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Hey looking for advice on where to stay in Switzerland in June for some easy to intermediate hiking. I've read a lot of pages suggesting the Bernese Oberland area, specifically Murren, Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen. I'm wondering which places are best for ease of access to a variety of trails(as in, not the same view over and over). I don't care about it being crowded or touristy, just looking for whatever facilitates hiking the best.
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May 1, 2019 09:57
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bones 4 beginners posted:Hey looking for advice on where to stay in Switzerland in June for some easy to intermediate hiking. I've read a lot of pages suggesting the Bernese Oberland area, specifically Murren, Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen. I'm wondering which places are best for ease of access to a variety of trails(as in, not the same view over and over). I don't care about it being crowded or touristy, just looking for whatever facilitates hiking the best. That area is great. I stayed in Wengen which was really nice but as it was partway up one mountain, to get to other mountains for other trails I had to go down to the valley and then often get two (albeit short) other trains/gondolas. Somewhere in the valley like Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald might be better, the latter being busier from what I can remember. Bear in mind that in early June some higher trails may be closed due to snow - I went early/mid June and the Eiger trail (which I really wanted to do) was shut. Otherwise it was fantastic, it wasn’t overly busy on the trails and the weather was great, plus all the alpine flowers were out.
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May 1, 2019 10:17
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bones 4 beginners posted:Hey looking for advice on where to stay in Switzerland in June for some easy to intermediate hiking. I've read a lot of pages suggesting the Bernese Oberland area, specifically Murren, Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen. I'm wondering which places are best for ease of access to a variety of trails(as in, not the same view over and over). I don't care about it being crowded or touristy, just looking for whatever facilitates hiking the best. The Bernese Oberland is definitely a great place for lots of hiking variety and a lot of not too difficult trails. Hiking is Switzerland is really well marked, with detailed reference maps available everywhere that correspond to trail markings or you can just download the free app and use your phone to figure out the routes (paying will let you download sections for offline use and also plan your own routes on a PC and then open them on your phone). I don't know why Lauterbrunnen is so popular, it's got a lot of waterfalls I guess but it's really just a deep valley. Murren is in the same valley and Grindelwald is nearby, so if you really want variety I'd suggest staying closer to the train lines so you can get to really different areas each day. Interlaken is kind of the obvious choice, but it's really a tourist hell. Every time we go through and think about getting something to eat, we just get some fries at the station and leave because the restaurants are so insanely overpriced even by Swiss standards. I think Thun or Spiez are nicer to stay in and have more character and are more affordable. You'll have to pay more for your train tickets though so you'll have to balance that out. Unless you're renting a car, but that's not really necessary as one-way hikes are great and there are plenty of transport options from everywhere. Download the SBB app and you can just book whatever you need while you wait. The Swiss travel pass isn't really good value unless you want to spend the whole day on the train, but the half-fare card will probably treat you right. There are plenty of hikes around Lake Thun and Brienz and into the valleys there, but another area that's well worth exploring is around Luzern. Klewenalp is one of our favourite hikes: take the gondola up, enjoy the views, walk around to lunch at a mountain hut and then either back to the gondola or all the way down on foot. The train from Interlaken is pretty scenic too, make sure you take the panorama train with the giant windows (just ask in the station when it is) and sit on the right-hand side when you leave Interlaken-Ost.
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May 1, 2019 23:06
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How many days are you staying, b4b? For 3 days you can easily spend all of those in the Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen valleys and enjoy it -- like one day go up to Schilthorn and the underground Trummelbach waterfalls, one day hiking up to First, then maybe a half day going up Jungfrau and a half day doing uh... something else in the area, maybe just sitting somewhere enjoying the views. Also even by the end of June it will be too snowy to hike above about 2500m, and there will still be a fair amount of snow between like 2000-2500m and you'll want waterproof boots if you hike anything in that range and beyond that it might even be snowy rather than icy. You will need hiking poles above ±2200m to steady yourself in snow at that time of year. One other hike in that general area that is one of my favorites: the hike to the Triftbrücke, near Gadmen. If you're staying more than 4 days then I'd suggest repositioning yourself somewhere else so that you don't have to spend so much time and money on trains, for instance spending 3 days in the Grindelwald area, and then 2 days in Brunnen on Lake Luzern. Rigi Hochflue, Niederbauen Chulm, and Grosser Mythen are all fantastic relatively easy hikes. Like 99% of all hikes in Switzerland can be done easily by public transport, at least in June when the postautos are all running. I would also not recommend renting a car unless you really enjoy driving and want specifically to do mountain driving as part of your experience. Also you will want to buy the half-price fair card (halbtax / demi tarif) as this will pay for itself incredibly quickly even though you need to buy a full year's pass. (Edit: Good god, it's 185 CHF now? Well, anyway it will still pay for itself, especially if you go up Jungfrau) Saladman fucked around with this message at 06:47 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 06:44
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Tips for Belgium in May? We've got three weeks, and are going by car, via Germany/Luxembourg, so targets off the beaten track are possible. We're interested in historical sites, museums and anything culinary. Cornerstones of the trip are gonna be the main cities in Flanders and Brussels, with stuff on the way thrown in. Tips for Wallonia would be especially appreciated.
