Yulko Polo Travel Blog

General Info

Country: France & Monaco | Languages: French | Currency: Euro (EUR) | Flag: 🇫🇷 & 🇲🇨 | When visited: April 2025

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🚗 How to commute

The best and the most affordable way to reach the city centre or Central Station from the “Côte d'Azur” Airport is the public transport: tram (L2), and/or bus, or train (TER). It's important to note, that if you arrive to the Terminal 2, you won't be able to buy a 1 way tram-ticket to the centre, because the machines on the station are selling either round-trip tickets or top-ups for the plastic travel card “La Carte”, which you also can't by there. On the Information counter, we were advised to go 1 station to the Terminal 1 with any tram, and buy our 1 way tickets there. Kinda weird, but it's how it was in April 2025. Another essential thing is that, when you buy a 1 way ticket from the machine, you will always get “La Carte” plastic card and will have to pay for it additionally. So if you already have one, you just need to top it up, and if you travel as a group of 2–3 people, it may make sense to buy 1 card and top it up with multiple trips, which you can validate for multiple people directly in the tram or bus. Thus, you'll save the card price :) Public transport in the city includes buses and trams, as well as trains and buses for inter-city travels.

🏨 Where to stay

We've been staying at one of Best Western Plus hotels near the Nice Ville station. It was pretty cosy and comfortable, and was located really convenient just in few minutes walk from Nice Ville station and the main walking street Av. Jean Médecin with multiple restaurants, shops, sightseeings etc.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Nice is a place where one could enjoy tasty and not that expensive food! Starting from tasty dishes and pastries for take away in big supermarkets like MONOPRIX and ending up with fresh seafood and confectionery in various cafés and restaurants. One can find a lot of Asian and Italian food as well as cuisine from all over the world there. Here are a few places we liked:

• MONOPRIX with multiple location in the city, where you always can buy some hot and not food for takeaway as well as pastries. You also can buy there fresh seafood to cook yourself if it's possible (though we haven't done this):

• Gusti Restaurant – a place where we ended up having a diner on a daily basis. It was super tasty and pretty cheap to eat a fresh seafood there. One could eat salads, burgers and pasta, or go for meat or fish dishes which are served with 2 various side dishes of your choice (which include pasta, risotto, salads, French fries, ratatouille and more other options), a sauce of your choice and tasty fresh baguette. We tried various dishes from fish menu and most of the side dishes. Portions were enormous and always tasty!

• BONITO – Mexican Tacos – a small, beautiful and recently opened place with just incredible tacos, burritos, and quesadilla! The owners are also a super nice couple, doing their best to make guests happy and comfortable.

• WOK 2 NICE – where you can put together a delicious wok with ingredients of your choice.

• CLAY – small and outstanding café for a quick snacks and delicious and surprisingly cheap coffee.

👀 What to do and what to see

• Walk around the city. Make sure to drink a coffee or tea with some delicious pastry and/or eat a lavender ice-cream from one of the small shops close to the sea.

• Visit book stores and especially La Sorbonne, which is just an amazing 2 levels store.

• Check out the Old Nice, Colline du Château and Port de Nice. Make sure you walk to the very top of the park and on the go check various beautiful things like a waterfall “Cascade du Château”, an archaeological site “Fouilles archaeologiques”, various viewpoints like “Point de vue sur le port” and so on.

• Go to the beach. Enjoy sun, beautiful water and walk along the promenade.

• Go for 1-day trip to Monaco. From Nice you can either take a Train TER (for ex. from Nice Ville station) or a Bus #600 (from Square Normandie Niemen), which will take you to Monaco in ca. 25 minutes or ca. 1 hour respectively. I would recommend going by bus at least in one direction: if you will sit on the ride side, you will be able to enjoy amazing views during the road. In Monaco, you basically can walk through the whole country within 1 day if you wish, because it's tiny. Of course, popular destinations to check out are Casino de Monte-Carlo, crystal blue Larvotto beach, Prince's Palace of Monaco, Monaco Tourism Office (where you can get yourself Monaco passport) and so on.

We have been visiting one of famous Tennis tournament here – ATP1000 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, and can totally recommend it too!

• or go to other cities of the French Riviera (or Côte d'Azur region).

💡 Some highlights

• We were surprised, but Nice turned out to be cheaper than similar Italian, Greece or Croatian cities located on the Mediterranean Sea. Everything including a flight, accommodation, public transport, grocery, meals in restaurants etc. were cheaper! The only thing with high prices were cigarettes, which cost there 10+ EUR per pack.
• Due to the great transportation and affordable prices, Nice could be a good place to stay with affordable prices and from here to go to other small picturesque towns on the seashore to have fewer tourists and enjoy beautiful nature and various beaches.
• It was fun to find out that here in McDonalds they have reusable everything from cups to French fries holders! And they are also pretty stylish and nice:
• If you will visit Monaco, make sure to use one of the lifts they use to help pedestrians to move around the city easier, as it's located on various levels, and it's really tough to walk from the beach back to the city centre.

General Info

Country: Switzerland | Languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh | Currency: Swiss Franc (CHF) | Flag: 🇨🇭 | When visited: January 2025, April 2021

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🚗 How to commute

The best and the most affordable way to reach the city centre or Central Station from the Airport is the public transport like tram (ca. 30 minutes with the tram 10) or train (ca. 15 minutes with S2, S16 or S24). Public transport in the city includes trains, buses, trams, ferries, and even funicular, and cable car, is well-developed, operates during both day and nighttime, but is pretty expensive. If you plan to move around multiple times during the day, it makes sense to buy a Zürich Card for 24 or 72 hours. It will include all public transport in Zurich City zones (110, 111, 121, 140, 150, 154, 155) including cruise by lake as well as free admission to multiple museums.

