Mar 04
Any travel destinations for me?
2005 at 03.46 am posted by Veerle Pieters
After writing about Peking-Express it got me thinking about our Summer vacation. This year we're going to give Ibiza a miss. So far I have no clue where I want to go. So that's when I thought maybe I'll post about it and who knows maybe some reader comes up with a gorgeous destination that I didn't know off. Only a few requirements comes to mind such as:
- It has to be in Europe (3-4 hour flight from Belgium)
- Almost a certainty that the sun will join the party
- Nice surroundings, enough to take a road trip
- It doesn't matter if there isn't any night life
Looking forward to hearing about your vacation stories. It's even nice to daydream about it in this dawn cold weather that we're having right now ;-)
54served
1
Sicily, Italy, definitely a combination of the Roman and northern African Culture. Great food and lovely little villages. They have cheap flights ( 50 euros or something ) from Brussels.
2
Try Slovenia. It’s a short flight, and an awesome country.
3
Try Latvia :) There’s a lot to see here.
4
I have to say Rome. A fantastic place, so beautiful and full of experiences and good food. A big plus is that you don’t have to go to the museum to experience antics, you just walk around the city.
5
Naples…or Italy in general (Rome and sicily are a good choice too)...
But in Naples you can visit Pompei, Capri…and there are good flights offers from Bruxelles…
6
Why not Portugal ?
Life there is quite cheap, people are very friendly and not too tired of tourists, great landscapes (anyone who’ve been to a place called Cabo Espichel knows what I mean).
A kind of paradise for me ;-)
7
Try jumping a few miles to the west, and visit Barcelona. Sitges, slightly to the south, has quite nice beaches, and you can jump to Barcelona, do some museums, and visit a beautiful city.
8
If you want a quiet holiday, not much night life, but plenty of great little places to eat, lots of sunshine, great beaches, not spoilt; Try Pelion on mainland Greece, it’s quiet, but great place for a chilled out week in the sun.
You can hire a car and explore, in fact a car’s needed as the airport is away from the Pelion peninsula.
We might go back there this year for a week, then we hope to go to South Africa, Cape Town and the Garden route , later in the year.
Steve
9
Go North! Iceland or Lapland (be it in Sweden, Norway or Finland). You’ll have pretty much 24 hours of sun every day.
10
What about Prague?
Small preview - but it contains mostly night and winter pics.
11
I’ve been to Barcelona once (a long time ago) and I also thought the city had lots to offer. So I would definitely consider it as a holiday destination. And also: I’m studying Spanish (3rd year evening classes) so if you need an interpreter to join you, just give me a call ;-)
12
Hi, Veerle!
Why don’t you pay Portugal a little visit? I guarantee it’ll be worth it. I can give you pointers on how to manage your time here, as I’m Portuguese.
13
Hmm, I prefer the less sunny places in Europe like the Swiss and Austrian alps, but these places are good for sun:
Sorrento/Capri (off Naples)
Costa del Sol on the south side of Spain
14
Italy!! In the north there is Venice, Verona, Garda Lake, in the middle there is Florence, Pisa, Rome and last but not least the south!
Sicily! Were you can go to Taormina, Etna (the volcano), Piazza Armerina’s mosaics, Valley of Agrigento Temples, Sciacca were the sea is veeery blue and Selinunte were there is also a restourant were you can taste the best couscous in all West Sicily.
And then there is Erice, Palermo, the Cathedral of Monreale (I’ve been baptized there :p) Cefalù and Santo Stefano di Camastra known for his artigianal ceramics.
Few links:
- Cathedral of Monreale
- Santo Stefano di Camastra
- some links
bye :)
15
I also would suggest Italy.
South Italy (calabria) has a lot of archeological things to explore. I spent my honeymoon in Tropea. It’s a very beautiful place. There are many small towns in calabria and there is nearly no industry but only agriculture.
When you visit italy and are interested into art, then you must visit the Sistine Chapel with paintings of Michelangelo.
