Recommend a European city or other location

jc2008

This thread may be way too early, but next summer my friends and I are thinking of going to a European city, or some other European destination. We'll be all 20 by then, and there'll probably be 4 of us, but possibly slightly more.

The thing is, we want to do it as cheap as possible as we're just poor students . Unlike typical 'lads holidays', nightlife isn't hugely important as we're not big into that (2 of the group don't drink), just more things to see and do.

To give you an idea, we went to London this August and really enjoyed it - we went to Madame Tussauds, London Eye, spent a day in Thorpe Park, looked around the city, went to Greenwich, shopping on Oxford street, etc. - it really is a fantastic city and I'm not sure other cities would offer as much to do as London did. We got flights for €30 return and accommodation for 3 nights for €80 per person, so we were lucky on that bit!

Where in Europe would you recommend to go to?
I was thinking Barcelona, but I'm not sure if there is much to do and I hear there is a huge amount of pickpocketing and crime, and we don't speak any Spanish so we'd stand out as tourists.

Berlin looks very nice but I'm worried that most of the attractions of Berlin would historical, such as museums and the like.

What about Madrid? Munich? Brussels? Even Edinburgh?
I'd love to go interrailing but the costs are just too high at the moment, definitely some time in the future

My friends suggested maybe a sun holiday, to Majorca or Salou or somewhere, but I'm not sure that going to a resort with just pubs, restaurants and a beach would be hugely entertaining (although I'm certainly not ruling it out).

Edit: I should stress that we can't go until June '12 at the earliest as we're all in different colleges. Early June is not an option so it's either late June, or July and August. I'm asking this so early just in case there's nice flight sales over the autumn/winter!

Thanks,
Jack

rossie1977

barcelona is a great spot imo, obviously taking in a match at the camp nou is one option but after the month of may there are no games again until late august, barcelonas got a small beach, gaudis amazing architecture (Parc Güell, Casa Batlló and of course the unfinished Sagrada Família), you can climb or get the train up to Montjuïic which offers great views of the city and the olympic park from 1992 is up there including the stadium, btw its easy combine salou with barcelona, its only 1 hour away by train, ryanair fly into reus which is salou for all intents and purposes, salou also has a great themepark with rollercoasters if thats your thing

madrid is more about museums and the like but its still a nice city, again football is one of the main attractions in that town, nightlife is buzzing on friday and saturday night around the puerto del sol area of town

berlin has lots to see and do and most of it is modern stuff, olympic stadium site of 1936 olympics and 2006 world cup final, most of the old structures are still there and photos showing where hitler walked, checkpoint charlie, the remaining berlin wall (about 2km of it) at the eastside gallery, top of 1000+ft tv tower for an incredible view, berlin cathedral and next door the museum where nazi demonstations took place, brandenburg gate and all the attractions in that small area (reichstag, victory column, tiergarten itself)

edinburgh is more of a weekend spot, few nice sights, quite a small town, brussels is small and there isn't a whole lot to see and do outside the royal castle, grand place and the atomium, munich has less to see and do than berlin (still quite a bit to do and its a lovely city) but munich is quite near the mountains 2hr trainride south or so which is a major attraction and of course the beer

the spanish canary islands are great if you get out of the booze spots, tenerife is a stunning island and probably my favourite, tenerife has tallest mountain in spain, highest sea cliffs in europe (4 times the height of cliffs of moher), banana plantations, an endless variety of watersports, dolphins right off the coast and loads of tour companies will bring you out to see them, a tourist submarine that goes to the bottom of the seafloor, desert in the south and lush forest and valleys like Masca Valley in the north

Mr. Presentable

Rome has the weather, the beautiful women, the best shopping in Europe if not the world, great food and ten times the history and culture of London. You'll have a great time.

coup1917

jc2008 wrote: »

I was thinking Barcelona, but I'm not sure if there is much to do and I hear there is a huge amount of pickpocketing and crime, and we don't speak any Spanish so we'd stand out as tourists.


I can assure you there is more than enough for you in Barcelona.....:D Possibly a lot more than London
From Gaudi's Architecture to the maze of tourist streets, Nou camp, Beach etc. Barcelona is Gigantic....:eek:
I've been there twice & I would probably go again...
As for pickpocketing, keep your wallet or cash concealed in your inside pockets and you'll be fine..

I would think 90% of the people in Barcelona city centre on any given day are tourists..

ShallowPockets Lucy

I went to Berlin in December and loved it! It's really cheap there too, so money shouldn't be an issue. As well as all the stuff Rosie1977 has told you about, there are also walking tours available - one I really regretted not going on was the Graffiti Tour as it seemed really interesting - and decent shopping areas too such as the Sony Centre.

Have you considered Portugal? It would be a great sun holiday with loads of beach activities to do and water parks as well. I went there a few years ago with a group of 6 and we were able to rent a villa for next-to-nothing! Admittedly, the area we were in was mostly full of pubs, restaurants and the main thing to do was the beach but we had a super time.

I spent 5 days in Prague this summer and it's a brilliant city. There's loads to keep you occupied such as walking tours, museums, the castle, quirky restaurants, river trips... Again, it was all incredibly cheap and we didn't have any trouble with language - most people there speak English.

jc2008

Thanks for the answers, they were really detailed and helpful! You are all very well travelled

Plenty of food for thought now!

Thanks again.