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Europe City Breaks Suggestions?


berti

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Ah, places...

Avoid Prague if you don't smoke, and the service is lousy in general. Even off the beaten track. Sarajevo would be my recommendation too, but getting there is going to be a bit of a bastard from Scotland. Don't go to Krakow, it's full of the same twats that go to Prague, combined with an exceptional amount of dumb Americans who walk around with their rucksacks on front because it's "dangerous". And it's full of pretentious Polish twats too.

An interesting bet would be to go slightly further afield and go to L'viv in Ukraine. It's a beautiful city, it wasn't destroyed in WWII and the local beer (L'vivskie) is excellent. It's a cheap place, the food is good and people are friendly. Flights might be an issue, though...

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I recommend Budapest, which for me is the most exciting and best value city in Europe. There is so much to do and see, including some unique things like the numerous (and cheap) thermal baths which are open all year round. Some baths have open air pools so you can sit out surrounded by snow during the winter! The nightlife is great, especially the 'ruin pubs' (essentially bars/venues set up in formerly abandoned warehouses/cellars/courtyards) that have sprung up all over the city - http://www.ruinpubs.com/index.php

Lisbon is also great, a beautiful city. It's probably one of the cheapest locations in the Eurozone too.

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Guest Tam o' Shantie

how did everyone get to these places? looking for flights is so confusing these days. ryanair have pulled out of a LOT of locations. easyjets locations vary entirely between glasgow/edinburgh etc.

surprised little chat of berlin. cheap ish to get to, cheap once you're there and the greatest culture/music/art/food/history experience i've seen in any city so far in my life (not a lot to choose from though.) u can fly there for about £160 from aberdeen which saves you driving to glasgow/edinburgh, though there is a connecting flight in frankfurt. i've been 3 times and stayed at the east seven hostel each time. brilliant building, decent staff and cheap as fuck. beer available at reception. wouldn't stay anywhere else if u paid me.

i'm considering going back again this year and/or venturing to paris but the latter is reportedly very expensive :/ travel to/from also appears to be fucking extorsionate, the best deal i could find would be flying to gatwick via easyjet at ~£70 or so return then getting the £69 return eurostar. benefit of that i suppose is that the destination is the city centre, it also only takes 2 hrs to get there!

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i'm considering going back again this year and/or venturing to paris but the latter is reportedly very expensive :/

While Paris can be expensive for obvious reasons (major capital city, huge tourist destination etc) it can be done without spending a fortune. Stay outside the city centre and it's cheaper. The Metro is brilliant and you can get a multi day ticket that covers all your travel within the city. Lastly try and avoid the most obvious tourist trap restaurants. Bit of research might be required here or at least some conversation with hotel or bar staff to get some tips.

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I totally disagree with however said "Don't got to Krakow, I thought it was a fantastic city really beautiful and we visited Auschwitz which was a life changing tour and something everyone should do. Harrowing but its something you wont ever forget.

Rome is far and away the most fascinating city I've been to. Second was Florence, Milan is too industrial best avoided unless you like fashion.

Flying from Aberdeen limits you quite a bit, but Lufthansa now have direct flights to Frankfurt worth considering for Germany ... I never got to see Frankfurt we just used it to get to Warsaw, which I'd love to see again. Lisbon is also a great city and the seafood cafes are superb.

Personally I'd like to visit Istanbul.

:)

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Leipzig is a nice place in Germany. There's a big monument there called the voelkerschlachtdenkmal, which is why most foreigners just call it the big monument. It's worth a visit anyway, I never knew a monument could be so frightening, the massive spiral staircase with no handrail is quite good for inducing Vertigo. The town also has loads of disused warehouses that have been turned into clubs/pubs/art exhibitions, it's even got a disused mine that's been turned into a lake. Dresden is only a short train ride away, it has lot's of gold statues and the like, got bombed to fuck in the war.

11-leipzig-voelkerschlachtdenkmal_respect-copyright_credit-source.jpg

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We're just back from Berlin so I'm also voting for there, although I'm sure if you go anywhere in Germany, it'd be ace.

I went in 2007 and have wanted to go back ever since. We booked it through Expedia this time round and it ended up being around £260 for return flights from Glasgow and four nights in a 4 star hotel in a really good area just down from Checkpoint Charlie. I brought 300€ with me and worried that it wouldn't be enough, but still came back with 110€. Everything is so cheap, it's easy to get around and there's so much to do.

Also, they like a pun there...

Mattress.jpg

Helsinki is also ace, but I think quite pricey.

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Paris is the only place in mainland Europe - other than the tarmac at Frankfurt's airport - in which I've set foot, and I didn't find it toooo pricey. The metro is only a fraction of London's astronomically priced one, and all I ate was cheese and ham sandwiches (fuck y'all, here in Poland I can eat frogs, snails and any kind of bird, but not tasty bread, cheese or ham). And all I did was wander about the canals, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cathedral, none of which cost any money.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, after much procrastinating, flights booked to Berlin for start of November. Still looking for hotels, wanting to book it in the next couple of days, anyone who has stayed there before recommend a particular area? As far as sight seeing goes, travelling during the day isn't an issue but would like to be quite close to a rake of bars/restaurants at night so it's not too much of a trek getting back at night. Was thinking Mitte, that seems to be pretty central and most places i have read, recommend it for nightlife.

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Well, after much procrastinating, flights booked to Berlin for start of November. Still looking for hotels, wanting to book it in the next couple of days, anyone who has stayed there before recommend a particular area? As far as sight seeing goes, travelling during the day isn't an issue but would like to be quite close to a rake of bars/restaurants at night so it's not too much of a trek getting back at night. Was thinking Mitte, that seems to be pretty central and most places i have read, recommend it for nightlife.

We stayed here http://www.winters.de/en/hotels/city/berlin/berlin_mitte_checkpoint_charlie

We did it through Expedia though and it was super cheap. It's really handy for the U-Bahn (the Kochstrasse station is just round the corner) but there's loads of stuff within walking distance. There's a supermarket really nearby for cheap supplies and there are a few bars and restaurants too. Most nights, we'd go out to Alexanderplatz and the surrounding area and get a U-Bahn home.

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I've stayed here twice and it was great both times: http://www.expedia.co.uk/Berlin-Hotels-Arcadia-Hotel-Berlin.h14127.Hotel-Information?chkin=26/10/2012&icmdtl=ON121016tiQlJuJJtJRYzFy1RbSSWgAAI.14127.HSXMLvQ.T.TOP.240154.fi.1611.187323.en_US..&icmcid=TRIPA.Expedia_UK-H_B14.12932.T&chkout=28/10/2012&rm1=a2& It also has a vending machine that dispenses Jagermeister on each floor :/

Seems to have changed name and got a bit pricier though. It's a couple of stops out from the centre (5 mins on the underground) and it's a 3 minute walk away from what the guide book called a "party street" but instead of obnoxious drunk people and crap clubs a la Belmont Street like we were expecting it turned out to be a street of really nice independent pubs and restaurants with people sitting outside having a good time until the small hours. :)

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