A weekend with the lads in Europe...

Morning all

It's become almost an annual thing for us in recent years - the weekend abroad in Europe where we sample the local brew, have a couple of nights out and perhaps slot in some minimal sightseeing during the daytime.

Previous excursions have seen us visit Amsterdam, Hamburg (there's a theme developing here, isn't there..) and Zagreb, and we're now looking to visit another European city.

Somewhere traditionally famous for its beer would be good, and if that place is culturally rich and possesses impressive architecture then all the better for it. A place with seriously impressive pubs would always come out on top, though.

Any recommendations from your own European experiences? We're all around 25/26 years old, happy to stay in hostels, and not overly concerned about the price (though Scandinavia is a step too far).

Fire away. Cheers.

Hi Fists - it's probably not sufficiently abroad and far away for your gang but Edinburgh ticks some of your boxes.

Been there Guildford, a magnificent city and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

I forgot to mention that one! Thanks anyway, though.

A few places I've been to:

Prague - a cliche, but still good when I went.

Berlin - German pilsner, currywurst, history, good nightlife, should be considered if you don't mind revisiting Germany (before seeing other places I mean, not suggesting there is anything wrong with Germany).

Kiev - was cheap but not sure about great beer or pubs. It might be there but I didn't really go looking for it.

But with this in mind...

Fists of Fury wrote:Somewhere traditionally famous for its beer would be good, and if that place is culturally rich and possesses impressive architecture then all the better for it. A place with seriously impressive pubs would always come out on top, though.

...I'll suggest you look into somewhere that I've never been: Bruges.

Belgian beer (Duvel, Chimay, Leffe etc) is great, although I'm not sure you'd be able to do an all-dayer on the stuff as it's bloody strong.

The architecture on the square looks very nice too, which ticks the second box.

I don't know about impressive pubs but I do know Belgian fries are another big plus point. As might be the fact that googling Eurostar to Bruges brings up the possibility of £88 return.

Maybe someone else has been there and can offer a bit more information.

Bruges did cross my mind, Il Gia, so thanks for reaffirming my belief that it'd make for a good visit.

Leffe...I've had a few experiences drinking that!

£88 return is a fantastic deal. You always go the extra mile when in your advisory role, don't you? Top man!

Has anyone visited the likes of Riga or Tallinn, I wonder?

As I said mate, I've never been. I've seen In Bruges though and it looked like a nice place.

I have a couple of Belgian mates over here also and some of the bars sell the Belgian beer. We always left the Leffe alone. Duvel and Chimay were the Belgian's choices. And Trappistes Rochefort.

I should imagine you could find them in an offy somewhere mate. Even if you don't go to Bruges, give them a go.

Oh yeah, although I stopped short of recommending Kiev, I did hear good things about Lviv. Again though, I've never actually been there myself.

Thanks mate, I'll look in to it.

How's life treating you in Shanghai? All well?

Fists of Fury wrote:Bruges did cross my mind, Il Gia, so thanks for reaffirming my belief that it'd make for a good visit.

Leffe...I've had a few experiences drinking that!

£88 return is a fantastic deal. You always go the extra mile when in your advisory role, don't you? Top man!

Has anyone visited the likes of Riga or Tallinn, I wonder?

I've been to Riga. Has a small but nice old town and the architecture is interesting (apart from the communist era slabs) in parts.

I don't remember it being that cheap, but other euro countries would be more expensive.

Some have claimed that Riga is home to some of the most beautiful women on the planet.

Will be getting cold this time of the year.

I'd recommend Prague.

Thanks for that, teassoc.

What were the bars/pubs like out there? Plenty of tradition?

Fists of Fury wrote:Thanks for that, teassoc.

What were the bars/pubs like out there? Plenty of tradition?

To be honest I don't remember much about the bars.

I did make the mistake of ordering some Russian soup. It would have fed 6 people!

I'd recommend Vilnius if your thinking about Eastern Europe. Plenty of decent architecture in the main town, and plenty of quality bars selling beer at early 80s prices!

Thanks Nakatomi. I've never heard about Vilnius before, so will have a browse.

Andorra its a lovely place to go and majorally cheap booze

Just back from Bruges fisty and it is fantastic place. I was out there for the football so the place was overran with drunken Geordies but the beers on offer are great, if a little expensive.

How rowdy are your lot? Quite a refined place for the social drinker, not yobbos.

I also went to a place called Oostende (probably spelled wrong) which is a 4 euro train ride from Bruge. Again, very pretty place with some decent bars, although not the same variety beer, great chicken kebabs though!! If you've got a few quid it has some nice shops too. And he chocolate is immense. I'm taking the bird back early next year.

Cheers LJ, appreciate the feedback.

Not too rowdy, like to keep themselves to themselves and enjoy a beer, so should fit in fine. How much would you say is needed per day there for general spending money?

