eastern europe in the summer

[poly800rock]

i'm planning on hitting up a place before i head to glasgow for MBV in july.

anyone care to comment which would be the best place to go? I don't wanna to the typical west-east european thing.

Ukraine? Hungary? anyone?

[polishmike]

Next time you're in ny we can meet up for a beer and I can pretty much schedule the whole thing for you if few hours.

I would suggest Krakow, Budapest or Prague but there are some other great places. How long do you want to spend there?

[poly800rock]

Next time you're in ny we can meet up for a beer and I can pretty much schedule the whole thing for you if few hours.

I would suggest Krakow, Budapest or Prague but there are some other great places. How long do you want to spend there?

sounds awesome. i was thinking ~10 days or so. nothing too straining, just a cheap great place to have fun with like 4 friends. I'll take you up on your offer, but won't be up that way again till around xmas time

[polishmike]

Most cities I can even give you exact hotels or hostels, places to eat and stuff like that.

The European Football Championship is from 7 to 29 of June so if you're in Poland or Czech Rep during that time you're chance to see some crazy parties is 100 times higher. There are huge screens in the city center and you drink beer outside all day. We did it during World Cup before heading to Germany and shit was bananas.

I would say one weekend in Karkow and than one in Prague should do the trick. You can fly between those two for very cheap as well. If you want an adventure you can take a train. I did it with 5 buddies from college (all americans that never been to Poland) and we had great time.

[Guest Fulci]

You should do Krakow, Budapest and save the best for last, Prague... These are some of the most beautiful cities in the world, specialy Prague. Though in the summer, prices can get about 5 or 6 times more expensive than in winter. It's like going form an incredibly cheap €0.50 for a beer to like a rather costy €3.00... Of course that, since the day I paid €8 for one in Copenhagen that I never complained paying €3 for one. Go to Portugal, it's beautiful and really really cheap, and it's always good weather.

[poly800rock]

You should do Krakow, Budapest and save the best for last, Prague... These are some of the most beautiful cities in the world, specialy Prague. Though in the summer, prices can get about 5 or 6 times more expensive than in winter. It's like going form an incredibly cheap €0.50 for a beer to like a rather costy €3.00... Of course that, since the day I paid €8 for one in Copenhagen that I never complained paying €3 for one. Go to Portugal, it's beautiful and really really cheap, and it's always good weather.

not to say that prague is too touristed, but I wanna go to more non-traditional places. Krakow sounds great.

[AstroWolf]

i want to go too, but only for the girls, im dating a eastern european girl now, and its a new form of heaven, so i cant be bad and go, but fuck it, i still dream.

[Guest Fulci]

Krakow is a bit crowded too... And you have the Disneyland of the Hollocaust, where you can have great burgers and Ice Cream next to the zyklon showers in Auschwitz. It's actually a great museum if you don't notice much the children playing and the souvenir shop.

You can't escape the tourism in Prague and eastern Europe. It's everywhere and it's really crowded. You could try Slovenia, like Ljubliana and lake Bled, or Bratislava in Slovakia, which is just one hour train from Wien/Vienna (?). Look for Brno in Czeck Rep, is small but nice, and Wroclaw in Poland, it's cool too.

Last time I went to Slovakia, I paid €1.5 per night in a hostel and about €8 for a 3 course meal in a great restaurant in the center. I've been told, though, that it's much more expensive now, like Prague and everything else.

If you want to go a little more south, check Croatia, specially the beach part, like Dubrovnik. It's really worth it. Romenia is also a nice uncrowded place to see. Look for Draculas castle there.

Or if you go north, the baltic countries are also nice to see. Haven't been there yet, though...

[Guest Fulci]

Women are as beautiful as a women can get. I didn't want to talk about this, it's a little machist, but I thought they were the most beautiful I've seen in my life, specially in Slovakia, until I went to Norway. Now I want to move there. They are nothing short of incredible! It's like a runway fashion show in every street. Every single on of them, 6 feet of pure beauty!

But in the eastern countries they are more... accessible... or friendly.

[poly800rock]

i agree, probably the most stunning woman i have ever seen was from bergen norway in 2005.

[down4nyhc]

check out sky europe for cheap flights around eastern europe. i think their hub is in vienna/ bratislava but they fly to many destinations out of cracow and prague as well.

[Analyst]

i agree, probably the most stunning woman i have ever seen was from bergen norway in 2005.

