Ireland, Poland, Germany

I want to go to Poland, Joe wants to go back to Germany, and we both want to go to Ireland. My question is what is a good city in each to visit? We would go to only 1 of these places for 7-10days.....We are not big into adventure stuff....more good food, good alcohol, and sight seeing. TIA

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

i loovveee Krakow, Poland.. GREAT food (cheap!) GREAT beer!

Sites? Not so much in the city, but I believe there are tours to concentration camps that you can go see.

It's such a cute, fun little city.

Havent been to Germany yet and going to Ireland for the first time this January

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

i have been to hamburg and berlin - didnt make me jump up and down - but my husband has been to munich and absolutely loved it


krakow is supposed to be great

irelend is beautiful and lots to see, but $$

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

my husband lived in europe while studying abroad for over five months - he loved it and two places he visited, out of a TON, were ireland and germany. he only saw munich in germany b/c he went there for oktoberfest and said it was great. so, he said you should def try and get there -- very nice.

then, his favorite place of all the places he visited was ireland -- by far. he loved kilarny (sp?) the BEST - he said the people, the town, everything was amazing. then, he also loved blarney (sp?) and dublin -- overall, it was an amazing trip. he did the ring of kelly (i think that is what it's called) which he said was a mountain range - very, very pretty and a must see, also!

HTH!

he's never been to poland so i can't tell you much about that, sorry!

Message edited 9/4/2008 12:43:16 PM.

Re:

I loved Berlin. I only went for a few days but I just thought the city was incredible. It was amazing to see what a transformation it had made in such a short time. When I went I stayed at The Circus Hostel . It is nicer than some hotels and the rates were great. If you head in that direction I definitely recommend that you stay there.

In Ireland I loved the North. Belfast is a great city with lots of great pubs, shopping and history. You can take a double decker bus tour of the city or the Black Taxi Tour is pretty cool. You can see where the Titanic was built. The cranes are still there so you can actually see how huge the boat was. The Causeway Coastal Route is a great drive along the Antrim coast. The sites are beautiful I loved Giant's Causeway. If you need any info on where to stay or where to go let me know.

I don't have any info on Poland I have never been.

Have a great trip!!!!!

Message edited 9/11/2011 2:23:41 PM.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Thanks ladies I appreciate it! This is about 1-2yrs away for financial reasons, but I thought I would start looking around and getting ideas......Sounds like Munich might win, but I;m still pulling for Ireland or Poland

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Munich is a fun city- even if you don't go in October. It gets a lot of tourists from Northern Italy, and I thought it was pretty cosmopolitan compared to Berlin. They rebuilt a lot of the buildings after WWII in the old styles, so it looks very old.....Berlin is more 60's "modern"- kind of like a SUNY campus, if you ask me...

In Ireland, I liked Galway over Dublin, but I was there years ago...and I keep hearing great things about Dublin. I actually prefered the countryside, though. The people were so friendly and so much fun to hang out with.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Krakow is awesome! You can tour the castle Wawel (i think thats how its spelled), that was cool. There's a lot of great restaurants and shops. Auschwitz is a few hours from there. Obviously its a sad experience, not sure if i recommend it, but i guess it is something to experience once.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

I lived in Ireland for 6 months in college so that would get my vote. I lived in Dublin - which is a must see - but the "real" Ireland (what you think of when you think of Ireland) is the countryside - Galway, the Ring of Kerry, Cork (where the Blarney stone is), the Aran Islands. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous, and the people are just the nicest in the world. I also agree about going to Belfast - you can still feel the separation there and it's a fascinating place. Just make sure there is limited unrest there when you visit (I went in 2000 and things were a bit unstable and I was advised to not use my real last name while I was there - a very Irish Catholic name)

I've also been to Munich - also a really fascinating city where I had a ton of fun. I found the language barrier to be really tough. When visiting other European countries I felt like it was easier to get by with limited knowledge of the language and there were more English speakers in the touristy areas - German is a whole different story...there's no faking such a tough language! I feel like it hindered us a bit, but it was still a blast.

Have not been to Poland yet, but it's on our list!

Happy planning!

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

my recommendations for Poland:
Krakow (former capital of Poland)
Zakopane (Tatra Mountains)
Wieliczka (salt mine)
Auschwitz
Czestochowa (pilgrimage center if you are interested, beautiful church)

Message edited 9/5/2008 1:51:21 PM.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Another vote for Krakow - if you can just visit one city in Poland, you'll have a lot of fun there.

