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Thanks to the Raptors win last night, Air Canada is giving a 15% discount on all flights today only, so I might as well book my tickets today, for late September/early October. I've been thinking of visiting Budapest, Ljubljana, and Rijeka, but I wanted to know how much sense it made to spend 3 nights in Budapest, 4 in Ljubljana, 5 in Rijeka (or 4 and then 1-2 in Zagreb), and then just another 2 in Budapest. Travel between cities by train, look for day-trips outside if there's something interesting, stay at AirBnB's, and just relax. I have an old high school friend who lives around Rijeka, so it'd be nice to visit him. I'm not super into partying, but I do like to experience the local culture, see museums and other points of interest. Edit: I just wanted to know if it was a good idea to book now and figure out the details later to take advantage of the discount. If I miss it, I miss it. I might be able to get a discount later, but I'm not 100% on it. mojo1701a fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Jun 14, 2019 |
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Jun 14, 2019 15:22
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Which German cities are nice to visit for a few days? I assume Berlin is nice, what about Munich and Frankfurt? Or Zurich? I don't have any special interests, simply to see what good cities look like.
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Jun 14, 2019 19:25
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Shy posted:Which German cities are nice to visit for a few days? I assume Berlin is nice, what about Munich and Frankfurt? Or Zurich? Berlin is nice, Munich is nice, Hamburg is nice, the only things Frankfurt has going for it are like a world-class whiteboard store and some guy in a sweater vest who will help you take the initiative and optimize your cutting edge global synergies to bring more value to your organisation.
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Jun 14, 2019 19:57
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Berlin's good for history (mostly 20th century and Cold War) and museums. Hamburg has great nightlife. Munich has great scenery. Nuremberg or Heidelberg for medieval history. Cologne has one of the most amazing cathedrals you will ever see in your life.
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Jun 14, 2019 20:41
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Shy posted:Which German cities are nice to visit for a few days? I assume Berlin is nice, what about Munich and Frankfurt? Or Zurich? One of these things is not like the other; one of these things is just not the same. It's really giving us basically nothing to work with on the "see what good cities look like" criteria, but if you are literally completely neutral, visit Berlin and Munich and compare the two.
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Jun 14, 2019 20:42
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Drone posted:One of these things is not like the other; one of these things is just not the same. Judging by the replies and stock photos Munich is where I should go.
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Jun 14, 2019 21:05
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mojo1701a posted:Thanks to the Raptors win last night, Air Canada is giving a 15% discount on all flights today only, so I might as well book my tickets today, for late September/early October. 4 days is way too much in Ljubljana. It's a nice little town, but it has enough stuff for two days max and even that would be at a leisurely pace. The rest of Slovenia is great, mind you, and probably the most underrated country in Europe. Budapest is definitely a 4-5 day city, it's huge and has heaps of interesting stuff to do.
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Jun 15, 2019 00:44
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webmeister posted:4 days is way too much in Ljubljana. It's a nice little town, but it has enough stuff for two days max and even that would be at a leisurely pace. The rest of Slovenia is great, mind you, and probably the most underrated country in Europe. Thanks. I don't know too much about the city itself. I just thought it'd be nice to visit a country that not too many Canadians visit on a regular basis. Like I said, the itinerary itself isn't set in stone. I was just hoping that 3 cities (plus day trips outside) seems OK for 2 weeks if I book a flight to Budapest now. That is definitely good to know about Budapest. I might split Croatia up and do 2-3 days in Rijeka and 3-4 in Zagreb, if that's not too much. I don't mind doing a day or two more than what would be normal, since I like to just take a day or two and decompress at first.
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Jun 15, 2019 00:56
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Shy posted:Which German cities are nice to visit for a few days? I assume Berlin is nice, what about Munich and Frankfurt? Or Zurich? Yes, Berlin is great. Munich is good, other German cities I wouldn't especially rate. You've gotta remember they were largely all levelled in 1945 and then rebuilt over the next 15 years, so they honestly aren't hugely different from each other. It's in the medium and smaller towns that you find the most interesting stuff: look into places like Bremen, Lubeck, Heidelburg, Quedlinburg, Bamberg. Trier has some great Roman buildings if that interests you (it was used as a capital during the late Western empire period). I personally found Zurich quite dull; the only Swiss city I'd really recommend is Bern. There's lots of great stuff to see elsewhere in Switzerland, just not particularly in cities.