🏨 Where to stay

We've been staying in the Zurich Oerlikon district, and it's a pretty nice and calm place with affordable accommodations. First time, when we visited the city during the pandemic time, we've been staying in the cool hotel going through renovation, which is not available for stays any more. This year, we decided to stay at one of Vision Apartments buildings, and I would really not recommend this place for a stay. It's a bit cheaper than some budget chain hotels like Ibis, but as there is a full self-service and terrible service hotline (you also have to pay for roaming if you are calling!), you may just end up with a really unpleasant experience, while not being able to fix anything on the go.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Multiple food options are available to choose from: from snacks and restaurants in Coop or Migros supermarkets to traditional dishes in fancy old restaurants. The food, just like all the rest, is pretty expensive. Both time we actually were mostly eating either in Migros or Coop restaurants, where they have a wide variety of hot food as well as snacks and bakery. I can't share any special highlights regarding restaurants or cafés, but I totally recommend trying some fresh and tasty or unusual food in supermarkets: fish and seafood there are super fresh, there is a huge variety of cheese and chocolate, fruits and nuts are also tasty and herbal local bottled tees are just amazing!

👀 What to do and what to see

• Walk around the city and check out the Old City (Disctrict 1 and Altstadt). The whole area from the central station and till the lake (Zürichsee) is super nice and there are multiple historical and old nice places and buildings to see and visit: Lindenhof Züricn, Kirche Frauenmünster, Münsterbrücke, Grossmünster, Operhaus Zürich and so on. Just take a walk from the central station towards the lake along any benches of the river.

• Visit Lenin's places in the city. You can start with Lenin's house (Spiegelgasse 14), then go to the Zentralbibliothek Zürich and finish up at the exposition in the Swiss National Museum.

• Take a walk or a boat trip around the lake. From Zürich Bürkliplatz ferries to various cities like Erlenbach, Thalwil and Rappeswil departs regularly. One just can take a round trip travel with any of them.

• While walking around the city, have a look at various shopwindows. They are so beautiful sometimes!

• Travel around.

• You can go to mountain to enjoy nature almost in any directions. For example, visit Tektonikarena Sardona from Ziegelbrücke.

• Travel to other countries like Lichtenstein: you can go to Sevelen with a train and enjoy Vaduz with its nice museums, wine region and so on.

• or go to Kreuzlingen-Konstanz, where Switzerland has a boarder with Germany via the lake Bodensee.

💡 Some highlights

• Here one can notice huge stratification: 3-4 levels mansions with boat-houses along the lake and small flats on the other side of the city.
• This time we have noticed that everything got more expensive and prices are pretty high. And if you come from EU, you should remember that you'll have roaming prices for calls and internet here.
• Swiss people really know a thing or two about herbs and spices, be sure to try local herbal tees both fresh and bottled.
• One can buy pre-rolls tabak hanf in kiosks.
• It's a transportation and commodity trading/storage hub, so many products like nuts, spices, octopus, seafood like scallop etc. are available, they are fresh and tasty.
• You can buy Bitcoin and Ethereum “Cryptonow” top-up cards at the post offices.

General Info

Country: The Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal | Language: Portuguese | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagge_Madeiras | When visited: December 2022 & 2024

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🚗 How to commute

There are 3 ways to move around the island as well as to reach this small town: to hire a car, to get a taxi or to go by public transport, i.e. by bus. The cheapest way is, of course, the public transport, but if you go to Porto Moniz from the airport, you'll have to go to Funchal firstly (use the Aerobus #9, in Dec. 2024 a one way ride was 6,20 EUR) and then change to the bus #80 or #139 (for example, on the station “Avenida Do Mar”). Buses are operated by Rodoeste and depart just a few times per day, so make sure to check the timetable in advance. You can do it here: https://www.portomoniz.pt/de/besuch/verkehr/oeffentliche-verkehrsmittel or directly on the Rodoeste website.

🏨 Where to stay

Last time we have been renting an apartment “Sea and Sun 4 You”. A well-equipped and comfortable flat with a nice terrace and some sea view just in a minute from the ocean and the natural pool “Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz” (in the same building as the hotel “Salgueiro”). This time we have been staying in one of the best hotels in this town – “Aqua Natura Bay”: it has great modern rooms, amazing facilities (outdoor and indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, 2 saunas, gym, rooftop terrace as well as further services), friendly stuff and generous and tasty breakfasts. The same hotel owns 2 more buildings in the town, and one can use all the facilities like, for example, a rooftop terrace with a jacuzzi, there too.

🍽️ What and where to eat

If you have an apartment and can cook there, you can go to one of 3 local supermarkets (the best prices are in the Meu Super though) and have an affordable though still high quality food. Otherwise, you'll have to go to one of the local cafés or restaurants for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Prices are almost the same in various places, but quality may vary. Though you can eat a fresh and tasty food including fish of the day almost everywhere. We have been to almost all places and our favourites are listed below: -Cafe Atlantico – a place, where many locals eat, and you can find one of the best Fish of the day or Octopus lagareiro in the town. You need to ask, what they have in the menu today, as it totally depends on the local fishermen.

-Snack-bar Ilhèu Mole – a place, where many locals eat as well, and you can have some quick but tasty snacks such as empanadas or toasts and also enjoy both the Portuguese & Venezuelan cuisine and tasty coffee just for 1,5 EUR for Americano.

-Cachalote an atmospheric place with great interior, incredible view as it's surrounded by the ocean, and good food. There is also an amazing small historical exhibition about the whale fishing industry on the 1st floor, which is freely accessible for everyone.

-Vila Baleia just a good place with a good menu and affordable prices.

-Sea View Restaurante where you can eat tasty dishes with a remarkable view over the ocean and the natural swimming pool. Though, variety of food is not that big here and prices are one of the highest in the town.

