non mainstream euro destinations?

adamski8

I'm looking for recommendations of destinations in europe that are less famous and less travelled but you have been pleasently surprised by or you though were great etc as ive realised ive only travelled to these biggest places.

So im not talking about paris, milan, oslo, prague, valencia etc etc bascically no places the average joe would have heard about.

As an example a place I went to lugano in swizterland. Stunning scenery, warm weather. Very rich place and everything looked spotless. You can take boat tours around the lake, you can travel up the surrounding mountains 3000ft from within the city with awesome views.

rossie1977

the west coast of croatia is lovely, can't really go wrong there; fussen in southern germany is really nice, standing on the wooden planks of the marienbrucke looking out at majestic neuschwanstein castle on a clear day with the water roaring into the gorge hundreds of feet below is something everyone should do imo

dory

The issue here is that if you want a cheap flight it'll probably be one of the mainstream places. If you're looking for off-the-beaten-track I would suggest Montenegro. Beautiful mountains, beaches, not much city life though. Belgrade is a nice city. Also Macedonia, some great places there. I was in Moldova last Christmas and it was very nice.

kindalen

vitoria in northern spain

BigDinny

I would recommend the South Tyrol in Northern Italy- a nice mishmash of Austrian and Italian culture. It has wonderful scenery, food, and interesting cities/historical sights. You would not see many Irish there at all.

Degringola

How about Armenia, though not strictly speaking in Europe. Reasonably cheap flights to Yerevan via Riga with BalticAir. I'm going on 20th for 10 days and staying in http://envoyhostel.com/ They have a list of daytours/walking tours on their site. Really looking forward to it!

undo

If you want to go off the beaten West European track, try Transylvania (though not any other part of Romania - Transylvania is excellent, the rest is a very different challenge) or St Petersburg. Both are great places to visit.

Tryst

If you want a cheap, pretty holiday and don't mind the loclas being rude assholes then come to budapest, the city is beautiful and interesting bu the locals are fu**heads....

wmpdd3

Hvar island in Croatia.

munchkin_utd

BigDinny wrote: »

I would recommend the South Tyrol in Northern Italy- a nice mishmash of Austrian and Italian culture. It has wonderful scenery, food, and interesting cities/historical sights. You would not see many Irish there at all.

south tirol is the business and was in my mind before even reading this post.
For the independent traveller its also brilliant as bus and train travel is very frequent and amazingly cheap.
You could spend a few days in just the 2 main towns Bolzan(o) and Maran(o) and the wine there is nearly a reason in itself to go to the place

Whats a gas idea is the coordinated bike hire scheme.
You can go up the Vinschgau valey by train and/ or bus to the top, hire a bike at the top of the hill, cycle down the hill at your leisure and drop it off at one of a dozen train stations down the valley. Then hop on a train up or down the valley to wherever you are staying.

To get there you can fly to venice or milan and trains arent too dear at all in Italy. (also 2 cities worth visiting mybe before heading to south tyrol)

Ellian

I went to Hamburg on a business trip once and it was a great city. Never hear it recommended but definitely worth a city break type visit.

Lollymcd

Folegandros, a Greek island in the Aegean. Not the easiest place to get to but breathtakingly beautiful.