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Jun 15, 2019 01:08
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I spent five days based in Ljubljana exploring the city and doing day trips and thought it was perfect.
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Jun 15, 2019 02:53
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HookShot posted:I spent five days based in Ljubljana exploring the city and doing day trips and thought it was perfect. Yeah, this was part of what I wanted to do, was see if there were day tours from the city (the mistake I made in Ireland was renting a car for a whole week and spending only 1-2 nights in each city after Dublin). Either way, I'm booked for Thursday, September 19 to Thursday, October 3. All said and done, even with that discount, the flight was around C$1,500. I just really hope my friend gets back to me soon.
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Jun 15, 2019 03:08
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mojo1701a posted:That is definitely good to know about Budapest. I might split Croatia up and do 2-3 days in Rijeka and 3-4 in Zagreb, if that's not too much. I don't mind doing a day or two more than what would be normal, since I like to just take a day or two and decompress at first. Early autumn is the the best time to see Croatian coast. Rijeka itself isn't worth spending more than a day or two but I assume your friend will take you to day trips to Istria and islands. If that's the plan than you could stay longer and cut some days from Zagreb. Maybe even skip it entirely if there's a Rijeka-Budapest overnight connection.
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Jun 15, 2019 09:51
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mojo1701a posted:Yeah, this was part of what I wanted to do, was see if there were day tours from the city (the mistake I made in Ireland was renting a car for a whole week and spending only 1-2 nights in each city after Dublin). Yeah, Slovenia is awesome, its mountain area is a lot smaller than Austria and Switzerland but if you're just there for a few days it's not like you'll hike everything anyway, and it's like a third the price of Switzerland and half the price of Austria for everything. I'm not sure how the public transport is. Maybe ... OK? There are some really great caves at Skocjan which I bet are a hassle to get to by public transport. Piran is also really nice, although far from Ljubljana. Koper is much less nice since the cute old town is mostly just housing and it's surrounded on all sides by like a two kilometer-thick dead space of shipping containers. Seriously look at it on a map, it's strikingly bizarre.
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Jun 15, 2019 11:27
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Public transport in slovenia is good enough. When I was in Ljubljana last year I used the bus for some day trips and it was nice. The trip I enjoyed most was to skofja loka (I hired a bike and had a great time biking in the mountains and climbing the lubnik mountain).
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Jun 15, 2019 12:49
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I have no experience with public transport but renting a car was super cheap and it was extremely easy to drive around FWIW. We just got a place in Ljubljana with a parking spot.
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Jun 15, 2019 14:17
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HookShot posted:I spent five days based in Ljubljana exploring the city and doing day trips and thought it was perfect. I used public transport for everything, it worked well enough except if you want to cross into Italy, that's very difficult for some reason.
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Jun 15, 2019 15:36
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So, regarding Istanbul, what's the best area to stay in for a young couple that wants to visit cultural sites and have a drink at night? Me and my gf will spend NYE there and while I've been there, most of the time I was working on the Asian side so I had no time to evaluate the areas in the European side. Any good price/quality recommended hotels? I have a reservation for Hotel Poem at the moment, but I can cancel it anytime. Thanks guys!
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Jun 18, 2019 06:22
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orange sky posted:So, regarding Istanbul, what's the best area to stay in for a young couple that wants to visit cultural sites and have a drink at night? Karakoy is better for the drinks at night and has a more "real" atmosphere with lots of cute boutique shops and coffee shops, but where you are is fine if you largely just want to visit Topkapi and the hippodrome and the big mosques and don’t mind that everyone else around you is also a tourist. The European side is about 100x more interesting than the Asian side of Istanbul so it should be fun.