100 euro per day should do the trick unless you start buying shots and expensive meals. Plenty of bars serve the local beer (Jupiler) for 2/3 euros a glass. It's quite tasty too.

Fists, as another suggestion, I just booked Munich for a lads weekend (for my 40th) in May.

Flights from Edinburgh cost £77 return and the hotel for 3 nights cost £95 each (based on a twin room) - the hotel is quite good too (swimming pool etc).

Not bad for 3 nights (Thurs, Friday, Sat) - £172 in total.

And Munich has 6 breweries to visit amongst other things. I am also there for Bayerns last home game of the season if we can get tickets (pre order already sold out!)

40th, sure that's more like a pensioner's holiday than a lads weekend...............



I'm banned now aren't I?

Just finished my afternoon nap - what were you saying?

Haven't had a chance to read through fully, apologies if I've missed the boat, but had to check in my 2 cents worth:

Firstly, re Brugges, love the city, a great day out but it offers little as a 'lads' ngiht time venue. You'll get 1 night max out of the place.

Best combinations of culture, architecture and general juxtaposition of UK life I can think of, along with great nights out, are Istanbul and Budapest.

Both are absolutely superb on just about every possible level. Both inexpensive to get there (check Wizz Air), both have lots and lots to do and see during the day, great to walk about and culturally enriching. And both having cracking nightlife that's, again, very different to a UK night out (or even to a classic 'lads' European holiday).

Berlin is probably my 3rd favourite city in Europe, pig ugly (our fault for flattening most of it, communists' for rebuilding it) but otherwise ticks the same boxes as Istanbul and Budapest.

Maybe try something a bit different from the usual.

Places i enjoyed, include:

Ostend, cheap, red light district, fantastic church, good beer and the best mussels in Europe!

Lake Lagano on the Swiss-Italian border, its a great base to explore both countries, and it's just a train ride from Ticino and the Verzasca Dam which you can bungee jump from (its the Dam at the beginning of Goldeneye) .

I know know you ruled out Scandanavia but Esbjerg in Denmark has some of the most beautiful girls in Europe, a harbour full of seals, and some sweet statues on the coast, or, head north to aalborg for a great night out. There's also nudist beaches up that way too if you're into that kind of thing (but be warned they're cold and potentially embarrassing ).


Heerlen is a good night out too. Beer and Kebabs there are awesome. Some good steak houses too.

Thanks guys, food for thought. Good to hear of a few lesser known places, too.

Tophat, no sign of your Costa Rica report?

One of the more known places so I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.....Krakow. I haven't been there myself but friends have and they say its great. It's a little more expensive than it used to be but still very enjoyable within a budget.

Check out Cracow-life.com

"What happens when you take an ancient Polish capital, fill it to the brim with cafés, bars and clubs, mix in roughly 120,000 students and then shake this up with a generous measure of ex-pats and young tourists on holiday? The explosive cocktail that is Krakow's nightlife:­ that's what!

And where can you sample this heady and hedonistic brew? There's no better place to start than in Krakow's splendid Old Town where, underneath a façade of ancient architecture, are housed countless dens of vice and inequity all eager to cater for your ill-advised pleasure"

Was in Krakow earlier this year, not exactly cheap but well worth a visit - not the drab concrete monstrosity I imagined all Polish cities to be. Not quite fitting in with the lads weekend theme but Auschwitz-Birkenau is about an hour away by coach.

I can recommend Krakow aswell, was there year before last for Stag Do and it is full of culture and history. The Pubs/Clubs are great aswell. It may sound somewhat 'dark' for a stag do but once all the partying was done and on the final day we took a trip through to Auschwitz and Birkenau which was very interesting and certainly worth seeing if only once.

Riga a few years back for a random long weekend trip away and that was also very good weekend. Watching people Ice Fishing in the huge river and walking across it was amazing aside from just getting inebriated. It was about this time of year and it got down to -25, ridiculously cold.

Went to Tallinn in 08 aswell, that's a cool little place with plenty of bars.

Bratislava in 07 but just felt really small and not much to do.

Hamburg for the Haye v Klitschko fight in 2011 but was only there during the day, seemed like a cool place I would like to go back and explore.

Bognor Regis is in Europe......They have Carling and Boddingtons on tap....

Which is upmarket enough for you and your Mates... Fisty...

I'm a culture/vulture myself....Prague, Paris, Venice...

I know how to threaten people in 6 different languages..

Would be the first time anyone's put 'American' and 'Culture' together...

Ended up going to Vilnius, Lithuania. Such a cheap option to get to, and of course cheap once there.

Will write something more in depth when I have time, but to summarise:

Good food/beer at very good prices.
An amazing amount of truly outstanding women.
Nice old town.
Interesting Saturday market.

