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Hey guys!
I'll be going to London, Vienna, and Prague. The whole trip will be for two weeks but the majority of my time ill be spent in Prague.
For any of you that live in these locations or have visited,I have a few questions.
What should I stay away from? What dangers exist for an innocent little tourist such as myself? What can I not afford to miss? Where should I eat? What great things can I expect?
Is the weather really all that cold? From everything I could gather on the internet it seems like it's 60's(F) during the day and 40's(F) at night. Is this true?
Thanks for any help!
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there is a lot of crime in london such as shootings and stabbings just watch ya self
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On June 02 2010 07:42 Iamgrunt wrote: there is a lot of crime in london such as shootings and stabbings just watch ya self ya man you gotta be careful dont talk to strangers
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yeah...coming from the USA...im sure he has never seen these things.
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London's just generally a nice place to hang out even if you dont have a tightly knit itinerary. But avoid spending any money on food and drinks near the tourist spots.
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On June 02 2010 07:42 Iamgrunt wrote: there is a lot of crime in london such as shootings and stabbings just watch ya self You may hear about it in the news all the time but the actual chances that he will be stabbed/shot/robbed or anything are still incredibly low.
On June 02 2010 07:40 statix wrote: Is the weather really all that cold? From everything I could gather on the internet it seems like it's 60's(F) during the day and 40's(F) at night. Is this true? Since it's summer the weather will be fine, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, even in London.
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United States24493 Posts
Oh it sounds like an awesome trip. Why are you going? Who with? Etc.
How did you decide on this itinerary? How are you traveling from one to another? Sorry for all the questions but curious.
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At the moment the weather is shit here, it's not really cold but it's pouring a lot and looks like it will continue like that for a while.
Stay away from outer districts (>10) because most of them are plain boring. Most of the stuff you'll want to see is in the inner city (districts 1-9).
No dangers unless you go out of your way and look for trouble I guess.
Do not miss ... well I can't think of anything right now. I might edit this.
The best burger (imo) in town is served at 1516, a brewery/pub. Get the 1516 beef burger. Other than that, if you don't mind spending 5€ on a slice of cake you should get one at Hotel Sacher next to the opera
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In Prague, there were three restaurants that I visited that I thought were pretty good. Unfortunately I only remember the names of two of them.
Sadlu - This decor of this place looks like something between a dungeon and a medieval castle armory, which is a plus in my book. All the varieties of meat that I ate here were good. Also they had good potato pancakes. Kozicka - I don't remember much about this place except it also had good food and good beer (maybe I had too much?).
General tip: Avoid tourist areas when looking for places to eat/drink. You'll often see prices that are 2-3x higher for the exact same glass of beer.
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On June 02 2010 08:33 Slithe wrote: ... Prague ... Avoid tourist areas ... You'll often see prices that are 2-3x higher for the exact same glass of beer.
- Which still isn't too much by western standards, wouldn't be too afraid about that. But if you have what it takes to order from waiters who know less than 10 words in english (50:50 chance), you can have a great meal for $5 anywhere outside of the tourist areas, that's for sure.
The thing you should be aware of are the taxi cabs in Prague, which may try to pull some 4-5x the standard amount of money from you (may also happen in London, never in Vienna), and bear in mind that gas costs twice as much in Europe so avoid them if you can. Also you don't need no car rentals or such things, you can get everywhere by public transport.
Learn to use the subway system in Prague, it's the cheapest and quickest way to get around. Just spend 10 minutes at an information center near any airport or bus/railway station and they'll explain the things about which ticket is best for you. It's nowhere near as expensive as in London.
About the weather, it sure sucks now, but there is a chance that next week it will be 65-75F or more during the day which should be normal in june, you just have to be lucky.
Oh and beware of the chicks, there is a strange rumor going around Europe that czech and slovak girls seem very appealing for foreigners. Dunno what they see on them..
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I gotta say you picked 3 amazing cities. The general feel of all of them is just great. I don't have any particular thing you need to visit. I actually just went to Prague the best parts of it are the bridge, the castle/cathedral, Mustek and old town square. Even though those are great they are not like must-see either because Prague is just awesome in itself. Walking through it enjoying the average building is what gives you the best feel of Prague.
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London is awesome, go see a play! (lady in black)
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On June 02 2010 09:16 antiq wrote:Show nested quote +On June 02 2010 08:33 Slithe wrote: ... Prague ... Avoid tourist areas ... You'll often see prices that are 2-3x higher for the exact same glass of beer. - Which still isn't too much by western standards, wouldn't be too afraid about that. But if you have what it takes to order from waiters who know less than 10 words in english (50:50 chance), you can have a great meal for $5 anywhere outside of the tourist areas, that's for sure.