But you can also give Switzerland a try :-)
Beautiful mountains, lot of seas, some gorgeous cities (for instance Lucerne)
16
Have to agree with Claire and Bruno, Portugal is a very nice place to be on holiday. I’ve been there a couple of years ago, travelling south to north and vice versa. Go and visit Lisboa, Porto, Gimares and the likes. And you’ll be amazed by the green in the douro-valley!
17
Only one solution…Sitges…25 km around Barcelona, a charming small city…you will find there the pleasure of sun, the beach (beautiful), very good restaurants, the cultural life of Barcelona, very good night life (The first Pacha and the Atlantida, a club on the beach) and you can visit beautiful places like Montserrat or Tarragona. If you want a preview, just have a look at my photo website.
http://photos.escarguel.com
I ll be there all July so if you are there just send a mail or give a call. Thanks a lot for your wonderful blog. A french fan.
18
Veerle,
All above propositions are very good and I like them all but I would like to emphasize the region where I live which is quite nice (but unfortunately a bit expensive): Switzerland. As Philipp suggested, Lucerne is wonderful but you could also try: Lausanne (w/ lake, Olympic Museum), Geneva (lake, shopping), Gruyeres (small and old village, origin of the world-famous cheese (without holes, lol)), Interlaken (w/ lake, in the heart of the Alps), ... Anyway, there are a lot of different places to visit and all are quite close from each other and easy to reach by car or train!
19
If you go to Switzerland, be there for the Festival of Montreux, wonderful concerts there!
20
@Brice (& Veerle of course): you are absolutely right, the Montreux Jazz Festival (1.7 - 15.6.2005) is very good. Another especially good festival in Switzerland is the Paleo Festival in Nyon (19.7 - 24.7.2005). On their webpages, you can check out artists that performed in the past. I like both and I usually attend both even if their style is different: in Montreux, concerts take place indoors with an audience of approx. 4000. In Nyon, the concerts are outdoors with approx. 40000 people each evening. But be aware, both festivals (especially the Paleo) are sold out in less than one week!!!
21
BLANKENBERGEN ! :)
22
Veerle
As you may have seen on Scene24 , Frederik and i often travel around in the European mountains. In summer we always plan a quite long and varied trip, on which friends join us for some time. This summer we’ll probably do those three things:
(1) a rather heavy mountain trekking (including summits and glaciers) in the Alps
(2) a stay for a week or 10 days in the sunny and amazing Spanisch Pyrenees, to do a lot of things: canyoning, mountain trips (1, 2, 3 days), relaxing, climbing, etc… (= fantastic area with lots of possibilities)
(3) a stay on the north-west coast of Spain, area of the Picos de Europa and Santander, ending up in Gallicia, a unique and absolutely beautiful region
If you’d happen to be around and feel like joining us for some time: always welcome!
23
If you like old cities - definitely the Prague
24
While I second that spending the summer up north is great I feel it’s necessary to point out that to anyone outside Scandinavia it’s way expensive up here(in Norway in particular).
A few nice things about Norway are that it’s really beautiful here and if you like to go trekking you can go for ages without meeting anyone else, and that if you go far enough north you get 24 hours of sunlight each day.
25
Mexico!
oh wait, that’s like 12 hours…. hmmmm…
Mexico!
26
Iceland or Croatia…
27
Cadaques (Catalunya), but not in tourist season! Hip seaside village, like St. Tropez used to be 40 years ago. But setting is more beautiful. You can take Ryanair flight to Girona and rent a car for a 1 hour trip to Cadaques. the road is so much winding and narrow that tour busses don’t come there! Needless to say more. Dali lived there. There’s a hip bar (forgot the name but it’s in the very center near the beach) where artists like Herman Brood hung out and gave a drunk performance. Beautiful walks with fantastic beach views. Wonderful Cap Creus which is a natural park. Small down-to-earth restaurants.
28
So you know Eivissa a lot (Ibiza).
Haven’t you ever been to Mallorca?
La Serra de Tramuntana is impressive , with very scenic villages, impressive mountain and sea landscapes, excellent food and friendly people. Try Deià , Valldemossa, Sóller, Fornalutx, Pollença, Alaró...
And this isn’t the touristic Mallorca. It is Robert Graves’ or Paul Hogarth’s Mallorca.
