France
France is becoming a far right country on two weeks. Do yourself a favor and stay as far as you can.
Hold up, let’s see what happens with the front populaire
Honestly, I’ll vote for them. But they disgust me with all their power struggle about who’s going to be prime minister. In doing so, they’re tearing apart the whole thing. They swore that they wouldn’t betray us. They’re betraying us everyday by showing everybody it’s just a struggle between egos. They’re paving the way for the far right too with this ridiculous display of inflated heads.
I’ll vote for them, then I’ll puke. The only frontliner I’m feeling like supporting in the future is, maybe, Manon Aubry.
And Italy, and Switzerland, and Hungary, and Finland…
So, should I stay on the left side of France?
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Public transit seemed relatively safe to me, when I was there 2 years ago. The Amalfi coast is no that great though. Rather go to Naples, use a day for small boat trip to either Capri or Ischia, one day to take the commuter train to Herculaneum. After that take the train from Naples to Salerno, which is a good bit less touristy and ceaper than the real Amalfi coast. Perhaps take a boat from Salerno to look at the Amalfi coast from the sea (more beautiful that way anyway) or enjoye some of the beaches that are reachable with public transit nearby. In Salerno you can also take a train or Bus to Paestum, which is a UNESCO world heritage site has some greek temples from 600 BC.
Really? I took the circumvesuvian railway a couple of years ago and it was just a regular commuter train.
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Those trains sure look dodgy, in a post-apocalyptic kind of way. Sometimes people jump to conclusions that it must be full of crime
Bullshit
I was disappointed with Paris in my last visit. It’s filthy, dirty and disgusting.
Compared to NYC, Paris is downright spotless.
Aah, Paris 🥰
I wouldn’t say at all cost, but Montenegro isn’t fun. Russians have built massive hotel resorts on the beaches there, the locals are unhappy that they’re there so they don’t like tourists. They’ll try to fight you on the beach because you’re not local. Get hassled by the cops because you’re not local, but you’ll be able to buy your way out of your problem if you’re lucky. People don’t want to talk to you, everyone is pretty cold and borderline rude. Go to a bar for a drink and you get a glass nominally washed/rinsed in tubs of soapy water behind the bar that the previous 100 glasses went through and hasn’t been changed out. The landscape is beautiful in a hostile sort of way, but there’s just not much reason to visit. It’s not even particularly inexpensive. The hotels will try to charge you for everything, including a scuff on the wall that you didn’t do, a chip on a planter on the balcony, etc. ridiculous money grabs.
idk about the process in montenegro, but it’s pretty normal in america for bars to use a three compartment sink with a christmas tree scrub brush stuck to the bottom of the first sink, which is filled about half full with soapy water, a rinse water mixture in the next one and a sanitizer water mixture in the last one.
it’s a fast and safe way to do dishes by hand, especially glassware if you always inspect for chips afterward (which you should be doing anyway!).
I understand there’s a right way to do it, but allow me to assure that the two murky trays behind this bar were not acceptable by any means. I didn’t want to get too graphic, but glasses went from the customer hand, a quick slosh and a rub in liquids that would make any civilized health department shriek, wiped “dry” with a filthy rag that had just wiped the bar top, filled with the next drink and handed to the next customer.
This is the kind of stuff where you see it in a movie like so: the scoundrel hero walks into a dive bar in the spaceport, orders a drink, the camera makes sure you see the pustulent, greasy alien clean the vessel using the above process. The alien pours a questionable liquid into it, and slides it to the observing hero who has been keeping a stone-faced expression but for a hint of discomposure as he receives the drink. After the briefest pause in frame to let you know he questions what he is about to do, he downs the beverage. You can’t help but cringe along with the hero and think licking the alien might have been safer.
(Am not comparing or suggesting Montenegrins are in any way shape or form like the hypothetical alien)
Avoid coming, because i hate you
Feel free to cross post to !yurop@lemm.ee , a laid back discussion community for Europeans
is there a good or suggested community for people looking to move to europe who are looking for advice? or is that place welcome for such discussion? dont want to intrude.
This is definitely a discussion that can take place over there!
Canary Islands. Great place, but the mass tourism is actually killing them, provoking skyrocketing rent and shortages of power and water.
how is rent related to tourism?
Airbnbs/rentals drive up the cost of housing.
They should just make short renting of apartments illegal.
