 16:16
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Posting from a train going through Austria to say best train scenery ever. I'm near Zeltweg.
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Sep 30, 2017 07:54
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The Schwa posted:yeah it's interesting how you'll hear way more rave reviews about Couchsurfing from men than women, too. as a woman travelling alone I'd never hitchhike by myself - other women might, but honestly I'd rather not. It's actually way easier to couch surf as a woman though. And some places only accept other woman.
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Oct 3, 2017 03:48
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caberham posted:It's actually way easier to couch surf as a woman though. And some places only accept other woman. there's plenty of dudes who will only accept women couchsurfers, including guys who offer a shared surface easier, maybe. safer, maybe not. I've had some good CS situations and some where I was made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable. On balance, I personally wouldn't do it again.
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Oct 3, 2017 10:05
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caberham posted:It's actually way easier to couch surf as a woman though. And some places only accept other woman. Do you honestly not understand why couchsurfing as a woman would end up with more problematic situations than couchsurfing as a man?
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Oct 3, 2017 16:03
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It's much easier to find a spot but a large number of those spots are very sketchy.
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Oct 3, 2017 16:08
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