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greazeball posted:What's better for searching restaurant reviews on a map in London these days? Yelp or Google maps? There’s the London food thread
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Jul 16, 2018 04:09
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HookShot posted:My favourite hobby is going to tripadvisor and reading the one-star reviews for places like the Louvre and the Sagrada Familia. That's a bit harsh. All the places that are super famous and crowded can easily be a 1-star if you're in a stressed out mood and don't have it in you to deal with crowds on that day. Does the Prado have some of the greatest artworks on Earth, and is the Alhambra a crowning achievement of architecture? Of course. But I'll go back to those places and deal with the crowds when Hell itself freezes over, no sooner. I still gave them both 3 stars because, hey, they're pretty great, but I'd not willingly subject myself to the experience of visiting them again.
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Jul 16, 2018 04:19
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PT6A posted:That's a bit harsh. All the places that are super famous and crowded can easily be a 1-star if you're in a stressed out mood and don't have it in you to deal with crowds on that day. quote:Everyone loves the Louvre, but I think that the admission fee is absolutely outrageous , 15 Euros is much too much, and they don’t offer concessions or any discounts. I loved the museum exhibits, BUT, they need to calm down and lower the price!!! "gently caress you for daring to charge 15E for access to literally the largest museum collection in the world" (it's also free if you're under 26 and have an EU passport). quote:No rush, no line, rude security, we weren't allowed inside because i brought my pet. Very well behave in a carrier and small... no bueno. Yes, I'm sure your chihuahua really missed out by not being able to see the Mona Lisa. quote:Even though I didn't wait as much as others, it was terrible. So many people, you cannot enjoy art. Or anything else. If you have a week free, you wouldn't be able to see everything inside. Too much. "There's too much stuff in this museum. One star." quote:Lets be honest folks.. unless your into really weird, bad art this is not the thing for you. Worst thing ive ever done, basically paid €15 to see mona lisa and lets face it.. shes crap too. Its the same stuff from start to finish. Would highly recommend not going unless you are really into your art. quote:So many beautiful rooms and so many "french" arts (not enough diversity)! If you're a museum-goer who's into modern arts like myself, you may find it boring. I feel it is just another tourist trap. I wouldn't go back unless there's something special to see. LOL this guy actually gave one star because the wifi was bad. quote:Went on a hop on hop off tour to see the Eiffel Tower, the louvre and arc de triomphe. The louvre was closed, as it is Tuesday the arc de triomphe couldn’t get to because there was a demonstration. The line was so long for the Eiffel Tower couldn’t wait, as I’m disabled and unable to stand for long periods of time. Very dissappointing, as it took up most of our day, we only have 3 full days in Paris so not very happy
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Jul 16, 2018 06:22
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THIS JAPANESE SUSHI RESTAURANT MAKES GOOD MISO SOUP BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS RAW. ONE STAR
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Jul 16, 2018 08:21
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Julio Cruz posted:Don't try to do 7 countries in less than a month. Cut Stockholm and Brussels at a bare minimum. Saladman posted:I guess your tickets are already set, but if your housing is not already set, you might consider taking one of those places and instead of spending it in a big city, go somewhere a little smaller in the countryside somewhere. All of those cities are massive except for Cambridge. At least take some day trips to get into the countryside. Big cities have a lot to offer but, at least for most people, they get kind of exhausting and same-y after a while. Like, how many famous art museums and national capitals can you see in a month? Three or four, maybe? Inepta Lacerta posted:I would tend to agree with the first point that capitals blend together if one does the same kind of activities in every one of them. However, at this time of year with the kind of weather we've been having Stockholm can certainly offer some very easily reachable countryside within less than 90 minutes from the center by ferry to the archipelago. Thanks for the suggestions. I know the itinerary is pretty intense but it's all pretty much set and revolves around a conference my girlfriend has to do in Amsterdam. She has been to nearly all of the places we are going to so has a pretty good idea of what's worth doing/not doing. I'm just keen to hear of any must see things in each place if anyone has those.
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Jul 16, 2018 09:08
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My Wife and I are doing a Eurotrip for a friend's wedding in Bratislava, then hitting the road heading west to Amsterdam where we will eventually fly out. The plan so far is Slovakia > Budapest (1 day) > Prague (1 day) > Berlin (3 days) > Amsterdam (3 days before flying out) Would a Eurorail pass be the best way to do this? If so, what company would be the most ideally suited for that layout? Any help would be greatly appreciated 
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Jul 16, 2018 09:14
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HookShot posted:My favourite hobby is going to tripadvisor and reading the one-star reviews for places like the Louvre and the Sagrada Familia. This is amazing; I just looked up a mountainside path in my area and... 
