Vienna – Jason likes to travel

European uncertainty: A follow up!

In my last post I spoke about fate determining my next trip. On Monday morning I’ll discover where my beloved Tottenham Hotspur are playing in March and by Monday afternoon I’ll have booked my travel in order to make a trip. You can read more about that here (European uncertainty!) but I suggested possibly posting a ‘Europa League’ comparison and here it is.

See, I’d already started drafting a Europa League edition of the same post in anticipation of us joining the competition and then Tottenham produced a sensational performance in Barcelona on Tuesday night to see us progress in the Champions League instead.

I was ecstatic! It’s the competition you want to participate in and see your team proudly competing with Europe’s elite. However from a travel perspective it was a tiny bit anti-climatic. I was eyeing up all of these Europa League opponents and potential away days, spread right across the continent and suddenly that all changed and I was left with just six destinations: Dortmund, Paris, Porto, Munich, Madrid or Turin?

Six destinations! All in countries I’ve been to before, four cities I’ve been to already and I’ve even seen Spurs in three of the stadiums which means it’s a 50-50 split for a new football experience. I’ve been to Dortmund twice!! I really don’t want to be visiting for a third time.

Moaning aside, I am happy we’re in the Champions League and I’ll be going to whichever of the six fate decides we’ll be visiting but I thought I’d have some fun and give you a comparison.

If Spurs had lost on Tuesday night we’d have ‘disappointingly’ entered the Europa League and that would have seen us visit one of the following 15 cities in February: Plzen, Bruges, Donetsk (Kiev), Istanbul, Zurich, Glasgow, Prague, Lisbon, Piraeus, Vienna, Rome, Malmo, Krasnodar, Rennes, Barysaw.

Fifteen! It’s ironic but our successful result on Tuesday night made it all a little more boring. Anyway, I’m going to follow on from my last post and treat this in the same manner.
From genuine “no-go” destinations to “dream trips” I’m going to review the 15 destinations and tell you what my thought process would have been had we found ourselves in Monday’s Europa League draw instead.

DSCF5143 — Last trip to Italy in the Europa League – Florence, 2015

Rome, Italy
The one plus side to my Champions League fate is that there are no destinations to really worry about. I nearly opted to put my next destination before Rome but, you know what, I think Rome would sincerely worry me more.

Rome is high on my bucketlist. It’s probably top of my list of places to see in Europe that I haven’t already been to. Culture, history, food etc etc but it’s just not worth the risk for football. Fans of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Tottenham themselves have all found trouble awaiting them in Rome. The stats don’t lie and I don’t want to be another statistic. I can’t forget stories and images of Spurs fans left in critical condition following our last visit to Rome. Another stabbing headline.

Even overlooking the numerous stories (seriously, google it) I think I’d perhaps risk it as a fan of any other English club but there’s also the Jewish connection to Tottenham Hotspur. Unfortunately there’s also a racism / antisemitism problem in Italian football, particularly with Lazio who are almost famous for their right-wing support. It’s a travesty I’ve yet to visit but I wouldn’t ever go to Rome for football. It’s more hassle than it’s worth and a football trip in Florence (Feb 2015) wasn’t enough for Italian football to win me over.

Istanbul, Turkey
I really want to go to Istanbul, it looks like an incredible city and how many two-continent-cities can you visit? It’d be unique for that alone. It’s definitely on my bucketlist.

For football though? No. The Europa League could have seen us play either of Turkey’s two biggest clubs, Galatasary or Fenerbache, both based in Istanbul and both intimidating places to visit. There’s a little part of me that would be intrigued but I think a football match in Turkey is best left to experiencing as a neutral and better avoided as an English fan. More stories of violence and stabbings is enough to put me off. The city is a must visit but it’s another pass on the football front.

Krasnodar, Russia
I think prior to the World Cup success in the summer I would have been a bit more wary about visiting Russia for football. I still think Tottenham visiting Moscow would likely draw some unwanted attention but the only Russian team we would have been susceptible to playing would be based in a city called Krasnodar.

Honestly? I don’t know anything about the place. It’s a million miles away from Moscow and St Petersburg which are the two big cities I want to visit. I might have gone to this one though so it surprisingly ranks a little higher than Istanbul and Rome. What does go against it is that I don’t think it’d be an incredible atmosphere, very few of our fans would travel and I don’t know how easy it is to get a Russian visa in a rather quick turn-around period. I might have gone or I might have gambled on us progressing and getting something more appealing in the next round.