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Jun 18, 2019 07:56
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Hey, my gf and I are going to Northern Ireland to visit my family this week, and since we're flying into Dublin we'll be spending a day there - what should we do while we're there? I've been to Northern Ireland a whole bunch of times but I've only been to Dublin once before when I was a teenager
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Jun 18, 2019 16:43
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orange sky posted:So, regarding Istanbul, what's the best area to stay in for a young couple that wants to visit cultural sites and have a drink at night? Pablo Nergigante posted:Hey, my gf and I are going to Northern Ireland to visit my family this week, and since we're flying into Dublin we'll be spending a day there - what should we do while we're there? I've been to Northern Ireland a whole bunch of times but I've only been to Dublin once before when I was a teenager
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Jun 18, 2019 20:56
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Bollock Monkey posted:I really enjoyed The Little Museum of Dublin and the Archaeology Museum was good too. Also eat a donut, they're everywhere and they're great. Yeah, the Little Museum was great. It's also not too far from the Great Famine museum (it's more of a display on the third floor of a mall). Well worth the admission. I got a free DVD because I rated them five stars on Google. I realized a minute later I can't play the DVD in North America anyway. I'd also recommend the Irish Whiskey Museum (I met a number of people there who aren't big into whisky that loved it). It's not a long tour, either. Was going to mention the Guinness Storehouse, but it's more like walking through a big Guinness-themed mall, so if you were in the situation where you had more time to yourself, you could just wander through it. I missed the Archaeology museum (and I regret not going to the Irish Emigration museum), but Dublinia was a lot of fun. Made me want to replay Skyrim. Also had a lot of fun at the Leprechaun museum, but I I think that's for if you had a few more days there. Also I'm regretting I now didn't get a donut. I'd ask for similar recommendations for Budapest and Zagreb (and possibly Ljubljana, like I said before), but I'm worried I'm going to forget I posted this in the next 3 months. mojo1701a fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jun 18, 2019 |
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Jun 18, 2019 21:13
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Pablo Nergigante posted:Hey, my gf and I are going to Northern Ireland to visit my family this week, and since we're flying into Dublin we'll be spending a day there - what should we do while we're there? I've been to Northern Ireland a whole bunch of times but I've only been to Dublin once before when I was a teenager There's always the Guinness brewery experience although for my money, you'll probably find something better to do if you only have a day.
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Jun 18, 2019 21:15
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The best part of the Guinness experience is having someone’s photo printed in the foam of a beer. It’s a dumb gimmick but it stands out in my memory.
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Jun 19, 2019 17:59
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Thanks for the suggestions! We have one full day (although we might be a little tired) and then we don’t have to be up in NI until late afternoon the next day so we have like a full day and a half basically.
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Jun 19, 2019 20:15
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Hey goons, I'm making a whirlwind trip through Europe in a couple of weeks, partially with my girlfriend, partially alone. Some of it's going to be me working, but mostly I'm going to be wandering around trying to find interesting things. I enjoy old movie theaters, parks, markets (both flea and food), birdwatching, concerts, arcades/comic books/nerd poo poo, cheap clothes, unusual museums and oddities, and plenty of eating and drinking. Some of these places I'll have access to a kitchen to make my own food, too. I'll be in a combination of hostels, AirBnBs, friend's couches, and a rented apartment. I'm relying mostly on public transport and rideshares if they have them. Here's my itinerary, are there any bits of advice I should know/sights I should definitely see? Landing in Dublin Roughly 2 days in Dublin, then to London. One long day in London, then to Stockholm. A weekend in Stockholm where I'll work at least one morning, hoping to spend an afternoon at Tivoliriding some rollercoasters. -------I go solo-------- Three days in Brussels, the place I know the least about. One day in Cologne with a friend Three days in Amsterdam, the place I know the second least about (but the first page of this thread was very helpful) Four days back in Dublin. (The posts above are very helpful) I realize that's a lot with very little direction, but that's kind of the way this trip is going. I appreciate the assists whereever they come from.
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Jun 21, 2019 02:20
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Three days in Brussels is about 2.5 days too many. Spend maximum one day there and then head elsewhere in Belgium like Bruges, Antwerp or Leuwen.
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Jun 21, 2019 04:10
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Brussels is okay for a day yeah but otherwise you want to go to Antwerpen or Ghent or something
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Jun 21, 2019 07:09
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You're probably gonna want to go to the Comic Strip Center in your one day in Brussels, then.
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Jun 21, 2019 07:44
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Or visit Leuven. Or go out to the Zenne valley and drink beer.