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Jul 16, 2018 09:15
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Tasky posted:My Wife and I are doing a Eurotrip for a friend's wedding in Bratislava, then hitting the road heading west to Amsterdam where we will eventually fly out. It's generally a better deal to just buy the train tickets that you want. Eurail pass is OK for young EU citizens, for people with itineraries with a LOT of long legs in it, and for people focusing on one or two countries, but for your itinerary I would guess it's twice the price of buying the individual tickets in advance. There aren't really any companies to pick from as basically everywhere in continental Europe has only one national railroad carrier and even for trans-national train trips usually they just get together and decide that one company gets to service the route (e.g. you generally won't have both the Czech and Austrian railway companies running something like the Vienna<->Prague route). Also less than 2 days in a major city is an utter waste of time as all you get to do is walk around the city for 4 hours between check in and checkout and the fairly long train travel that you have, like you'll probably get in town around noon, check in, walk around for 8 hours, then go to sleep and have to go the next morning at 8am. IMO at minimum Bratislava -> Pick one of Vienna, Prague, or Budapest (2 days) -> Berlin (3 days) -> Amsterdam (3 days)
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Jul 16, 2018 11:19
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Some people just want to sit in trains/planes all day only to take a selfie on the main square of every major European city I guess.
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Jul 16, 2018 14:06
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Can we change the thread title to “don’t visit 4 countries in a week” or something because I’m seriously feeling like a broken record here.
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Jul 16, 2018 14:22
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Julio Cruz posted:Can we change the thread title to “don’t visit 4 countries in a week” or something because I’m seriously feeling like a broken record here. If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium.
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Jul 16, 2018 14:32
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Inepta Lacerta posted:However, at this time of year with the kind of weather we've been having Stockholm can certainly offer some very easily reachable countryside within less than 90 minutes from the center by ferry to the archipelago. As a slight aside to this, due to very high expected temperatures (30C+ for five days or more) the Swedish Meteorological Institute, SMHI, has just issued a warning for "extremely high temperatures" (the most severe rating) in parts of the country, including Stockholm. Might be good to be aware of if visiting. Anyway, as I imagine Sweden isn't the only place being hit by this heatwave, make sure y"all out there stay hydrated.
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Jul 16, 2018 14:32
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30C + is high, lol Maybe if you don’t have air conditioning  I’m going to play devils advocate, only city hop every other day if you are taking a night train or some night bus and travel with a light back pack. Or all you ever do is hangout in the city square and church
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Jul 16, 2018 15:32
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caberham posted:I’m going to play devils advocate, only city hop every other day if you are taking a night train or some night bus and travel with a light back pack. I actually think "don't visit 7 countries in 7 days goddamnit" is in the OP. City hop every other day can be OK depending on the distances involved and the size of the cities (i.e. not European capitals), but a lot of people seem to be like "lol Barcelona -> Paris -> Amsterdam -> Berlin -> Prague -> Milan that's a good 10 day eurotrip right??" in which case I guess you'd need an IV bag full of methamphetamine to make it through the week. A one night stay and a 6 hour travel time to get there? Yeah that's fine if you're driving through Iceland or the American Southwest, but people often seem to have the same itinerary/mindset of European capital city visits as if they were doing a rural roadtrip. I mean I made that mistake when I was younger like most other people ('gotta see it all will sleep when I'm dead lol YOLO'), but there's a reason that I have never, ever heard anyone actually recommend doing this, since you actually see and experience way less except the generally-dull views out the side of trains and buses.
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Jul 16, 2018 16:16
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Tasky posted:My Wife and I are doing a Eurotrip for a friend's wedding in Bratislava, then hitting the road heading west to Amsterdam where we will eventually fly out. Budapest is way too far out for this to make sense. Either cut Prague out and fly from Budapest to Berlin or leave Budapest out and do trains. You've already got one kinda grueling train trip there, Berlin to Amsterdam.
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Jul 16, 2018 16:31
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caberham posted:30C + is high, lol I'm a swede, I melt at what is semi-high temperatures to others. 