29
Oh mighty! And I thought this request could narrow down my choices :-D Thank you all for these tips of nice destinations.
I certainly have to talk to my parents when they get back from their long Winter trip (from Nov. 04 till somewhere mid March) in Portugal. They have a mobile-home (or how do you call these?) and they often make long trips across Europe. They have been there a few times already and they love it a lot over there. They’ve also been to Norway (also Finland and Sweden) a couple of times, I know they love the nature and nice sceneries over there. They’ve seen a lot of France too, Ireland, Scotland… I envy them but I’m very glad they can do all this and that they enjoy live a lot during their retirement.
These are my favorites so far : Italy, Sicily, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal or Spain (definitely have to check out Sitges)... Anyhow South where it is sunny and warm. But I’ll be checking out the there suggestions here too, like Croatia or Latvia.
I like to go to Scandinavia one day too. But right now my mind is set to a country in southern Europe. I have to start somewhere, it will already be difficult to make a selection :-S
30
I’m so disappointed that Switzerland is not part of your favorites… ;-) I’m kidding!!
31
I noticed that someone but Mallorca in there, but just to make sure, avoid the touristy parts of it, especially the major port, as it’s very German. So much so that the streets have German names. However, Menorca, the smaller inhabited island is truly beautiful, the people are wonderful, the town of Ciutadella is fantastic - enough history and charm for the nostalgic, and enough nightlife and tourism for fun. Believe me, if you go there, you will want to stay, it’s that amazing.
32
Hi,
I’ve the same needs and i will probably try the Malta island. You could fine very different topics : history, beach, sun and i’ll perfect my poor english ;o)
More, i’ve heard the food is wonderfull ;o)
Official website of Malta
Good choice!
33
Have you ever visited Morocco?
I travelled to Marrakesh , the surrounding mountains and a couple of days in Esouria and can not stop recommending it.
Beautiful place, the people is easier to handle than expected and the introduction to Africa.
It is an unique experience and maybe you would like to consider.
Good luck
34
Maybe you like Cyprus. (3 hours flight from Belgium)
In 2004 we were there twice. See on our website (in Dutch): Cyprus.
35
For me it’ll be Portugal, realy the nicest country ever ;)
36
Hi Veerle!
Why not try London, uk, no sun but I’m sure you’ll enjoy going to places and shopping around! Also as someone else also mentioned Malta should be nice destination to go to! :)
37
If you wanna chill, do nothing, visit no place, try De Vrolijk for there is only a small forest, many farmlands.
Even your mobile won’t work there.
38
Hmmm, well inside of Europe there’s always Nice or the Greek Isles. In Nice, you can hop on a moped and hit all sorts of cities along the Riviera (e.g. Monte Carlo, Menton, etc), and in the Greek Isles you can just hop from island to island as long as you feel like it (Santorini is especially nice).
If you want to break the “must be in Europe” rule though, I highly recommend Playa Del Carmen in Mexico. I went there a few weeks ago and it seemed like there were a ton of Europeans there. Not too expensive, great diving, snokeling, and beaching, and it’s just a beautiful little town as well. It’s also close to a lot of Mayan rune sites, like Tulum and Chiqua Nitza.
39
Hello Veerle,
Definitively you should spent your holidays in Crete island (Greece).
Many things to discover. You can rent a car at cheap price and visit the country adventurously.
I had the opportunity to visit the island two times and I had so much fun !
3 and half hour flight from Belgium.
Some pictures here
40
Hey thanks for all the links with pictures! They are all great :-) Seems I have a lot of exploring to do the next couple of days/weeks. I promise I’ll get back to you all to let you know what I decided.
@Mike D and evan, yes Mexico is definitely one of my favorite long distance destinations, together with the U.S., Australia, South Africa and Canada. But I’ll save those for another trip, when I’ll plan to take a longer break. Right now I really want something closer to home where it is sunny and also beautiful… Unless some scientist comes up with something out of StarTrek to speed things up ;-) I would travel all the time ... Imagine San Francisco in less then 15 minutes, yeah!
