Quick cache and dash abroad?

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

Im thinking of taking a cheap flight abroad in the spring to do some caching and a bit of sight seeing for a few days. The idea is to bag some caches outside the UK as we havent done any yet. It will ideally be city based so I can walk and use public transport, and also probably be in Europe so the flights are cheap.

 

 

So heres the thing.......anyone have any recommendations for some good places to go?

[+SaltercreaseRangers]

Barcelona ?

Prague ?

Amsterdam ?

Dublin - Europes 1st ?

 

cheap flights = most stag party destinations

[+speakers-corner]

If you wish to come to Stuttgart, Germany, I can show you around the town and help with Caches there. You just have to let me know when and I shall arrange a few days free.

[+Simply Paul]

Barcalona is cheap, warm and awesome. Also full of pickpockets (especially the metro) so be careful. Budapest has some great caches, Prague is stunning and has some corkers too. I cached in Berlin a few times and loved it, ditto Bremen in Germany. Amsterdam's pretty (there's a mega there abouts soon too) and Dublin has its charms. One problem with caching in Ireland; people notice and walk over to ask if you've lost something, or if they can help. Too friendly! You might consider Oslo (but perhaps later in the year), Paris or Bruges but I've not personally cached in them. I think Barca would get my vote at this time of year. Some great caches and a beautiful city. Do hang onto your personals there though, so to speak

[+redsox_mark]

I've cached in Prague and Budapest, and can recommend them both. Nice cities with a variety of caches. Not only in the centre, but there are nice parks and places to walk just outside the city.

 

I was caching in Paris last week. I enjoyed walking around the city, and the weather was gorgeous. The caches for some reason I found less enjoyable than Prague or Budapest. They were mostly micros/nanos in high muggle areas. Any city tends to have more micros/nanos and has muggles, but somehow it all seemed harder in Paris.

[+currykev]

Den Haag is my favourite European city caching spot. You could combine with Amsterdam caching too.

Ireland is too expensive these days. But I suppose someone has to pay their debts.

Portugal is full of cunning caches. Germans love a ? cache or 6.

Sweden offers friendly locals. Denmark the opposite. Athens is fab for good hill walking.

But Spain wins for me. For every occasion.

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Anywhere in the Euro zone is too expensive at the minute. Go to Krakow in Poland. Cheap to get to. Cheap to stay. Cheap to eat. Quite a few caches.

[+Stuey]

I can recommend Barcelona and Dublin. The ultra cheap Ryanair deals aren't around any more, sadly. A few years ago three of us went caching in Dublin for a day trip, total air fare, including all fees, charges and taxes was £0.06p. I did a few of those day trips, and we even got a FTF out there too!

[+HazelS]

I asked my parents for their reccommendations....

 

Barcelona

Dublin (but as others have said - costly)

and Yes - Portugal they love a high difficulty and their ?'s

 

They also said go with Barca - Dad just raved about getting to go to the Nou Camp Stadium, while mum raved about the caches, the weather and the wine!!!

 

Edited cos I type too quickly!!

Edited February 14, 2011 by HazelS

[+FantasyRaider]

How about this for a caching route?

Not only is this a 101 cache bike ride, it is also in (what I think) is a most beautiful part of Spain.

 

The caching trail starts at les Torroelles (not far from Roses)

Passing through the Parc Natural dels Aiguamolis di l'Emporda, going around Castello d'Empuries and back up to where you started.

 

Sadly when I lived and worked in Roses for over 18 summer seasons, I knew nothing about caching.

Haven’t been back here in over 6 years, but plan to go back this year to visit my old friends and of course to cache till I drop.

And this is the main trail I hope to try:

 

Aiguamolls Bike Ride Nº 1 GIV -6103 KM1

 

to

 

Aiguamolls Bike Ride Nº 101 One for luck!

 

(I've checked this trail and there are plenty of campsites to break up the treck and rest)

 

But if you don’t fancy a long, long bike ride:

How about some coastal train caching?

 

I used to ride my little old bike (with my tent in my rucksack) to Figueres and get the train from there along the coast to Salou.

Stopping at some of the coastal resorts on the way. (I notice that these all have loads of caches now).

 

l'Estartit, L'Escala, Blanes, Barclenoa, Stiges and then on to Salou.

 

I can’t remember the total time it took by train to Salou, but it was about 3 hours?

 

Getting there:

Flights to Girona Airport are still pretty cheap, or just drive to Roses?

(I used to be able to hitchhike there from the West midlands in 27 hours)

I plan on driving there this time.

I’ve been planning this trip with caching in mind.

[+somloci]

I've cached in Prague and Budapest, and can recommend them both. Nice cities with a variety of caches. Not only in the centre, but there are nice parks and places to walk just outside the city.

Come to Budapest, I can show you around! Budapest has more rubbish on its streets but offers nightlife way better. Recently there were two power trails launched, one with 100 and another with 270 caches, if you're not doing a day-trip, should go for those. There's always someone planning to go for them so could share a car with them. If you wanna stay within the city limits it still offers you a day or two of hiking as half of Budapest is on mountains. The other is flat, in April you might wanna rent a bike to bag more boxes.

