Help me plan my awesome euro trip

[WFU03]

Most are basically like dorm rooms - shared bathrooms and big rooms full of bunkbeds. They charge by the person for each night, and you can try and make sure you all end up in the same big room when you book. Most cities during the high period it'll be about 15-20 euros a night, per person. Maybe less in some places. Hostels are also the center of the "backpacking party scene" in Europe, meaning you'll often have tons of foreigners all on vacation and all looking for the same things in one.

You can use a site like http://www.hostelworld.com to check out reviews and highly rated ones, etc. Don't expect the nicest beds ever (again, most are basically college dorm quality) but it's cheap, they'll be plenty of people to party with and they are safe.

I'll second everything vad said.

 

[marquee moon]

I'd rather be Sanduskied than stay in a nasty hostel.

 

[bojanglefunk]

I'd rather be Sanduskied than stay in a nasty hostel.

Not all hostels are nasty.

 

[WFU03]

Absolutely true. There are some downright nice hostels I've stayed at in Europe.

 

[RJKarl]

Say you're canadian...

 

[KennyRogersRoast]

I was thinking about Istanbul and a Greek island or two with my wife. I have not made it too far into the planning. Any suggestions?

 

[timthedeac]

I was thinking about Istanbul and a Greek island or two with my wife. I have not made it too far into the planning. Any suggestions?

Same here.

I haven't begun planning any specifics, but I'm thinking about a Greece/Turkey trip and would love to hear suggestions.

 

[vadimivich]

Say you're canadian...

Absolute myth. Europeans, by and large, treat Americans better than any other tourists.

I was thinking about Istanbul and a Greek island or two with my wife. I have not made it too far into the planning. Any suggestions?

When are you looking at going? In August those both will be absolutley PACKED with tourists (Northern Europeans in Greece, Russians and Eastern Europeans in Instanbul - Turkey to Russia is like Mexico to the US in terms of vacation destinations).

 

[KennyRogersRoast]

When are you looking at going? In August those both will be absolutley PACKED with tourists (Northern Europeans in Greece, Russians and Eastern Europeans in Instanbul - Turkey to Russia is like Mexico to the US in terms of vacation destinations).[/QUOTE]

Mid to late September.

 

[Wolf1297]

Bratislava! I hear it's really inexpensive.

 

[vadimivich]

Bratislava! I hear it's really inexpensive.

Not really. It's basically a suburb of Vienna (about 40 miles apart, lots of people commute back and forth daily) ... that has driven up prices substantially as Viennese treat it as a night out party destination.

It's a gorgeous little old city though, and a great drinking destination. If you head to Vienna, it's worth a quick trip.

 

[rjequalsmj]

Absolute myth. Europeans, by and large, treat Americans better than any other tourists.

yeah, thats cause they know we take no shit in america. Also, my best hostel story is the one I stayed at in London, me and my friend walked into our room and there were a bunch of swedes changing into leather bondage outfits. Apparently they were in town for this huge S&M party, they were actually really cool and invited us to come with them (they even had extra outfits we could borrow) but we declined.

 

[HuskyDeac]

I was thinking about Istanbul and a Greek island or two with my wife. I have not made it too far into the planning. Any suggestions?

Istanbul has some amazing sites, but I was a little disappointed with it overall. But most people I've met who have been say it is one of their favorite cities. :noidea:

If you get a chance, go to Cappadocia, which is right in the center of Turkey. It's the most bizarre landscape I've ever seen. Huge sun bleached cliffs, sunflower fields, and 100-200ft earthen phalices which people used to live in for protection of invaders.

There's a ton of hiking you can do in the area. Traditional Turkish baths, which are unbelievable cheap. Great food, and some amazing accommodation options. Easily my favorite place in Turkey.

The south coast also has some beautiful towns along the Mediterranean. Olympos is a made up little stretch of treehouses which ends at the beach taking you through some ancient ruins.

Kas is a bit more of a fishing town, but beautiful. Fethiye is a bigger town, but has some great sailing options and day trips to random islands/beaches. It's also quite close to Marmara, where you can get the hour long hydrofoils to Rhodes in Greece.

Rhodes is a stunning island. The majority of tourists spend their whole time in the southern part of the island, which is where the old fort is. The island is pretty big though and you can find some amazing beaches by renting a motorcycle. You can get ferries from Rhodes to Santorini, Crete, and probably some other places I can't remember now.

Didn't make it to many Greek islands. My first stop was Crete and I ended up spending over 3 weeks there mostly in a small town called Plakias on the south coast. There's plenty of nature to keep you busy in Crete and car rental is pretty cheap. A lot less crowded than the majority of Greece. Just stay out of the big cities in Crete; Hania, Iraklio, and Sitia.

 

[leftcoastdeac]

Vad - I'm going to be hitting you up for lots of info in the near future since I'm planning a central/eastern European trip.

First question on Budapest - would you stay in Buda or Pest?

 

[KitchinDeac]

So after the bar, I'll be going with maybe 5-7 other people on a 1.5-2 week Euro trip. We want to hit a lot of good spots, do some partying and some traditional sight-seeing stuff. I figure that including plane tickets, we might have a 2,500 budget per person. We are trying to stay with people's family/friends and with women we meet at bars in order to cut down on costs.

Give me all your ideas. They can be super specific or just general like, "go to Prague." Give me all of them. Places I want to go for sure: Prague, Barcelona. Oh, and we'll be going in August or September.

Go.

Too many people and too little time.

 

[WFU03]

Not really. It's basically a suburb of Vienna (about 40 miles apart, lots of people commute back and forth daily) ... that has driven up prices substantially as Viennese treat it as a night out party destination.

It's a gorgeous little old city though, and a great drinking destination. If you head to Vienna, it's worth a quick trip.

First bit of advice from vad that I've done a double-take on. I don't think I can agree with a word you said here.

Calling Bratislava ugly would be generous, unless you really, really love Soviet style concrete. I didn't do much drinking there, but it also didn't seem even above average in that respect. If someone had a day to kill around Vienna, I could think of about 20 places that I would recommend before Bratislava.

Bratislava is the only city in Europe that I almost regret having gone to.

 

[WFUWaldo]

go to kenai, alaska instead

 

[DeaconPeach]

Bratislava! I hear it's really inexpensive.

Pos rep for the EuroTrip reference. :thumbsup:

 

[DeaconNation]

First bit of advice from vad that I've done a double-take on. I don't think I can agree with a word you said here.

Calling Bratislava ugly would be generous, unless you really, really love Soviet style concrete. I didn't do much drinking there, but it also didn't seem even above average in that respect. If someone had a day to kill around Vienna, I could think of about 20 places that I would recommend before Bratislava.

Bratislava is the only city in Europe that I almost regret having gone to.

I'm somewhere in the middle. The newer areas of the city (i.e., anything outside the little Old Town horseshoe and the castle hill) are gray and Soviet-drab, but I found the Old Town charming. Definitely not at the top of anyone's list of Central European cities, but I think it's worth a day trip from Vienna if someone has some time to spare (a day is plenty though).