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Jun 21, 2019 13:37
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My Lovely Horse posted:You're probably gonna want to go to the Comic Strip Center in your one day in Brussels, then. I'm a big Tintin guy, so I might take the train out to the Herge museum, which is unfortunately in the opposite direction of where you all are telling me to go. I do not have to stay in Brussels, but I do have to be in Cologne on Wednesday evening to meet a friend (arriving in Brussels Monday morning) and I was planning on leaving from there, so no matter where I go, it has to be easy to get out there. Maybe I just bail on Belgium altogether after a day and go to Cologne early?
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Jun 21, 2019 14:15
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Vargo posted:I'm a big Tintin guy, so I might take the train out to the Herge museum, which is unfortunately in the opposite direction of where you all are telling me to go. Why not just fly directly from Stockholm to Cologne? I guess you've already bought your ticket? Although if you can stay in Cologne with your friend, buying a new ticket from Stockholm to Cologne and eating the Stockholm–Brussels ticket would still save you money. I don't think Brussels is all that bad though. Yeah it's a generic large-ish European capital city without any particularly notable draws and it's not in a particularly beautiful setting, but... that description also fits Dublin to a T, and at least central Brussels hasn't been conquered by bachelor and bachelorette parties (just stay away from Manneken Pis). The Magritte museum is cool if you at all like surrealism. E: But yeah getting out of Brussels is a good idea, both Antwerpen and Ghent are way more interesting architecturally and more distinct as cities. Bruges will probably be overrun with tourists in early July and probably is best avoided though ymmv.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:05
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Actually yeah, looking back at it, two days in Dublin then again four days in Dublin at the end... I liked it but you could use those four days for a trip to the West coast or around Ireland unless it's a work thing. Galway's really nice.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:17
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Antwerp if you want a more "local" experience. There isn't too much of a tourist vibe there, due to lack of distinct tourist attractions. I found this to be a good thing, but not good for an instagram vacation. Brugge was just the opposite, very tourist oriented. However there are a lot of things to do for a tourist. Ghent was right in the middle; a decent amount of tourist infrastructure, but very easy to get off the beaten path. Brussels get a bad reputation for some reason, but I found it to be a very interesting city. It is bigger and more cosmopolitan than the other belgian hot spots, but enjoyable.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:31
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For the comedy option, visit the Atomium. I stayed in the Jewish neighborhood of Antwerpen once, it was interesting because, for obvious reasons, Jewish neighborhoods have mostly disappeared from western European cities. There were some delis where you could get traditional Jewish food and stuff.
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Jun 21, 2019 16:23
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Saladman posted:Why not just fly directly from Stockholm to Cologne? I guess you've already bought your ticket? Although if you can stay in Cologne with your friend, buying a new ticket from Stockholm to Cologne and eating the Stockholm–Brussels ticket would still save you money. Yeah, I bought the Stock-Brussels ticket because it was like 17 Euro and I wanted to find some place to wander around alone for a bit before meeting with my friend (and his wife and two kids.) Look like a new Stockholm-Cologne ticket right now would cost me about $120, so I think I'll just use that money on train tickets to get around instead if I get bored of Brussels. (I guess I should have mentioned that we're leaving on this journey like, next Wednesday.) My Lovely Horse posted:Actually yeah, looking back at it, two days in Dublin then again four days in Dublin at the end... I liked it but you could use those four days for a trip to the West coast or around Ireland unless it's a work thing. Galway's really nice. The first two days in Dublin are a work thing for my girlfriend, the latter four are the vacationy part. I think we're definitely using one of those four days for a trip to Galway and the cliffs. Cheesemaster200 posted:Antwerp if you want a more "local" experience. There isn't too much of a tourist vibe there, due to lack of distinct tourist attractions. I found this to be a good thing, but not good for an instagram vacation. It's like an hour train ride from Brussels to Antwerp, right? Maybe I'll just get up early and head up there for a day. Last night I was watching whatever free travel stuff I could find, and turns out even Rick Steves thinks Brussels is kinda boring, his entire Belgium episode is about Bruges, and then the last 6 minutes are about Brussels, at least three of which are spent talking about how the Mannequin Pis sucks and is stupid. Vargo fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jun 21, 2019 |
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Jun 21, 2019 16:51
