These days I travel a lot, often 3 times a month. Most of these trips are short and convenient and in many cases I go back to the same places. When it comes to the topic of “Find Your Favourite Place,” these are my favourite places.
Note on Feature image: Morskie Oko, Tatry, Zakopane, Poland – One of the most beautiful places in Europe, from a hiking trip )
I’m sure that you are familiar with someone who always books the same 2 week summer holiday to the same destination every year. They may even stay in the same hotel and eat at the same restaurant. This is definitely something that fills me with dread. However whilst I would never do this, I can see the benefits to approaching travel in this way:
- The people who do this enjoy the predictability of the trip
- Everyone knows what to do meaning there is no lost time planning
- The trip take up little headspace and has fewer disappointments
However, there are also several disappointments or trade offs including the obvious one of not fully experiencing new places and cultures.
One of the best things I find about living in the UK is that there are so many different cultures just a short flight away. I have found my favourites from trying a few and experiencing the cultures on solo trips. When I first experienced travelling alone, I was nervous but excited at the same time. There is something very unique about solo trips that broadens your character as it forces you to interact with complete strangers in the airport, on the plane, on the streets and in restaurants. travelling alone also means that you have no one to help you with the culture or the language. And you have to be a bit more careful when it comes to your own safety. I am a big guy, so it is obviously not at risky as if I was travelling as a solo woman, but I would never get really drunk and walk the streets if I was travelling alone.
With safety in mind, I would say that all of my favourite places are very safe. Some of them like Warsaw, the capital of Poland is actually safe enough for a solo woman to walk the streets at night through the city without experiencing any trouble. I don’t think we could say the same for any western city.
Visiting 3 of my Favourite Cities with a Friend
At the time of writing this post, I am about to take my friend Jaren Scott who is a US citizen living in Mexico City on a mini trip to Europe at the weekend. Jaren is over on business and I promised to take him to see 3 of my favourite cities that all very accessible and close to each other. The cities we will visit are:
Krakow, Poland
Krakow is not actually on my all time favourite cities, but it is a fantastic place full of energy and a good place for us to start for some good nightlife fun. So we will start there. The draw back and the thing I dislike most about Krakow is that it is full of tourists. There is nothing wrong with tourists, but they seem to be more of a nuisance in Krakow than anywhere else. But if you can block out or stomach seeing drunken English lads mauling about at night, it is an all round interesting place.
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw is the largest city in Poland and it is also the capital. It is situated on the River Vistula and has a completely different vibe to Krakow. I know my way around Warsaw so well that I know all the best restaurants, best bars and night spots and the best places to visit in the day time. Warsaw has one of the best nightlife scenes in Europe and everything is very high quality.
One of the best features of Warsaw is just how safe the city is. Particularly at night, where anyone, even a single woman can walk around without any issues.
Budapest, Hungary
Budapest is definitely one of my all time favourite places. This city is electric and has lots on offer for everyone. The historic buildings and culture either side of the Danube are plentiful and the weather always seems to be amazing every time I have been. Budapest is another city I know very well. I would say that the restaurants are not as good as Warsaw but the nightlife is almost on a par. Budapest nightlife is more insane for the party goers, much like Krakow, but Warsaw has by far the higher class night venues.
The daytime in Budapest cannot be match by either Krakow or Warsaw. There is so much culture to see and it is very spread out. The Danube river is huge in Budapest so be prepared to walk a lot if you plan to visit.
I have managed to learn to speak some Hungarian so I regularly enjoy ordering coffee and breakfast. There is a really cool coffee shop called Zërgë on the Buda side of the river where they serve a mean hosszú kávé (long espresso).
More of my Favourite Places in Europe
Among the three listed above, some of my other favourite places include:
Split, Croatia
Arguably one of the best places in Europe, Split has something for everyone. It was built on a Roman fort called Diocletian’s Palace which houses all of the old town. If you manage to see everything, Split has the advantage of having the fast boat trips to local islands such as Brac and Hvar.
Split has a great nightlife with many cool places from dance clubs to cool cocktail bars and my all time favourite place Marvlvs Library Jazz Bar – and yes Marvlvs really is as cool as it sounds. It is situated in the old town down a narrow street with its many rooms laid out like a rabbit warren, the amazing cocktails and always live music. I have enjoyed a very nice old fashioned cocktail in this bar many times.
You can visit split as a family, as young free and single or as a couple. Either way you will enjoy it.
Make sure to visit the Islands and also try a river cruse in Omiš.
Lake Garda, Italy
When we think of the Italian lakes, Lago di Garda is the OG of the lakes. Today, everyone raves about Lake Como which is very beautiful. However, having visited both lakes over the past year or so, I can now say that Lake Garda has tipped it for me. The local government really seem to have pushed the boat out with the new ambitious project to build the Ciclopista del Garda, a 140 km cycle route that runs around the whole perimeter of the lake. The most picturesque part of the Ciclopista del Garda is between Limone sul Garda and Riva del Garda where the path literally cantilevers out from the rocks.
My favourite place to stay on Lake Garda is Limone sul Garda which is in the north with Riva. The north is best because of the views of the mountains.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
We associate Dubrovnik with being the place where Game of Thrones was filmed. The old town is a huge castle which if full of interesting small streets, restaurants and shops. There is a feeling of living inside a castle because when you are inside the castle walls, this is exactly what it is.
A great reason to visit Dubrovnik is that it is very close to multiple borders making it easy to visit places such as The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, the wonderful town of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kravice Falls in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
My Thoughts On The Above
- Best Restaurants: Warsaw, Poland
- Best Nightlife: Warsaw, Poland
- Best Daytime: Lake Garda, Italy
- Best City Break Experience: Budapest, Hungary
- Unique mini break: Split, Croatia
I will be continuing to add to the post through the weekend and next week…