 

If the weather deters you (we'll have 10-20 degrees Celsius but recently it started to vary between 0-30, kinda April Fools') go for Porto, I haven't seen a city more charming. Local geocachers are very kind, I was hosted by one of them for two nights and even received a geocoin as a farewell gift.

[+FantasticCat]

I went to Barcelona this time last year and had a very nice time. It was nice to get some sun as a break from the winter. Prices weren't too bad accomodation or food wise. You should do Barcelona Invasion if you go- leave yourself 2 days min to do it though (can also combine it with others en route). Catch a Barcelona football match also- easy to get tickets for league matches and much cheaper than Premiership (20-25 euros for seats "up with the Gods"). You can print your own tickets also and choose your seats (and see the view online). Worth doing for the experience even if you don't really care for football. You get free tuition in learning how to swear in Spanish also!

 

Went to Dublin in the autumn. The caches were plentiful and good enough. I found Dublin expensive and relatively disappointing tourist wise. Expected a lot more historical sites etc than there were. Guinness is 5+ euros a pint. Also people wax lyrical about the atmosphere in the pubs but you have to be careful this isn't a very manufactured atmosphere. Not like Britain isn't stuffed full of decent pubs with a far bigger selection of beer. Was still very pleased I went, but that was because I saw two great gigs by New Model Army and had a long chat with one of the band.

 

Go to Berlin every June for chess tournament. Lots of caches there. Berlin is a bit of a grey city, but thats part of the charm- it still retains its communist feel in eastern parts. You can also find large wooded areas and even a beach (Straband Wansee I think) at the edge of the U bahn network. Lots of garden areas with large sheds/chalets closer in which you can wander through, which have some caches in. Caches are generally harder than in UK, although part of this is down to the clues log notes can give you (which you miss unless fluent). Berlin is reasonable for accomodation, close-ish and cheap to get from airport and has plenty of cheap good quality restaurants, even in Western parts. Certainly cheaper than London to eat.

 

Have just been told about prepaid Mastercards btw. They seem to offer a much better exchange rate than anything else will offer you (including changing cash). Think they also get around Ryanairs extortionate £5 per flight admin fee even for booking with a debit card.

 

More a general walking rather than caching question- has anyone been to the Austrian Alps? Is it easy to get around without a car and are there plenty of walking trails?

[+NickandAliandEliza]

 

More a general walking rather than caching question- has anyone been to the Austrian Alps? Is it easy to get around without a car and are there plenty of walking trails?

 

We've been to Seefeld twice skiing. All the cross country skiing routes become walks in the summer and the high Alpine walks are opened. The trails are waymarked.

 

You can fly to Innsbruck and then it's a twenty minute cab journey up the mountain to the Seefeld plateau or about 30 minutes on the train. We have said for years that we'll go there in the summer one year, but never got round to it. The only thing is, caches aren't that thick on the ground. The car hire is reasonable though and you can do Austrian, German and Italian caches with ease all in one day!

 

PS - and yes it is easy to get around without a car. The buses are very punctual and reliable.....

Edited February 15, 2011 by Nick & Ali

[+FantasticCat]

Thanks N&A. Sorry to hijack the thread V&S, but I suppose at least I gave you a lot of info! Few caches isn't a problem for me now. My numbers days are hopefully permanently behind me.

[+*mouse*]

TBH I would just see what cheap flights are available and let that that guide you!

[+flookbird]

Choose somewhere you've always wanted to go and go there - there are bound to be caches there! I went to Salzburg in the summer (Sound of Music nut!) and the caching was a big part of my plans - helped me make my way around parts of the city I might not have otherwise seen. It was great as it meant I was more inclined to walk to my hotel than get taxis - there was a nice trail of caches between the main part of the city and my hotel on the outskirts - even walked in the chucking rain!

[+Vodor and Scorsby]

Thanks for all the advice. It looks like Barcelona is a good choice. I've used the new beta maps on geocaching.com to check it out and there are tons of caches around to do.

 

Now just to get my holiday authorised

Edited February 21, 2011 by Vodor and Scorsby

[+Pharisee]

Barcelona is a cracking place. Once you get into a few of the bars in the old medieval city you'll forget all about geocaching

[+Woking Wonders]

Copenhagen and Malmö. Two countries, Denmark and Sweden, in one trip with just a 30 minute train ride between the two, and plenty of caches for a few days.

[+Maple Leaf]

 

Aiguamolls Bike Ride Nº 1 GIV -6103 KM1

 

to

 

Aiguamolls Bike Ride Nº 101 One for luck!

 

 

This trail was published after we had booked our cycling holiday to the area (when we booked there were only a dozen or so caches dotted around) .... and as some of the caches were on our route we just had to stop and do them. Nice area to cycle - mostly country lanes/farm tracks and lots of tavernas etc to stop off at. (we went in early Oct)

 

Unfortunately, our cycling holiday was cut short ..... so we didn't get to complete them.

 

Maybe one day we will return and finish our holiday and the caches.

[+naturesbyte]

Istanbul in Turkey, not only can you grab two continents with ease there are some great caches both earth and traditional, plus it's not too expensive to eat and sleep, the people are very friendly.