An amazing amount of truly outstanding women.

I have heard that from quite a few people. Scotland always seem to get drawn against Lithunia for World Cup/Euro qualifying and I know a few guys who have travelled to Vilnius for games and the quality of the women is the first thing they all mention. Saying that, the only other thing they've been looking at is Scotland playing football, so a pig in a corset is going to look damn attractive!

Ha, very true superfly!

It really was strange. Almost disconcerting being in a club and being utterly outnumbered around 4 to 1 by hot women!

What's Cardiff like for a night out? Arranging a stag do at the moment there as too many have dropped out of the first idea in Tallinn...

Also for anyone looking for cheap package deals for European cities I would recommend visiting Chillisauce.co.uk - all sorts of crazy weekends you can book up for a decent price. Mainly caters for stag weekends from what I have seen but then if you are just looking for a weekend with the lads it won't make a difference.

Cardiff = Newcastle with Welsh ppl. So just pick who you dislike least, Geordies or the Welsh, and go there.

Fists of Fury wrote:Ha, very true superfly!

It really was strange. Almost disconcerting being in a club and being utterly outnumbered around 4 to 1 by hot women!

Not for me, Fists, even in my single days. I couldn't have handled the pressure and would have much preferred to be able to fall back on the old excuse that "there was no decent looking women in the nightclub anyway" after another night of failure.

Cardiff is pretty cool. Must admit I preferred it during the week at the student nights, as the locals are a right rough bunch!. but you would still go and have a good night out, no doubt.

You can drink around the tiger bay waterfront during the day, and there are plenty of restaurants there, before moving in to the centre at night where everything is in close proximity.

I organised a stag do there about 5 years ago and it went down really well.

I booked go karting in Newport first (which out of the 5 or so places I have go karted, it was by the far the best track), over to Cardiff for a Indian Buffet lunch at the bay, stayed at the Future Inns hotel near the bay (worked out something like £80 per twin room) and then went to Jongleurs before back to the bay for a few night caps.

No fights or any trouble and that was with 75% of the party being rugby players!

Cardiff is immense!

Nice one cheers, think we are looking at doing dodgeball during the day as something a bit different and then it has restaurant meal already included and a couple of free nightclub entries. Any pubs/clubs you recommend?

The Walkabout there is huge...very good on a Thursday for the student night, but can't comment for the weekend as haven't been in there on those days.

Tiger Tiger, Revolution the usual suspects are decent enough.

Tiger Tiger is one we have got free entry so that's good, just need to decide on whether we have a second activity day or just an all out drinking session.

I never had a "stag" do.......All my friends were/are back in the USA!!

For some reason I didn't fancy a night on the town with my father-in-law and Jo's brother............

She had a "party" though................and she's had a party ever since!!

I was too skint to have a decent stag do, so had mine a year after the wedding.
Went to Benidorm with 7 mates for a few nights. Good time was had by all and a real eye opener for one of the lads from Nigeria who had only been in the UK for a couple of years.

Try Lyon, it is full of good restaurants and good wine.

Going to Berlin in May for a long weekend with a few friends. Can anyone who has been recommend any sight seeing and must see places as well as pubs/clubs etc? Cheers.

I know just the thread for you 6oldenbhoy.

https://www.606v2.com/t33041-must-see-in-berlin

Cheers Il G.

6oldenbhoy wrote:Going to Berlin in May for a long weekend with a few friends. Can anyone who has been recommend any sight seeing and must see places as well as pubs/clubs etc? Cheers.

Absolutely brilliant city, one of my favourite in Europe. As per my comment in the other thread, the walking tour is an absolute must. Totally free (other than tip) and lasts a good few hours. The same company also organises an evening pub crawl which isn't a bad way to do your first night out whilst you find your feet.

If you're looking at accommodation and thinking maybe hostel then I cannot recommend Wombat hostel highly enough. Roof-top bar and terrace with views over the city and a great happy hour (or three) and general vibe.

My favourite bar/club, Cafe Zapata, has (I've been told) shut down unfortunately

Cheers, Tophat. Will defo do the walking tour. I doubt most of my friends will as they are going for the drink. We are looking at renting an apartment, the prices are pretty cheap at thattime of the year. I have also been recommended Wombat Hostel so will look into that.

While having a look on line I stumbled across a swimming pool made from a converted bargei the middle of the river. Have you heard anything about it? It looks superb from the pictures so will be giving that a go. We've got four full days there so I will be trying to see as much as possible.

Haven't heard of it but would def give it a crack! Four full days is plenty of time to fit in a walking tour - you're not going to drinking literally every hour of the day!

Lots to see and do outside of bars/clubs in Berlin, we used to get up mid, get some munch, do a few hours of touristy stuff then quick nap before ready for another big night Berlin is a late night city, didn't even leave Wombat till midnight most nights.