Hotel Rec's- Amsterdam, Salzburg, and Bratislava

[dreamcrisp1]

I'm planning a trip for mid April. We're going to stay in apartments in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Berlin. However, we're going to be staying in hotels in Amsterdam, Salzburg, and Bratislava. Any rec's? 

ALSO! Any other rec's on things to see and places to go in all these cities? This is my dream trip and it's my graduation present!  

[wise_rita]

I love Salzburg! It's my favorite European city so far. I'm pissed the Olympics are in Sochi right now and not there.

We stayed at Hotel Mozart, which we really enjoyed.  Salzburg is small, so you can walk anywhere you need to go.  It was like 10 minutes walk to the main tourist area.  I really recommend it.

In Amsterdam we stayed at St. Christopher's at Winston Hotel, which is more of a hostel.  There were 4 of us and we wanted to share a room, moderately priced, in a good location.  So that's why we chose this one.  It was fine for what we wanted, but if you're looking for a romantic getaway that's probably not the place to be.  But if you're really price conscious I'd look into it.  There was a pub on the ground floor but I don't remember ever getting loud at night.  But then again, I don't remember a lot things about Amsterdam.  Um...yeah.  

Haven't been to Bratislava, but my SO has with 9 other dudes.  They stayed in a big dorm room (which they had all to themselves) but I doubt that's what you're going for! 

[Deleted]

We really liked the Hotel Pulitzer in Amsterdam. The area it is in is lovely.

[mdgirl]

The Museum Suites in Amsterdam was great. Our room (the Mondrian Suite) was huge, and although it's right down the street from the Van Gogh Museum it's basically a quiet residential neighborhood. There's a tram line right outside, too.

[Vespasia]

We stayed here in Amsterdam last year: www.bb-lafesta.com/ It's out of the main tourist area so much quieter and calmer. The Italian place downstairs was very tasty and the owners were quite helpful.

What apartment are you renting in Prague? I think I'm headed there this September.

[wise_rita]

Feb 11, 2014 21:29:21 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

What apartment are you renting in Prague? I think I'm headed there this September.

I can't say enough good things about Hotel Residence Retezova.  Our room had a kitchen in it.  Ah.may.zing location (but on a street small enough to be really quiet).

[Deleted]

We stayed here in Amsterdam and loved it.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g188590-d618996-Reviews-Grand_Hotel_Amrath_Amsterdam-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html

[dreamcrisp1]

Thank you! I'm going to look these up. It's a trip with my girlfriends so I'm even more excited. Lol.

[Wanderista]

I can tell you about Bratislava. I actually have a lot of pics of Bratislava and I really enjoyed it. I stayed in the Park Inn Danube, Bratislava Hotel which is on a street overlooking the Danube. I did like it but it's a quite modern style of hotel. I will also admit that I lucked out and got a free upgrade to the top floor with Danube views, so my experience was one of the nicer ones at that hotel. I will also say that I was not incredibly wild about the hotel breakfast there but it was ok. 

I think if I were being really picky, I'd aim for a hotel that is more "old world" and romantic, but I am a fan of boutique hotels. My hotel was near Hviezdoslavovo namestie which is a beautiful boulevard. It's definitely an area that you'll want to tour and staying around there is good because it is close to a lot of the nightlife. Bratislava is a bit of a partying city and there's a stretch of it that has late night bars and clubs. I'd probably want to stay near them but not directly above them. 

Bratislava is very close to Vienna so it's actually an affordable place to stay if you also want to visit Vienna. The cities are about an hour apart. I'd definitely make a point of visiting Vienna but I would also tour Bratislava. There's a really beautiful older part of town and there's also a gorgeous castle that you should definitely see. If I could spend more time in Slovakia, I'd want to visit more of the mountains and countryside. I'd also probably want to go to the theatre in Bratislava if I got the chance. I saw the outside but not the inside and it was gorgeous. If you have enough time, you might want to hop into Hungary. I didn't get to do that but I would like to.

I want to add that, hotel breakfast aside, I really liked Slovak food WAY more than I expected to. They have really good ice cream in beautiful ice cream parlors, including that one that was on the boulevard that I listed above. They use a lot of paprika in their food but in ways that I'd never experienced before. I had native dishes that really looked and tasted quite like Indian curry. Also, they use a lot of eggs and pork in their cuisine, but yeah, I really liked it. Also, they are kind of famous for drinking a lot. If you get time, try to have some of the local spirits. I was there during Christmas so they had lots of inventive seasonal spirits - like wild variations on mulled wine.

I'll see if I can add a few photos to this thread to give you an idea of what Bratislava looks like and what I liked about it.

[Wanderista]

This is the Slovak National Theatre. There were also a few other buildings like this around like the concert hall. If I went again, I'd like to go inside of this.

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This is a photo of architecture from one of the concert halls. It's an example of what I thought was so beautiful about this city.

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This is an example of the kind of "ugly beautiful" side of Bratislava. Very beautiful and intricate architecture but with a bit of an edge. The city could sometimes be a bit funky and edgy.

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[Wanderista]

I just want to share one more image of Bratislava that will give you a bit of an idea of what it is like. I was there in the winter, so it should be a lot greener if you are there in another season.

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That's another very old part of town near the Holocaust Memorial and en route to the castle. You can actually see the spires of the castle in that photo. The area around the castle is, as you can tell, very nice. But yep, they also have a lot of graffiti which is true of most of Eastern Europe. 

[more adventurous]

Can I ask how long your trip is for?

I've been lurking for a while trying to get ideas for a Europe trip as well. Currently we are considering Munich, Salzburg, and Prague. I would love to do more cities but I'm concerned with the amount of time that we would have in each. I love your itinerary but I'm just curious how long you'll be in each place. TIA!

[dreamcrisp1]

Feb 12, 2014 15:15:23 GMT -5 more adventurous said:

Can I ask how long your trip is for?

I've been lurking for a while trying to get ideas for a Europe trip as well. Currently we are considering Munich, Salzburg, and Prague. I would love to do more cities but I'm concerned with the amount of time that we would have in each. I love your itinerary but I'm just curious how long you'll be in each place. TIA!

I'll be gone from April 16 to May 23.