Sounds like a great trip, Poly. Always finding those places far off the reservation.

Bucharest (Romania) and the Balkans are on my list to check out.

[poly800rock]

Sounds like a great trip, Poly. Always finding those places far off the reservation.

Bucharest (Romania) and the Balkans are on my list to check out.

you going to MBV reunion?

[Analyst]

you going to MBV reunion?

Probably not going to make it. Sucks.

[Agent Orange]

i want to go too, but only for the girls, im dating a eastern european girl now, and its a new form of heaven, so i cant be bad and go, but fuck it, i still dream.

^^^quoted for truth

you might wanna check out southeastern europe / balkan bit more. slovenia - though not really famous is really nice. ljubliana as well as maribor, a town on the austrian border, nice relaxed old towns lots of history. really depends what youre looking for. check out where you go in croatia. iirc dubrovnik was nice, other places not that much. im not much of a fan of croatia i have to admit though. serbia / macedonia have nice places too, and are cheaper, but you should be careful where you go there and you probably need a visa. i take the risk to sound prejudiced, but simply dont go to albania, because a lot of albanians are just fucked up people.

other than most people, i wouldnt even recommend prague because its tourist crowded, and huge, and unless youre very smart, speak czech and / or know people, youre not gonna find the right places to go out. although the last point applies to pretty much most cities. its worth for the historical places though.

i dont know anything about hungary or romania.

if you wanna do something crazy, go to sofia (my girlfriend is from that area, had an amazing time there in the summer). city is surrounded by mountains, nature is still wild there. there are small restaurants up there where you can still eat a trout, fresh from a mountain river, salad, sidedish plus a large beer or some rakija for 3,50€. balkan kitchen, after all, is great, be sure not to miss these culinary highlights. lots of fresh stuff, barbecues in the summer oh damn i wanna go again:) weather is better too in the south.

from sofia you could even take the 6 hour busride to istanbul, and then take a cheap easyjet flight back to western europe.

by all means try to hook up with locals via couchsurfing or hospitalityclub, as nice as the place is, if you dont speak a slawic language, youre boned. look after your wallet, and watch out for gypsys. by no means go to the black sea coast in bulgaria. most fuckin terrible ugly touristic rippoff place i have ever seen. prices are 3 times as high as in the rest of the country.

edit: ...dam i just saw that youre only planning for 10 days

i also cosign on brno, czech rep., nice place

[vincentvostok]

In the cities mentionned so far I liked budapest best irrelevently of the cost of living and women, althought I never when to poland

I really want to hit the baltic this summer estonia, latvia, finland...ect

[camthrax]

Eastern european girls are fun for a while, then they do some real damage when they dump you and turn into total psychopaths. However, my experiences only make me want to date more of them.

[soundune]

with only 10 days, forget about touring a variety of places - makes no sense. i recommend using the entire 10 days in croatia - read a few of the previous posts and a couple mention it but don't do it justice imo. head strait for dubrovnik by ferry from north eastern italy. stop in hvar or lombarda for a couple of nights on the way to dubronvik. from dubronik you have easy access to a multitude of what i can only describe as paradise islands. korcula is a 15 min ferry ride away, mljet is a couple of hours away but well worth the trip. dubrovnik itself is a wonder - truly the pearl of the adriatic - it's been several years since my last visit so i'm sure the area may well be overrun - but damn if it wasn't/isn't one of the most magical and beautiful places i've ever visited - and i've visited a lot.

[vincentvostok]

Im sure the beaches and dubrovnik are beautiful but maybe more in the summertime, how was it magical for you? I've often heard about the croatians giving a hardtime to foreigner i.e scream at you if you ask for a breakfast menu after 10am or if you don't have the exact change at the grocery store.

[Agent Orange]

I've often heard about the croatians giving a hardtime to foreigner i.e scream at you

especially when youre with youre serbian girlfriend.

we were at a restauraunt and my ex, fluent in several languages, after half a bottle of wine, picks the wrong word when asking for a spoon. waiter realises shes serbian, starts shouting and throwing stuff at us in total rage. freak.

people really know how to have fun there, but theres still a lot of hate going on due to recent history. esp. between serbians/croatians and serbians/albanians. also nobody likes gypsys

[fre-co]

Poly, check out the latest series Michael Palin did for the BBC on UK television

http://www.bbc.co.uk/palin/

It was a great series and showed some of the countryside and smaller cities/towns.

I don't know if you can get it online but its worth trying.