Best holiday destinations

[Johnny75]

On topic, I haven't been abroad since the fuel blockades of 2000 (totally missed all the shennanigans!)
As a result, and a combination of the cost of some UK places, plus the difficulties in finding new places to go to in the UK, am thinking that next year will be a series of city breaks. I'm desperate to do Athens & Rome. Amsterdam is likely, as is Berlin, and one of Barcelona/Madrid. Prague has been highly recommended too.

Living in Bham, I can quite easily get to/from the airport via public transport.

So, my questions - anywhere glaring that I've missed that I should go to?
Is it easier to just book the flights/hotel myself directly, or via any other means?

Amsterdam is good but bloody expensive as is Berlin and Munich but all are well worth visiting. Flybe from Brum to almost anywhere in Germany is relatively cheap as is VileAir. Barca is a great place and would be my recommendation if you want a city break (Easyjet direct). Some people I know have travelled out to Venice and then got the ferry over to Croatia and then come back up the Adriatic at a gentle pace back to Venice and they've said that was great too.

It depends what you want to do with your city break really.

 

[Johnny75]

Copenhagen is good, just expect to pay a fair bit for anything (+ if your language skills are less than average most of them can speak English as well - in many cases better than we do!)

Good luck with Danish, harder than Welsh, if you go out there. It is a really nice City but as with Copenhagen and Oslo you need a mortgage to get a decent beer and feed. All are pretty places.

 

[lemonjelly]

Proof:

That seems ages ago - before I had my beard and my daughter looks so tiny! She'll be 7 in September.

Noticeable that the most mature person in the pic isn't langers...:icon_lol:

 

[lemonjelly]

Thanks for the tips folks. Forgot that Norway is somewhere I'd like to go too, and long term somewhere northern lights like would be ace.

I think the idea is to get a flavour of places/countries before travel restrictions happen, as I'd then know where I wanted to return to for a fuller holiday/explore.

 

[So Long Architect]

On topic, I haven't been abroad since the fuel blockades of 2000 (totally missed all the shennanigans!)
As a result, and a combination of the cost of some UK places, plus the difficulties in finding new places to go to in the UK, am thinking that next year will be a series of city breaks. I'm desperate to do Athens & Rome. Amsterdam is likely, as is Berlin, and one of Barcelona/Madrid. Prague has been highly recommended too.

Living in Bham, I can quite easily get to/from the airport via public transport.

So, my questions - anywhere glaring that I've missed that I should go to?
Is it easier to just book the flights/hotel myself directly, or via any other means?

Berlin - awesome if you're at all interested in history. Not beautiful as wasn't faithfully recreated after the war like some other German cities but endlessly fascinating.
Barcelona - great place
Prague - amazingly beautiful. Pretty much every building is worth stopping for.
Amsterdam - just a very cool place.

A couple of others worth thinking about that I've been to recently:

Antwerp: small and quite quiet (but we did go out of season) but if you like bars and cafes, you can't go wrong. I don't think I've ever been to a place with so many places to drink and the beer is amazing.
Lljubljana: again, really quite small. Easy to see all of it in a couple of days. Very beautiful with a really nice relaxed vibe. Cheap too. Stunning scenery in the region too.

 

[Wombat del combate]

The only problem with Norway is that it's murderously expensive: you won't see any change out of £100 for a sit-down evening meal. The scenery is, obviously, fantastic (Geiranger was my favourite stop), but I fail to see how you could make it a viable destination unless you went self-catering.

 

[Parkins left foot]

The only problem with Norway is that it's murderously expensive: you won't see any change out of £100 for a sit-down evening meal. The scenery is, obviously, fantastic (Geiranger was my favourite stop), but I fail to see how you could make it a viable destination unless you went self-catering.

Anywhere in Scandinavia is expensive - dropped a shedload of cash going over for my niece's wedding (and we didn't have to pay anything on that day) + my Brother in Law had negotiated a big discount on the hotel cost as his firm use it a lot for business use

 

[jlo]

Excellent, thank you! I may well do that. We're still planning it but haven't booked anything just yet. Kanchanaburi is an absolute must for me due to my interest in the POWs working on the railway but it would be great to have some recommendations about other things around that area.

Might pass on the motorbike though. I may cause an international incident.

Haha, yes fair enough. Car hire also cheap, just because Kanchanaburi can be a bit of a bitch to get around otherwise but I'm sure you could plan it out too. There's a whole host of islands in the south depending on your preference too, Ko Ngai is one of the much less known about islands my (Thai) partner recommends. You don't need more than 3 or 4 days in Bangkok as a guide too, it's fun but repetitive after a while. But yeah, get back to me if you look like you're going to go - happy to share anything else I can think of.

I didn't think to get up to Hellfire Pass, but have done other parts of the railway too - I also share an interest in the history of that too.

Nov-Jan time is also a very good time to plan your trip; sometimes Thailand can be too hot but around then you'll have the best of it and the rain should have pretty much stopped. I wouldn't mind making sure that's when I plan my trip either, UK winters kill me...

