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I'll be in Dublin the first week of November for work. The conference ends on Thursday and I'd like to be back in the US on Sunday. I always hate to waste a free flight, so looking for the best way to spend a couple of days. I love Ireland, but have spent a good amount of time there and am planning a family trip there in the next year or two. I haven't been to N. Ireland so thinking about heading up there. Still, November in Ireland. I was there once in December when it was nice, but also there in late September when the locals classified it as "unseasonably warm" - was on the cold and rainy side for me. Considering grabbing a flight Thursday evening to Madrid. I haven't been to Spain in 10 years and don't plan to for a bit. I liked Madrid, they have easy flights back to CA, and my spanish is decent. Mostly looking to relax, eat ham, and just rest up after a long week. Any thoughts? Other suggestions? My only requirement is a short flight from Dublin and a big enough airport to get back with only one layover to SFO.
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Jul 27, 2015 05:11
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transient posted:I'll be in Dublin the first week of November for work. The conference ends on Thursday and I'd like to be back in the US on Sunday. Madrid is not going to be particularly great weather-wise in November (single digit temperatures, I believe), so I'd consider Sevilla or Malaga instead just for the weather. You'd need to connect in Frankfurt to make your one-connection requirement, which takes you a little bit out of the way, but it beats an additional connection. I preferred Madrid over Sevilla overall, but I think if my choice were Madrid at 9 degrees or Sevilla at 20, I'd take Sevilla. It certainly has its charms. EDIT: I think you might have to make a connection coming from Dublin, which might sour you on the idea as well...
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Jul 27, 2015 05:51
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Thanks! I don't mind the temperature as much as the rain if I'm to be walking around all day though it looks like it's as likely to rain as have sun in November. Sevilla was my first choice but flights from there won't play nice with United (two days to get home). I hadn't thought about Malaga. I have family nearby in Nerja and have only been through there to see them. Reading about it, it seems like it might be a pretty interesting town. Looking into it along with Lisbon
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Jul 27, 2015 16:08
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transient posted:Thanks! I don't mind the temperature as much as the rain if I'm to be walking around all day though it looks like it's as likely to rain as have sun in November. Both good choices, I think. FaceEater recommended Lisbon to me and although I didn't end up going, all his other recommendations were awesome, so Lisbon is probably cool and good too.
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Jul 27, 2015 20:23
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Any museum in Europe with a large renaissance-era collection is going to be heavy on the Jesus-on-the-cross and Madonna-and-child pictures, because that's simply what essentially the entire renaissance (with a few exceptions) was about - religious imagery.
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Jul 27, 2015 21:30
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I'm in Lisbon right now, does anyone know of any historical museums I should check out?
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Jul 27, 2015 22:55
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Lisbon is a relatively small city. It's more about sightseeing and day trips than impressive museums. There are quite a few museums, but none are world-class famous as far as I know. Although there are some beautiful palaces around, if that counts. I did get the recommendation to go to the Coaches Museum, apparently quite good and one of the most popular museums in Portugal. That's in Belem. There are some museums in Belem that might be interesting if you like history: the maritime museum (Portugal had a lot of that) and archaeology museum. But I have no idea if they're good. There's also the Fado museum if you're interested in that, but I haven't been there. For art, I heard about the Gulbenkian Museum, but there are a bunch of others too.
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Jul 28, 2015 03:18
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Entropist posted:Lisbon is a relatively small city. It's more about sightseeing and day trips than impressive museums. There are quite a few museums, but none are world-class famous as far as I know. Although there are some beautiful palaces around, if that counts. I went to the maritime museum in Lisbon. If you like models of ships it's going to be good, otherwise not so much.
