What have been your favorite places to visit around Christmas?I might be looking to travel next year and I'd like to know what people's best recommendations are. What I'm looking for:Snow must be guaranteed or highly likelyMust have at least some nature or folksy component; I'm okay with going to a city but I don't want the equivalent of going to NYC and watching the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center, way too metropolitanI'd like to be able to get by speaking English, though if I have to use a translation app sometimes that's fineBut you don't have to reply to talk about places that I'm looking for, feel free to discuss your favorite Christmas travel memories too!
>>2849224>like pic>wonder where it's from>reverse image search>it's Brasov>ohhh, I've been there, kek
Would you consider Appalachia? Pine Creek Gorge looks beautiful in the winter, and there's a bunch of random overlooks you can drive to, as well as many more you could hike to with varying degrees of difficulty, but you will need some sort of winter friendly tires and 4wd. There's also the New River Gorge. You stay in Fayetteville (rich) or Oak Hill/Beckley (lower income) and there's various access points to the gorge from above and below.
>>2849227Nice, how was it?>>2849230Honestly it could be nice, though I will probably be flying wherever I go so having to rent a car and especially a special car for winter conditions might be troublesome. It might be best if the area is more walkable or has transport. I am new to traveling.
>>2849384It was very nice, desu. Nothing groundbreaking, just a pleasant getaway.>Bucharest is a shithole.>Train journey to Brasov is kino, larped as the guy in Dracula on it with a few beers>Brasov old town is pleasant, nightlife pretty dead>The walk up to the hill overlooking the city is cool>Daytrip to Bran's castle is a bit overtouristy. Vaguely remember walking off somewhere and finding a cool bar out of the way. >Back to Bucharest managed to find some cool bars. Nightlife isn't bad, it's just a fucking shitholeWouldn't mind going back and investigating more of Trannyvania.
>>2849384>It might be best if the area is more walkable or has transport. I am new to traveling.I don't think you would find that outside of Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg - which likely have shuttles and buses. I mean I think larger towns like Blowing Rock and Beckley have some sort of basic bus system, but I wouldn't rely on it. You should be able to rent a pickup truck from most rental places. Or if you are rich, get a guide and have some tour you around in a van or something. This is probably very much an option for NRG. Theoretically you could fly to Beckley but there's like two flights a week or something. You could definitely fly to Scranton and see the Endless Mountains but you will need a truck or 4wd to drive to sharp top vista. Pine Creek is maybe 3-4 hours drive from Scranton. You could also fly to Asheville and there's lots of stuff there set up for tourists who don't have their own transportation. It's sad most people here want to travel without cars. Cars open up so much stuff - I mean not a big deal if you are rich and can hire someone to drive you around, but otherwise.
>>2849446It's just that I don't own a car and I'm already new to traveling, so I'd like to keep things simple. Maybe I should ensure that wherever I go is more walkable or has better transportation. I'm happy to take an Uber somewhere if I have to, but that won't work for all areas.
>>2849939buy a carnothing will improve your travels more
>>2849958>provudes no arguments for use case
>>2849976there's lots of fun specific places in appalachia you can visit but they require a car to get to and there's little to no public transit access to most of them
>>2849224No family eh?
>>2851498Nope
Can someone tell me what Christmas is really like in Europe?I typically dislike Christmas in North America because of the rampant consoomerism. I actually quite enjoyed Christmas in Europe because it's a lot calmer and they have fun Christmas markets.Is European Christmas really that soulful, or was I just observing through a tourist's lens? Is Christmas actually chaotic in Europe, and I'm just blind to it?
>>2851683>Is Christmas actually chaotic in Europe, and I'm just blind to it?if you go to any shopping center or store where people would be buying presents, it's crazy. I pretty much stay out of any store that's not strictly necessary starting around mid-November. But other than that, I think it's pretty chill. I think Christmas markets have lost a bit of their soul since most times you can tell the shops just buy generic shit from China and try to resell it to dumb tourists, there's not as much DIY stuff anymore. Some markets even charge you to go in (there's a big one in central Berlin, fuck them. I think in Budapest you also had to pay). But in places like Italy markets tend to be nice.
>>2849224This is where they put people who don't put up Christmas decorations.
