Miss Marple Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 DS is in England at school for the year. He will have several weeks off in March. He and 2 other students (male and female) will be traveling to see the sites. The young lady is from the US (as is my son) and the other fella is from Canada. They are interested in traveling to Budapest and Prague. In addition they are going to Venice and Frankfurt (where they will stay with another student) and Berlin(?). I'm not sure why they want to go to Berlin - is there really much to do or see there? These kids are not drinkers or party kids. They prefer to hike and see sites and eat the local cuisine. And for some reason Budapest seems a bit out there to me. Maybe I've read too many mystery novels LOL. I can imagine it is a treasure trove of sites, but how safe is it? I've gone to the State Department website and reviewed each of these cities. Berlin is probably the scariest according to the site. I will say, too, that this son is not necessarily the most cautious of my boys. He is an Eagle Scout but that might not help if he is confronted by police or any anti-US people. Any ideas? Any thoughts? I will be talking with him on the phone tonight. I would rather they go to fewer places and spend more time, but at this point I'm not sure how long they plan to travel. So I'll have a little more information tonight, hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 It does seem like they are trying to cover a lot of ground in one trip. To me, Berlin did not seem any more or less dangerous than any other big, European city. The museums are fantastic and the metro system is easy. The architecture in Prague is breathtaking. My concern about Venice would be the cost. It can be crazy-expensive. ETA: I would be fine with my older boys traveling with friends to any of the above. I have no input on hiking or Budapest :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Prague is beautiful and definitely worth the trip. If they are traveling to Prague, I would highly recommend that they stop at Dresden (the train from Berlin to Prague and Budapest stops there). One of the most beautiful German cities, 800 years old, on a river, castles and cathedrals and a fabulous sky line. Capital of Saxony and used to be residence of the Saxon king. Even a few hours would be worth it. I'll be happy to give him more info on must see things. (To me, it beats Berlin by a wide margin. But I would not consider Berlin "scary" at all.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Because my daughter was at that same school with the same break last year, I'll tell you where she went! They started out in Barcelona (over Easter), and LOVED it there. (And loved the warm weather.) They found that renting an apt. together was even cheaper than staying at a hostel, but then again, there were about 6 of them. I can't remember what order they did things in after that, but they went to Marrakech, Morocco; Istanbul, Turkey; Budapest, Hungary; Sophia, Bulgaria. I'd imagine they did Spain and Morocco together, and then took a cheap flight (Ryanair or similar) to Istanbul, and then trained from Istanbul through Sophia to Budapest. Budapest is really lovely; we went there as a family about 6 years ago and rented an apartment for a couple weeks. We felt very safe. We especially enjoyed the "Pest" side -- not as touristy. My daughter and her friends spent 5-6 days in Barcelona; 5 days in Morocco; 3 days in Istanbul; 1 day in Sophia; and 3 or so days in Budapest. It was a whirlwind trip and probably not the way I would have done it! ha, but they loved it. They loved starting out in Barcelona and just relaxing there before taking off for the more adventurous places. Barcelona was the most expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nine Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Ds24 has backpacked in Europe twice within the last 5 years. According to him, Budapest is beautiful, cheap, and a hotspot for young backpackers. The first time he went to Europe, they had no plans to go to Budapest, but the kids in the hostels all raved about it and couldn't believe that anyone would spend more than a month in Europe and not see Budapest. Berlin is worth checking out, especially if he's into history at all. One of Ds's favorite things about Berlin was taking a bike tour that showed them all the historical sites, then going back and visiting the ones that seemed the most interesting. He also loved the museums he had a chance to visit, especially the Neues, Pergamon and Jewish Museums. He's not a partier, but he enjoyed hanging out in the biergartens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wewelsburg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Prague is my favorite European city. I would totally skip Frankfurt. It is business and skyscrapers, you can see those at home. . I would also go to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Even by European standards the architecture is old. The museum there is in my top-10. I think it used to be called the Punishment Museum. They have a collection of public shaming devices. There must have been a serious problem with bickering women. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel TX Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Budapest is not scary or unsafe. It's lovely, but I prefer Prague if I had to choose between the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted February 18, 2014 Author Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thank you all for making me feel better about all of this :) I've forwarded your suggestions on to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Berlin was great. We were there in Nov of 2004. The museums are fabulous. The whole history of the place is interesting. The zoo is very nice. Dresden was beautiful We only were there for a few hours and I wish to go back sometime. Budapest was great too and we only for about 1.5 days so yes, we intend to go back sometime. Venice is one of my most favorite cities. Frankfurt was okay but nothing really special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8circles Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Just commenting to say that Prague and Budapest are great choices. Also second the rec for Dresden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.