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Jul 16, 2018 16:49
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Ras Het posted:Budapest is way too far out for this to make sense. Either cut Prague out and fly from Budapest to Berlin or leave Budapest out and do trains. You've already got one kinda grueling train trip there, Berlin to Amsterdam. You can overnight Berlin to Amsterdam and it's not too bad if you can sleep on the train.
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Jul 16, 2018 17:39
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Inepta Lacerta posted:As a slight aside to this, due to very high expected temperatures (30C+ for five days or more) the Swedish Meteorological Institute, SMHI, has just issued a warning for "extremely high temperatures" (the most severe rating) in parts of the country, including Stockholm. Might be good to be aware of if visiting. Yeah dont gently caress around with 30+ degree days.
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Jul 16, 2018 18:07
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So my wife and inlaws are now in Giethoorn to spend a night. It's too hot right now they say and the sun just pierces through everything - the skies are too clear and there's not even a thin layer of pollution to shield like South East Asia. They have finished their tour in the Rhineland and love Netherlands. People tend to be "friendlier" or "easier to get along in Netherlands" they say. Well, maybe it's just speaking English in Netherlands and being in bigger metropolitan areas compared to river cruise 24/7. Europe is pretty, but it's just like a Karaoke video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YViwdDdJHs So my inlaws flying out of Frankfurt on the 20th and my wife will take a train with them from Rotterdam - 4.5 hour train They will spend 2 nights in Frankfurt and send my inlaws to the airport. She will then take a 4.5 hour train to Paris in the early morning and spend 2 nights and 3 days in Paris. Take the noon train in Paris and meet me in London on the 23. Do london poo poo until 31, pick up goon from airport Bus to Birmingham Road trip 8 days across UK, Birmingham York, Edinburgh back to heathrow (groan) Stop over Delhi 4 days Back to Hong Kong and work Did I just become a retard? My wife had 3 days extra and instead of lingering in the Netherlands, coming to Uk earlier, or staying in Germany, I insisted on her making a stop over in Paris. The rationale is that she will be in Frankfurt to send off her parents, flying on a budget airline isn't much cheaper, and airports are annoying. Plus she's already been in the Rhineland and Netherlands for quite a bit and loves all the history and food. Oh and the hotel in London is right next to the euro star london destination, so no need to deal with heathrow. Her basic itinerary: Arrive 1230pm, check in, drop bags. Walking tour in the afternoon and then see sunset at Sacre Ceour Fontainebleau, in the early morning, then Louvre - online ticket (just half a day, I know, I know - heck the Chinese tourist passes are so loving sleazy because people pass around the same pass between different tour groups) Eat some good food. Breakfast, then go to UK asur posted:You can overnight Berlin to Amsterdam and it's not too bad if you can sleep on the train. I did this 15 years ago. It sounds good but it still kinda blows. Not cheap at all, that's for sure.
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Jul 16, 2018 18:43
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I imagine if I'd been at a conference (am I remembering this right?) and then touring with my parents right before an 8 day road trip I'd want some peace and quiet but that's me. Look at spa packages near/around Frankfurt and get one of the million flights from there to London and she can meet you early if she wants.
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Jul 16, 2018 23:11
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There's no high speed train between Berlin and Amsterdam so if you go during the day you just sit in a slow train for 8-9 hours, cruising through the uninteresting flatlands of northern Germany. And I thought they abolished all the night trains in western Europe already by now because no one uses them any more.
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Jul 17, 2018 00:27
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so I just found out I will be in Paris, France for the first week of august (1st-7th) , a friend of mine said I should take a train to England for a day or 2, is this advisable?
mrhotdogvendor fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Jul 17, 2018 |
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Jul 17, 2018 02:53
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mrhotdogvendor posted:so I just out I will be in Paris, France for the first week of august (1st-7th) , a friend of mine said I should take a train to England for a day or 2, is this advisable? Do you really want to see some part of England? Personally, I'd say if you think 7 days in Paris is too much for you, there are tons of other places in France you could visit for a change of pace.
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Jul 17, 2018 02:54
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If you never been to Europe and won’t be going to Europe for a while, yeah you can stop in London but both cities really have a poo poo load to see. If you like to try some English food then yeah go to London. But the surrounding areas of Paris like Rouen, Reims, the natural parks are also good. Really depends on who you are with, how much money you want to spend, how fast you travel, how you plan
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Jul 17, 2018 05:44
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caberham posted:If you like to try some English food then yeah go to London The far more accurate statement here would be "if you like to try literally any food you could ever want from anywhere on the planet then yeah go to London" Traditional English food can of course be had in London but that's almost like going to NYC so you can get a really good traditional plate of Carolina barbecue. Possible, but wasting an opportunity.