👀 What to do and what to see

• Swim in one of 2 natural swimming pools. There are 2 natural pools: — one – Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz – is paid and provides the full service and all the needed facilities. — another one – Piscinas Naturais do Aquário – is free and open for anyone to use anytime, though there is just an open-air shower and there is no changing rooms or toilet, though there is a really clean and cool toilet nearby under the Aquário da Madeira.

• Visit Forte de São and Aquário da Madeira.

• Walk around and visit multiple viewpoints nearby, our favourite is Miradouro do Cabo Calhau.

• Go to one of the neighbour cities. You can go for a day tour by bus or taxi to Seixal, Sao Vicente or Achadas da Cruz. There is also small town “Ribeira da Janela”, which you can visit even by foot going through the picturesque route along the ocean.

• Go to one of the day tours. There are multiple great and beautiful places to see around like Fanal Forest, multiple beautiful hiking routes (Levadas) and viewpoint in the mountain, boat trips to watch whales and dolphins and so on.

💡 Some highlights

• You can literally breathe the ocean and enjoy its beauty and power here! Walk around and enjoy views and smells.
• Try fresh seafood and fish – it's just so tasty here!
• Try the local sweets from passion fruit, which also grows here: a soft drink “Brisa Maracuja” and a dessert “Passion Fruit Pudding”.

General Info

Country: Slovakia | Language: Slovak (or Slovakian) | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: 🇸🇰 | When visited: May 2024, July 2023

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🚗 How to commute

The best and cheapest way to reach the city centre from the Airport is the bus #61 that operates around the clock and connects the Airport with the Central Railway Station. From the Main Railway Station and around the city, one can easily commute with public transport (buses and trams). Tickets could be bought via the dedicated automat at each stop (but you'll need coins, though!). If you are travelling to Bratislava from Vienna, then you can either use a direct train or intercity bus, for example, Flixbus. A ride will take 1,5-2 hours and is pretty cheap (less than 10 EUR one way).

🏨 Where to stay

Considering the fact that accommodation prices are pretty similar in Bratislava and Vienna (sometimes Vienna is even cheaper!), you won't necessarily stay in Bratislava :) But if you still want to do it, I'd highly recommend the “Crowne Plaza Bratislava” IHG Hotel, which is located centrally, serves amazing and tasty breakfast, and has a lovely inner terrace. In comparison to other accommodations, it's even not that expensive as one can think from the 1st sight.

🍽️ What and where to eat

I won't say that there is something incredible about the Bratislava's food options and cuisine :) Traditional Slovak food is pretty simple and include a lot of soups, dishes with potato, meat, and vegetables. They also use cheese a lot, and even have some fun vending machines with various sorts of cheese called “Syromat” around the city :) Of course, there are multiple cafés and restaurants, from locals as well as global chains, to choose from. And it's interesting that in Bratislava there are many small restaurants serving some traditional food from all over the world!

Some highlights include: -Panzerotto a lovely place with incredibly tasty Apulia dishes and super friendly owner. Though it's located pretty central, it has a lovely and quiet small garden.

-Peklo is a pretty old restaurant, located in one of the oldest districts called “Rača”, and serving super tasty traditional local food and pizzas. Prices here are also super friendly and portions are generous.

-Emil is a small café in the city centre, near the Bratislava City Gallery. Here one can enjoy some snacks (they serve super tasty toasts with cheese!) and coffee with a beautiful view over an old building.

-Bratislavslka Pekaren here you won't be able to sit and eat, but can buy tasty fresh pastry and enjoy the beautiful authentic interior of the place!

-Café Dias just a simple small café with great coffee, snacks, and cakes. The cool thing about this place, is that it's located just in the entrance of the book store and one can enjoy great coffee with a great book :)

👀 What to do and what to see

• To walk around the Old Town. You can head from the very Presidential Palace to the Danube and enjoy old beautiful buildings as well as small streets and parks on your way: Michael's Gate, Main square with Maximilian's fountain, Various Palaces, St. Martin's Cathedral, Slovak National Theatre as well as the fountains and memorials located along the square and park “Hviezdoslavovo námestie” and etc.

• Bratislava Castle located on the hill and overlooking the city is definitely worth a visit if you have time, as well as the main Post office (Pošta 1) located in the old building in the city centre. It's so beautiful inside, one just need to check it out!

• Rača district is something one can also enjoy, because of its rich history around the wine production and even a local winery. It's also beautifully located near the mountains and provides plenty of hiking trails. The road to the district with the public transport from the city centre is also pretty interesting, as one can observe a historical heritage from Soviet Union times.

• Of course, if time allows, one can also have a tour to the various places and cities around, such as Hrad Devin, Plevcky Castle, Castle of Spirits, Roman City of Carnuntum (located in Austria) and so on.

💡 Some highlights

• From Bratislava it's totally make sense to go to Vienna (Austria) for a day trip by train. These days and I guess till the end of July 2024 there are some construction works, and trains are replaces with buses at the part of the road, but it's still possible to reach another country and capital just in 2 hours! One can buy single or group roundtrip ticket which will be pretty cheap.
• It is worth to try a local wine, it's surprisingly good! Or even visit some wineries. This one is from the local winery uniquely located between 3 rivers, and it is just incredibly tasty!

General Info

Country: Austria | Language: German | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: 🇦🇹 | When visited: May 2024, July 2023

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🚗 How to commute

The best and cheapest way to reach the city centre from the Airport, Central Station or even a bus station on the city outskirts, is the public transport. Public transport includes trains, subway, buses and trams, is well-developed and operates during both day and nighttime. If you plan to move around multiple times during the day, it makes sense to buy a Day pass for 1 person, or a standard ticket Gruppe for 2+ people. Both are pretty inexpensive and provide access to all public transport till 3am of the next day.

