Help Me Plan My Trip After Oktoberfest

[vicelore]

Hey guys.

In around 5 weeks ill be heading off on my 1st solo trip overseas. Iv got a list of countrys i want to visit but am fairly clueless on the towns ill be heading to and looking for some ideas.

Im 24 and love a party. Looking for livley places where i can meet people easily.

Ofcause the beer over there is my No 1 priority. So beer towns are what im after.

I fly over to London and am staying their for 2 days before getting on a contiki tour for Oktoberfest. Ill be staying there in tents for 6 days. After this im totally free and have no plans.

Iv got a train pass to travel to the following countrys.

My list goes.

London
Germany
Austria
Italy
Belgium
Ireland

In that order, iv been told a few places to head to like Brugge but apart from that kinda going with the flow and hoping to meet people on the contiki to travel with.

But think i should atleast have some ideas of places incase i end up alone.

Cheers guys.

Vicelore.

 

[Pennywise]

There's an awesome church in Prauge (sp?), the walls/roof are covered with human bones, one place I really want to go to. Can't remember the name of the church but a google might get you something.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

Im 24 and love a party.

Hi I'm Dave and... I like to party.

Hotrod quotes aside, Prague is a really nice town with super cheap beer.

In Greece you can get Mythos, Heineken and Amstel and that's it. Although they all go down nicely in the 35+ degree heat!

Italy is also not huge on beer mind you I didn't spend much time in pubs there.

My next trip in December includes Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Brugges, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich and Cologne... I think there will be little shortage of quality beer throughout my travels :chug:

edit: emphasis on the I in "I like to party"

 

[canon1ball]

Should you do a tour of the river Rhine, as most tourists do, don't forget to visit Cologne the hometown of "Koelsch" and Duesseldorf (only about 50 km further north) for their famous "Altbier"!

Enjoy!
c1b

 

[vicelore]

Nice Tip Canon i did have Cologne and Duesseldorf down on my list of places to go, Thats exactly the kinda info im after.

Cheers Vice

 

[poida]

I went to Oktoberfest last year and had the best time of my life! You'll love it We then hired a car and drove around Germany, Austria, Czech Republic etc.

The party scene is huge in Berlin if you're into the whole night club thing, just crazy there. We also went to Pilsen for "Pilsnerfest" which pretty much starts the week after Oktoberfest finishes, but its only a small place and nothing like the scale of Oktoberfest in Munich. Did the Pilsner Urquell brewery tour while we were there. As already mentioned Prauge is also a great place to drink.

There was a show on Foxtel called "Three Sheets" which had this annoying american bloke basically doing a pub crawl all around the world. Was pretty funny and might give you some ideas if you can get hold of the DVD's or download it from somewhere.

Here's the wikipedia link for the show http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sheets

Have a great trip mate!

 

[dreadhead]

I'd definitely head to Bamberg, probably the best city I visited a couple of years back. It's only a couple of hours from Munich by train, and if you like your beer I think the place has roughly 10 breweries in a town of 75 000 people, and also the home of Rauchbier. If you head there when the uni is in session there are plenty of students around and loads of places to drink.

I'd recommend staying at Backpackers Bamberg (http://www.backpackersbamberg.de/) as well. It's a really small hostel that's near the main station and close to the main part of town. Th owners are really friendly and it's clean as. Book ahead though as I think it is only one of the two hostels around the main city.

Cheers

 

[canon1ball]

Nice Tip Canon i did have Cologne and Duesseldorf down on my list of places to go, Thats exactly the kinda info im after.

Cheers Vice

Ok, Vice, in Cologne the best pubs you will find around the "Dom" (the famous 2 steepled church) area, walking distance to the river Rhine. A word of advise, Koelsh beer is usually served by a waiter (called Koebes), you don't call him he will approach you with a tray of full Koelsch glasses and you tell him how many you want.

To find the best pubs in Duesseldorf find the "Altstadt" (historic part of the town). Here are a few of the well known pubs all in walking distance from each other, and each serves a different Alt Bier. They all brew and sell their on beer! Great atmosphare, but different to the Oktoberfest.

Whish I could go too!

 

[eamonnfoley]

Hi I'm Dave and... I like to party.

Hotrod quotes aside, Prague is a really nice town with super cheap beer.

In Greece you can get Mythos, Heineken and Amstel and that's it. Although they all go down nicely in the 35+ degree heat!

Italy is also not huge on beer mind you I didn't spend much time in pubs there.

My next trip in December includes Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Krakow, Brugges, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich and Cologne... I think there will be little shortage of quality beer throughout my travels :chug:

edit: emphasis on the I in "I like to party"

if your going to cologne, you may as well go to dusseldorf too. I'll be over there in december as well, also going to cologne/dusseldorf and some of the locations you mentioned above.