Kiev, Ukraine
An interesting one. A trip to Ukraine would have meant a game against Shakhtar Donetsk who unsurprisingly are from Donetsk. The problem is Donetsk is on the Russian border and is a bit of a warzone at the minute so they’ve been playing their games (for quite some time) in Kiev.

I want to go to Kiev and a year ago this was higher on my list but it seems tensions between Ukraine and Russia are running higher so it’s dropped a little bit. Unfortunately it seems like a bad time to be visiting the country. It’s a city that appeals more than Krasnodar so for that reason it ranks a little higher but I would have been in two minds about going.

IMAG6165 — A return to Greece and pretty sunsets? Tempting!

Piraeus, Greece
There’s a temptation to put this one a little higher. I had to google where in Greece this actually was and it’s on the outskirts of Athens so I’d probably base myself in Athens and make a trip to Piraeus purely for the game.

Athens is definitely a city I plan to visit and Greece in February would have been a perfect winter getaway and a bit of Greek sunshine. Much like the Istanbul fanatics though, the Greeks are known to be a little crazy and love to create an intimidating atmosphere. I don’t think there’d be any trouble over there, purely as most of the time would be spent in Athens but it wouldn’t be one of my first picks to visit for football. The reality is we’d likely win and I’d save my pennies for the following round.

Vienna, Austria
This is where it begins to get a bit trickier and the destinations start getting more appealing. I’m being a little harsh on Vienna here because I would like to go back, my only visit there was barely for 24 hours and I couldn’t speak any German so I feel like it’d be much more enjoyable this time round.

Additionally I’d have no concerns visiting for football. There are a lot of similarities to Germany (hopefully don’t offend the Austrians/Germans in saying that haha) and I think it would be quite an enjoyable experience for football.

The only reason this is so far down is because albeit a flying visit, I have visited and Austria is also pretty expensive. There’s a lot of other places that would be cheaper and I’d rather visit. I would have gone though and possibly squeezed in a return to Bratislava or Budapest at the same time.

Barysaw, Belarus
“Where?” I hear you ask. Football definitely aids my geography knowledge so I knew BATE Borisov play in Belarus but I honestly had no idea where in Belarus this was. The fact the team are referred to as Borisov and Google suggests they play in Barysaw also makes me unsure of how you even spell it in English. Does anyone know and want to correct me?

Nevertheless a quick search on Google suggests Barysaw/Borisov is about an hour away from the capital, Minsk, which you’ll hopefully have heard of at least.

It might seem weird to some that this is higher than Vienna but it’d just be cool to go somewhere completely different, somewhere I’ve never been and it’s a trip I could extend in to a few other nearby countries I’ve never been to either.

Rennes, France
I said French football has never had the biggest glamour about it in my eyes and Rennes aren’t one of France’s bigger football clubs either.

Nevertheless it’s such an easy trip to France that this would have been quite a fun away trip. It’s not a region of France I’ve previously been to but it’s a country I’m growing a fondness of and I’m keen to explore more of. Not having to fly is always a bonus and it’s close enough that we’d take a large number of fans too which would make for a fun atmosphere over the course of a few days in France.

It definitely would have been one to get me excited but sits bang in the middle at 8th of the 15 destinations. Seven to go!

Zurich, Switzerland
Switzerland is a country I have still yet to visit! It looks stunning and so does Zurich so it’s a city that has been on my radar for a while. I don’t really know what it’d be like for football, with the exception of FC Basel the Swiss clubs typically haven’t seen much success in European football recently so it isn’t somewhere I’d get overly excited about from a football perspective but it’d be a cracking trip.

Zurich is also close to a number of other cities and countries making it ideal to extend a trip and explore for a little longer. The chance to tick off a new country and see a game at the same time would have been highly appealing. It’d be expensive though so would have fallen short of my top 5 wishlist.

Malmo, Sweden
Another city that is on my radar already as a travel destination and another country that I’ve yet to visit. Malmo’s a bit of an anomaly though as I think this would probably be the only away trip that I’d look to fly to another COUNTRY and stay in another country.

Malmo is just across the bridge from Copenhagen, one side of the bridge is Denmark and the other side is Sweden! So it’s only about 30-40 minutes away I believe.

I’d really like to visit Copenhagen and it has always been on my mind to combine a Copenhagen/Malmo trip when I do, looking to spend a night or two in the latter.

From a footballing perspective it doesn’t overly excite me but I really want to go to Copenhagen so it would have been a game I’d have relished, albeit in a different country. Bizarre.