🏨 Where to stay

This time we have been staying at Bratislava, which is just in 1,5-2 hours ride by train, and has comparable accommodation prices (read about the place we've stayed in the post about Bratislava). Previous time we have stayed at Smart Apart Living complex near Vienna Central station, featuring really convenient self-service check-in/out, comfortable apartments with a small kitchen and balcony, and common areas like beautiful garden, or a room where one can buy cold/hot beverages and some snacks, and just sit and charge devices.

🍽️ What and where to eat

One can enjoy both Austrian and Hungarian traditional cuisine as well as some others like Turkish, Croatian etc. in Vienna. Of course, famous Austrian Schnitzel and Strudel are available in many cafés and restaurants, and there are so many of them everywhere! And, of course, multiple food options are available to choose from: from affordable snacks in supermarkets to traditional dishes in fancy old restaurants!

Some highlights include: -Interspar Pronto or Interspar Market Kitchen (with multiple locations) is a pretty budget place all over the city, where one can get some snacks, salads, ready to consume hot dishes, and beverages. One can also check Billa supermarkets, but there is no hot food/drinks usually, just snacks and salads.

-There are multiple Turkish pretty nice places where one can get traditional Simit bread and breakfast. Simit Sokaği (near Reumannplatz) is one of such places with multiple breakfast options, which are not expensive and super tasty.

-Both Café Landtmann and Café Central are definitely worth a visit. These both are venues with long-standing history, serving Viennese cuisine, and they are popular because so many famous people such as Freud, Trotsky, Stalin, Hitler and so on were regular guests here. Prices are a bit higher than in average across Vienna's restaurants, but food is delicious and portions are generous!

-Café Diglas is another good place with an authentic interior, and traditional tasty food. I would say that prices here are a bit lower comparing to two cafés above, and recommend asking for their “Daily Menu” (Tageskarte) to try something new.

-AIDA Café Konditorei is located close to Diglas and they are both not far from the famous Stadtpark of Vienna. Here you can get a yummy Strudel with coffee or tea, as well as many other sweet cakes and pastry.

Of course, it's just impossible to check out and recommend all good places in Vienna, because there are so many of them everywhere, including all familiar fast-food chains too. I would recommend just to Google for something you want to eat, or just to check some places while you are walking by :)

👀 What to do and what to see

• Vienna City Centre (Innere Stadt) is actually the place where we have been mostly spending our time. There are a lot of beautiful old churches, palaces, squares, houses, and small streets and passages such as St. Stephen's Cathedral, Hofburg, Vienna State Opera, Rathausplatz, Catholic Church Maria am Gestade, Jesuit Church, Imperial Crypt, St. Charles Church and so on.

• Vienna Parks surely worth a visit, not only because they are beautiful, but also because there one can find monuments devoted to famous Austrian musicians and other important historical people! Rathaus park (Statue of Duke Rudolf IV etc), Burggarten (Mozart Monument etc), Stadtpark (Strauss, Schubert monuments, and Beethoven statue near there). In the Stadtpark also, multiple fairs and events take place during the year. We were lucky to take part in the Genuss-Festival, which highlighted wine, beer, appetizers, and products from various Austrian regions.

• Other activities may include visit to multiple museums, including houses of famous musicians, visiting of various palaces (like Schönbrunn Palace, Belvedere Palace etc.), spending time at Prater Park with its Giant Ferris Wheel, and even shopping in multiple small shops selling local products of all kind.

💡 Some highlights

• From Vienna it's totally make sense to go to Bratislava (Slovakia) for a day trip by train. These days and I guess till the end of July 2024 there are some construction works, and trains are replaces with buses at the part of the road, but it's still possible to reach another country and capital just in 2 hours! One can buy single or group roundtrip ticket which will be pretty cheap.
• We were impressed with how good-looking and well-maintained are all the historical buildings in Vienna. It's obvious that this city (and country) has pretty much money! Quality of living in various living districts looks to be really high, as well as quality of food and product overall.
• If one haven't been to Hungary, Check Republic or as already mentioned Slovakia, it's pretty easy, quickly, and inexpensive to go to Budapest, Prague or Bratislava from Vienna either by train or by bus.

General Info

Country: Estonia | Language: Estonian, Russian | Currency: EURO (EUR) | Flag: 🇪🇪 | When visited: Apr. 2024, Jul. 2015, Jan. 2013, Oct. 2012

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🚗 How to commute

Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport is just 4km away from the city centre. The best and cheapest way to reach the city centre is the public transport (bus or tram, which is not operating currently). Other options include taxi, or a rental car.

🏨 Where to stay

This time we have been staying with our friends. But previous times we have been staying at “Pirita Top Spa Hotel” (now “Pirita Marina Hotel & Spa”). Even though we have been around the hotel this year, I'm not 100% sure it's working! But we have seen another lovely place to stay in the same Pirita area, which could be even a better option during the supper time due to its closeness to the Pirita Beach: “Pirita Beach Apartments & SPA”. Both these options are directly on the sea shore, feature direct access to the beautiful forest, big supermarket and bus stops with direct connection to the city centre in 5-10 minutes walk.

🍽️ What and where to eat

One can enjoy both Estonian and Russian traditional cuisine in Tallinn. From affordable snacks in supermarkets to restaurants with a seafood and sea view. Multiple options are available to choose from!

Some highlights include: -R-Kiosk (multiple locations around the city) where one can buy traditional for Baltic countries street food – hot dogs 🌭

-Maxima (X / XX / XXX) supermarkets where one can buy pastry, ready to eat salads, meat, fish, vegetable etc. The quality is great, prices are super affordable and it's tasty! Our favourites are cabbage pies 😋

-Pelm (Nautica Keskus and few more locations) cosy place with a nice interior and great affordable menu highlighting Russian cuisine dishes and desserts as well as super tasty fruit tea. They also have a friendly restaurant's network called “Repa”.

