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[ SECRET POST #7044 ]

⌈ Secret Post #7044 ⌋

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So lately I started wondering which places Id like to visit if I ever went to Europe. Just as a fun fantasy kinda thing
If you live/d in Europe, which places would you recommend people to visit? Could be in your own country or places you went as a tourist. Just places that are not the usual 'eurotrip' tourist destinations but worth the view, unusual museums or shops and so on.

I did live in Europe. Specifically lived in Croatia for a year and a half.

I think the least touristy place I visited (outside of where we were living) while there was Wales. It is just beautiful and a lot of history stuff, and it is just less overtaken by tourist stuff. There are some really nice castles, a fun museum on the history of coal that includes a tour of an actual mine, and St Fagans National Museum of History where the lives of ordinary people are explored. There was also one place we visited where we got to see this really old, really tiny church basically built into a wall. It was so small basically 5-10 people could be inside it at most.

Also, the city we were living in, Osijek, is not remotely touristy. No museums. But really, really old buildings and architecture. If you are at all interested in architecture, it is a great place to visit. And the food is amazing. And because it is a small-ish town/city, it hasw a much quieter feel than the more high-tourist cities of Zagreb and Dubrovnik (where Game of Thrones was filmed). Although I would not recommend going in winter because it gets cold, and they use coal for heat, so the air gets bad.

Ooh, Croatia, nice! Well I assumed Wales was touristic but maybe not? I don't know how's tourism in the UK lately anyway. But sounds cute. I'm not really considering visiting rn but I'm planning on doing a Street View trip wherever sounds interesting lol hopefully maybe one day! Ojisek seems lovely architecture-wise, I don't know much about the history of Croatia but it seems like a planned city. Very pretty! Thanks for sharing!

Croatia is lovely. I loved Dubrovnik, but it is really touristy.

Honestly, I wish I'd been able to visit more places while I was there. My parents did an Italy trip that I missed out on and would have loved. And I'd really love to see Spain, Sweden, and Germany.

(warning: medicated and sleepy, just noticed a thousand grammatical errors in my reply but sure)
Aww, it's a pity that you couldn't make it (not sure what circumstances you were in, schedule/budget/career-wise) but I would love to visit most of these countries as well.

The circumstances were, I was living with my parents after my depression made me bottom out in college and I needed a break. They were missionaries, so not exactly made of money. I was only there a year and a half before I went back to college (spent more time in Asia, so have done more traveling there than in Europe). Happy I did get to see as much as I did. I do plan on going back someday, if I have the money.

Also, currently medicated and sleepy myself, so totally get that. I hope you are feeling okay and are able to get some good sleep.

Edited 2026-04-19 23:42 (UTC)

Oww sorry but that's an incredible experience. Thank you and rest easy you too :)

It really was amazing. Honestly, I think getting to live in more than one country is a really amazing experience. There is something different about actually living in different cultures that is really profound and shapes you in ways you don't expect. Especially when it happens when you are a kid, but even as an adult.

Seeing as this is a fantasy, I assume budget isn't an issue so I'll just say, for a starting point you can't go wrong with capital cities.

Capitals I've visited and really enjoyed because there was enough history related things to keep me entertained: Reykjavik, Berlin (absolute fave), Vienna, Prague (another absolute fave), Ljubljana, Lisbon, Tallinn, Helsinki, Athens.

In Reykjavik we hired a car - so we were able to do things like the Golden Circle. Prague it was easy to get a train to Kutná Hora where there's a fairly famous ossuary, though obviously it's a bit morbid. Ljubljana meant we were able to do a trip to Lake Bled. It's always worth checking out what's close by that you could either drive to or get public transport.

Not-capital cities I enjoyed (again, history emphasis because that's what I like): Dubrovnik, Krakow, Nice, Kotor (though this unfortunately suffers similarly to Dubrovnik in that a lot of cruise ships dock here), Venice, Florence, Lake Garda (those last three all Italy), Mostar.

I'm northern English and live in Scotland, so of course I feel obligated to recommend coming here too, but don't just concentrate on Edinburgh and the Highlands. Though I will say that my husband and I decided to have a long weekend in Fort Augustus on Loch Ness a few years ago because we realised we don't spend much time in our own country. Anyway, those places are of course worth visiting (and you should!) but they tend to be overrun in the popular months, meaning if you want a bit of quiet you need to chance the colder/coldest months where everything might not be open and it gets dark before 5pm. I loved Skye when I visited but it's really expensive. There's some lovely places in the Borders/south Scotland like Peebles and Melrose.

