Winter holidays: 7 trips, which should be planned in the autumn
At first we wanted to write a romantic guide. autumn travel directions, but looked at the exchange rates and decided to go directly to the New Year: courses, courses, and he will come on schedule. If your plans are more extensive than tangerines, Olivier and fireworks in the courtyard, we recommend getting ready in September: catch budget tickets and book hotels in the center at a lifting price. We have collected seven really budget directions in order not to spend the December salary for the days of the New Year holidays.
Prague manages to be fabulous at any time of the year, but in December it is all saturated with the expectation of Christmas, and Advent fairs take place in the squares. What is the most beautiful, these fairs are closed only on the sixth of January - which means that you have a chance to buy handmade Christmas balls, a reverent angel with glass wings and feel the Christmas atmosphere. Mulled wine, famous trdlo (a twisted bun made from yeast dough), one hundred and one kind of Czech beer - Prague knows a lot about winter fun.
New Year's Eve here is also enchanting: the battle of medieval chimes on Old Town Square, the whirlwind of towers and spiers and finally a fantastic fireworks over the Vltava, which is considered the most spectacular in Europe (it is traditionally already held on the first day of January). For those who want to celebrate the New Year in a restaurant with an entertainment program, prices start at eighty euros per person (don't forget to attend to your booking in advance). And you can go to the illuminated streets, intercept a fried sausage, knuckle or dumplings - and your wallet will not notice.
The magnificent visa-free Tbilisi (stamp on arrival does not count) is spinning around with chacha and ornate architecture. Charming dilapidation, shabby, which only makes it all the more attractive, friendly tasting rooms - Tbilisi becomes a single (and very spiritual) ensemble of Tiflis architecture. Half an hour from the city of travelers waiting for ancient Mtskheta with magnificent temples and panoramic views from the monastery Jvari. You can expand the program of staying in Tbilisi and dash to Kakheti - or stay in the city to visit the sulfur baths, find the best khinkali and just enjoy the atmosphere.
The New Year in Tbilisi itself is celebrated very diligently: restaurants prepare folklore programs, and local residents buy an assortment of firecrackers to support the city fireworks with a personal example. You can climb the funicular to the Narikala fortress, to look at the shining night Tbilisi, and then go to Freedom Square and join the festive crowd.
An option for those who want real snow-covered firs and are not afraid of a short daylight - in Finland you are waiting for the real winter. A sauna is usually attached to each cottage, and if you rent a house in a ski resort, then ski and jogging tracks will follow. And also in Finland there is a hill instead of high mountains, and this fact very much disposes of finally getting on the mountain skiing itself or helping the children stand on it.
The New Year here will be in the format of "do it yourself": you have to cook for yourself a New Year's dinner, light Bengal lights and, if lucky, the sky will support the northern lights. It is convenient to travel to Finland in your car through St. Petersburg with a stop at the supermarket to buy food and practice cooking Finnish salmon soup during the long winter evenings. More from entertainment - sauna, snow, look at the stars and silence.
If you go ahead, you can still grab tickets to Sochi for eight with a penny thousand rubles. We cannot promise that accommodation in Krasnaya Polyana will be the same budget, but this is a good option to “roll out” the slope without a visa, a foreign passport and tricky movements. However, early booking, especially in September, will save the budget. Shops, restaurants, water park, children's rooms - all the infrastructure at your feet; and if you want to take a break from mountain skiing, by the sea, invitingly shakes Sochi with palm trees.
On New Year's Eve, a fireworks show is arranged in Krasnaya Polyana, and hotels and resorts compete in the entertainment program. Bright, spectacular, emotionally - everything like those who grew up with the idea that the New Year is the most magical holiday of the year. In a clearing the magic rolls over. However, it is possible to be based in Sochi, and to master Olympic facilities and ski resorts by forays, returning to the sea every evening.
It seemed that Kotor had come from the past and had not yet decided on which particular era in the yard. As soon as you enter the main gate, then fall through the Middle Ages - with Venetian windows, stone churches, winding streets. An ancient fortress towers over this historic reconstruction on a mountain, and the Adriatic Sea overlooks the Bay of Kotor, resembling a fjord, at the feet of the city.
From the New Year in Kotor, it is better not to wait for a special extravaganza - for example, folk festivals and simple salute. The whole extravaganza around - in the landscapes of Boko-Kotor Bay, in the farmers market under the city walls, where they sell delicate salty prshut, in the most medieval atmosphere. Tickets to Tivat can still be grasped at a relatively modest price, citizens of Russia do not need a visa, prices are very low.
Thermal baths, goulash and Tokay wines - everything you wanted to know about the New Year in Budapest. Most Christmas fairs are open until January 1, so you can capture the atmosphere of Advent: buy knitted socks, Christmas tree balls, mulled wine and fried sausages. On New Year's Eve, Budapest does not restrain itself, like other European cities. Illumination, fireworks on the Vörösmarty Square, a laser show on the facade of the cathedral and a New Year's dinner without a program of twenty-five euros per person.
In addition to New Year's Eve, Budapest has a lot of entertainment: swimming pools, delicious food, wonderful panoramic views, walks along the Danube by a water-bus, national dishes - goulash and paprikash. Especially impressive are the outdoor swimming pools in the baths: around the winter, and you relax in the warm thermal water under the open sky.
In Istanbul, you will not find the spirit of Christmas and cheerful illumination, but the huge balyk Ekmek, or tuna sandwich in the Eminonu Square will quench all sorrow. Fishermen throw fishing rods from the Galata bridge, Hagia Sophia reminds of Byzantium, and gold mosaics of the church of the Choir monastery are transferred to this Byzantium. On New Year's Eve, the Bosphorus is illuminated with a thousand lights.
Sights in Istanbul darkness, and not the fact that you have enough New Year holidays to learn everything. You can take a boat to the Asian part of the city, visit the Hammam, find the most delicious kebab, climb the Galata Tower, drink pomegranate juice, take a stroll through the old quarters of Fener and Balat - you can take a long time to list what to do in Istanbul.
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