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May 2, 2019 14:56
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Barbelith posted:Tips for Belgium in May? We've got three weeks, and are going by car, via Germany/Luxembourg, so targets off the beaten track are possible. We're interested in historical sites, museums and anything culinary. Cornerstones of the trip are gonna be the main cities in Flanders and Brussels, with stuff on the way thrown in. Tips for Wallonia would be especially appreciated. The Eifel region is fairl pretty and well off the beaten path but more or less on your way. Unfortunately Zee Germahns are snitty about Google Street View and I can't remember which specific villages are particularly stunning as I haven't been there in years and didn't drive myself, but you can probably find it out especially if you know and can search in German for tips. Luxembourg also has a bunch of cool things off the beaten path like Little Switzerland (e.g. including Beaufort, Echternacht) since foreign tourists never go anywhere except Luxembourg City to see the Vauban fortifications and check a country off their list. Depending on your route, the eponymous Schengen is also in southeast Luxembourg on the border with Germany and France. Trier is also kind of neat although I wouldn't go very far out of my way to visit it. The Flanders countryside is not especially beautiful or interesting, but I guess you're there for Bruges, the trappist breweries, and Antwerp. Ostend and the beaches in the area are, as you might imagine, not noteworthy even though Belgians seem to think they're great. No idea about Wallonia, I've never really been around there except a couple times when driving between Brussels and Luxembourg City. I'm sure there are nice places to stop, but the main road is not scenic at all; it's a boring 3 hour drive that would fit right in with driving from like Iowa to South Dakota.
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May 2, 2019 16:41
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There's nothing much to see in the town Schengen. A monument with flags but that's about it. In Wallonia there's the citadel on the cliff in Dinant and the famous caves of Han. Also, if you like nature you could hike or bike in the Ardennes, a large foresty hilly area.
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May 2, 2019 17:34
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Heading to Belgium in a week or so, spending a few nights each in Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent. Any recommendations for good restaurants, quirky museums, quiet bars, etc.?
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May 2, 2019 22:07
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The Ardennes in Wallonia are similar to the Eifel and quite lovely. The Haute Fagnes (a highland swamp) is an interesting area for walking around in, and it's not far from the Eifel national park and from Spa. On the German side I remember hearing good things about Stadtkyll and this area but I was only there as a kid so I don't really remember. All this is mostly for nature/hiking stuff though. Difficult to come up with an interesting German town that's really in the Eifel - perhaps Gerolstein is the place for that. I only passed through there by train but there was a bit of snow on the ground and it looked really pretty. Trier is more interesting, a larger town from Roman times, but doesn't really count as being in the Eifel. Also seconding Little Switzerland / the northeastern Luxembourg border road, and Dinant in Wallonia. Thuin, south of Charleroi, is also a really pretty old town in Wallonia, partly situated on a hill. Near there is also Chimay, which gets bonus points for having good beer. These are all small places though, I don't think the larger cities in Wallonia are very interesting. Beer nerd heaven is the Zenne valley southwest of Brussels, though that's still barely Flanders. Saladman posted:No idea about Wallonia, I've never really been around there except a couple times when driving between Brussels and Luxembourg City. I'm sure there are nice places to stop, but the main road is not scenic at all; it's a boring 3 hour drive that would fit right in with driving from like Iowa to South Dakota. Entropist fucked around with this message at 22:43 on May 2, 2019 |
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May 2, 2019 22:35
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Barbelith posted:Tips for Belgium in May? We've got three weeks, and are going by car, via Germany/Luxembourg, so targets off the beaten track are possible. We're interested in historical sites, museums and anything culinary. Cornerstones of the trip are gonna be the main cities in Flanders and Brussels, with stuff on the way thrown in. Tips for Wallonia would be especially appreciated. Dunno if it’s your thing but last time I was in Flanders (Ypres/Poperinge area, around Abbey Saint Sixtus in particular), I noticed that it had pretty well established bike tracks along the roads/through the farmland/around the Trappist abbeys/etc. and using them seems like a popular pastime there. I reckon hiring some bikes, throwing them in/on the car and using the bike tracks to explore the countryside and visit some of the war memorials would make for a good day or two if the weather suits. The advantage of a car is you can drive to an area, then ride around it before driving home/to another area. It’s all completely flat too so it’s not as if it has to be particularly strenuous either. Like, Tyne Cot war memorial at Passchendaele, on THE hill over which they fought, is at 53 metres altitude according to my car GPS when I parked there. I’ve done precisely no research into this idea, but it’s always been at the back of my mind. I’m sure you could apply this idea to most of the Belgian/Dutch countryside too, what with how flat it is and how popular cycling is there.
