Random place for a weekend?

gary the great

Looking for a good spot to visit with a few friends. Basically it needs to be a direct flight (as we're only going for a weekend) and have a good nightlife with friendly locals.

Have been to all the Baltic countries, the Scandinavian countries, Russia, Serbia, Koln, Berlin, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Paris, Barca, Rome, Istanbul, Minsk, Kiev, most good cities in the UK, Krakow, Prague and am looking for somewhere new to go visit.

Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana and Bucharest seem to be the main options at the moment, but none of them really appeal, we kind of like places that are a bit out there and were not many people go. We considered Sarajevo but its bit far for a short trip (only have 3-4 days) so will keep that for another time. Same goes for Reykjavik in Iceland.

Any ideas?

cailinoBAC

Well of the places you’ve listed –
Budapest has plenty to do and see and is gorgeous, but not exactly out of the way. I enjoyed it both times I was there, though I think if I go again it’ll be in summer
Ljubljana I’ve heard is great, not sure who flies there, also maybe it’s a bit quiet?
Bucharest, haven’t been there, and not heard great things, but if you want out of the ordinary you could be in luck. I mean, it’s not got many pretty buildings but you know you’re going to want to tick it off your list anyway
Bratislava might be your best bet of those 4. Slightly more off the beaten track than Budapest (because, simply put it’s not pretty enough). Again, I can’t comment a whole lot though, I took a day trip there from Vienna in 2001, so things may have changed a lot. Maybe I’m just biased because in Dublin I made a lot of Slovak friends, so I just assume friendly locals and I’d say that nightlife has improved since then.

Have you been anywhere else in Poland other than Krakow? If you really want out there you could go to one of those impossible to pronounce cities Ryanair flies to that nobody has heard of. But seriously, I’ve heard good things about Lodz and Wroclaw. Also, again, haven’t spent too much time in Warsaw (meant to go there for a weekend when I was living in Minsk, but arrived off the train and was persuaded to go to Krakow, so I only had an afternoon there on my way back) but though it gets bad press it’s supposed to be good fun if you look for it. Don’t go to Katowice though. There’s really nothing there. Well, I went to a wedding there in July, but I basically just went the day of the wedding and spent the rest of the time in Krakow.

Away from Eastern Europe, in Spain, I read an article about Santander which sounded decent, but nobody goes there. It’s probably not as nice as San Sebastian, but fewer people, beaches and good food. There are plenty of places in Southern Spain, but to get a bit off the beaten track you wouldn’t be going somewhere where there are direct flights.

In Germany you could fly to Frankfurt Hahn and go to Trier. At least I think you can, when I was studying there Ryanair had just started using Frankfrurt Hahn, so there was a bus to Frankfurt, but it was not so easy to go to Trier, even though it’s much closer
There are a lot of other cities in that area that could be worth visiting, but not sure how they are for airports. Then again, it’s Germany. Unlike Spain, you could go for a city that’s not quite direct, as the transport is so good. I haven’t been back since I was studying there, about 10 years ago, so I suppose every city seemed friendly then because there’d be a few of us. I can’t think of particular ones because they’ve all kind of merged in my memory.

Oh edited to add, check out www.inyourpocket.com for an idea of some other destinations (mostly E Europe), though you probably already know that one.

zagmund

Dingle is a random enough place to go to (unless you're from Dingle) for a weekend.

Or how about Ballydehob or Termonfeckin ?

Failing that how about somewhere in Austria - Salzburg for example ? If it's at this time of year weekend flights will be a bit steep, but later in the year when the ski season is over it will be cheaper. You also seem to have missed out on Switzerland entirely. Aer Lingus fly to Geneva and Zurich daily.

z

GeeNorm

+1 for Wroclaw mentioned above. Tiny little (military?) airport. Class city packed full of students if you're looking for nightlife. Decent town sq etc. Tram system for getting about.

gary the great

Wroclaw is one I never thought of...think I'll look into that. I've only been to Krackow and I loved it although it was fairly touristy.

I'd love to go to Switzerland but it’s a bit expensive isn’t it? I think I'll keep Switzerland for a time when I can go with a girlfriend rather than with friends (same with Iceland/New York etc). But nightlife is priority at this stage and I haven't heard great things about the Swiss nightlife.

CallinoBAC thanks for the suggestions, now that you say it the only Slovaks I've ever met have been deadly craic. Nice and cheap to there I presume. I think I'll look into there a bit more.

I've been to Valencia, Barca, Madrid and Seville in Spain so I'd prefer another country that we haven't been to. Have heard good things about Lisbon in Portugal though.

Zagmund, Dingle is just way to foreign to even be considered. And to be fair we'd probably spend more down there on a weekend than we would in another country.

Going to Germany for a bit later in the year so that’s of the list to.

Think we're leaning towards Bratislava at this stage...

I read this on another thread and its true...

Bratislava at the weekend it is literally like an English stag party convention (you have to see it to believe it). Literally 1000's of punters from Geordieland dressed in batman, superman, scooby doo, caveman stag party outfits thinking that they are hilarious then fighting each other....

Helsinki is expensive but bit of a hidden gem 'cos they don't get too many muppets coming over from the UK etc and the locals are very friendly shall we say.

You seem to say you like to be away from the other tourists, thats why I suggest Helsinki.