@jeff, I’ve been to Crete already (years ago), unfortunately it was the only less happy holiday. A nice island though, but I have a bit of bad memories… one of them being stuck for more then 5 hours at the airport of Héraklion because of a strike :-( It really spoiled it together with other (personal) stuff going on at that moment.
41
I would suggest Capri. Stay outside of the main town if possible. It’s a short hydrofoil ride from Naples, and it’s simply georgeous. One of the two islands has no automobiles at all, and it is just very relaxing. Beautiful clear water, wonderful cliffs and what not.
here are some photos from when i was there in 1999 for Architecture school:
Swimming in the pool
Casa Malaparte
Riding around the island on a boat
42
Jersey’s definitively worth a visit.
Forget the car and rent bikes.
The south coast is the place where to stay.
From there, you can make a day-trip to Sark or Guernsey.
43
Try the south-est Sicily is beautiful, Ragusa Ibla for the culture, Capo Passero for the sea. Do you know Montalbano Detective? If yes, the land where make the serial tv is south-est Sicily.
44
Another vote for Cadaques (only try and go outside of July-August). Have you been to Tarifa, Spain? It’s the most southern point of Spain. Lots of surfers, a nice old town, plenty of good restaurants, very relaxed atmosphere… You’ll love it!
45
My vote’s a bit biased, but Marbella’s a nice place. The nearby mountains create a “microclimate” that’s splendid. In one place you’ve got a mix of old-Spanish culture, and international flavor, along with the ocean, the mountains, the food, the wine. Lot of day trip possibilities (Ronda, Gibraltar, Juanar, Sierra Nevada, etc.) If you visit Marbella, you might not return to Ibiza. :-)
46
Try Norway… This is a beautiful country… and despite what people think, it has a very warm summer.
Want more information? http://www.visitnorway.com/
PS: LOL, one of my “hobby” is to assist the norwegian consul of Liege so if you want some information… do not hesitate to contact me.
47
Hi Veerle,
I think that there are many nice places to visit in Euorpe - I have been to Greece, too, and would recommend the islands like Santorini or Mykonos, but it gets very hot there in the summer, and tourists are everywhere.
One of my favorite places is Provence, and the Cote d’Azur. The landscape is charming, and the views of the ocean are very nice, too - lots of little villages to visit, artwork and museums to see, and lavender fields, etc.
Also - Ireland is a beautiful country - something like Norway, if you want to go North, but very green, with rolling hills and beautiful countryside filled with sheep and interesting mountains. Very unspoiled. And best of all there are castles everywhere! The Celtic history is very interesting, too!
48
Hi Veerle,
why don’t you visit the most beautiful city in europe > Hamburg, Germany ?
We can meet and talk about css, hm no - but I can show you my city. There’s a lot to visit and see…the harbour, musicals aaaaaand the Reeperbahn. :)
49
Hi Veerle, plenty places to go - my last trip in Europe since I moved to the Philippines was Iceland. The most amazing country I’ve ever seen… I went there with a friend and we shot 5000 pictures in 2 weeks, my powerbook was exploding at the end…
Good luck in your search for the perfect destination of your next holiday. If you would like to try something totaly different, come for a diving trip to the Philippines ;-)
50
I’d also suggest you Prague, the Czech capital in the heart of Europe :)
http://www.czechtourism.com/
51
Try Corsica, very good beaches in the southwest, mountains and clear rivers in the middle, good camping grounds, but you need a small car to go round.
Sardinia (but not in August), try the Gallura or Costa Verde. You need also a car.
52
@Everyone who answered on this post: Is there someone that uses Spam-RBL? It’s just that one of you is accusing me (the second time already) of spamming. I would like you to wake up and click the unsubscribe link from this thread in your mail. So that you no longer receive a notification. This is NOT spam since YOU’ve subscribed yourself by selecting the checkbox in the comment form.
53
Stockholm!!! I lived there for 6 months and is really nice to go on holiday
54
Veerle,
I wonder why noone mentionned Turkey so far? I have worked a few years for Club Med, and travelled most destinations mentionned, but I love Turkey, people are so friendly, food is excellent, Water is crsital clear, lots to visit.. The one thing you left out is what you ARE looking ofr during that holliday, could’ve narrowed down suggestions ;)
Have a nice trip then..