Help me pick my first European city for solo travel

[grassbath]

Right, so it's official, I'm fed up of being stuck in this stupid mental desolation country sitting in an office and feeling like life has nothing new to offer. The quasi-relationship I was in has ended (for the best) and I am single. All the friends I'm close enough to go on holiday with have already got more expensive and far-flung travel plans with their partners. With nobody to hold me to account and keep me motivated to just fucking book the thing, I have let previous summers pass without a holiday. BUT NOT THIS SUMMER.

So I put it to the many knowledgeable and well-travelled patrons of CaB now. For someone looking to take their first solo trip in Europe (baby steps), in July/August/September, where would you recommend? Would like to get away for a week ideally, and am drawn more to cities. Preferably not somewhere prohibitively expensive, but money's not a worry if it's going towards a good experience.

Thank you in advance x

[a duncandisorderly]

I hear madrid's not bad.... :-)

[grassbath]

Fuck's sake, I posted this in the wrong forum. Sorry.

[Captain Z]

Ohhhhhh, Vienna

[BlodwynPig]

Daventry - all other cities you are likely to bump into shoulders or duncandisorderly

[sponk]

I've been planning on solo traveling for two years. Still haven't so I can't recco a city but r/solotravel is good

[peanutbutter]

Prague, it'll be stuffed with tourists through the summer but it's only gonna get worse and there's plenty of shit to do and see.
Alternatively, Budapest.

Or both, they're near enough iirc.

[Ferris]

Venice/Trieste/Ljubljana.

[seepage]

Palma de Mallorca, Amsterdam, Barcelona

[maett]

Nantes

[sevendaughters]

if baby steps - Amsterdam. people speak English and it's nice and you can get there quickly and stay there longer.

[Captain Z]

Nantes

Talking Nantes-sense.

[chveik]

Florence

[Dr Rock]

Not Paris.

[hummingofevil]

Right, so it's official, I'm fed up of being stuck in this stupid mental desolation country sitting in an office and feeling like life has nothing new to offer. The quasi-relationship I was in has ended (for the best) and I am single. All the friends I'm close enough to go on holiday with have already got more expensive and far-flung travel plans with their partners. With nobody to hold me to account and keep me motivated to just fucking book the thing, I have let previous summers pass without a holiday. BUT NOT THIS SUMMER.

So I put it to the many knowledgeable and well-travelled patrons of CaB now. For someone looking to take their first solo trip in Europe (baby steps), in July/August/September, where would you recommend? Would like to get away for a week ideally, and am drawn more to cities. Preferably not somewhere prohibitively expensive, but money's not a worry if it's going towards a good experience.

Thank you in advance x

The Lonely Planet has put Lyon in their 10 Summer Destinations of 2019 list but I beat them too and had a couple of weeks there two years ago. Got a cheap as chips AirBnB in Croix Rousse and just spent the time exploring and trying to speak French. It is an amazing place. It's a big city but also feels quite small and contained. Also it's a place where the locals leave in the Summer and it i a University town (students have fucked off) so it feels nice and relaxed. Plenty going on but not overloaded with people (well - Lonely Planet recommendation aside). Loads to do if it rains (the weather was a bit mental when I was there as it was the Canicule - heatwave - so the days were either glorious hot sunshine or mad flash storms) but generally it felt like a hot weather summer trip.

You got great museums, the best food culture in France, good transport links and lush sights and the best great park I've ever been to in Parc Tete d'Or. Free zoo and botanical gardens.

It's not cheap but I would say it is good value. The traditional Lyonnais Bouchon restaurants are the focal point of their food culture and the idea is that they are to serve the finest tasting food but are not fancy poncey restaurants like in Paris and are affordable to the working man (the Lyonnais hate Parisiens - they also dislike the South - they consider themselves "the heart of France" and for what I understood is the birthplace of French socialism and the National Front - oh and cinema) .

There are a few good craft/belgian beer places (usually a good judge of big city prices) and whilst its not cheap it is not piss taking, especially compared to what we are used to paying for booze now. And if in doubt do what the locals do and grab a pack of beers and some cheese and bread and go hang out by the river.