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Jul 17, 2018 06:55
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Entropist posted:There's no high speed train between Berlin and Amsterdam so if you go during the day you just sit in a slow train for 8-9 hours, cruising through the uninteresting flatlands of northern Germany. And I thought they abolished all the night trains in western Europe already by now because no one uses them any more. Night trains still exist, although ironically the only one I can think of here in Zurich is the night train from Zurich to Vienna, which is one of the very few train routes in Europe where you actually have beautiful scenery out the window. Edit: Now that I think of it there are a couple more. Hamburg also has a night train to Zurich. But yeah it's like a handful of destinations, if even a full hand. Saladman fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Jul 17, 2018 |
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Jul 17, 2018 07:00
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Drone posted:The far more accurate statement here would be "if you like to try literally any food you could ever want from anywhere on the planet then yeah go to London" If you haven’t tried much cuisine from the world then yeah it’s nice to give a shot without flying everywhere Well eating local is great because you probably won’t find tastier alternatives else where. I’m looking forward to try some Caribbean food!l when I’m in London But the Chinese food in London and NYC is kind of meh. I can’t say for Caribbean or African cuisines but the East Asian in general isn’t that great. People settle for basic Japanese ramen, raw salmon sushi and California rolls. Some of it is serviceable and if you are from an inland landlocked region, then yeah give it a shot.
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Jul 17, 2018 08:48
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Entropist posted:There's no high speed train between Berlin and Amsterdam so if you go during the day you just sit in a slow train for 8-9 hours, cruising through the uninteresting flatlands of northern Germany. And I thought they abolished all the night trains in western Europe already by now because no one uses them any more. There's night buses though, if you fancy that gamble
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Jul 17, 2018 09:00
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My favourite reviews are the ones that go along the lines of "Waste of time if you do not speak German, there are very little english signs. Did not get the audio tour as I beleive it ruins the experience, 1/5"
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Jul 17, 2018 09:25
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Oh BTW if anyone has tips to Eastern Poland and/or Lithuania, I'm all ears. We've only got accommodation in Vilnius so far, but we're probably doing Warsaw - Krakow -Lublin - ? (maybe Kazimierz Dolny) - ? (maybe Bialystok) - ? (maybe Kaunas) - back to Helsinki.
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Jul 17, 2018 09:46
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The salt mines in krakow are 100% worth it imo although make sure you take a lot of water. You can skip Schindlers factory if youve seen a nazi museum before. If you go to Aushwitz probably go as early as possible, my hostel had a tour leaving at 630 and I wish I did that one. I spent my whole time at aushwitz 1 grumpy because my tour was full of bargey obnoxious baby boomers so minimising that will allow you to actually take it in. underage at the vape shop fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Jul 17, 2018 |
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Jul 17, 2018 09:52
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Yeah I'm definitely not going to do anything related to the Nazis or the Holocaust or any of that, not at all what I want to see. The salt mines are much more my kinda thing, along with pre-modern history in general, nature, countryside views, castles, that sort of stuff. And bars & vegan food but Warsaw will cover that part
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Jul 17, 2018 10:10
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mrhotdogvendor posted:so I just found out I will be in Paris, France for the first week of august (1st-7th) , a friend of mine said I should take a train to England for a day or 2, is this advisable? You can easily fill up a week just in Paris and its surroundings, so unless there's something you specifically want to see in London I wouldn't bother.
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Jul 17, 2018 13:58
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If you just wanted to take a selfie with the Big Ben, it's not really worth it, it's in scaffolding for renovation.
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Jul 17, 2018 23:11
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Can I get some advice for a 8 day trip in Austria, Slovenia, and/or Swiss (countries ordered by my preference)? I'll have an Interrail pass so I want to travel by train. I like walking through old historic city centres, looking at architecture and hiking in nature. I don't care about museums and night life. Which cities etc would you guys recommend?
