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There are a lot of well travelled people on here so I thought I would start a thread where people could get feedback on various places. I found the suggestions for New York very helpful and so thought I would begin to get some information on some places I am visiting over the next few months. So any information on the following places would be helpful -

Las Vegas - Is the helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon worth doing?
Seattle
San Diego
San Francisco

Dortmund
Hamburg - Hopefully going to see St Pauli v Werder Bremen at the end of April. Got a mate who is a member of the Werder Bremen supporters club who can get us tickets in the away end. Looking at the geography, Bremen and Hamburg are quite close so this is sort of a derby match

San Fran - book the alcatraz tour up as soon as poss. We went early morning (9am) and was less busy. Take sun cream if visiting in the summer.

Going in March, shouldn't be too hot then I am guessing?

I'm off to Edinburgh next weekend, anyone got any recommendations of places to go, eat, etc?

I'm off to New York in March too, and there is just a mind fuck of information out there, so I would also like tips on good places to go, eat, drink, relax, etc.

Go and see Hearts! Best team in Edinburgh!

They'll be at home to St Johnstone, tempting, doubt Wiffy would like it though....

i'm off to cumbernauld this weekend. the wife works as an events coordinator and gets free dinner bed and breakfast thrown in. she was told this hotel is in glasgow, it turns out it's halfway between glasgow and edinburgh

Hamburg - The Reeperbahn is right next to the Millerntor! The Binnenalster is pretty nice as is most of the city centre.

I'm going to Munich in March - anyone got any must-sees/dos?

I thought san fran was a dump! As sipo says book alcatraz tour now as its a fucker to get on.

It's not a bad idea to book up a day tour of the city, when  I did this it ended with the Alcatraz trip (which could be why it's difficult for 'walk-ups' to get a place)

You can also get day trips out to wine country, and to Muir Woods (giant redwoods) and Sausalito ('dock of the Bay')

Talking of Vegas, please recommend some decent club/nights that are worth paying a bit for/getting on the guestlist

San Fran - Hire a bike and cycle to Sausalito as it takes you along the waterfront to the Golden Gate bridge, over the bridge to Sausilito where you can have a mooch about (expensive shops!) and get a ferry back across the bay (you can take bikes).
China Town is OK too.

Munich - If you can drag yourself out of the many quality beer halls then Englischer Garten is good if the weather is OK (will involve drinking though). Olympik Park is worth a look with great views from the telecom tower.

My other half would recommend the helicopter over the grand canyon a million times over
As for NYC top of the rock is Lush!!! Quieter & nicer than the empire state

I think I will do the helicopter tour. Have a day to kill before I fly to Seattle so will probably do this.

Agree about top of the rock. Amazing view of the place.

http://www.destination-munich.com/munich-strong-beer-festival.html 

You'll want to spend as little time there as possible.  It's a bit like Bracknell, but with less charm.


I went to the Alster Fair on the shore of the Binnenalster back in the late 1990s - expect it's still going.  I think it happened in the autumn.  Involved losts of beer, wursts, singing.  Big family day out basically, huge firework display in the evening.  I couldn't really think of an equivalent over here.  Germans seem to do this kind of thing very well.  Would definitely recommend it.

San Francisco -  Each to their own i guess but i loved it.  Around the airport and downtown is a dump but if you stay up in the bay area then it's a lot better.  Stay out of Hunter's point night or day it is really dodgy.
Walking across The Golde Gate Bridge to Vista point was another highlight for me can i can confirm the bridge is orange not golden :P

They also have there own chocolate in San Francisco that tastes nothing like that artificial dog shit Hersheys. Ghiradelli is amazing and just like belgium chocolate imo.

Vegas:  If you want to go to shows book well in advance because you won't get to see any otherwise they book out pretty quick.

Cirque du Soleil Beatles in The Mirage Hotel in Vegas is a must to go and see if you like that type of thing.  The shows do move around in there though.

There were a few Lady shows out there one called Fantasy very good and some of things these women do with there bodies is pretty spectacular to say the least.

Plenty of Casinos out there so if you like that kind of thing you'll blow a fortune i blew $2000 in 5 days out there but realistically probably only $1000 as i won some back on the Black Jack & Poker tables.

If you do Grand Canyon Tour the Helicopter or Mule Trek are the best ways to travel into the Canyon.  The mule trek is booked out  way in advanced so if you want that book it  ASAP.