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Jul 28, 2015 06:43
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Entropist posted:Lisbon is a relatively small city. It's more about sightseeing and day trips than impressive museums. There are quite a few museums, but none are world-class famous as far as I know. Although there are some beautiful palaces around, if that counts. Yeah, I know. This is isn't my first time here. I've already done the usual sights and stuff. I've been to gulbenkian previously, I've heard of the coaches museum but so far never went. coaches sound boring though IMO. Never been to the archeology museum but it sounds like something I would enjoy. Went to one in Cordoba which was amazing but I reckon that Lisbons probably is smaller. It's close to the Jeronimos monastery but somehow I missed it when I visited the monastery during a previous visit. I've also heard good things about the Azulejos museum. Has anyone been to the veterans museum or Lisbons military museum? The subject matter interest me, might give that a look too.
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Jul 28, 2015 08:30
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Wow the Napoleon exhibit at the Amsterdam Hermitage is good, I wish I could have taken pictures of the insane amount of relics/old stuff they have there.
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Jul 29, 2015 01:24
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So me and my fiancée are getting married and going to Europe next year. Our rough itinerary was going through Italy (Rome, Florence and Venice) Paris the UK and London, and we have a spare week. We were really hoping to be able to go on one of those river cruises from Amsterdam to Basel as it's relaxing. Our other idea was to go to the Greek islands for a week but this will be from approx April 3-10 so it'll be cold. It basically has to be in or near Europe, and a relaxing way to end the trip. The river cruise just might cost too much for the 7 days though. Any suggestions or anyone know of any good companies or deals out?
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Jul 30, 2015 14:46
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My parents did that cruise last year, they booked more than 12 months in advance and got 50% off I think. They're in their 60s and had a grand old time and made friends with other couples around retirement age. May not be the honeymoon vibe you're looking for, although they saw shitloads of castles and had a big WW2 day and they loved it. I went on the boat, it was pretty nice.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:35
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Some friends of my parents did a 14-day Viking River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest recently. We hung out with them for a bit when they stopped in Cologne, went on the ship, etc. The ship was really nice and I could see it as a relaxing way to see a bunch of places. They also had some guided tours and stuff as part of the deal, but also free time to do whatever they wanted. That said, they were in their late 50s/early 60s and were some of the youngest people on the boat.
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Jul 31, 2015 11:21
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teacup posted:So me and my fiancée are getting married and going to Europe next year. Our rough itinerary was going through Italy (Rome, Florence and Venice) Paris the UK and London, and we have a spare week. We were really hoping to be able to go on one of those river cruises from Amsterdam to Basel as it's relaxing. Our other idea was to go to the Greek islands for a week but this will be from approx April 3-10 so it'll be cold. Go to greece or some lonely island and make your own tour, you don't want to be sitting on a boat with a bunch of old people having nice dinners. Well, maybe you do..
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Jul 31, 2015 14:22
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Yeah, I'm not sure what your idea of "cold" is but even in April the Greek islands will be around 15 degrees during the day which is totally manageable and fine for lounging around on a beach.
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Jul 31, 2015 21:19
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I'm thinking of doing a Switzerland --> Northern Italy trip next May and I'm wondering about a few things. We'd spend roughly one week in each country. First, what's best base city in Switzerland for hiking? We'd probably stay in Zurich for a few days to get over jet lag and acclimate, then head to our hiking city. I've heard Interlaken is a great city for things like skydiving and bungee jumping, but we're not really into that sort of stuff. Mainly we're interested in hiking through natural beauty while experiencing some Swiss culture on the side. For Italy, we're a bit more interested in the culture. I think Florence would be a good base city for that? I know the Italian public transit isn't as reliable as the Swiss, so would a car be necessary if we wanted to see things outside of major cities? It would definitely be in our budget, but I'd rather not get one if we can do everything by train with reasonable convenience. Also we were thinking of staying in a villa on the outskirts of town, so we'd avoid the tortured hellscape that is driving in Italian cities. We'd only use the car to get to remote towns and vineyards. Again, we're more than happy to pay the premium for a rental car if the countryside is generally inaccessible by train. Am I retarded for trying to rent a car in Italy?
