Spinning off RedPanda's Hidden Gems thread -
I wanted some advice and suggestions on where to travel in Europe. It'll be August/September time when I am going and will probably end up being mostly Eastern Europe though I do want to fit in Northern Europe time/money permitting! All suggestions are welcome, I'm not looking for places that are cheap to get bamboozled (though that is a bonus) but places with rich culture and history also grab my eye.
Any events/places you have been to that offer fantastic experiences?
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Stockholm is great but not cheap.
Berlin although very different from the 80s.
How long are you going travelling?
How long do you want to spend in one place?
How are you travelling?
I'm intending to see as much of Europe as possible, so I'd hazard a guess at roughly 3 days per city, but the bigger the city is (the more there is to visit) the longer I'd stay.
I'll probably be using an interrail ticket to get around.
Did you run or were you just watching?
The train is a great way to get around as it allows you to recover / sleep while you travel. If it's only a month you are going for, you may need to choose between seeing much of what a city has to offer and seeing say 10 places or just getting a taste of each city and going to more places with a view to going back to the ones you like.
When we went to the running, we got to Pamplona midday, loads of people from the English speaking world (Hemingway's legacy) and lots of Spanish, all having a few drinks. It's basically an all day and night festival. In the evening, we bought tickets outside the arena and went to the fight. Then back out again and stayed up for the running at ~7am. I watched the running, the day before I went to Pamplona a bloke was badly gored running the bulls.
From Verona you can easily get to Austria and Switzerland. That then opens up Germany and Eastern Europe. Prague, Budapest and Krakow are all enjoyable, Ljubljana I liked a lot and everyone raves about the Croatian coast. Zagreb's okay for a night or two, Serbia's hit and miss.
Don't over plan, take things as they come. Don't feel you have to rush through cities as you could regret it later. Don't go to Bratislava. Tips for hostels you can get along the way, when booking (ideally when in the city prior) check to see if there's a bar and happy hour. That should guarantee meeting people.
I was looking into Ljubljana and I've heard its good. I think I'll be finishing off in Croatia at Outlook festival in Pula but I may continue on if I'm not feeling up to it! Highly doubt that I won't be, I do love travelling 8)
Going to Riga later in the year and am hoping that is nice.
Wasn't overly impressed with Oslo, Copenhagen, Innsbruck or Frankfurt.
I'd also recommend some out of the way places for day trips but may be too hard to get to by public transport: Monpazier, Angles Sur L'Anglin, Chauvigny, Rocamadeur etc
BUT don't make my (1970s) mistake of trying to tick them all off in one trip. For a start you'll burn through cash. But you'll also overlook smaller quirky places.
A combo of Italy/Balkans/Greece/Turkey would be a good mix IMO