If your a young free single male wherever you walk down the strip cards are shoved into your hands literally offering you personal services in your rooms soapy tit wank.  Now i know why it's called Sin City

Ah. well on the plus side it's free...

:dito:

I love you. Going from 17th to the 19th (1860 vs. KSC on the 18th), so it looks like it'll be the  Löwenbräukeller.

Las Vegas: Definately do the helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon, we did ours with Maverick and it was excellent http://www.maverickhelicopter.com/ The tour took us over the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and then on the way back took us along the strip. They also have a camera on the bottom of the helicopter and you can buy the DVD of your individual tour complete with the commentry from the pilot. Can't really comment on any clubs because I was only 18 when we went so spent most of my time looking around the hotels which if you wander around some of them are crazy the amont of detail they've gone into! The only thing I can reccomend is possibly staying in a hotel in the middle of the strip or one that the monarail goes to because the strip is a bloody long trek! I stayed at the MGM and although it was at the end it was a great hotel and had the monarail link.

San Diego: In my opinion an amazing place! Been twice and going back again this year! It has excellent travel links and you can get around easily on the buses and trolleys. The zoo is a must they've got Giant Panda's and the area to see the Polar Bears is fantastic, the pool is surrounded by the viewing area and you can see them under the water.
The downtown area is easy to walk around they have the Gaslamp Quarter where you'll find all the bars and restaurants http://www.gaslamp.org/
I'd reccomend the USS Midway well worth a visit, very interesting and spent a lot longer there than I thought I would http://www.midway.org/
The Coronado Ferry is worth doing if you have the time, you can get great skyline views of San Diego and they have little souvenir shops and cafes nearby.
There's also Seaport Village which is just down from the USS Midway, you can easily walk from here to downtown and the gaslamp quarter and it has different shops and restaurants as well as street entertainment http://www.seaportvillage.com/
If you're going to go to the beach i'd reccomend Mission Beach, theres the beach and opposite theres a bay and it's got Belmont Park which has a wooden rollercoaster and other rides.
A couple of other things are Sea World, it's not great and it you haven't got much time I wouldn't really bother with that, and theres also La Jolla just up the coast which is more upmarket they've got shops and restaurants and caves that you can kayak into, quite interesting but I wouldn't say it was a must see. There's also Balboa Park I haven't been there yet, but i've heard it's worth a look if you've got the time http://www.balboapark.org/
Anyway that's probably enough! If I think of anything I'll post it, as you can see I'm a little bit obsessed with San Diego! Hope you have a great time on your travels!

Alcatraz is worth a trip on it's own, brilliant day. Lombard street is pretty neat, as are the cable cars. Pier 47 (i think, the toursity one anyway) is good for a few beers and some food and watch the sea lions get lairy.

I'm going to NY next week and Denver the following week albeit with work so my sightseeing is limited to weekends.

Going to Tallinn and Helsinki at the end of March so any recommendations would be appreciated.

Any recommendations for Mumbai?

Yes a suitcase full of arretts.

Dodge as many bullets as possible

Out of the places I have visited, San Francisco has to be my favourite.
For great views, go up Mount Tamalpais (on other side of GG Bridge), and Twin Peaks (of course make sure it is not foggy before you go up - another thing SF is famous for!!) Coit Tower is also worth a climb for view and can be combined with a visit to the Levi Strauss building.
Golden Gate Park is superb - including Japanese Tea Gardens.
If you are into it and it is the right time of the year, watching the Giants play at the AT &T park is worth a visit.

Was in Helsinki filming this year and it was superb. People are great, women are just drop dead beautiful, clubs stay open until about 4. Didn't see much of the touristy bits but a must is to try the reindeer (about €35 for the meal) and there is a pub just off the square where the train station is and it's got somewhere in the region of about 1,000 beers. The pub is awesome with great food. It is expensive for food and drink wherever you go - I paid €7 a beer and a meal would generally cost about €45. There are big shopping centres not far from the railway station and the docks and markets are a good place as well.

This is a link to the restaurant I went to and it was superb. It's a ten minute walk from the centre and the setting of the restaurant when you go in is fantastic.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g189934-d779830-r46116625-LAPPI_RAVINTOLA_LAPPI_RESTAURANT-Helsinki_Southern_Finland.html

we'll have to arrange an evening down the pub to discuss Tallinn

I'd like to get married at top of the rock actually...

Yesss!!!