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Aug 2, 2015 16:19
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Seph posted:I'm thinking of doing a Switzerland --> Northern Italy trip next May and I'm wondering about a few things. We'd spend roughly one week in each country. Interlaken is basically the gateway city to Berner Oberland which has a ridiculous amount of hiking and other outdoor activities. It's also really accessible as the entire area is linked together via railways and a few buses, at least compared to the US where most outdoor activities would require you to rent a car to reach them You're choices in northern Italy are basically Venice and Florence. You could throw in Milan if you want to visit the lake area north of it, but the city itself only has a few touristic sites in comparison. Most cities will be connected by rail, but if you want to visit the countryside you're going to need a car, the exception may be if you only want to visit the countryside to see vineyards I'm not certain, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are wine tours that would handle transportation fro you. There are some posts a couple pages back about driving in Italy. It's my opinion that it's not really that bad, just pay attention to what's happening around you and don't drive through a ZTL.
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Aug 2, 2015 18:58
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Seph posted:I'm thinking of doing a Switzerland --> Northern Italy trip next May and I'm wondering about a few things. We'd spend roughly one week in each country. There's tons of hiking near Interlaken, it's not really only a place for xxxtreme sports, but I might suggest picking a certain place actually in the mountains for hiking. Although, I hope you're going late in May. In early May, there will still be snow everywhere (up to ~1800m, i.e. on every single trail), while in late May there will be snow... only everywhere above ~2400m (i.e. only some trails will still be affected). For instance, you could stay in Grindelwald or Verbier or Saas Fee or Andermatt or something. Interlaken is a bigger city than any of those, but it's still tiny and there's nothing to do in the town besides go to the Hooters or whatever, and it sucks to have to catch a once-per-hour bus to start your hike, and then hope you make it to the end of your hiking trail in time for the last once-per-hour bus to return to town. For northern Italy, driving is fine as long as you avoid the exact centers of town and the ZTLs, which really are not a big deal for you since (a) Venice has been a ZTL forever, and (b) you couldn't find parking downtown even in the past when the ZTLs were not implemented. The ZTLs are usually (always?) quite clearly marked and usually pretty small, although I'm not sure about Florence. Just make sure you bring your own GPS or rent a car with one so you don't have to navigate! If you do pick Florence, make sure to hit up San Gimignano. E: Since you'll be in Switzerland for a week or 10 days, I'd agree with not hitting up northern (Milan-area) Italy since the big appeal of that is the big lakes and mountains, of which you'll have just had your fill.
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Aug 2, 2015 19:19
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I've got a trip booked in a couple weeks that goes Home->Prague->Budapest->Berlin->Home. I've got the flights to and from home covered, but not the inter-Europe stuff. I've been looking into trains between Prague and Budapest but wanted to doublecheck the best way to go about booking. Should I be pre-booking something like that to avoid the risk of not getting a spot, or can I get away with waiting until I'm there? The train I'm finding is the Czech company CD. I also have a complication in that I'll have a bike with me. The CD website says that "bicycles are transported domestically only." Is that going to be a problem going between countries? I've also been checking Bahn.de but they won't let me book it online for some reason. I've got a place to stay in both Prague and Berlin set up already. Airbmb in Budapest seems pretty reasonable, so I'm planning on getting something there locked up soon. Hopefully it's not too late. To get from Budapest to Berlin, I'm assuming flying is the best option. Where's a good place to start a search for that? Are the normal aggregator websites good for that or is there something Europe specific that's better? I'm pretty excited for the trip, especially after reading all the glowing praise of these places around the thread.
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Aug 3, 2015 03:36
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oXDemosthenesXo posted:I've got a trip booked in a couple weeks that goes Home->Prague->Budapest->Berlin->Home. Just want to say that biking Berlin is some of the most fun I've ever had abroad.
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Aug 3, 2015 03:43
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transient posted:I'll be in Dublin the first week of November for work. The conference ends on Thursday and I'd like to be back in the US on Sunday. As you mentioned, Lisbon is also a good option. I was there in October and it was 22c, really nice. Great food and quite cheap.