IMAG7421 — Easter Road, Edinburgh, Dec 2017

Glasgow, Scotland
“I really want a European away trip” – puts Scotland in to the top 5. Alright, so for this one I wouldn’t even have to leave this little island and it is a tiny bit anti-climatic to face another British side in Europe but it’d be a fun affair.

I’d like to return to Glasgow anyway, I went as a child but don’t remember much of it and it looks like an interesting city. I’d really really love to go to Celtic Park on a European night too – even if it was just as a neutral. It holds a reputation for one of the best atmospheres in Europe on a European night and the subplot of a Scotland v England affair would add a bit more spice to the occasion.

I think there would be inevitably some trouble in such a game but I think it would largely be a minority and for those that go looking for a scrap opposed to Glasgow being particularly unwelcoming. There’s no real bad blood between the two clubs and I think it’d be an interesting experience to play that at some point. Perhaps next season our paths will cross. A trip to Celtic (or Rangers) on a European night is definitely on my bucketlist though.

Lisbon, Portugal
A return to Lisbon? Yes please! I went to Lisbon for football in March 2014 and I’d love to have had the opportunity to go back. I have unfinished business with Lisbon, some of you may recall I pretty much spent three nights getting drunk in Lisbon (read me!), so I’d love to go back and see more of it.

It was one of the most hospitable places I’ve ever visited, the weather was a dream too and it’d attract a number of our fans making another great atmosphere. Additionally, last time I visited for a match against Lisbon based Benfica. This would have been a match against Sporting Lisbon so it would have been a new stadium visit too!

Plzen, Czech Republic
Alright, let me be completely honest. A European away trip is a great chance to see somewhere new and get a bit of culture and have an adventure but fundamentally it’s a trip that revolves around matchday. I’ll typically go for 3-4 days because matchday is a write-off. All you want is a good atmosphere, a sing song and a few beers with your mates.

So where better to enjoy that than perhaps one of the greatest countries to enjoy a beer? The Czech Republic is famous for its beer, so much so that the popular Pilsner beers unsurprisingly originate from a city called Pilsen (Plzen). Not that it’s all beer, it looks like a pretty city too and is somewhere I’d like to visit on my first trip to the Czech Republic.

The additional reason this makes my top three is that I’d extend the trip. I’d have a couple of days in Plzen and a couple of days in my dream destination Prague, a city I have been wanting to visit for so so long and somehow haven’t yet made it happen. It obviously won’t be for football anytime soon but the Czech Republic is definitely somewhere I’m thinking about for 2019.

Bruges, Belgium
Snap! If the Czech beers don’t take your fancy maybe you’ll have more luck with the Belgians who have many incredible beers of their own! I can’t say football and Bruges brings back happy memories, on my last visit to Bruges I ended up finding a bar to watch Tottenham lose 5-0 to Liverpool. The Belgian beers were a good way to console myself though.

This would be a hugely popular away trip for our fans, it’d be relatively cheap and it’s another of those trips that wouldn’t require flying to. I make it sound like I’m a nervous flyer, I’m not but there’s something more enjoyable about taking a train to travel somewhere.

I only spent a day in Bruges on my only visit, it’s a good amount of time to enjoy the city but I’d happily go back and see a little more of it. It’s a magical place and there’d be enough to do for a few days and other potential daytrips nearby such as Antwerp or wherever if I wanted a little escape. Had we been in the Europa League I think this is the one most of our fans would have been hoping for, however there’s one that just edges it for me which is..

Prague, Czech Republic
This is somewhere I keep meaning to visit and it just hasn’t quite happened for me yet. It’s cheap (ish, I imagine it’s getting pricier as its popularity grows), it’s beautiful, it has incredible beer, a highly-rated nightlife, plenty to do, plenty of history. Need I go on?

I’ve never been to the Czech Republic which gives it an edge over Bruges, it’d be another new country to watch football in and it’d surely prove to be a cracking atmosphere as I’ve no doubt it’d be a popular trip for our fans.

Additionally as much as I would dream of a European away trip as a child, for a long time a European home game was a novelty of its own. A home game against Slavia Prague in 2006 gave me my first real taste of any European football. It’d be nice to say I’ve seen us play them home and away.

Sadly Czech football isn’t of a high standard so a meeting is only ever likely to be in Europe’s secondary competition.

