DESTINATIONS Archives | PACK THE SUITCASES

How to do a Ljubljana to Zagreb train adventure: one-week itinerary

16th February 2019 1 Comment

A fairytale city break in Ljubljana, Slovenia | PACK THE SUITCASES

Here’s my Ljubljana to Zagreb train trip itinerary, featuring the best things to see in both these amazing cities and how to travel between them. You could do this itinerary either way. I chose to start off in Ljubljana because it worked better for our flights. But you could easily do Zagreb to Ljubljana too. Just flip reverse it, much like Blazin’ Squad (that noughties cultural reference will be lost on most of my readers, but I’m going with it).

I’d recommend spending slightly more time in Ljubljana than Zagreb. Although I enjoyed both cities, Ljubljana was an absolute fairytale place and I completely fell in love with it.

Anyway. Here’s my suggested itinerary for seeing both these gorgeous cities within 7 days, including how to do the stunning Ljubljana to Zagreb train journey between them…

DESTINATIONS

How to spend a week in Madeira: a 7-day itinerary without a car

9th February 2019 20 Comments

Things to do in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal | PACK THE SUITCASES

If you’re spending a week in Madeira, there are so many things you can do on the island that it can be a nightmare picking which ones to add to your plan and in what order. I’ve put together this one-week Madeira itinerary based on what I’ve done on past trips (there have been a lot of them and I secretly like to think of myself as some sort of Madeira expert) to help you decide.

Madeira is totally doable without a car, so if like me you don’t drive, you’re going to be pleased with how decent the bus system is for seeing plenty of the island. For the bits that are harder to achieve by bus, there are plenty of minibus private tours, but more on that later..

Anyway, here are my tips for how to use your days to explore Funchal and further afield, where to eat and drink and various stuff to do on each day if you’re spending a whole week in Madeira…

DESTINATIONS

A Copenhagen to Hamburg train ferry adventure: yes, it’s a train that goes onto a ferry!

5th January 2019 5 Comments

A Copenhagen to Hamburg train ferry adventure | PACK THE SUITCASES

This winter, I did what I have decided to call a Copenhagen to Hamburg train ferry adventure. Basically, it involved 3 days in Copenhagen and 3 days in Hamburg, with the two halves being connected via a TRAIN THAT GOES ONTO A FERRY. I kid you not. If a train driving INSIDE a ferry and being transported across the Baltic sea to emerge the other side on land isn’t the most exciting prospect you’ve ever heard of, then you’re on the wrong blog.

There are not many places in the world where trains go onto ferries, so this is a proper unique experience and costs less than 30 euro per person. Also, the cities it goes between are both good places to go to, so it’s not like it’s JUST a novelty. It makes for a really good double city break. I’d recommend spending slightly more time in Copenhagen than Hamburg. I enjoyed both cities, but Copenhagen is my all-time favourite.

Incidentally, this unique train ferry experience may not last forever. There is a horrifying tunnel proposed, called the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, which will be replacing the wondrous train ferry at some point. So you need to get on the train ferry while you still can.

Anyway. Here’s my suggested itinerary for seeing both Copenhagen and Hamburg and how to do the AMAZING train ferry journey between them…

DESTINATIONS

A perfect 2 days in Copenhagen, Denmark

29th December 2018 2 Comments

2 days in Copenhagen | PACK THE SUITCASES

I’d say that 2 days in Copenhagen isn’t enough and that 3 or 4 is more like it if you want to get a proper feel for the Danish capital, but if you’re pushed for time or you’ve been a few times then you can cram a fair bit into 2.

This was my fourth visit so I feel like I know Copenhagen quite well. It’s my all-time favourite city and one of the few cities I can see us living in. Everything about it is high quality, stylish and beautiful. This particular visit was in winter, so had a slightly different feel to it than previous trips I’ve done in autumn and spring. It was freezing, but Copenhagen is built for cold weather so we survived pretty well and as ever, I LOVED my time there and didn’t want to leave.

I’ve written up everything we did, but do bear in mind that this isn’t a full itinerary for a first-time visit. I’d already done most of the big must-do things in previous trips, so this is basically me going over my favourite things to do in Copenhagen. It was actually a really hard post to write, because how do I do my favourite city justice without writing War & Peace?!

Anyway, I’ll give you the lowdown on what to do in 2 days in Copenhagen but first I’ll give you a bit of a preamble and general city guide full of things you should know before you go…

DESTINATIONS

4 days in Prague: an itinerary on a budget

22nd December 2018 No Comments

This is my tried-and-tested budget itinerary for spending 4 days in Prague with a group of friends. It includes where to stay, where to eat and drink, and things to see in the beautiful capital of the Czech Republic/Czechia. It really is tried and tested, not just from when I did it with some of my friends a few years back, but also by other colleagues/friends/random people who I’ve sent it to in the form of a very long email ever since. And yes, recycling and padding out an email I’ve been sending to anyone going to Prague is a very lazy way of getting a blog post out this week. I regret nothing.

It’s always hard planning travel with groups rather than just with one person or alone because you have different budgets, tastes and diets to consider. I think my friends were happy with this Prague itinerary when we went, particularly with how little we spent.

Prague is an easy city to do on a budget. Four days there was enough to see the main sights without feeling too rushed. Here’s my suggestions…

DESTINATIONS

Where to stay in Hamburg: a review of Hotel Baseler Hof

17th December 2018 5 Comments

If you’re frantically googling where to stay in Hamburg, hopefully this review will help you out. I stayed at the rather lovely Hotel Baseler Hof on my recent trip to Hamburg, which worked out really well as a cosy base for exploring this brilliant and underrated German city.

I very rarely stay in hotels these days, usually going for apartments to save a bit of money. However, my time in Hamburg was limited and the weather was freezing, so I needed to be a) in a reliable hotel and b) really central. Hotel Baseler Hof ticked the boxes with a very big fat tick and I loved every minute of my time there. This is the first hotel review I’ve EVER written, by the way. Does that make me a proper travel blogger now?!

While you’re here and clearly doing a bit of Hamburg research, allow me to not-so-subtly shove you towards my post about how to spend 2 days in Hamburg, which covers all the things to do, see, eat and drink that I enjoyed there. It features a lot of cocktails and model railways. A classic combination.

If you’re just after a very honest review of a hotel that I genuinely would recommend for a city break in Hamburg, keep reading…