 

[Jabbawolf]

On topic, I haven't been abroad since the fuel blockades of 2000 (totally missed all the shennanigans!)
As a result, and a combination of the cost of some UK places, plus the difficulties in finding new places to go to in the UK, am thinking that next year will be a series of city breaks. I'm desperate to do Athens & Rome. Amsterdam is likely, as is Berlin, and one of Barcelona/Madrid. Prague has been highly recommended too.

Living in Bham, I can quite easily get to/from the airport via public transport.

So, my questions - anywhere glaring that I've missed that I should go to?
Is it easier to just book the flights/hotel myself directly, or via any other means?

Steak + Beer = Bruges

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Thanks for the tips folks. Forgot that Norway is somewhere I'd like to go too, and long term somewhere northern lights like would be ace.

I think the idea is to get a flavour of places/countries before travel restrictions happen, as I'd then know where I wanted to return to for a fuller holiday/explore.

Myself and WH saw the Northenr Linghts by pure luck in Norway last year, we were up at the Arctic circle visitng my brother, and went to see Brit Floyd and after the gig we were stood on my brothers balcony having a drink, and what we thought was a cloud, turned into a smudge, then into dancing green lights that filled the entire sky. The word epic gets used a lot these days, but this was truly epic.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Good luck with Danish, harder than Welsh, if you go out there. It is a really nice City but as with Copenhagen and Oslo you need a mortgage to get a decent beer and feed. All are pretty places.

I can mostly understand written Danish on a menu etc, badass that I am.

 

[Johnny75]

I can mostly understand written Danish on a menu etc, badass that I am.

Yeah but you're a language wizard so that's not fair.

 

[Tredman]

Steak + Beer = Bruges

Brussels, Ljubljana, Budapest, Brno, Helsinki, Krakow are all well with a visit. I loved Ljubljana and Slovenia in particular.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Guys, Im going to Berlin in 2 weeks and need recommendations. Last time there it was a stag and I cant remember much, we just went to bars and clubs.

This time I need some cultural stuff, and some cool sights etc.

Ideas?

 

[Johnny75]

Guys, Im going to Berlin in 2 weeks and need recommendations. Last time there it was a stag and I cant remember much, we just went to bars and clubs.

This time I need some cultural stuff, and some cool sights etc.

Ideas?

The Tour bus tickets are well worth the money and you used to be able to get off and on them over a 48 hour period. They'll take you to the big squares and signts; Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz (good bars and music) Potsdamerplatz, etc. If you walk towards the river from Alexanderplatz you get to the oldest part of Berlin and a set of bars including the St George (obligatory statue outside) which has it's own micro brewery and the beer is very good. Apparently the oldest pub in Germany is across the road from there where Napoleon had a few Brandy's.

The DDR (communist museum) is good fun, if nothing else to sit in a communist era Trabant.

If you want to be shocked to your core then the Topography of Terror not far from Checkpoint Charlie and on the line of the wall itself is both heart breaking and terrifying as it's the German look at the Nazi's.

The Brandeburg gate is top stuff to wander around and if you can get tickets for the Reichstad (German Houses of Parliament) then go as it's a bit different to ours!

There's so much to see and do in Berlin but you must take your wallet is it's damn pricey.

 

[Nando]

Stone Berlin visit! It looks incredible.

The old airport is pretty cool too. Easily accessible from the centre. You can hire bikes etc once you're there.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

The Tour bus tickets are well worth the money and you used to be able to get off and on them over a 48 hour period. They'll take you to the big squares and signts; Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz (good bars and music) Potsdamerplatz, etc. If you walk towards the river from Alexanderplatz you get to the oldest part of Berlin and a set of bars including the St George (obligatory statue outside) which has it's own micro brewery and the beer is very good. Apparently the oldest pub in Germany is across the road from there where Napoleon had a few Brandy's.

The DDR (communist museum) is good fun, if nothing else to sit in a communist era Trabant.

If you want to be shocked to your core then the Topography of Terror not far from Checkpoint Charlie and on the line of the wall itself is both heart breaking and terrifying as it's the German look at the Nazi's.

The Brandeburg gate is top stuff to wander around and if you can get tickets for the Reichstad (German Houses of Parliament) then go as it's a bit different to ours!

There's so much to see and do in Berlin but you must take your wallet is it's damn pricey.

Thanks Johnny, lots to go on there

 

[Kenny]

Heading to Cornwall in September. Taking the in-laws as they haven't had a holiday for a few years.

Little cottage a few miles from St Ives. Will be making 3 trips to Truro during the week as the Father in Law has to have his dialysis treatment.

So any recommendations for places to visit or pubs. Will have our Springer with us as well so need some dog friendly places.

 

[leedswolf]

Verdant brewery in Falmouth. That's it.

 

[Kenny]

Verdant brewery in Falmouth. That's it.

In the whole of Cornwall? Dull week that will be