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May 3, 2019 02:17
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dennyk posted:Heading to Belgium in a week or so, spending a few nights each in Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent. Any recommendations for good restaurants, quirky museums, quiet bars, etc.? In terms of bars, I enjoyed Moeder Lambic in Brussels, and for Ghent, Het Waterhuis in the daytime and Cafe den Turk in the evening. I also liked the Design Museum in Ghent, but that's mainly on the strength of the temporary exhibition they had at the time.
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May 3, 2019 02:21
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dennyk posted:Heading to Belgium in a week or so, spending a few nights each in Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent. Any recommendations for good restaurants, quirky museums, quiet bars, etc.? I’m a craft beer wanker but this may be of use to you: https://goo.gl/maps/okYypy4NdtzqnhG38 It’s my travel map where I throw poo poo I find interesting. It’s got some bars in Brussels and Bruges from when I visited a few years ago. I haven’t necessarily visited all of them, but if I do I try to throw some notes on the marker. It spawned out of a previous trip I did where I basically just visited breweries and bars for a month hence the overwhelming bias towards those. In Bruges: The Monk was pretty chill. I didn’t get to do it, but De Halve Maan brewery is apparently a good tour and their beer is fantastic. In Brussels: Moeder Lambic is incredible. Cantillon is the gold standard for sour/acidic beers and you can visit the brewery to drink there, though it’s also super popular so can be busy. Gaasbeek Castle, about 20-30 mins drive out of the CBD, is pretty cool and has nice gardens. I enjoyed wandering through it for a few hours one afternoon.
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May 3, 2019 02:36
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Nam Taf posted:I’m a craft beer wanker but this may be of use to you: Why didn't I ever think of making something like this?
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May 3, 2019 06:52
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Yeh I had a car for 30 days and drove from Geneva to Paris via the Alsace, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. I booked B&B’s either day of or the day before and just chose where to go based on recommendations and impulse. Worked out well, albeit relatively expensive. Before I left for it, I went through ratebeer and grabbed the top 10 or so breweries in each country plus added some of my favourites, and that’s what started it all.
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May 3, 2019 07:54
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Nam Taf posted:I’m a craft beer wanker but this may be of use to you: Awesome stuff, thanks man. I'm a craft beer wanker myself and absolutely love Belgian beers of all sorts, so this will be very handy.
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May 3, 2019 11:41
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Why are British beds so short. Every airbnb I've stayed in had a tiny rear end bed where my feet would stick out, I'm not even ridiculously tall.
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May 4, 2019 00:43
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Wait until you find out why they all have a plastic laundry tub in the kitchen sink
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May 4, 2019 02:00
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When I went to Scotland a couple years ago, in every B&B/hotel room, all the electrical sockets were hidden behind furniture and used for lamps and such. To recharge my phone I literally had to move over cabinets and unplug desk lamps. I still don't know what that was about.
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May 4, 2019 06:47
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I have to do that surprisingly frequently in hotels all around the world. They seem to build rooms as if they’re permanent residences rather than transient hotel rooms, so the implicit assumptions are that the occupier plugs stuff in and never moves it.
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May 4, 2019 07:02
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Shibawanko posted:Why are British beds so short. Every airbnb I've stayed in had a tiny rear end bed where my feet would stick out, I'm not even ridiculously tall. You just prompted me to look up standard mattress sizes in the US vs UK/Europe and while the US has longer Double/King/Queen mattresses, your singles are actually shorter. It's always puzzled me that mattresses aren't longer - I'm definitely not tall (5 ft 7) and with pillows and lying full length with my feet pointing downwards, my toes usually reach the end of the mattress or beyond, which tends to get bloody cold in winter  How do actual tall people not have chronically frozen feet?