Anyway, that wraps things up. I’ll never understand fans that diminish the luxury of Europa League football, for some reason there’s a snobbish attitude that would see fans rather us have no European football than Europa League football. Of course the Champions League is where you want to be but if we’d lost on Tuesday night I wouldn’t have been too disappointed to find ourselves in tomorrow’s Europa League draw.

The irony is that, in many ways, this presented some better away trips than the ‘glamorous’ Champions League. I wanted to offer a comparison because it seemed daft that I was saying in my last post that I found the alternative a little underwhelming and anti-climatic.

So feel free to play along again. Fifteen destinations, which would you want to be visiting? Similarly you’ve now had the Champions League options and the Europa League options, which list is the more attractive in your eyes? The Western favourites of the Champions League or the variety of the Europa League? Let me know!

Next up on the blog: Georgia part two!

Stay tuned!

Jason

Part 3: Vienna

Two cities down, two to go! For those of you that haven’t already been following my 2014 Eurotrip let me catch you up! I was traveling to Salzburg (Austria) for romance, spending a weekend away in a stunning city with my favourite German.
However I had a bit of annual leave to use at work and figured I’d make the most of being in Europe, so extended my trip by a week to give me a chance to explore a little further.

I began my trip in Budapest, traveled onwards to Bratislava and here we are at part three of four. To get from Budapest to Salzburg I knew I’d have to travel through most of Austria so a stop in Vienna seemed rather inevitable.

I didn’t have high hopes for Vienna, that’s nothing against Vienna but it was more of a time issue. I had 24 hours in Vienna and I just didn’t feel like it was going to be long enough to enjoy it fully. I was right, I barely scratched the surface in Vienna. To emphasise my point, if I’d wanted to, I could have traveled from Bratislava to Vienna by boat rather than train. The river Danube flows through both cities (and Budapest) and yet I didn’t even see a river in Vienna – numerous puddles but no river.

So if you’re looking here for numerous tips and recommendations on Vienna you’re wasting your time. Nevertheless I wanted to make the most of the 24 hours I had in the city. If I could go home with some memories and a taste of life in Vienna I’d consider it a success.

I’d wanted to maximise my time in Vienna so it was rather unfortunate that I hit my first stumbling block pretty quickly. The first task of the day was to find my hostel for the night and that was easier said than done, my directions had only led me so far, I knew I was close but the hostel was nowhere in sight!
I was walking around back and forth in the rain and it must have been pretty noticeable that I was lost, an old woman approached me and asked if I needed any help.

That’s when I hit stumbling block number two – the language! I did need help but I didn’t speak any German. “No German at all?” she said with a wry smile. It didn’t take a mind-reader to know what she was thinking. She was helpful though and she’d soon put me on the right track. Luckily my room was ready early so I could quickly check in, drop my things off and start exploring the city.

I’d sadly missed the walking tour so I set off on a day of self-exploration and hoped for the best. Vienna’s public transportation makes it really easy to get around but it probably helps in knowing where you’re going. I had no plans whatsoever and as I walked in to the nearest U-Bahn (underground) station I realised I had to work out where I wanted to go. I hadn’t really done any prior research so I didn’t know where anything was!

St Stephen’s Cathedral is perhaps one of Vienna’s best known landmarks so I took an educated guess to visit a station called “Stephansplatz” in the hope that I’d wind up somewhere central, a guess that paid off! It was a good place to start exploring and my early impressions of Vienna were good. The only downside was the miserable weather so I opted to go and grab lunch somewhere in the hope the rain might stop.

I found a traditional Austrian restaurant, particularly keen to have my first proper Wiener Schnitzel – it’s a dish I’ve grown up eating at home but it felt a little more authentic eating it in Wien (Vienna) rather than anywhere else. I’m not sure why it isn’t more popular in the UK though, escalopes are pretty close I suppose but not quite as good!

Whilst I’d heard how expensive Austria is, what you don’t hear people say is that it’s balanced out a little with their portion sizes. It was delicious but I struggled finishing it, it did set me up nicely for a few hours of exploring at least.

Sadly there was no sign of the rain stopping but coming from England it wasn’t enough to deter me from exploring. I wandered the city by foot and I was left in awe of the city’s architecture, it is a stunning city. I couldn’t tell you what half of the buildings were but they were impressive nonetheless – every street you walk down has something to catch your eye.

One of the more interesting discoveries was what I can only assume were preparations for a film of some sort. There were tanks, army vehicles and helicopters just casually sat on a lawn in the heart of the city. It caught me by surprise a little and had me pondering what they might be filming.