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Aug 3, 2015 11:19
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I am going to be spending two weeks climbing in Greece in November, specifically the small island of Kalymnos. Are there any special things I should consider due to the current economic climate there?
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Aug 3, 2015 15:15
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armorer posted:I am going to be spending two weeks climbing in Greece in November, specifically the small island of Kalymnos. Are there any special things I should consider due to the current economic climate there? It won't affect you since you're a tourist, and it doubly won't matter since you're on one of the more touristy islands.
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Aug 3, 2015 16:03
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I'm going to be living/working/drinking a lot in Seville for a couple of months October-November. Anyone have any tips or ex pat groups or whatever?oXDemosthenesXo posted:Prague/Budapest Going from Prague to Budapest you have very convenient stopoffs in Brno/Vienna/Bratislava which are all worth doing for a day of two if you have the time. I'd recommend coaches in Central/Eastern Europe, they're really nice with leather seats, free drinks etc. and very cheap (Prague - Budapest €16). Student Agency are the main company in that area. If you're not opposed to hostels Budapest has some of the best in the world (assuming you're still up for some partying), so they're worth considering. aga. fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 17:26
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Hello, I am exceptionally stupid. Let's just make that clear so that there's no need to point it out. So I've booked a trip to Italy, and I've got cities, hotels, it's all coming together. Just my wife and I. So the trip is set up in such a way that on days we go to a new town, we'll check out of our hotel in Milan with all of our bags, book a train to Venice, and check in in Venice. But there's kinda a time problem, in that we'll be checking out, leaving and arriving before we can check in to the new hotel. So what do we do? Is it understood that they'll just let us check in early? Or do we just kinda go out in the world with a suitcase? I mean, what's our play here?
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Aug 4, 2015 08:02
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Even if they're strict about their check in time, wouldn't they just let you hang out in the lobby until then? Probably even hold your luggage?
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Aug 4, 2015 08:07
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All hotels will hold your luggage until check in, this won't be an issue. They'll also hold your luggage when you check out and need to wait for a flight. Don't sweat it.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:14
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Excellent, excellent. I appreciate you both answering this thread's silliest question yet.  Here's like, a softball followup - right now we're doing 3 nights in Florence. Would a night each in say, Bologna, Florence and Siena be better, or is it really just a wash and we'll be happy either way? Right now we're only staying in 4 cities (Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome), but I'm thinking of adding a night here or there in other towns.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:19
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Worst case scenario you dump your baggage at the train station for 10 euros for the afternoon. I did a six hour layover in Brussels and just dumped everything at their fancy train station. But yeah show up at the hotel and say, "wow! We got here earlier than we expected! Can we check in now?" And if they say no, ask where you can keep your luggage. I just left my bag in the lobby of a hostel in Amsterdam recently, it was fine.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:21
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Excellent, excellent. I appreciate you both answering this thread's silliest question yet. Depends on how much of your holiday you want to spend packing up and checking into and out of hotels. Each day you're changing base is going to cut into time spent actually doing things, three one-night stays seems like a lot of hassle for very little benefit.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:30
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Don't do one night stays in cities. Seriously, unless you're an expert traveller who specifically knows what they're doing or only have one thing to see in a town, don't do it. Stay in Florence, Florence itself is awesome. You will definitely have three days worth of stuff to see there, especially if you like art and food.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:44
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One day in Florence isn't enough - three is about right, particularly if you're a museum buff. Are you planning a day trip to Pisa from there?
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Aug 4, 2015 08:45
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This thread always puts me on the right path, thanks again. I think I'm set for now. My wife is pregnant, you might remember from the first time I posted here, so I'm definitely guilty of trying to "win" the vacation, hence the questions. This is probably our last trip for a couple of years.