Unlike the stereotype of northerners I don't have a chip on my shoulder about London. It's a great city but again - pretty expensive, especially if it's a once in a lifetime sorta deal and you want to do as much as possible.

Edited 2026-04-19 23:12 (UTC)

Ohhhh amazing! It's good to hear from someone who's into traveling. Any particular places you visited that were memorable? I mean ruins, museums, parks, whatever.

It's really fortunate that most of Europe is easily accessible! You can tick off so many countries quite easily. I couldn't afford to travel much until my late 20s so I've made up for it over the last decade.

Off the top of my head, memorable things about some of those places...

- Berlin. Has Museum Island, which is exactly what it sounds like. There's also the Stasi Museum (which is the actual building used by the Stasi in East Berlin, so some of it has been preserved/reconstructed as it was at the time.)
- Vienna. Schönbrunn Palace and Zoo. The zoo is attached to the gardens and they've still got some of the old cages (no longer occupied) to show you how much zoos have tried to improve from a welfare perspective. I saw some very cute panda cubs when I was there. Another attraction I liked was the Imperial Crypt. Quite a lot of the emperors/empresses are buried in there.
- Florence. The Duomo. Specifically, climbing up to the top. But it's a VERY intense effort and even in mid-September the temperatures were over 30C/86F. I don't regret doing it, but I definitely saw some people suffering, especially when it got very narrow nearer the top and you had to squeeze past people coming the other way.
- Speaking of Italy, I didn't care for Naples itself (it's extremely busy) but visiting the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum is extremely worth it. I didn't have enough time to climb up Vesuvius itself but a friend did it and said it was great, but again not the most relaxing thing to do!
- From Ljubljana - as I said, a trip to Lake Bled is worth considering if you have time, and we also travelled to Postojna Cave Park - this features an underground train ride into the cave system. It's a fairly unique experience. Ljubljana itself is pretty (over the river there's a point called the triple bridge, which I don't think I've really seen before in other places) but fairly small so you won't need more than 2-3 days.
- From Krakow - obviously you can get to Auschwitz quite easily if you're interested, but I would get that out of the way earlier in your visit if you're going to do it, and you have to book onto a tour. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is another big thing people do in Krakow and I'd recommend that for sure.
- Lisbon, riding on the funiculars and trams was fun, lots of nice viewpoints in the city too and one our last night we took a couple of cans of beer down to the seafront (in our home city you can't drink on the street) and sat for a while watching the sunset/the waves.
- Prague has the Charles Bridge and a few other interesting monuments scattered across the city, including an interesting astronomical clock in a public square, but generally I loved it so much because of the vibes.
- Athens the Acropolis was really cool. Not the temperature though, it was January but unexpectedly too hot according to my pasty English skin.

Prague, Lisbon and Krakow all had castles. I love a good castle!

I also forgot to mention that I went to Munich in early December once specifically for the Christmas markets. It's probably really touristy, but I had fun :)

(I've also been to Paris, but I'm one of those people who didn't vibe with it, so I don't tend to recommend it. Perhaps I need to go back and try again.)

Favourite European cities that I visited: Edinburgh, Prague, Budapest, Lauterbrunnen, Athens, Dubrovnik

I went on two trips by myself in the '10's and both were different experiences with the same tour company. I don't drive so I count on tour companies or public transport to move around, and the trains/tram system over there is a joy (our bus system sucks here). Obviously, trips are going to be what you make of them, so whether you go with a tour company or by yourself will determine how you interact/react to a place and its people.

In Scotland Edinburgh is full of tourists. Dundee, however, is a train journey away and also has nice museums, ancient volcano to climb on top of, and you can get a bus to seaside spots like Broughty Ferry (tiny "castle" museum) and St. Andrews (the Chariots of Fire beach)

No one mentioned, but I adored Netherlands. I do not care for weed smell and stairs are a bitch, but lovely country, really pretty and comfortable.
If I could have emigrated I would choose Finland. BUT, it's not my first choice to visit, it is kinda boring.

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[ SECRET POST #7044 ]

Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?

Re: Any Europeans or people who lived in Europe?