In Germany, I'd go for Munich. But if you have more time and can hit more cities, there are many more I'd recommend!

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

When I was in Germany (this past February) I went to Cologne and Dusseldorf because that is where my husband was living for work at the time... we enjoyed it there.

When friends went to visit him, he took them to the Black Forest and to Heidleburg (sp?) They loved it! The pictures were awesome! That is where I WISH we went!

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

I've never been to Ireland, but I have been to Germany (lived there for 1 year) and Poland.

For Poland I highly suggest Krakow. So awesome and so cheap, but I went before it became part of the EU. I really disliked Warsaw, but the history is good. Krakow has been my favourite in Eastern Europe thus far.

For Germany- well I love Germany and we are thinking about moving back. I can't suggest Berlin enough. One of my favourite cities in the world! After that I would suggest:

Munich
Ulm
Garmisch (great for skiing and in the winter time)
Baden-Baden
Titisee (yes a real name- lol) In the Black Forest.
Freiburg (in the Black Forest, there are two you don't want to go to the other one!)
Tübingen (lived there for a year, beautiful university town.

Not a big fan of:
Frankfurt
Stuttgart
Hamburg (I did go to a city nearby, which was wonderful, I forget the name though)


What time of year are you planning to go, b/c some places are better at different times.

Feel free to FM me about Germany.

Message edited 9/5/2008 10:30:08 PM.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

I'm all about Munich as well (I lived an hour away in Ulm for a bit). It's a fun and small city, but great food and beer. Plus there are great side trips. Neuschwanstein, Dachau, Salzburg, Austria, Konstanz, Ulm - you could leave via Prague too, to get something else in.


I found Berlin to be terribly depressing - even after the wall was long gone. Just the attitudes of people are depressing...while Munich people are more upbeat...but if you go to Berlin, you must have red and green beer (sweetened with syrup)

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

WOW ladies thank you so much! I would like to go tomorrow, but as of right now maybe March of 2010 or June of 2010. Joe has been to Germany(ARMY) and wants to go back but I am Polish and have always wanted to visit. But we both want Ireland. So right now it's a toss....However I think Poland or Ireland might win. I say this because I do NOT speak Germany adn Joe's German is poor at best. How was the language barrier in Poland/Ireland? I want to visit the camps, but TBH I want to see the beauty of Poland not the saddness. I know it's educational, but I just cna't bring myself to see what my family went through. TIA for the help ladies...You are my heros

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

when Poland was a communist country we had to learn Russian, some learned German as well, but English was not really taught... so yeah older generation will not know English, only the younger people...

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

I've never been to Ireland or Poland, but I spent 3 weeks in Germany and I REALLY loved it.

Berlin isn't that great, but it is a MUST see for the cultural and historical significance.

Hamburg is a port town...nothing too exciting...but it's where the beatles began lol so it does have that aspect.

Munich! so much fun...loved the Glockenspiel and the Hofbrauhaus

we also spent time in smaller towns, renting a car and driving up and down both the Romantic and Fairly Tale roads through the Black Forest. the scenery in Germany is breathtaking on these roads.

the people warm and helpful. the food...DELISH the beer...awesome, even for me, a non beer drinker before the trip, I've come back with a new appreciation for it.

we went to Dachau (chilling experience...haunting) we went to Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dresden (coffee coffee coffee and streudel streudel streudel)

I cannot compare the trip to either Poland or Ireland....but Poland is NOT the far away (as the germans well know ha) and it is conceivable that you could add two days in Poland on your trip there.

but germany was just fabulous and I would go again in a heart beat.

good luck...it's an awesome decision to have to make!

eta: Germany was VERY easy to get along in with speaking only english...could be the easiest of any other country I daresay (at least in my experience)

you have time though, so do yourself a favor 9and give the country you are visiting) the respect of speaking their language at least a little when you go. it's not their job to speak english so it shouldn't be expected.

and I wouldn't take an Irish brogue lightly I have trouble understanding people in LONDON sometimes...and Irish street is WORSE

Message edited 9/9/2008 3:27:25 PM.

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Munich is great. And if I remember correctly, it's only a 45-minute train ride from there to Salzburg, Austria if you're interested in a day trip (my heart belongs to Salzburg ).

Re: Ireland, Poland, Germany

Never been to Poland.

Going to Germany in January, specifically, Bavaria. I will let you know.

We went to Ireland in April of 07. We first stayed in Killarney, LOVED that town. THen to Dublin for a few days. We had such a great time. So much to do, so little time.