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Jul 18, 2018 12:49
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Switzerland: Fribourg, Lugano, Lausanne, and possibly Bern for mid-sized towns. For tiny but nice villages with hiking nearby, Lauterbrunnen, Saas Fee, St Moritz. Interlaken and Davos are, while famous and in a good setting, both very ugly modern 1970s concrete housing, and Lucern is lovely but so swarmed by massive tour groups and shops selling tacky tourist bullshit it's hard for me to enjoy it. If you want to actually hike as in an all day hike and not a lift to a mountaintop, I'd recommend to spend a minimum of two nights in a place even if it's a small village like Lauterbrunnen or Saas Fee. Go to sleep early, get up and hike, then go to sleep early, get up and go the next day. If by hike you meant take a lift up a mountain and look around, then 1 night is fine somewhere like Lauterbrunnen or Saas Fee.
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Jul 18, 2018 13:54
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In Slovenia, you absolutely will want to go to Ljubljana and Bled. Ljubljana's old town is phenomenal, and Bled fits the outdoor part of your request to a tee. When you're in Bled, I'd recommend renting a mountain bike and going to the nearby waterfalls as well.
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Jul 18, 2018 14:16
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Thanks! Some ideas I'm considering now: 1) Brussels - Salzburg - Lake Bled - Ljubljana - Vienna 2) Brussels - Salzburg - Hallstatt - Melk - Vienna 3) Brussels - Basel - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Vienna 4) Brussels - Basel - Lausanne - Lauterbrunnen - Zurich Any recommendations or alternatives would be welcome. Some explanation: - The reason most trips end at Vienna is that I can take a sleeper/night train back to Belgium from there. - Main reason to go to Basel (or Zurich) is that the train ride from (or to) Brussels is still doable. - I'm considering splitting the trip from Brussels to Salzburg into two parts by visiting some German city in between. I've already visited Munich, Cologne and Heidelberg though so not sure what would be a nice place. (Ulm? Augsburg?) - Some colleagues recommended Hallstatt and some travel itinerary I found on the internet recommended Melk. Big advantage would be that travel times would be much shorter, but I somehow assume Bled and Ljubljana are nicer. - With hiking I mean starting at 8 am and walking until 6 pm. - I'm worried Swiss would be really expensive I'll be traveling alone and will sleep in hostels.
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Jul 18, 2018 16:05
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Ras Het posted:Oh BTW if anyone has tips to Eastern Poland and/or Lithuania, I'm all ears. We've only got accommodation in Vilnius so far, but we're probably doing Warsaw - Krakow -Lublin - ? (maybe Kazimierz Dolny) - ? (maybe Bialystok) - ? (maybe Kaunas) - back to Helsinki. I actually just left the Baltics and flew to Warsaw this afternoon  All three of the Baltic capitals are quite interesting in different ways. Vilnius has a variety of historic buildings, Riga has quite an upbeat vibe and some fantastic art nouveau buildings, and Tallinn has the beautiful old town with well preserved walls. Vilnius and Riga both feel quite Russian influenced as well, while Tallinn feels much more Westernised. If you're able to modify your itinerary, check how many cruise ships will be in Tallinn each day around your dates and plan accordingly. It's beautiful when there's one (or zero!) ships in port, but if there's 4-5 ... yeah. It's almost Venice levels of crowded. I'm just going to note as well that some of the transport links between former Eastern bloc countries aren't as good as you might think. Basically all of the infrastructure there was designed post-war to get troops and tanks from Moscow to Germany and not really anywhere else. So travelling east-west (eg Warsaw-Gdansk) is fairly easy, but north-south eg Warsaw-Krakow, not so much. Walh Hara posted:Some explanation: I would recommend not going to Halstatt. It's a pretty village, but there's plenty of other pretty villages around and this one in particular is swamped by mainland Chinese tourists. Slovenia is great though, I think it's a real hidden gem of Europe. Spend a couple of days in Ljubljana and then maybe a week driving around. Lake Bled is picturesque, make sure you get to Vintgar Gorge just nearby (go early in the morning before the tour buses arrive), also check out Soca Canyon, Lake Bohinj, Lake Triglav, Savica Waterfall. There's just an absurd amount of beautiful nature in Slovenia, it's cheap, people are friendly and everyone under 40 speaks reasonable English. Melk is okay, the big highlight there is the enormous Abbey though from memory a lot of it is closed to the public. You get a great view and I think there's a really nice library room, but otherwise it's really just famous because of the size. Oh and you can do river cruises through a nice stretch of the Danube from there.
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Jul 18, 2018 16:53
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Yeah and if you want a castle on the hill Bled also offers that (and so does Ljubljana though they rebuilt it in the 70s so it isn't exactly authentic anymore)
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Jul 18, 2018 17:52
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