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Yeah, Brussels is a fine city, it's just not particularly touristy and doesn't really have any particularly amazing sights or attractions. Spent a few days there last month and I rather enjoyed wandering around checking out all the grand buildings and nice little coffee shops and such, and of course the bars (definitely hit up Little Delerium for a ton of awesome beers on tap). Actually, my favorite thing was probably this antique store across from the Église Notre-Dame de la Chapelle: Thought it was just a small shop, but the inside is this long hallway that goes on for ages:  and then at the end of that there's a little doorway off to the side that leads into this enormous warehouse-sized 19th century stables that's like three stories tall and literally crammed to the rafters with all sorts of old poo poo:  Think I spent longer wandering around in there than I did the art museum (which was quite good as well, incidentally). Spent a few days each in Bruges and Ghent on my trip as well. Bruges was certainly beautiful, but was a little crowded with tourists already even in midweek in May (and schoolchildren; dear god, the hordes of schoolchildren), and by now it's probably much worse. That said, there were quieter areas in the city, too; most of the tourists seemed to be clustered around the centre near Markt and Burg, and down around the Church of Our Lady and the Begijnhof, but there were a lot fewer people around the northern and eastern bits of the city centre, and not too many on the old rampart walk around the border with the windmills and all. If you do go there and you like churches, be sure to check out Sint-Annakerk in Sint-Anna Quarter on the east side of the city; it doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside are some really impressive Baroque furnishings:   and a jaw-droppingly huge oil painting over the west portal:  (Seriously, I walked in and was busy admiring that awesome rood screen and happened to turn around and was just like  )I really liked Ghent as well; not as touristy or as crowded as Bruges, but still had a lovely old town to wander around, with a lot of lovely architecture to gawk at, and it was a lively place as well, with a lot of uni kids wandering around enjoying the nice weather. Lots of good food there as well, being a college town at all. As for Ireland, definitely get out of Dublin. I'd suggest hiring a car and spending a few nights in Galway; drive around Connemara and west Clare and enjoy the beautiful scenery: https://imgur.com/gallery/9bmog https://imgur.com/gallery/VUoCY
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Jun 21, 2019 22:48
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Hey I'm thinking bout going to Austria/Czech or something like that in July. I like to eat and look at old stuff. I've never been to Europe. We're looking at going there because we hope it won't be too hot compared to some other places we could go. 1) Are those places good in July? 2) Is there good stuff for eat and looking at? 3) What is good stuff there?
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Jun 22, 2019 19:05
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Vargo posted:Hey goons, I'm making a whirlwind trip through Europe in a couple of weeks, partially with my girlfriend, partially alone. Some of it's going to be me working, but mostly I'm going to be wandering around trying to find interesting things. I enjoy old movie theaters, parks, markets (both flea and food), birdwatching, concerts, arcades/comic books/nerd poo poo, cheap clothes, unusual museums and oddities, and plenty of eating and drinking. Some of these places I'll have access to a kitchen to make my own food, too. I'll be in a combination of hostels, AirBnBs, friend's couches, and a rented apartment. I'm relying mostly on public transport and rideshares if they have them. Here's my itinerary, are there any bits of advice I should know/sights I should definitely see? I'd cut London from the beginning of the trip, add it back on to Dublin, cut a day or two from Brussles, add a day to Amsterdam, add London for 3 days or so at the end before a final day in Dublin(guessing you'll fly out from Dublin?). In London, on the arcade side of things, check out Novelty Automation, a quirky arcade/art installation that's a short walk from the British Museum. But like it's been mentioned before, maybe spend some of that Brussles time in Antwerpt and Ghent. My wife and daughter just got back from Amsterdam, Antwerpt, and Ghent and they said had they gone to Belgium first, they would have never gone to Amsterdam, they really loved it there. uli2000 fucked around with this message at 21:57 on Jun 22, 2019 |
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Jun 22, 2019 21:55
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Budapest I'm here for 2 weeks for work. I have next weekend free and all week nights. I'm staying in the Hilton by the castle. What's a must see? I'm soloing this. I walked around and did the military museum today because I'm still jet lagged. Not too interested in the river party cruise or club scene because I'm old and married. Evil SpongeBob fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Jun 23, 2019 |
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Jun 23, 2019 13:29
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Budapest Go to coffee shops, Budapest has really fancy looking coffee shops where you can drink coffee and have cake and stuff for very little money.
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Jun 23, 2019 16:49
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