Done any beer research on vienna, budapest, krakow?

When in Cologne, my tip for the best kolsch brewery is Mhlen. A malty kolsch.

 

[silvana]

Hey vicelore,

Sounds like an awesome trip. I just returned from a year away and went through London and Italy.
London was a quick fly through for me. What I did was plan the sight seeing then check the net for Real Ale pubs close by. Theres heaps of them around.

Italy isnt entirely a beer wasteland just hard to find and expensive although there are 3 great places in Rome. Ma Che Siete Venuti (rough translation what the hell are you doing here) also know as the fooball pub and Bir and Fud, which are oppostite each other in Trastevere. The first is 2nd best bars I have ever been to (1st being Toronado in SF). The guys are super nice and give free samples. I had Cantillon Lou Pepe and Fou' Foune, and Saison Dupont on tap :icon_drool2: (lots of them) plus some Italian beers with Reale Extra standing out which was a solid 2IPA.

The other place is 4:22 which I have no idea where it is except its a long drunken walk from the other 2 (benefits of local friends that love good beer too). If your interseted in American craft beers both places have a great bottled list also.

There are a few other places in Italy but hard to get to without a car.

Enjoy the trip wish I was somewhere else

 

[bconnery]

With regards to Oktoberfest, and you may have planned this already, but I'd definitely recommend not spending all your time in the Hoffbrau tent with the tour in 'the Pig Pen'...
The other tents are well worth a visit and there's a party going on in every single one...

Cantillon Brewery in Brussels is worth visiting, as long as you like lambics.

My understanding is that Italy has a growing microbrewery scene so might be worth visiting sites like beeradvocate to get more info.
I believe Camra (Campaign For Real Ale) also does beer guides to countries in Europe, at least there used to be info around, so might be worth checking that out.

Loads and loads really, your task is going to be narrowing it down rather than finding them

 

[petesbrew]

I'll let you do the googling, but look for the Augustiner Biergarten in Salzburg. It's on the same hill as the fortress.
Definitely a must do.
Also Hitler's Eagles Nest fortress is a good daytrip while you're there.

In Ireland, Newgrange is pretty cool, if ancient burial sites are your thing.

 

[Josh]

I'll let you do the googling, but look for the Augustiner Biergarten in Salzburg. It's on the same hill as the fortress.
Definitely a must do.

My mate told me about this in the last few weeks. He reckons it was the best beer garden he visited in Europe.

I have revised my route to include Austria in our trip.

 

[vicelore]

I'll let you do the googling, but look for the Augustiner Biergarten in Salzburg. It's on the same hill as the fortress.
Definitely a must do.
Also Hitler's Eagles Nest fortress is a good daytrip while you're there.

In Ireland, Newgrange is pretty cool, if ancient burial sites are your thing.

Sounds awesome. ill get googleing. Exactly the kind of stuff i wanted.

Cheers Vicelore

 

[vicelore]

Just found thier website.. that`s one big beer garden.... sits 8000...

Cheers Vice

 

[petesbrew]

Just found thier website.. that`s one big beer garden.... sits 8000...

Cheers Vice

It was pretty quiet when we were there, but there was a big bierhall, and bakeries and deli's inside as well, so you could stock up on sausage & pretzels for a big long bender.
An awesome find indeed.

augustiner

 

[glennheinzel]

And if you're going to the Oktoberfest, then of course you'll need the appropriate footwear...
Oktoberfest Nike

 

[AussieJosh]

In Ireland you should pop in to the Brazen Head in Dublin it was est in 1198!!!
Germany was my fav place in europe! as people have said above you need to go to Cologne and the rhine valley also of course Munich!
Brussles i thought was a bit shit. one of my least fav main land european citys and its full of people who dont have much Belgium in them if you know what i mean. i would be looking at traveling to some of the smaller towns in Belgium i think you might get more of an athentic insight in to there life style and historey eg (beer) in them. I have heard but have not been.......... that bruges is good! Watch the movie (In Bruges) to get you geard up for it! i thought it was a good movie to!
Have fun! and remember to always use a condom!

 

[hoohaaman]

Have fun! and remember to always use a condom!

Especially in France,they like to eat anything with a pulse :unsure:



When in Belgium please.please go to westvleteren and get beer at the gate

 

[kevo]

There's an awesome church in Prauge (sp?), the walls/roof are covered with human bones, one place I really want to go to. Can't remember the name of the church but a google might get you something.

If it's the church you're thinking of it's the Sedlec Ossuary in Kutna Hora - about an hour from memory from Prague - pretty cool to see, but not much else in town.



Found a bakery that sold lamingtons there though - that was pretty exciting!