ADK Posted 30 September 2013 Posted 30 September 2013 I recommend Ljublijana, capital of Slovenia. Really nice city centre, small enough to check out in a few days, lots of bars/pubs by the river. Not as well know as some of the major cities so you can have a really good time without it being heaving/full of idiots and flights are dirt cheap. You can find £40 return at the right time. Ljublijana is nice but I wouldn't really call it lively. It actually seemed pretty small for a capital city. Slovenia is a beautiful country though.
FoxesAreBlue Posted 30 September 2013 Posted 30 September 2013 Part of me loves the idea of just buggering off on my Todd to some chill out hotel in Sweeden or Austria in some small Chocolate-box village where I can leave my phones at home for the weekend and turn myself into some sort of human prune in a jacuzzi.
bovril Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Costs a mint to drink too. Ignore anyone who says Riga. {rague everytime for me. Fantastic place. Amsterdam is only any good if you like weed or like your girls to look like a zombie in Resident Evil making its way towards you. I went to Prague in 06 so its bound to have risen in price then, but at the time the large beers in the backstreet pubs genuinely were 50p a pint. We went in January and it was minus 14 but it was a different type of cold- I was still walking around wearing a t shirt. Podgorica is brilliant too and Moldova by all accounts. Why didn't you like Riga? I went there in 2006 and really liked it.
Bobby Hundreds Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Going to Ljubljana in January. Any recommendations?
Webbo Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Just been emailed this.Expedia have got a 72 hour sale on if that's any good to you http://www.expedia.co.uk/hot-deals?emlcid=CM-M-issu317-testEN3-segmX-segaX-date20131001032337-vers01-link11088473-paid165069628-dma-wave752517
act smiley Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Sweden. Cheap flights, good drinking culture, fit birds, laid back people. Calling Swedes laid back is pushing it a little - half of them are laid back all the time, sure, but the others are the grumpiest sods ever when sober - then turn into being really laid back as soon as they've got a drink in hand, like it's somehow flipped a switch. Its weird. Also, Sweden doesn't do customer service. At all. It's cheaper for drinks than Denmark and Norway, though, and roughly the same as central London. £4 in a dive-y kind of bar, £5 normal pub, £stupid in clubs. That would be for one of the local lagers, though, which are all unspeakably foul.
bovril Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Going to Ljubljana in January. Any recommendations? Get out into the country, it's some of the most beautiful in the world. Hop on a bus and get off when it looks nice. Get lost in the countryside and then hop back on the next bus going back to Ljubljana. The part by the river is nice for bars, but if you fancy something a bit grittier and more Balkan, the 'Metalkova' area is what you want. I love the former Yugoslavia, could see myself retiring to some little mountain village and making rakia in my old age.
shen Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 I don't recommend Copenhagen, really. Too expensive to be worth it. Amsterdam offers just about the same for much less. Brussels is my home town and to be fair there are many good places. Thing is with Brussels, it has many small centres scattered around the city, unlike say, Copenhagen where everything worth seeing is within a square mile, which makes it a varied place to visit. Obviously there are many special pubs around where you can taste all the wonderful beer at a reasonable price, you've got tons of (interesting) museums, as well as beautiful architecture and history. Prague is a beautiful city, but plagued by tourists. Stay outside the city centre AT ALL COSTS unless you go sightseeing. The city (and country in general) has plenty of taverns with great food, and again, excellent (and dirt cheap) beer. Only heard good things about Krakow, but never been. Despite having had a torrid time during my short visits to Budapest, I would recommend going there. And I'd also highly recommend Transylvania (Cluj, Sibiu and Brasov). Stunning nature, cute and lively mid-size university cities (in Cluj's case) and cheap.
Freeman's Wharfer Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Costs a mint to drink too. Ignore anyone who says Riga. {rague everytime for me. Fantastic place. Amsterdam is only any good if you like weed or like your girls to look like a zombie in Resident Evil making its way towards you. I went to Prague in 06 so its bound to have risen in price then, but at the time the large beers in the backstreet pubs genuinely were 50p a pint. We went in January and it was minus 14 but it was a different type of cold- I was still walking around wearing a t shirt. Podgorica is brilliant too and Moldova by all accounts. Why didn't you like Riga? I went there in 2006 and really liked it. Wasn't there on a stag do myself but I could see how a lot of this goes on... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359095/British-men-flock-Latvia-cut-price-parties-easy-prey-mafia-beauties.html Some Brazilian lads we met had been done for hundreds of Euros (they lived in Dublin so worked the cost out in Euros!) and there were a couple of places that we went that didn't sit right only to find out they were on our hostels 'black list' later. When you weigh up the risk factor versus what the place actually has to offer, I wouldn't recommend it either.
bovril Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Wasn't there on a stag do myself but I could see how a lot of this goes on... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2359095/British-men-flock-Latvia-cut-price-parties-easy-prey-mafia-beauties.html Some Brazilian lads we met had been done for hundreds of Euros (they lived in Dublin so worked the cost out in Euros!) and there were a couple of places that we went that didn't sit right only to find out they were on our hostels 'black list' later. When you weigh up the risk factor versus what the place actually has to offer, I wouldn't recommend it either. I really think this stuff gets exagerrated but maybe I'm wrong. Every city has its risk factors, maybe when some Brits go to Eastern European cities they think they can piss around and get away with anything, and end up being taken advantage of.
Guest MattP Posted 1 October 2013 Posted 1 October 2013 Ostend tops Brussels for me, a right little hidden gem of a town. One of Europe's best. Wouldn't bother with the Dam anymore, just sickening to be honest. Never been to Krakow but Wroclaw is lovely. I expect anywhere in Poland as with Germany is very nice now. We've only done in a bar twice but I've heard some shockers about Riga from various people, we got done once in Budapest and once in Hamburg, second was completely our fault and we were asking for things we shouldn't and got what we deserved when the bill came for it. You shouldn't get done anywhere if you keep your wits about you.
absolutelegend Posted 2 October 2013 Posted 2 October 2013 I don't like Amsterdam. Went Brussels last year and loved it. Was quite surprised. Florence in my current fave European city, but sounds like you're after a lads weekend. Prague is hard to beat for that.
jonthefox Posted 2 October 2013 Posted 2 October 2013 You can get 3/4 night trips to Magaluf. A shithole i'll grant you, but you can't go wrong for a lads weekend.
pSinatra Posted 2 October 2013 Posted 2 October 2013 For anyone that fancies something a little different. http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/jul/18/bear-tracking-slovakia-tatras-wildlife There isn't much drinking & there's no women, but I can't recommend it highly enough. I'm good friends with the guide, Dave. A Blyth Spartans fan & top bloke. He knows his stuff.
Tielemans63 Posted 2 October 2013 Posted 2 October 2013 Krakow is the absolute bollocks and the ale will have your fookin kegs down. It's about £1.10 a pint and vodka is even cheaper. Get yourself up The Bull and you'll never leave. That said I did go during Euro 2012 so it was absolutely heaving and one of the best 10 days of my life, might be less buzzing when wet and cold in November. Budapest is spot on as well, we watched a game there. This. Went to Krakow on a mate's stag-do and it was utter carnage - one of the best weekends of my life.
AjcW Posted 4 October 2013 Posted 4 October 2013 Naples is my go to Weekend break at the minute. Good time to catch the football team at the minute too! It's a great place, and there's just one big street full of the best pizza you'll ever eat and the cheapest drinkable wine you could find. Peroni grand riserva is decent too! Barcelona used to be where I'd go a lot before that and is always worth a visit/cheap.
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