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May 4, 2019 08:53
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Pookah posted:You just prompted me to look up standard mattress sizes in the US vs UK/Europe and while the US has longer Double/King/Queen mattresses, your singles are actually shorter. It's always puzzled me that mattresses aren't longer - I'm definitely not tall (5 ft 7) and with pillows and lying full length with my feet pointing downwards, my toes usually reach the end of the mattress or beyond, which tends to get bloody cold in winter Yeah I'm 185cm and my feet stick out of all of them. It's a good thing I like to be cold during the night but it's not very comfortable regardless. My bed in Holland is something like 220cm long. The idea is that you should have a margin for error in which you can move around your bed at night. British beds feel like sleeping in a birdcage
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May 4, 2019 11:16
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Carbon dioxide posted:When I went to Scotland a couple years ago, in every B&B/hotel room, all the electrical sockets were hidden behind furniture and used for lamps and such. To recharge my phone I literally had to move over cabinets and unplug desk lamps. I still don't know what that was about.
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May 4, 2019 13:03
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Any advice for eating as a group of 5 in Paris? I assume we are going to need reservations for most places?
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May 4, 2019 23:58
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Pascallion posted:Any advice for eating as a group of 5 in Paris? I assume we are going to need reservations for most places? You mean like for restaurants? No, you’ll be able to pretty much walk in anywhere as long as it’s not super popular and at 7pm or lunchtime in a businessy area. If you really care then just call half an hour before you go or be prepared to wait a little (or cram into a table made for 4). For an Airbnb yeah you’ll want to book that in advance as 3 hotel rooms for 5 people is going to be twice the price of an Airbnb for five, and équivalent in price to getting a lovely hostel for five. If you mean for other stuff like bars, museums, cafes, then also no you can just walk in whenever you want.
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May 5, 2019 00:08
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Keep in mind french restaurants are only open from about 11:45 AM to 2 PM, close down during the afternoon and then open again from 7 PM to roughly 10:30 PM (or midnight for some places).
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May 5, 2019 09:16
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has anyone spent ramadan in istanbul? I just got here and realized that poo poo, tomorrow starts ramadan. was planning on being here for a few weeks at least lol. are my only restaurant options during the day going to be tourist stuff? or should i just convert to islam and take up fasting
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May 5, 2019 15:04
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I haven't been there but I think you're underestimating how secularized Turkey or especially Istanbul are. Only now it's being reverted a bit by Erdogan.
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May 5, 2019 15:07
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Sheng-Ji Yang posted:has anyone spent ramadan in istanbul? I just got here and realized that poo poo, tomorrow starts ramadan. was planning on being here for a few weeks at least lol. are my only restaurant options during the day going to be tourist stuff? or should i just convert to islam and take up fasting If you go to like the poorer / religious districts yeah, but if you're in like the parts of Istanbul a tourist or wealthy Turk would normally go to, then no, things will just be a little quieter at lunch and then way busier at sunset. Also more stuff will be going on in the evenings, which will be fun. Many shops in the Grand Bazaar and other self-owned businesses will likely have reduced hours in the afternoon, but have increased hours later in the evening.
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May 5, 2019 17:57
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Yeah join them on iftars, people are amazingly nicer and more receptive to everyone during Ramadan as long as it's iftar time. Most Muslims I know actually might get fatter during Ramadan because they just go insane on iftars. I dont know if it's worth staying for weeks though, unless you know someone there. Do a road trip through turkey, and bring food with you. Also yes, in the European side the Muslim ratio is lower.
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May 5, 2019 19:02
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Oh, wait -weeks-? Are you learning Turkish or taking a course in something? Otherwise that’s a lot of time to spend in Istanbul when you could do a pretty good tour of like the entire country in a few weeks, or at least the Aegean/Med coastline and environs. Also getting invited to a legit iftar seems pretty hard unless you have a local friend or are good at schmoozing with strangers. I don’t think normally people would be randomly invited to someone’s home. My wife is Arab-muslim and we’ve lived in two Arab countries and while iftar isn’t nearly as fsmily-centric as Thanksgiving or Seder (since it’s every night for a month) it’s still focused pretty strongly on family and friends and iftar is usually taken in people’s homes, although some restaurants will do special iftar meals too (assuming Turks do it more or less the same way as people in North Africa). That said if you do spend weeks in Istanbul you will certainly meet people and be invited to an iftar and you should go. If you are traveling around and staying in hotels, then it seems a bit less likely although still could be cool if it does happen.
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May 5, 2019 22:29
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I work online and so prefer to travel slowly, and I like big cities and history so Istanbul is pretty ideal. I will definitely be going around more of Turkey after here. And yeah, talked to a Turkish friend and he concurred with yall that it won't be a problem or anything, but actually rather cool in the evenings. So yay.