Think about it for a second, no, half a second and see if anything occurs to you.
I assume because demand outstrips supply, the “value” of the rental units is inflated and landlords can charge more, pricing out locals
Indeed. My girlfriend lives there, last time I was over we went to the big demonstration against mass tourism. I felt a bit sick at the airport listening to all the north European pensioners talking about how they rent a place year round for 800€/month just to spend the odd week now and then there. While many locals working in tourism make minimum wage, around 1300€/month I believe.
Hey that’s exactly what my rent / wage split was in the UK last year. The only reason anything got better is that minimum wage went up while my rent hasn’t yet.
In Sweden/Stockholm:
Avoid Akalla/Hjulsta/Kista
They are all boring and sees a lot of gang crime.
Just avoid Stockholm. Too many stockholmare. Visit Gothenburg instead
Both Stockholm and Gothenburg are really nice cities - they’re pretty safe too unless you seek out drug lords or park your bike without a decent lock. Just don’t come here during the winter - you’ll be depressed by the lack of daylight.
True, but Göteborg has its own areas to avoid. Hjällbo comes to mind…
The worst thing of Copenhagen is that you can see Sweden from there
I don’t think many tourists would head out to the far away suburbs by subway. My recommendation is to avoid Drottninggatan and “City” with the exception of some architecture or particular places of interest because it is just really too much busy people and pickpockets and hot asphalt and concrete and glass and tourist traps and chain stores.
avoid Malta at all costs.
Why?
aside from the weather (which is nicer in Sicily), it’s an archipelago that pretends at all costs to have a relevant European history while offering no way of exploring that history whatsoever. The rampant touristisation of La Valletta has turned it into what’s basically an all-ecompassing sprawl of luxury hotels and discos where prices are inflated. I did not have a nice time there and would not go back even if I had the chance.
As others said Switzerland. It’s beautiful and all but really expensive. It really took away a big part of fun when I went there. But not only that, I thought the swiss people seemed sometimes kinda "rude"or maybe a better word for it “cold” and a little annoyed if it came to tourists. I get it, it’s a small county and a lot of people are visiting each year, but it still wasn’t fun for me to be there and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone to go there.
And North France near the German border like Strasbourg. The city and the region is beautiful as well, but the people are often like the cliché everybody knows and that sucks if you’re a tourist. But the south of France like Marseille and the Provence is always worth a visit. The people are chill, enjoying life in the typical mediterranean way and are often friendlier (and often speak English at least in the bigger cities/tourist areas).
As an Anglophone who lives in France, I agree. Although where I live (east / south-east) English is not very widely spoken, even in bigger cities, but the people are generally very friendly.
I thought the swiss people seemed sometimes kinda "rude"or maybe a better word for it “cold” and a little annoyed
I have some Swiss-American relatives, and I think this is cultural. They just have a different set of indicators, they’re not going to be grinning and hugging.
cold
This is my experience with Europeans in general tbh
So knowing that European consider Swiss people cold, imagine how cold they are.
They are stone cold to foreigners - so many English speaking wealthy people live there and they are not welcomed into the local communities. It can take a decade to make local Swiss friends.
Then you should visit south europe. Europe is divided by the alps in a lot of things, like potato or tomato as main ingredient in meals. But also in culture itself. Everything north of the alps is kinda cold and seems unhappy/angry and stressed all the time and south of it people seem chill, happy and friendly.
As a counter example, I managed to make friends with a Swiss person while elsewhere in Europe, and then later in my travels got to visit them in Switzerland for a few days. My time there was truly one of the most breathtaking and memorable experiences of my trip.
Maybe it’s expensive, maybe Europeans are “cold” personality wise, but God damn they have got some incredible scenery.
…but it all goes wrong again at the south coast. Even the locals leave for the summer.
I have read of tourists coming to Vienna and thinking there is anything worth seeing north of the Danube.
Unless you count the UN headquarters, there isn’t. All of that is a completely unstructured and boring mix of industrial, commercial and residential zones mostly built after WW2 like you find anywhere in the world.
I visited Vienna in 2015 and that’s one of the places where I’d gladly move if I could.
