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Skateboarding => Travel Guide => Topic started by: Lloyd Braun on February 06, 2018, 01:46:11 PM

Title: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: Lloyd Braun on February 06, 2018, 01:46:11 PM
So I am planning on spending 6 weeks or so in Europe next year. If you had to pick 6 cities to visit for about a week each, primarily for skating, but also with cool non skate stuff to do where would you pick? I know for sure Barcelona, London and probably Paris are on my list. Any other cities/countries I should look into? I cant decide if I should check out some of the Scandinavian countries, or check out Germany, Portugal, Italy. I have never been to Europe, so I'm wanting to pack as much in as I can while also not going crazy traveling every night. I guess what I'm asking is if you had 6 weeks to travel Europe for skating where would you go and why.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: shark tits on February 06, 2018, 02:13:24 PM
never been but mother russian looks awesome.
possibly just bounce around spain, between the skating, the bulls and the tomato festival they seem like the coolest place. their civil war wasn't about slavery or state's rights, it was anarchists and commies vs fascists.
fascism won but as concession they built the anarcho-socialists lots of banks to skate.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: beatifk on February 08, 2018, 05:36:18 AM
Paris and Berlin are my 2 favorite euro skate cities.

I would honestly stay in paris for 2 weeks at least if you can, it's the best. But it's not cheap.

I love Berlin but the skating is really dependent on the season and the weather while you're there. It can be a bit iffy quite often.

Also, I hope you plan to travel by train or you plan on buying a new deck every place you land because the discount euro airlines (EasyJet, RyanAir, Transavia, etc) are SUPER strict on carry-on luggage, both size and contents... you can't get a skateboard onto any of them from my experience. And everytime I go through security with a set of trucks/wheels I get stopped and they open my bag and tell me not to bring them onto the plane next time but I don't really listen to that particular bit of advice.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: DonSimon on February 08, 2018, 07:49:07 AM
I would check out Copenhagen. Especially during CPH Pro (nothing anounced yet, but should be in July). Always had a blast there.

Another city worth going to is Prague. I really like skating Stalin Plaza and the beer is good and cheap. Plus if you go to Berlin it's only a 4 or 5 hour drive. (I think there are busses that go there)

If you plan on staying more south go to Portugal. Porto and Lisbon are both amazing cities and the portuguese people are really nice and welcoming. Lisbon has more spots as far as I can remember, but Porto has Casa da Musica which is one of the most fun spots I've ever been to.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: rejectpaul on February 08, 2018, 01:13:45 PM
If you’re going to the UK, don’t bother with London, go to Manchester, smaller city, easier to get around, two rad plaza spots around the corner from each other and the pints are cheaper! The scene in Manchester is rad between the two shops, Note and Black Sheep
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: sexualhelon on February 09, 2018, 11:48:23 PM
Shit, I typed out a pretty in depth post here but it looks like it didn't post. Gonna try to condense it - don't feel like writing the whole thing again.

I'm going to assume you're coming when the weather is nice. If it's your first time in Europe I don't think you'll be disappointed with most any capital city. My personal preferences taking skating into consideration would be Barcelona and Berlin. I also quite like Lisbon. London and Copenhagen - which is close to Malmo - are great but the currency is going to crush your dollar if that's a concern.

Now, if budget is a concern, I'd perhaps suggest you start in Berlin then visit some places like Budapest, Prague, and Krakow. If you go further East things only get cheaper - and you'll find more of what DonSimon likes about Prague.

Next thing is I'd say don't rush. Choose your cities and stay at least 5-7 days in each to make up those 6 weeks. You'll probably get discounts this way and waste less time in transit.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: ciaran on February 10, 2018, 02:52:52 PM
Obvious choices are Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin.  All great cities with a lot to offer on many fronts.

Connaisseur's choices in my experience (easy to get around, lots of things to do & see outside of skating, higher chances of meeting locals, that sort of thing) are Bordeaux, Nantes, Helsinki, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Valencia, Brussels/Luxembourg/Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Malmo/CPH, Prague, Geneva, Lyon, Split, Athens, Thessaloniki.  As Sexualhelon said, the further east you go (old Iron Curtain/Warsaw Pact countries), the cheaper they are, along with a glut of Soviet era plazas perfect for skating, akin to Stalin Square in Prague.

Go interrailing for 4 weeks, as you would get to a load of places in a short period of time, then wind up in one of the bigger skate tourist cities, like Barcelona or London, for the remainder.
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: JumpManShorty on March 03, 2018, 04:21:46 PM
Don't want to high jack the thread but what are must go to Eastern Europe countries/cities
Title: Re: 6 weeks in Europe
Post by: sexualhelon on March 04, 2018, 09:33:22 AM
Don't want to high jack the thread but what are must go to Eastern Europe countries/cities


Depends what you're after to a certain extent. I'll say Poland (one of my favorite countries in the world though not "Eastern Europe" geographically speaking). It's great for skating, history, beer, beautiful women, etc... basically ticks all the boxes for what I think you may be looking for in your travels.

After that I'd say Tirana (has this special, unexplored feeling to it and people are friendly), Mostar (interesting history & lots of abandoned places to explore), Skopje (City has an interesting layout & blend of cultures), Belgrade (industrial, good party destination if it's the summer), and Sofia (Good scene here in most regards: outdoor/camping, craft beer, organic stuff, skating,etc...). Feel free to ask me specifics.