Yeah it's not too bad in Prague. My tip was just general travel advice. However, even in Prague the prices in some places seem to be going up a bit, so it's still worth taking a first look at the prices before walking into a place.
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On June 02 2010 08:10 micronesia wrote: Oh it sounds like an awesome trip. Why are you going? Who with? Etc.
How did you decide on this itinerary? How are you traveling from one to another? Sorry for all the questions but curious.
I’m going with my parents and some friends of the family and we’ll be traveling to London by plane(obviously), to Vienna by train (i think?) and to Prague by plane . Honestly I had no input in where we were going, I’m simply tagging along with the previously mentioned people. I plan to venture off on my own throughout the day though which should be a fun experience.
On June 02 2010 08:33 fanta[Rn] wrote: At the moment the weather is shit here, it's not really cold but it's pouring a lot and looks like it will continue like that for a while.
I guess I should pack an umbrella then.
On June 02 2010 08:33 Slithe wrote: General tip: Avoid tourist areas when looking for places to eat/drink. You'll often see prices that are 2-3x higher for the exact same glass of beer.
Great tip. I more than likely would have just assumed that prices were similar everywhere.
On June 02 2010 09:16 antiq wrote: Also you don't need no car rentals or such things, you can get everywhere by public transport. .
Cool, I was planning on renting a car but the subway sounds like the better choice.
On June 02 2010 09:27 Liquid`Nazgul wrote: I gotta say you picked 3 amazing cities. The general feel of all of them is just great. I don't have any particular thing you need to visit. I actually just went to Prague the best parts of it are the bridge, the castle/cathedral, Mustek and old town square. Even though those are great they are not like must-see either because Prague is just awesome in itself. Walking through it enjoying the average building is what gives you the best feel of Prague.
Awesome :D I’ll be sure to post as many pics as I can of the trip. Thanks for all the replies so far
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Public transport system in Vienna is also top, especially the subway is very easy to use. There's trains called 'Schnellbahn' which are also very useful, though you have to look out where they're going. Best to ask if the incoming train holds at X where X is your destination.
Don't forget to buy tickets, ask at the information center which type suits you best. Even though you don't need a ticket to board anything, sometimes they're checking tickets and if they catch you it's a 70€ fee.
Like Nazgul said, walking around is probably giving you the best impressions of those cities. In Vienna's first district there's a street shaped like a ring, it's even called the ring. All the important buildings are set up around there (parliment, city hall, opera, etc.). Very worth checking them out, beautiful especially at night.
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On June 02 2010 08:33 fanta[Rn] wrote:At the moment the weather is shit here, it's not really cold but it's pouring a lot and looks like it will continue like that for a while. Stay away from outer districts (>10) because most of them are plain boring. Most of the stuff you'll want to see is in the inner city (districts 1-9). No dangers unless you go out of your way and look for trouble I guess. Do not miss ... well I can't think of anything right now. I might edit this. The best burger (imo) in town is served at 1516, a brewery/pub. Get the 1516 beef burger. Other than that, if you don't mind spending 5€ on a slice of cake you should get one at Hotel Sacher next to the opera
Eating burgers in Vienna is nearly concidered a crime
Inner districts have quite a high density of sights, but some things of the outer districts you shouldn't miss: 18, 19 are recommened for so called "Heuriger". Kind of a winery with plain food. 13 Schloss Schönbrunn etc
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Did you ever eat a 1516 beef burger? It's beyond delicious dude, go there. I command!
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The tube gets you everywhere in London
get on one of the studentcity (or whatever it kind of forget the name) 'free' tours. No fee. You tip as much as you want. they have them for a bunch of things. You can easily cover most of the site seeing stuff with this.
if you're staying in hostels, review them first. Some are total shit. Others are pretty tight
I made the mistake of assuming that all London has all their pubs open all the time. Pubs are like the local joints, and they all closed early (I was at the London Eye Hostel, which blows, was expensive and dirty as shit, and the entire area shuts down early if you're trying to party at night). The pubs are cool for the day though.
If you want to go out, SoHo is like the big party area. Somewhat expensive though, so make sure you pregame a tad.
The Clink was a pretty cool hostel and within walking distance of the big Eurorail station. It was an old jailhouse/court that's been renovated. Has a nice little downstairs bar as well.
can't help you with prague and vienna, but prague is supposed to be amazing. hf!
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