Outside of the obvious war, Kaliningrad in certain conditions. If you have local friends there you trust, or you are fluent in Russian, you’ll have a great time. Its got a lot of nice history, some nice views, and its cheap. But if you’re an obvious tourist, they do not treat you kindly. I wore a tank top and shorts in the city on my way from Svetlagorst beach and got side eyes for my tattoos and attire. If you’re used to stereotypically polite service, it’s not as prevalent there in Russia. And if you try to be nice, you’re seen as a weirdo.
Lithuania is also hit or miss. Vilnius and Klaipeda are nice, but are NOT tourist friendly. I used to live there, but when I went back as a kid, my mom and I spoke English and Russian. They tried to overcharge our meal significantly but my mom knowing Lithuanian caught it. The people at the corner store also questioned why I only speak Russian, and hesitantly spoke with me. Plus people on the street would call out appearances if you look different. Really good fuckin pizza though
Can’t exactly blame the Lithuanians for distrusting Russians, tbh. They have been not exactly kind to the country in the recent past, with their russification and whatnot.
Yes, but you can give grace to a 12 year old child who speaks Russian with an American accent minding his own business buying an inch cream cone. Prejudices exist, but so does a brain cell. Still, I have to give grace, this was ~2009
It’s been rough for both due to the tensions. I was supposed to be Lithuanian but ended up born in Russia. My brother is Lithuanian. He would fail classes just because he was Lithuanian in a Russian school (90s). My mom had to pretend to be best friends with the teacher so he could pass. He used to also get into a lot of fights to and from school.
We immigrated to the United States when I was 5, so luckily I didn’t get that treatment in Lithuania. Fortunately, I have good memories from my Lithuanian pre-school
Not sure what answers you looking for, if you want to have a carefree vacation just read some reviews of specific countries and regions.
If you are backpacking or planning a multi-country trip I would check the crime rates of the places, there are many websites with the statistics available, like THIS
As a general rule of thumb popular places and big cities will have the highest crime rates, while smaller cities and countryside the lowest.
Also I would avoid solo trips and backpacking in general in the rural parts of less-developed countries, like Romania, etc.
Pretty much thats it. Europe as a whole is probably one of the safest travel destinations in the earth with some planning and common sense.
Ignorant North American here but I’m now legit wondering what happens to people backpacking-possibly-solo through places like Romania. 😬
Natural hazards like “If you twist an ankle you’ll get no comms service and be eaten by a bear.” aside, of course.
Buddy system is never a bad idea. :)
Nothing. Romania is generally fine. I hitchhiked an couch surfed solo. Had only good experiences.
I’d say Romania is actually relatively safe crime-wise for tourists. Comms services are better than in my homecountry (always had 4G on my last trip to Romania even in rural places in the mountains, while I sometimes do not have any signal in German high-speed trains between two large cities). Dangerous widlife is actually an issue. Lot’s of bears, wolfes, snakes, etc. Also bad tourist infrastructure in really rural places.
Nothing happens to them because all the bad parts of Romania aren’t in places where backpackers would go. Only “bad” part of visiting Romania is that tourism isn’t as developed as in other countries. So not as many signs/information/buses to and from places. That also makes lots of places harder to find and reach but also a lot more pristine. Romania’s countryside is one of the best, hands down.
No problem, its not some golden rule you should follow (especially from an internet stranger) but it’s mainly bad roads, bad economy (poor police/ambulance availability), the little Roma villages/gipsy makeshift living areas, where I would not show up alone with any valuables (similar to gipsy ghettos near big cities) and last but not least wildlife. While bears and other predators are not uncommon, rabid dogs are also a possibility.
Before somebody accuses me hating Romania (its a beautiful country with incredible landscapes and the capital and developed parts are very popular tourist destinations), the above is also applicable for many other europen countries. This is why I strongly suggest doing some research before planning such trips, as the relative safety and enjoyment of a holiday can vary from region to region within a small country. This is why its borderline impossible to give a straight answer to the original post.
Yeah this makes a lot of sense, thank you for elaborating!
I think I understand the idea: Plan things out, have backup plans, have some sense, and one should be fine. You can’t just expect to get a friendly rescue within the hour.
I think this is common here in North America too, for instance, people get into trouble because they treat a National Park like a theme park, and underestimate the realities of the wilderness.
They won’t have maps, or enough water, or will try to pet a buffalo, or poke around in caves, or snap selfies dangerously close to the edge of the Grand Canyon. It’s insane how little they consider the dangers of the wild.
Zakopane, Poland. Greedy bastards.