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Aug 4, 2015 08:45
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greazeball posted:Depends on how much of your holiday you want to spend packing up and checking into and out of hotels. Each day you're changing base is going to cut into time spent actually doing things, three one-night stays seems like a lot of hassle for very little benefit. We did three-night stays during our Italy trip, and even then I felt like having every third day be a travel day was pretty taxing. Even if it was something like a short flight, just knowing that you had to plan your day around being at X airport/train station at time Y to spend Z hours getting to the next city made it harder to really relax and enjoy those days. I can't imagine ever doing a series of one-night stays, and next time we travel I'm hoping we can do 4+ nights in whatever major cities we see.
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Aug 4, 2015 15:39
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armorer posted:I am going to be spending two weeks climbing in Greece in November, specifically the small island of Kalymnos. Are there any special things I should consider due to the current economic climate there?
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Aug 4, 2015 22:03
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oXDemosthenesXo posted:I also have a complication in that I'll have a bike with me. The CD website says that "bicycles are transported domestically only." Is that going to be a problem going between countries? I've also been checking Bahn.de but they won't let me book it online for some reason. I assume taking your bike on a plane would make it pretty expensive? There is a train that goes Budapest-Prague-Berlin that definitely allows you to take bikes (my brother did this). It takes really long though. Normally it is not fully booked so you could try and organize something when you're there if you can't book it online (don't book on bahn.de, it's probably a lot more expensive).
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Aug 5, 2015 00:11
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I'm going to Vilnius and Riga with some friends next week. If you have any specific recommendations for things to do (museums, Soviet stuff, history etc., we're not into sports or extreme activities), I'd be happy to hear them. We have a car available, so out-of-the-way spots are good, too. Any restaurant recommendations and places with good beer are appreciated as well.
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Aug 5, 2015 05:00
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Our 16 day whirlwind trip of Italy is close to being finalized. It's a lot to do in 16 days and we're spending a fair bit of time travelling but we're somewhat used to vacations like this. Wednesday, September 9, 2015 - Arrive Rome 1020 Train to Naples Naples Thursday, September 10, 2015 - Naples, Pompeii Train to Rome, Vatican catacombs Rome Friday, September 11, 2015 - Forum, colesseum spanish step Rome Saturday, September 12, 2015 - trevi fountain, pantheon Rome Sunday, September 13, 2015 - ostia/catacombs Rome Monday, September 14, 2015 - Vatican Pristine Sistine, 7:20AM Rome Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - Train to orvieto/rent car see orvieto, then to San Gimignano San Gimignano Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - Siena Siena Thursday, September 17, 2015 - Chianti and pisa, turn in rental at La Spezia, train to Vernazza Vernazza Friday, September 18, 2015 - Cinque Terre Vernazza Saturday, September 19, 2015 - Early train from Vernazza Florence Sunday, September 20, 2015 - morning duomo recommended then accademia, uffizi. Florence Monday, September 21, 2015 Venice Tuesday, September 22, 2015 Venice Wednesday, September 23, 2015 Milan Thursday, September 24, 2015 Last Supper Milan
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Aug 10, 2015 15:14
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I have a question about international driving permits. The question is: as an American, do I need one in Italy? I'll be renting a car for two days from the Florence airport to drive around Tuscany. Some sites say yes, some say no. I'm mostly concerned about it being a pain in the rear end to get (lots of paperwork, going to Walgreens because I don't have printed pictures of anything, let alone my own dumb face). AAA says I need one, because AAA is the one selling them. Also, does anyone have experience renting a classic car in Italy, through http://www.sprintage.it/ or another agency? I feel like I should do it in style.
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Aug 10, 2015 15:27
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armorer posted:I am going to be spending two weeks climbing in Greece in November, specifically the small island of Kalymnos. Are there any special things I should consider due to the current economic climate there? We are going to Greece at the end of September and found these few articles helped to ease any worries about how things are going down there. Bollock Monkey fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Aug 10, 2015 |
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Aug 10, 2015 15:39
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