-Samsa Family Bakers (Viru Keskus and few more locations) this Uzbeki cuisine place features the best Pilaff (Plov) and Chebureks for sure.

-PAAT restaurant is located on the seashore near the Viimsi Open Air Museum and serves fresh and delicious seafood dishes.

-Karja Kelder this pub is located in the touristic old town area, but has a pretty affordable menu featuring mixed Estonian and Russian dishes and local beer.

-Armudu restaurant serves tasty Shashlik, grilled vegetables and Khachapuri.

Of course, there are all familiar fast-food chains, and some local food/coffee chains like Caffeine, Hesburger etc.

👀 What to do and what to see

• Tallinn Old Town including Viru Gates, Hellemann Tower and Town, Tallinn Town Hall and Town Hall Square, St. Nicholas' Church, Danish King's Garden, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, St. Olaf's Church, Toompea Castle and more places including beautiful small streets and passages.

• Tallinn Town Wall including Tallitorn, Maiden Tower Museum, Kiek in de Kök Museum and Bastion Tunnels and other places around.

• Freedom Square.

• Reidi tee promenaad and the whole area around Tallinn harbour, which was newly renovated and features multiple playgrounds, leisure spots and places to eat tasty food.

• Open Air Museums such as Estonian Open Air Museum and Viimsi Open Air Museum.

• Pirita area including Pirita Beach, Pirita Convent Ruins, beautiful forest (Pirita mets), adventure park and so on. Near this area, one can also visit Tallinn Botanic Garden and Tallinn TV Tower.

💡 Some highlights

• We noticed that everything, including food, got much expensive in Tallinn, and one can compare local prices with ones in western-European countries such as Germany or France etc.
• Close to Tallinn one can also enjoy a beautiful nature and find such things as waterfalls (for example Jägala or Keila waterfall), natural parks and forests.
• From Tallinn, one can easily take a day trip to Helsinki by ferry.

General Info

Country: Thailand | Language: Thai, Southern Thai | Currency: THAI BAHT (THB) | Flag: 🇹🇭 | When visited: Dec. 2023

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🚗 How to commute

Beyond a rental car or bike, one have 2 main options to move around the Pa Thong and the whole Phuket Island: taxi or Phuket Smart Bus. The same is true for commuting from the airport to most parts of the island. The smart bus operates from 8am to 11pm minimum hourly, and has a fixed price of 100 THB per person per any trip in any direction (in cash!). We decided to go with taxi. There are plenty of options such as public taxi, Grab, inDrive or Bolt, with the latest two being the cheapest. Even though taxi is quicker than the smart bus, one should expect a long ride, as traffic jams are common in Phuket.

🏨 Where to stay

From small cheap rooms rented from locals on the hills to 5 stars hotels and resorts on the beach front, as it's usual for popular holiday destinations such as Phuket, one can find the huge variety of accommodations. I would say, that 2 important things one need to take into consideration while choosing a place to stay are hills and beach quality. Make sure that you've checked pics/videos of the nearest beach, because not all of them are having a good water quality, and as the terrain of the island is mountainous, you need to make sure you won't have to climb too high to reach your accommodation.

We have stayed at Baan Andaman Sea Surf in a two-bedroom Villa in the area of Patong beach. We loved the design, vibes, and calmness of the place, and enjoyed a lot of its premisses, with a pool featuring a small whirlpool and multiple common spaces with entertainments. The only small problem, which we were aware in advance and were fine with, was the pretty steep last ca. 20% of the path to the hotel. But the quality of the room, service and atmosphere were top for the price we have paid!

Our friends also stayed at another nice place called “Kokotel” in Naiyang beach area. It features enjoyable modern rooms and a huge rooftop pool, and is located just 3–5 minutes walk from the beach.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Of course, there are multiple cafés and restaurants, from locals as well as global chains, to choose from. Besides, one can order food for delivery via for example Grab, buy some ready to eat food in the supermarket, or go for more local options such as food market or small food-trucks of locals with quick dishes.

Some highlights in Pa Thong area include: – Big C supermarkets (multiple locations around the city with the biggest supermarket at the Jungceylon shopping mall) where one can buy vegetables, fruits, and grocery to cook something, as well as ready to eat dishes and snacks.

• Banzaan Fresh Market (located just opposite the Jungceylon shopping mall) where one can buy vegetables, fruits, and various local dishes from various vendors from deep-fried snacks to grilled fish.

• Roti Patong Tea and Coffee a small nice café, where one can eat supper delicious local traditional kind of pancakes with various filling from Nutella to ham & cheese. They also serve various drinks, including pretty good coffee.

• ZomPaul Eatery serves all the traditional Thai food, but the good thing about this place is that it's located in a small side road, where it is not that crowdy and loud.

• No.6 Restaurant a small place with a huge variety of tasty food, where is always a line and one need to expect to wait min 10-15 min. to be seated! It has long tables with many people seating around them, just like in German beer gardens, but the atmosphere is enjoyable and comfortable and food is delicious.

• Mr. Good's Seafood is also a pretty good place, where one can buy fresh fish and other seafood by kilos and enjoy it right away. Prices are not the cheapest one, but similar to other places in this busy area.

• Blue Beach is a cosy place on the beach front, where one can enjoy cocktails and live music. Piña colada in a coconut is something worth a try :)

👀 What to do and what to see

• Check out various beaches there are plenty of them and they are really different! Our favourites were:
• Kata Noi Beach (clear water, beautiful scenery around)

• Naiyang Beach (calm and close to Sirinat National Park, so one can enjoy a great nature around) as well as Mai Khao Beach (here one can see arriving and departing aeroplanes staying just under them).

• Travel around the island and check various national parks, beaches, waterfalls, temples, markets, and entertainment complexes such as “FantaSea”, “Blue Tree Phuket” etc.