I really, really, really want to go back and do it again. TBF if you pick Toulouse or Montpellier instead you won't be too gutted.

(If you do pick Lyon PM me as it's quite important where you stay- as a general rule I would stay away from the area near the station or the south of the Presqu'ile.)

Oh and one final thing. If it is solo travelling you want then great. I found the French a hospitable and friendly bunch (especially if yo have a bit of parlez francais) but it was a bit lonely. They tend to socialise in groups and whilst everyone is kind I found that it wasn't like here where it almost impossible to sit in a pub or go for a cigarette without starting a conversation and being invited to join a table. In France I get the impression people think that if you are sitting by yourself you want to be by yourself so leave you alone. I did have a couple of nights where I got invited on to a couple of other pubs with groups I met and had one house party but that was not the norm. I ended up buying a bucket to be my friend but that is a story for another time.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Florence and the Machine

Reply more suited to this thread now !!!!!!!
( might actually have been chveik's intention )

[Darles Chickens]

Monaco, Berlin, Saint Etienne, Europe

[the science eel]

Florence

For your first trip? Absolutely. It'll take your breath away.

Berlin if you want to DO stuff. It's amazing in a different way.

[Norton Canes]

London, Paris, Munich

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I thought Berlin would have been more likely to take his breath away
(Still sticking with the music / bands theme. Funny stuff, eh, readers?)

[grassbath]

Thanks for the suggestions all! Facetious and non.

[boki]

Anywhere in Germany, if only for the fun, fun fun on the Autobahn.

[imitationleather]

I agree with Florence. The streets have condom machines the walls!

[sponk]

Are you just going to one city? Why not go to a few for a few days each.

[grassbath]

Yep I'd be up for doing two cities for two or three nights each. I'm tending towards the Prague/Budapest suggestion upthread as I already know one or two people over there who I could meet with or ask for tips. Florence was another first thought but I was told it's very expensive.

I should have said in my original post that I've already been to Berlin with some friends, loved it though.

[holyzombiejesus]

Colourblind James Experience announce sequel to most popular song.

[Pseudopath]

Munich

I second this wholeheartedly, although the OP did say that they were trying to avoid "prohibitively expensive" places. It is stunning though.

[MidnightShambler]

Oslo is a good place to start, easy to navigate and the level of English is almost 100%, so if you aren't very confident about travelling alone it's cool because it'll get you used to all the things you'll now have to do on your own but in a completely unthreatening way. Downside is that it's so expensive and there's not a great deal to do that's free.

Really, if you aren't worried about language/public transport problems etc, more or less anywhere in Eastern Europe is the one. Budapest and Krakow are my favourite places but you can't really go wrong. Unless you go to Vilnius, Vilnius is as boring as fuck.

[hummingofevil]

Yep I'd be up for doing two cities for two or three nights each. I'm tending towards the Prague/Budapest suggestion upthread as I already know one or two people over there who I could meet with or ask for tips. Florence was another first thought but I was told it's very expensive.

I should have said in my original post that I've already been to Berlin with some friends, loved it though.

Where do you live?

London --> Brussels --> Paris --> Lyon --> South of France, then fly back is a great train journey. I would recommend Marseille as a final destination but the place scared me (it is the worst place for accidentally ending in the wrong bit if you book AirBnB in wrong part of time but around the habour is fucking lush and the day trips are some of the best in the world - a place you need to know someone I would suggest). Nice is nice. Nice.

[hummingofevil]

Oslo is a good place to start, easy to navigate and the level of English is almost 100%, so if you aren't very confident about travelling alone it's cool because it'll get you used to all the things you'll now have to do on your own but in a completely unthreatening way. Downside is that it's so expensive and there's not a great deal to do that's free.

Really, if you aren't worried about language/public transport problems etc, more or less anywhere in Eastern Europe is the one. Budapest and Krakow are my favourite places but you can't really go wrong. Unless you go to Vilnius, Vilnius is as boring as fuck.

Nah. Save Oslo for February. In February it is the most glorious place in the whole world. Take that train up to the winter park. It's where me and the lass truely fell in love. Trotting through foot deep snow in our civvies watching cross-country skiers pass us by.