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May 5, 2019 23:58
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FWIW I'm leaving for Egypt in five days for three weeks and we plan on basically fasting during the day since we'll basically feel like dicks for eating and drinking around people who can't. I find it's not really that hard if you have a big breakfast; I basically tend to do that a lot of the time anyway when I travel. Obviously we'll be drinking because we're going to be Canadians in the desert, but we plan on being very subtle about it.
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May 6, 2019 02:32
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HookShot posted:FWIW I'm leaving for Egypt in five days for three weeks and we plan on basically fasting during the day since we'll basically feel like dicks for eating and drinking around people who can't. I find it's not really that hard if you have a big breakfast; I basically tend to do that a lot of the time anyway when I travel. I wouldn't worry too much about it, I used to work with a lot of Muslim folk and they had zero issue with non-Muslims eating and drinking, even when it was 35°C with no air con. It's not like you're being a dick about it, you just don't share that custom and that's a-okay.
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May 6, 2019 18:48
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Bollock Monkey posted:I wouldn't worry too much about it, I used to work with a lot of Muslim folk and they had zero issue with non-Muslims eating and drinking, even when it was 35°C with no air con. It's not like you're being a dick about it, you just don't share that custom and that's a-okay. It's definitely gauche in Egypt to eat in public during Ramadan unless you're in an overwhelmingly Christian area like Mar Girgis or whatever. Yeah you won't be fined like in Kuwait and as an obvious foreigner no one will really care, but it's definitely a bit dick-ish if you're like having a full meal somewhere in open public view. Drinking a sip of water no one will care; at worst someone will just think of you as some weak foreigner who doesn't have the strength of Allah and endurance of an Egyptian to persevere through the day. But Egypt is very much not Turkey. Nearly all restaurants are closed in Egypt during lunchtime during Ramadan, if you actually want to eat you have to go somewhere explicitly touristy or look on some local Facebook group for what is open in the area which probably only exists in Cairo and Alex. The only safe bet for restaurants open during Ramadan in Egypt is to go to a nice hotel although expensive non-hotel restaurants frequented by rich Egyptians and foreigners, like the Sofra restaurant in Luxor (which btw you should go to, Hookshot) Even in the wealthy Egyptian-and-embassy-families district of Maadi in Cairo there are a fair number of restaurants closed during the day during Ramadan.
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May 6, 2019 20:36
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Going to Paris with my wife tonight until next Wednesday. She's been before, my first time there. We bought tickets to the Louvre and Versailles in advance, but anything else we should get before we get there? Places to check out we might not otherwise? We're staying in the vendome area. Edit: are we screwed for getting up to the Eiffel tower at this point? Should have looked further than two weeks ahead I guess. Residency Evil fucked around with this message at 14:03 on May 8, 2019 |
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May 8, 2019 13:59
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Try to get to the top of Tor Montparnasse instead. It famously has the nicest view in Paris, because it's the only place you can't see it
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May 8, 2019 14:17
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Sheng-Ji Yang posted:has anyone spent ramadan in istanbul? I just got here and realized that poo poo, tomorrow starts ramadan. was planning on being here for a few weeks at least lol. are my only restaurant options during the day going to be tourist stuff? or should i just convert to islam and take up fasting Grab a quick flight to North Cyprus and enjoy Turkish culture minus even the slightest fig leaf of pretending to care about religion.
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May 8, 2019 16:28
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If you're willing to walk up the stairs which really aren't that hard (I used to make my grandpa go up them multiple times a day when he was in his 70s and he had no problems) then you'll be fine for the Eiffel Tower; the wait for tickets there are usually like 30 minutes tops because most tourists want to take the elevators.
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May 8, 2019 16:52
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HookShot posted:If you're willing to walk up the stairs which really aren't that hard (I used to make my grandpa go up them multiple times a day when he was in his 70s and he had no problems) then you'll be fine for the Eiffel Tower; the wait for tickets there are usually like 30 minutes tops because most tourists want to take the elevators. That only gets you to the first deck; the elevator is the only option to the top. The waits to the top are much longer than the waits to mid-station using the elevator. I haven't been up to the mid-station in a few years but IIRC the lift ride to the top is always quite a wait. In any case, Sacre Coeur also has a beautiful view, and it's free, since it's on a normal hill.
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May 8, 2019 17:59
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Residency Evil posted:Going to Paris with my wife tonight until next Wednesday. She's been before, my first time there. We bought tickets to the Louvre and Versailles in advance, but anything else we should get before we get there? Places to check out we might not otherwise? We're staying in the vendome area. I don't think you can get tickets for the Notre Dame right now.
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May 8, 2019 18:01
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