Vienna10 — Bloody raindrops ruining all of my photos – haha!

My afternoon seemed to fly by as I wandered aimlessly for a few hours before eventually admitting defeat to the weather. I knew I’d have to return to Vienna one day, 24 hours was never going to be enough so why wander just for the sake of it? I grabbed some food and then ducked in to a bar in hope of catching the Spurs game back home.

No luck! For some reason they weren’t showing this particular game and I had to wait until the next morning to discover our fate – switching on the Wi-Fi to find a message from a friend along the lines of “Harry Kane in goal – LOL”. A disastrous message to wake up to without any context. Spurs had actually won comfortably courtesy of a Harry Kane hat-trick and the infamous Erik Lamela rabona goal – a real “I was there” moment (I wasn’t!).

Back to the bar.. I’m not a “pick up a girl at a bar” type of person but the upshot to not being able to watch Spurs was that I found myself stuck at the bar chatting to some local woman for the next hour. We talked about Vienna, travel, work and a number of other things. It was a nice way to end my evening and provided me with a memorable moment to take home with me.

We went our separate ways and I wound up going to bed via the hostel bar, I’d been given a free drink voucher when I checked in so it would have been rude not to. Perhaps surprisingly I did just have the one though as I was keen to head for Salzburg at a reasonable time the next day.

It would be easy to have considered Vienna a waste of time, I didn’t really see much and I can’t offer any genuine reasons for you to visit. I wish I’d had longer in Vienna and I wish the weather had been better too but let’s focus on the positives!

I knew beforehand my time was restricted so all I wanted from my day in Vienna was to leave with some good memories. I left having had a taste of the local cuisine, spent my evening with a local and got to see a small glimpse of what Vienna had to offer. Everything considered I’d call that a successful first visit, albeit a brief one.

It was a little bittersweet to be leaving Vienna so soon but Salzburg beckoned. I left on the Friday morning excited (and nervous) for the final part of this story.
The goodbye was made easier in the knowledge that I’d return someday.

If you’re planning on going to Vienna, go for longer than a day! I still feel like I have unfinished business with Vienna so it’s somewhere I have to go back to, fortunately I’ll do so with much more knowledge of the German language. On that note there’s only one thing left to say..

Bis bald Wien!

Jason

Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg – why?

In my last post I spoke about my plans for a 30 day trip to the USA this summer. Planning a multi-location trip takes a lot more work than a one-stop holiday and that’s certainly true with the US where there is an endless number of places to visit. Planning this trip has given me so much to think about to make it work, fortunately it’s not my first multi-destination trip and that takes us on to my next batch of posts!

My last destination post focused on my trip to Berlin! in August 2014. A couple of months later I was jetting off again! Back in October 2014 I embarked on my biggest adventure yet. Alright, it’s perhaps debatable as you could say Sydney was a bigger adventure but that was just one location to plan for. This trip would see me visit four cities across three countries in 10 days! A mini-European tour featuring Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Salzburg!

My next few posts will be dedicated to those four destinations so stay turned but first let me explain why these particular places as they’re perhaps surprising choices. I mean, does anyone really go to Bratislava?
“Haven’t you seen the films?!”

Spoiler: Bratislava is lovely. Go now!

BratislavaCastle — Bratislava castle – so recognisable!

Anyway, to explain why we have to start at the end of the trip! You might recall from my Lisbon (Mar 2014) and Barmouth (Apr 2014) posts that I was in a “long” distance relationship which was slowly coming to its conclusion.
Long distance relationships are tough, I seemed to spend half of my time traveling back and forth on trains (and bus replacements!) between Peterborough and Birmingham and at times it was a little draining.

It would have been easy to be put off of the idea of long distance after that experience but instead I went the opposite way and continued a cycle of falling for women further and further from home. I don’t think I limit myself to a “type” but you see movies and such glamourise the “girl next door” whereas my dating history is more like “girl 20,000 miles away”.

“Where are you from?”
“Peterborough”
“Bleurgh.. how about you?”
“Mars!”
“You’re fantastic, I’ll fall in love with you!”

It’s not that simplistic. I don’t do it purposely of course but nevertheless my dating history makes for comical reading. Things didn’t work out with Jasmine (Birmingham) and I’ve since become close to Nicole (Germany), Mella (Georgia, USA) and currently Haleigh (Washington State). Each subsequent relationship has resulted in me falling harder and typically being further away from home. Birmingham suddenly doesn’t seem so far away! Haha!