• Go visit and feed Elephants at various locations around the city. We have been to a place called “Elephant Jungle Sanctuary” located almost in the middle of the island and featuring a nice café (“Elephant Jungle Cafe”).

• Go visit The Big Buddha or if you don't want, you can see him almost everywhere in Karon area.

• Eat fresh seafood at Rawai Seafood Market this is just the best place to buy some really fresh seafood that is even alive, and go to any or restaurants around, where you can choose how you want it to be cooked for you for some small payment per kilo.

• Bangla Road is a place to visit near Patong beach if you like loud music and parties, or if you are a fan of night-life entertainments.

💡 Some highlights

• As in many Asian cities, you need to expect heavy traffic, loud roads and traffic jams!
• To my taste, local Thai food turned out to be not that tasty :( But seafood especially at Rawai is super fresh and delicious!
• We were unpleasantly surprised with some not really friendly behaviour of locals, and their aggressive sales approach.
• I didn't finally get all the details, but there is some kind of conflict situation around local taxi drivers: in some areas you are allowed to on-/offboard taxis ordered via apps only in specially dedicated areas. Once our taxi driver (from InDrive) had a conflict with other drivers just because she collected us at the place, where we were waiting for her (we didn't know that this place was “reserved” for some local taxis only).
• There is a huge variety of fruits that are pretty cheap and always tasty! One also needs to try a passion fruit 100% juice, which could be bought in Big C at Jungceylon shopping mall. It's just out of this world!

General Info

Country: Indonesia | Language: Indonesian, Balinese | Currency: IDR | Flag: 🇮🇩 | When visited: Feb. & Dec. 2023

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🚗 How to commute

If you don't have a transfer arranged by your hotel, or friends, who can meet you, you'll have to take a taxi to commute from the airport to that part of Bali, you are going to stay. We used Grab App to get a taxi (as it's cheaper than what multiple drivers directly at the airport will propose you), and at the same time there are other Apps helping to get a taxi even cheaper like Gojek or inDrive (but it's cash only). In general, there is no public transport and people are moving by car or bike around the island. It's also not that much comfortable to walk around, as side walks are not everywhere, and traffic is really heavy.

🏨 Where to stay

There are multiple options available, from cheap hotels to luxury villas. Most people want to rent a villa to live a comfortable and luxury live here, but it got more expensive recently. Anyway, we were staying at our friend's villa in Kerabokan area. It is a lovely place with a small swimming pool and a lot of space.

🍽️ What and where to eat

To my taste, the local food is not that good. Locals eat at so called “Warung”, where pretty similar to Malasian dishes with rice and chicken are sold for pennies. We haven't tried any of them, and have been to some bakeries like Conato Bakery, cafés like 25:PM Coffee, ordered a lot of food via GoJek/Grab from multiple places and even tried some snacks at Pepito To Go café at Pepito supermarket. Our favourite option to eat here is Sunday brunches, which are available at multiple hotels and beach clubs such as Kempinski, Hyatt as well as other smaller local hotels.

Some highlights include: – Brunchcation, The Apurva Kempinski Bali, Nusa Dua – amazing option not only to eat tasty food and fresh seafood, but also to spend time on the great hotel premisses featuring few swimming pools, and beach with multiple beach sport and water sport activities. It's not that cheap (around 1.000.000 IDR after taxes and service fees without alcohol), but considering the unlimited seafood such as crabs, lobsters, oysters etc. and opportunity to use the whole territory for the whole day, it's an amazing deal! We loved this place a lot, and been there multiple times!

👀 What to do and what to see

Of course, it depends on your time, budget, and preferences. In general, one can choose from multiple options, such as: * Visit various beaches and bays around the island and on the neighbour islands. It is worth to mention, that not all beaches here are that nice as you may expect and may even not be good for swimming and staying either due to the unclear water or dirty beach. Many people here prefer to go not to a beach themselves, but to beach clubs, which are located at various beaches and provide not only additional pools with an impressive view, but also various food and services such as changing rooms/WCs/Wi-Fi etc. * Visit multiple temples and enjoy the culture. Moving around the city, you will surely see multiple small temples, where you can even see traditional dances and rituals. But of course, there are few popular places, which are considered to be more culturally important, such as Pura Tanah Lot or Taman Ayun Temple and so on. Just do a quick search and find a place, that looks more interesting for you to go :) * Enjoy nature by going to rice terrace, waterfalls, forests, national parks and other beautiful places. * Do some sport or water sport. People here like to look good and there are multiple options from fitness halls, yoga classes, tennis/padel courts to surfing schools and so on. * But if you want to look better, but not to be that active, you can enjoy massage or other wellness and spa procedures. There are multiple places, few of which we tried and can recommend, include Massaji Spa Bali (in the heart of the city in Canggu) and Putri Bali Spa (in a green lovely area in Ubud).

💡 Some highlights

• There are constant traffic jams almost everywhere. Due to that, many people prefer to go by bike. If you are not ready to rent and drive one, make sure you check the situation on the road in advance.
• It's pretty hot and humid all the year around.
• Recently, Bali got pretty expensive, so don't expect a paradise for pennies here.
• Of course, it's possible to pay with Visa/MasterCard in most cases and places, but be informed that a minimum amount of 50.000 IDR will be applied in this case. You also will need to have cash sometimes (for some local shops, cafés or services like post etc.), so do exchange some money. You can do it pretty anywhere in the city, where you'll have a better exchange rate than at the airport, and it will be the same in most places.

General Info

Country: Malaysia | Language: Malay, English | Currency: MYR/RM | Flag: 🇲🇾 | When visited: Feb.-April & Nov.-Dec. 2023

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🚗 How to commute

The cheapest option to get from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) is the bus: there are multiple operators and buses during each hour, and price will be as low as 12-15 MYR. Buses here are pretty comfortable, and arrive to the Central Station, from where one can use public transport to commute further 🚌 An alternative option is a taxi, which is more expensive and will cost 65 MYR during the daytime and a bit more during the nighttime, but make sense if you prefer comfort or travel in a group of 3-4 people. The best and cheapest way to order a taxi is to use Grab app, which one can download in advance or using the Airport Wi-Fi 🚕

🏨 Where to stay

There are multiple options available with various budgets. In general, one can find a pretty cheap, but still good place lower than 25 EUR per night.