Tickets to the Miguel Cotto v Ricardo Mayorga fight on March 12th at MGM Grand secured. Should be a good way of starting the stag party.

off to oz a week tomorrow. sunny days and no football - happy days. hopefully when i come back we'll be in top half again!

You're away till August then!

Gor NYC bars, try 230 5th, which is quite simply number 230 on 5th Avenue!  It's a roof top bar about 20 odd floors up.  It has uninterupted views of the Empire State Building which is about 5 blocks away.  It also has a Penthouse bar under neath should the weather be a bit dodgy.  They will ask for a credit card to get into the roof top bit, presumably because the drinks are a bit pricey.

Gotham Comedy club was pretty good, as wood a food walking tour of Greenwich Village, which is a great place to walk around as it's very un-NYC  - leafy.

If you go to NYC in August, they have an outdoor film festival in Central Park, take a blanket to sit on.

For Munich, the Olympic Park was a good visit, certainly worth seeing the stadium we put 5 past them.  The Alianz Arena is in the middle of nowhere and involves a half mile trek from the metro station.

Save yourself for the evenings.  The Beer Gardens/Houses are amazing.  All that offish approach the locals give you during the day vanishes and you can find yourself dancing on table with a man in short playing a brass instrument.  I got properly wrecked in Munich.

I'm off to San Fran, Wine Country and Vegas in the summer, so will use some of the advice.

Didn't they leave last year, or are they back?

Used to stink, but was great fun watching them.

Oh and another tip for San Fran, make sure you have Clam Chowder in a bread soup bowl. Yum! Oh and keep an eye for the bush man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH88UBpyoJ0

Yeah, planning on going to the Olympic Park and the Grünwalder Stadion on one of the days to kill some time before it gets dark. Cannot wait to get into those beer houses!

When did you go to the Allianz Arena? The nearest U-Bahn station looks pretty close on Google Maps (not as close as the massive Sewage Treatment Works the other side of the road though!!). I'm assuming the away end will have the seats taken out for a second division game so i can jump up and down and throw fireworks and lager at the 1860 goalkeeper.

The U-Bahn is certainly walkable, it's just weird that they left such a gap between the stadium when there is literally nothing else on the way up the long path!

Specifically Chicago - anyone been there? Any recommendations on where to stay, what to see, what to avoid etc?

cheers.

I started a thread designed to keep travel hints and tips together, neatly in one thread, like the films, gigs and books.

Doesn't seemed to have worked!!

Must have missed that.

You didn't call it Travel, Travel, Travelly Travel though!

I've not been to Chicago, would love to though. What's taking you there axs? Business or pleasure or both?

Yes, but it was a work trip. Though I think I remember a river trip and the sears tower, so it can't have been all work.

In fact we were staying in Aurora, home of Wayne's World but not worth a trip.

Pleasure hopefully, last few days of honeymoon before flying back.

I've never been. Sounds superb. Great sporting history too, though American Sports have never been my bag.

Top 10 Chicago

http://www.essortment.com/top-10-attractions-chicago-30050.html

I live in the states and have been to chicago on a few occassions...its a great city and you will have a great time.

Theres plenty to do with shopping and sites etc. The first time we went we did the segway tour (those silly stand up wheelly things) and it was fantastic a great way to see the sites...for about 80 bucks, maybe a bit more now, you pick it up in millenium park (where the big mirrored kidney bean sculpture is) and head to soldier field, nfl stadium where the yanks had massive celebrations when the war was over in a film but cant remember the name...flags of our fathers maybe!?

Head to see the bulls if you get a chance the stadium is just outside the city but worth the trip, they have a good young team with a lad called derrick rose who could become an all time great...carlos boozer is a big star too and the have the english lad leoul deng also.

Food wise...if your after a good steak there is a place called smith and wollensky's on the river in the heart of the city which is hands down the best meal I've ever had. Pricey but perfect for a romantic honeymoon meal. I've stayed in a couple of hotels...hard rock was the best i'm not sure the cost of it as fortunately I wasn'tpaying but it was really nice.

Hope this helps! where are you heading before the windy city?

thanks ndc, unfortunately we're going out of season for all sports except MLS. Like the sound of the segway tour though.

Will be touring the south west states after a week in hawaii then flying to chicago from vegas.

Woweee that sounds like a trip and a half!! Honeymoon?

I used to work in Chicago...

A german method of coal extraction from the store?

I believe Axs is looking for information on Chicago.

:)