Anyway there’s a little background for you, now back to the story. Leading up to Berlin I was a little resigned to the fact that I felt something for Nicole, we’d been talking pretty much daily for a few weeks and we’d become pretty close in that time.

Berlin was probably the last trip I had where I was “off the grid”, no contact with anyone back home or in the South of Germany. If I’d had any doubts about long distance with a woman in Germany, spending 2-3 days of not talking quickly made it clear how I felt. There was no guarantee it was mutual or, even if it was, that long-distance was a good idea but I couldn’t keep my feelings to myself any longer and had to say something! Fortunately the feelings were mutual.

Talk quickly developed in to actually meeting up and spending a little time together to see if the spark between us worked as well in person.
One of the things we had particularly bonded over was our taste in music which meant we talked about possibly going to a gig together. We kept our eyes peeled for any bands touring and soon found a band touring Europe that we both liked.

We browsed through the tour dates and Salzburg (Austria) stood out as one of the best options. It was a weekend gig which suited both of our schedules perfectly and it meant that we both got a little adventure out of the country!

So that covers why I went to Salzburg! Why did it end up being a multi-city trip and why these particular destinations?

I was excited for a weekend together in a country I’d yet to visit, however I also had a decent bit of annual time left to use at work and we were approaching the end of the year so I had to use it up pretty soon!
Whilst Nicole’s schedule was less flexible there was nothing stopping me exploring solo for a little longer before winding up in Salzburg, so that’s what I did and I extended my trip a week!

I booked a one way flight home from Salzburg and just had to figure out where I was going to start and how I was going to get to Salzburg.
I knew Salzburg was somewhere near Germany and in Austria but as it was somewhere I hadn’t been to I couldn’t really visualise exactly where it was in Europe. I figured once I knew where Salzburg was that I could then narrow down my starting points.

The problem with Salzburg in particular is it seems to be, smack, bang, in the middle of Europe. Take Amsterdam for instance – unless you fly you can only attack it from Belgium or Germany which helps the planning process if that’s where you want to end up. As I looked at Salzburg on a map I realised there were places I would happily visit North, South, East and West of the city – having one location on the itinerary was of little help.

It also didn’t help that, at the time, I hadn’t seen an awful lot of Europe. As far as mainland Europe was concerned I’d only really been to Köln, Brussels, Bruges and Lisbon which were all too far away to have been realistic starting points on a 9/10 day Eurotrip anyway. It was back to the drawing board.

As I planned out the various routes, costs and attractiveness to each place I kept leaning towards Budapest – I feel like in the four years since I visited that Budapest has boomed but at the time it wasn’t somewhere I’d seen much of, nor did I knew anyone who had been. Nevertheless I stuck a pin in Budapest and had my starting point.

Budapest5 — Overlooking the Danube River in Budapest

Budapest to Salzburg! That cut down the possible routes and I figured I’d have to travel through most of Austria to get to Salzburg so one obvious destination that sprung out was Vienna. All that was left to decide was whether I keep it at a 3 city trip or 4. If four, would it be between Budapest and Vienna or between Vienna and Salzburg.

Costs played a part, Austria was expensive so squeezing in a third Austrian city was going to make it a much more expensive trip. Between Budapest and Vienna was another small country (Slovakia) and another capital city, Bratislava.

Bratislava is often overlooked in favour of its illustrious neighbours Vienna, Budapest and Prague. I’d only heard bad things about Bratislava which is sad and I imagine can only be from people who’ve never actually visited. It did put a little doubt in my mind but what swayed me was the fact that it was super cheap! Two nights in Bratislava plus an extra train journey still worked out to be cheaper than a night in Vienna so I gambled and slotted it in to the itinerary.

This was my final itinerary and thoughts if you were considering doing similar.

3 nights in Budapest – not long enough. I would recommend 5 days.
2 nights in Bratislava – just right. Doable as a day trip if you’re traveling onwards but I would personally recommend staying overnight. I loved Bratislava’s charm and it has a good nightlife too.
1 night in Vienna – impossible. You can’t do Vienna in a day. A city I’ll have to return to.
3 nights in Salzburg – good weekend trip. I would personally recommend 2 nights.

Personally I have no regrets, as much as I would have liked an extra night in Budapest/Vienna I wouldn’t have wanted to sacrifice a night elsewhere.

Anyway, that is how my October 2014 trip came together. In my next four posts I will be going in to much more depth about experience in all four cities and my quest for love!

Stay tuned!

Jason