One of popular option to stay are so-called “condo”: buildings with up to 40 floors which provide various apartments with a kitchen and basic supplies for short and long stay, as well as various amenities such as fitness hall, swimming pool, multiple common areas including small gardens, cafés, small shops, laundry services and so on.

We personally stayed multiple times in Ceylonz Suites @ Bukit Bintang which is close to Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC) and features a rooftop swimming pool with incredible view over the city centre including famous Menara Kuala Lumpur and Petronas Twin Tower and is in 20 minutes walk from the very city centre.

🍽️ What and where to eat

There are multiple options such as supermarkets or small convenient stores with ready to consume food, food courts in shopping malls, street markets or sometimes single small food trays, and of course cafés and restaurants of various cuisines 😋 Also, it's possible to order food for takeaway or delivery in most places.

We love Asian food of different kind as well as seafood and fruits, so we tried many various places so far!

Some highlights include:

• Shell Out – a seafood restaurant which has multiple locations around KL and also deliver their incredibly delicious seafood sets and Ala-carte dishes! It's a place with the most budget and at the same time fresh and tasty crabs as far as we know, their Delight Sets are just incredible and are more than enough for 2 people.

• Hotpot Kitchen – a Korean pace where one can self choose various ingredients including vegetables, meat, seafood, noodles and rice, as well as decide on the level of spiciness, and they will be cooked right away in 10–15 minutes. Due to various combination of multiple ingredients, one can have each time something new, but always tasty! There are multiple locations: we've been to Hotpot Kitchen in Lot 10 and Sunway Velocity malls. It's also possible to order delivery via Grab, but there you'll have limited choices to choose from.

• FWF Hotpot @ Fahrenheit is a traditional Chinese hot pot restaurant: you choose soup(s) and ingredients which you cook yourself and enjoy the meal. Incredibly fresh, tasty and fun food! And the atmosphere in this place is also really comfortable and authentic. Location: Jln Bukit Bintang, C1213-G, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

• Gindaco – Japanese place with Takoyaki and famous fish-shape croissant Taiyaki. There are also multiple locations (we've been to Gindaco @ Pavilion) and it's also possible to order delivery via Grab.

• STREAT Thai – Thai food restaurant which we have never been to, but ordered from multiple times a week :) They provide a great variety of popular dishes such as tom yam soup, papaya or glass noodle salads, fried rice in multiple options, as well as fried or steamed fish and seafood.

• Ho Ko Hainam Kopitiam – a hainanese cafeteria with great menu for both tasty breakfast and lunch which is open till noon (14:30-15:00) and is super crowdy usually! If go here, please plan that you may wait in line up to 30 minutes before you get in and eat :) They have such a yummy Dried Chicken Curry Noodle and Curry Mee that we even couldn't make a photo and ate it right away (after 20 minutes waiting in the line)

• LOKL Coffee – a small place with international cuisine and “European” coffee, where one can have both breakfast and lunch. We used to eat here Thai Omelette with rice for breakfast and share 1 dish for 2, because it's huge and super tasty!

• Redoor Coffee Cafe one more small place for a great breakfast with tasty and inexpensive coffee. We used to eat a chicken loaf here, which is also huge, and we used to share it for 2 in the morning.

• Back factory a small bakery around the city, with fresh and yummy buns and pastry. One can both sweet as well as non-sweet buns with sausages, cheese, pandan etc. Our vafourite thing here is a Coffee-bun.

• Pavilion Food court provides a huge variety of places of various cuisine to eat for a very budget prices. The same is true for various shopping malls, which all have food streets or courts.

• Cold Storage is a supermarket where one can buy ready to eat food starting from fruit sets and ending with lunch boxes with a well-balanced food including rice / salad or vegetables / chicken or fish and many others things for a budget prices.

• FamilyMart is a cool Japanese small convenient store, where one can buy cool thing to eat starting from sweets and ice-cream to soups! We love their hokkaido cupcake, Belgium Truffle cupcake, Sofuto ice-cream of various sorts, and coffee. Triple cheese corn dog with sausage and their soups are things one need definitely try out too.

• Fruit and fresh juices shop against Timothy cafe is another favourite place of ours, where we bought the best fruits and fruit juices. Our top recommendation is Orange-Green Apple-Kedondong mixed juice, it's not just tasty, but also super healthy!

Our favourite drinks are coffee in Zus Coffee and various drinks in Happy lemon, as well as fruit juices and freshes in a small Chinese fruit shop opposite to Timothy cafe.

👀 What to do and what to see

Of course, Kuala Lumpur can provide activities and entertainment of all kinds and for different budgets. Below are just some popular and highly recommended things one can do here: * visit some popular places in the KLCC: Merdeka Square, Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque, KLCC park, Petronas Twin Tower, KL Forest Eco Park (Taman Eko-Rimba KL) with canopy walk, Menara KL, Botanical Garden KL, Batu Caves and so on. * go shopping in multiple huge malls and visit various street markets such as Petaling street Chinese market, or Jalan Alor Food street and so on. Don't go to the advertised huge tech malls, they have higher prices than “branded” tech shops in malls. * try different snacks and sweets in Donki, FamilyMart, 7 Eleven, and various small shops like KK etc. * use various services which are much cheaper here in comparison to Europe due to the cheap labour, including: – Massage (check out HealthLand especially during their weekdays Happy hours), – Haircut and scalp treatment (E3 salon near Masjid Jamek station is top, because it's an academy where young hairdressers get trained, and they pay so much attention and invest a lot of time to do a high-quality haircut with washing, massage and so on for extremely small price like 20 MYR), – beauty procedures like depilation, manicure and pedicure, facial procedures etc., * buy English books or watch movies in English for extremely low prices like 15 MYR for a book in a POPULAR bookshop and 20 MYR for a movie in TGV cinemas around the city * swim and do sport with a lovely view on the high floors in a hotel * visit other cities (such as Malacca, Cameron Highlands etc.), islands in Malaysia (such as Penang, Langkawi or Sabah) and other countries like Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam etc. enjoying the cheap flights due to the cheap fuel :)

