Weekend away

[quixoticgeek]

I'm looking for somewhere nice to goto for a non-cycling weekend in March. It needs to be within 1 days train travel of Amsterdam each way, and avoid any use of TGV, SNCF, or Thalys. I was planning to go to Milan, but that looks distinctly sub optimal currently.

Anyone got any recommendations for nice places to go for a weekend?

J

[rafletcher]

Prague?

[quixoticgeek]

Prague?

ooh, that could work, just over 12 hours, 1 change, with approx 2 hours layover in Berlin. I like that idea.

J

[JenM]

Hamburg - good beer, culture, sites, river, food. Loved it when I visited last year.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'd go for either of Vienna or Budapest over Prague. Not as pretty, not as many crowds, more interesting and also good looking (to me at least). Budapest might be a bit of a long journey for a weekend.

[rafletcher]

Budapest was my original thought, but like you I though it a bit far for a weekend.

[quixoticgeek]

Budapest was my original thought, but like you I though it a bit far for a weekend.

14:42 on a train to get there... 14:18 to get back. It's a day, not unreasonable...

J

[FifeingEejit]

Checked where you can get to from the nearish German stations on the night jet?

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[quixoticgeek]

Checked where you can get to from the nearish German stations on the night jet?

Night jet eats up 2 days of my interrail pass, and requires a supplement. I have 2 days left on an interrail pass, which is the reason for doing this trip. Using a night train would get me one way, but then leave me needing to pay for the return. The reason for avoiding SNCF/TGV/THALYS is that they all require stupidly expensive reservations/supplements to work with the interrail.

Ideally this trip should only require me to pay for food and a hostel.

J

[FifeingEejit]

Checked where you can get to from the nearish German stations on the night jet?

Night jet eats up 2 days of my interrail pass, and requires a supplement. I have 2 days left on an interrail pass, which is the reason for doing this trip. Using a night train would get me one way, but then leave me needing to pay for the return. The reason for avoiding SNCF/TGV/THALYS is that they all require stupidly expensive reservations/supplements to work with the interrail.

Ideally this trip should only require me to pay for food and a hostel.

J

Ah ha! Aye.

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[quixoticgeek]

Ah ha! Aye.

I got the interrail pass as it was the cheapest way to get to a conference I'm speaking at. They are paying for it, so I effectively get 2 free days of unlimited rail travel in Europe. I'd have liked to go for Barcelona, but it would be about an extra €60 each way.

If all else fails, Berlin is a simple choice. But I have been there before. Unlike Milan, Budapest, or Prague...

J

[FifeingEejit]

Ah ha! Aye.

I got the interrail pass as it was the cheapest way to get to a conference I'm speaking at. They are paying for it, so I effectively get 2 free days of unlimited rail travel in Europe. I'd have liked to go for Barcelona, but it would be about an extra €60 each way.

If all else fails, Berlin is a simple choice. But I have been there before. Unlike Milan, Budapest, or Prague...

J

Luxembourg? It's like a train set diorama
Ams - Utrecht - cologne (not 100% on the route but iirc it's run by arriva and is on interrail) - trier - Luxembourg City, return by Brussels, although I've never understood the ns/nmbs intercity direct supplement.

Hostel is nice and down in the gorge, reasonable bus service never figured out how to buy a ticket...




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[Pingu]

Copenhagen?

[quixoticgeek]

Copenhagen?

Copenhagen is where the conference is. I'm going a couple of days early to play tourist.

Luxembourg? It's like a train set diorama
Ams - Utrecht - cologne (not 100% on the route but iirc it's run by arriva and is on interrail) - trier - Luxembourg City, return by Brussels, although I've never understood the ns/nmbs intercity direct supplement.

Hostel is nice and down in the gorge, reasonable bus service never figured out how to buy a ticket...

Been there a few times. As for the bus tickets:

https://youtu.be/feCQPD9DSOA

J

[andrewc]

Vienna is lovely, and not overrun with stag parties, which has always put me off Prague a bit.    You've been to Hamburg.     Nuremburg looks pretty.


" I'd have liked to go for Barcelona"  a friend who's very familiar with Spain said she felt quite vulnerable the last time she visited for a conference. Lot of petty crime &  street hassle.

[Regulator]

Warsaw.  It'll be cold but it's a fantastic city (18 hrs 44 mins).  Or Krakow... a bit more touristy (19 hrs 27 mins).

[fimm]

Vienna thirded, if the trains work for you.
Saltzburg is also nice, though there's more to see in Vienna.
Innsbruck has a nice old town - I know it a bit better as my in-laws live near there, so can make suggestions of travel and things to do if that's of interest. (They are likely to be of a "go and walk here/walk up to this alm" type activity, so if that's not the sort of thing that floats your boat...)

[FifeingEejit]

Aye it was two euro in town or 4 for the whole country a day when I visited iirc.
Had a vaige recollection you'd been after I posted.

If you were going from Copenhagen I'd have said Oslo and gothenburg.

Bremen is nice but doesn't get your moneys worth. Can't remember the other place I stopped on my way to Hamburg.

After that and everyone else's suggestions I've largely run out.

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[quixoticgeek]

Warsaw.  It'll be cold but it's a fantastic city (18 hrs 44 mins).  Or Krakow... a bit more touristy (19 hrs 27 mins).

Poland is well off the list unfortunately

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/25/third-of-poland-lgbt-free-zone-atlas-of-hate-homophobia/

J

[bludger]

I really like France. How about somewhere on the north coast? https://www.completefrance.com/travel/holiday-ideas/coastal-towns-in-northern-france-you-can-visit-for-the-weekend-1-4452247

For some reason I recall a French teacher telling us all how great Dieppe so I keep meaning to go.

[S2L]

Save your money... the chances are by March Coronavirus will have spread in Europe and it will be quite chaotic, with public places closed, silly preventative measures in place... just not worth committing into travelling right now

[quixoticgeek]

Save your money... the chances are by March Coronavirus will have spread in Europe and it will be quite chaotic, with public places closed, silly preventative measures in place... just not worth committing into travelling right now

The trip is essentially free up to the point I arrive at a hostel to check in...

J

[S2L]

The trip is essentially free up to the point I arrive at a hostel to check in...

J

The thing is there is a significant risk of ending up stuck in one place, quarantined or with no available transport to move away... I think March will be the peak of hysteria before spring arrives and the all thing begins to recede and the press finds another doomsday to rave about

[Cudzoziemiec]

Warsaw.  It'll be cold but it's a fantastic city (18 hrs 44 mins).  Or Krakow... a bit more touristy (19 hrs 27 mins).

Poland is well off the list unfortunately

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/25/third-of-poland-lgbt-free-zone-atlas-of-hate-homophobia/

J

You'd find a big difference in attitudes between the small towns and large cities, with Warsaw, Krakow and Poznan probably being the friendliest. Though of course bit cities do attract people from small towns (and it's five years or more since I've been back, so not up to date with the latest situation).

[bludger]

I mean the country is governed by a party that will set the police on you for bearing LGBT symbols. It is more than understandable that anyone let alone with aforementioned symbol in their profile pic would swerve the place https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/26/save-the-children/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/poland-lgbt-free-zones-homophobia-hate-speech-law-justice-party-a9013551.html