💡 Some highlights

• as there are people of 3 cultures living together in Malaysia: Malay, Chinese, Hindu, one can enjoy all of them in 1 city. Interesting is that there are dedicated monocultural streets and districts, so just search for what you are interested in using Google search and maps, and check it out.
• due to the colonial history and people of multiple culture living together, English language is super popular and almost every one speaks English here.
• here one can enjoy really cheap delivery services (for food and grocery), taxi, public transport and flights due to the fact that country has its own Oil production.
• one need to know that they have different to Europe sockets, and adapter might be needed (though some hotels already provide sockets with USB etc.)
• we understood that no SIM card is needed even if you stay for a long time, because actually one can easily move around, connecting to various Wi-Fi from malls, restaurants, and hotels.
• it turned out that it's much cleaner and fewer insects here than we expected, and it's great!
• they have a local Coffee (Kopi) and Tea (Teh), served with a lot of sugar and condense milk traditionally, so if you want to have a coffee you get used to in Europe, you'll need to find the right place like Zus Coffee etc. to buy it.

General Info

Country: Australia | Language: English | Currency: AUD | Flag: 🇦🇺 | When visited: Nov-Dec. 2023

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🚗 How to commute

There are multiple ways to come from the airport to the city centre: taxi, bus, train. We used the quickest and simplest way: train, which costs the same as a bus. There is a single line called “Airport line” with a train coming every 10 minutes and arriving to the city within 25 minutes. One just needs to follow the sign to get to the train station and to buy there a ticket for zone 2-4 that costs 5,10 AUD per person. 🚆

🏨 Where to stay

If one want to have quick access to cafés, sightseeing, shops, bars etc. one should stay in one of the central districts such as West Perth, Northbridge or East Perth. There are multiple options of small and chain hotel, where 1 night will cost 200+ AUD for 2 guests. We stayed on the other bank of the river near the Victoria Perk district at the Metro Hotel, South Perth. This hotel belongs to a local Australia hotel chain, provides a bit more modest and cheaper than in the centre, though still comfortable rooms, with a lovely view over the Swan river and Perth downtown.

🍽️ What and where to eat

Oh, there are so many cool options from famous Australian Angus beef to seafood including prawns, scallops, and lobsters among other things 😋

Some highlights include: – Sushi HUB (multiple locations around the city and Western Australia (WA)) where one can eat great variety of supper fresh giant sushi and nigiri, as well as enjoy a sushi train 🍣 – Betty's Burgers having a special lobster burger that is incredibly tasty!

There are also all familiar fast-food chains, and some local food/coffee chains like Red Rooster, The Coffee Club etc., multiple restaurants with Australian and Asian cuisine, as well as ready to eat meal available in Woolworths supermarkets including grilled chicken, sandwiches, salads (especially they like Coleslaw and fruit salads) and so on.

👀 What to do and what to see

In the city * City centre and Elizabeth Quay area including Perth downtown, multiple small churches scattered between huge skyscrapers, The Bell tower, Supreme Court Gardens etc. * Heirisson Island Kangaroo Sanctuary – a small island on the Swan River just between the city centre and Victoria Park district, where one can see wild living kangaroos! :( we've been so stupid and haven't visited this place, even though we were passing by multiple times. We found that there are kangaroos living in the city only on our way back in a chat with a local girl... * Kings Park and Botanic Garden is an incredibly beautiful place featuring flora from all over Australia and multiple birds including parrots and cockatoos. Check here out the State War memorial, Giant Boab, Pioneer Women's memorial, DNA tower, beautiful view over the city and so on.

Not far from the city in WA * Fremantle a lovely port town with great markets street, old architecture and beaches. * Rottnest Island – a place where meme QUOKKAs live! This is one of the best destinations from Perth (via Fremantle). It's not only a place of living of lovely quokkas, but the island also provides a wide variety of flora and fauna, as well as salt lakes, stunning beaches with the best in the world infrastructure and place to see whales/dolphins etc. Other places we wanted to go, unfortunately didn't manage, but highly recommend to check out include Yanchep National Park (with Yanchep Koala Boardwalk), Yanchep Crystal Cave, Swan Valley etc.

💡 Some highlights

• If you are a smoker, it will be a thought trip :) Complications start with a restriction of 25 cigarettes allowed per person on arrival. Then smoking is allowed in a specially allocated areas only, which are sometimes really tricky to find. :) And finally, after your 25 cigarettes gone, you'll have to buy a pack for at least 31,95 AUD (crazy!) only on special counters in big supermarkets like Woolworths or Coles, as well as at a liquor store.
• Alcohol is either sold in bars or in dedicated liquor stores, and prices even for beer are pretty high.
• We were nicely surprised with the local weather: summer season just started and thought it was pretty hot (one day 34 C degrees). Sun is super strong there (with UV level up to 12!), but the cool thing is that around 4-5pm it gets much lighter and a fresh wind appears, so one can walk around with a great pleasure and comfort. In the 1st half of the day the fresh wind is also pretty common, but it is dangerous at this time: it makes it feel less hot, even though the sun exposure is really intensive, and one should always wear a sunscreen and a proper cloth as well as hat going outside for protection!