I´d go to Germany, Hamburg, Mainz somewhere like that. Not overly priced and superb. Geneva is completely dull, I agree.
Well there's SLAVIA, the main team Plus Bohemians 1905, Viktoria Zizkov, Dukla Praha, and Strizkov from the top 2 divisions. More Prague teams then in the lower divisions
How about Lille? Or are you wanting somewhere further away? I've heard some good things about it, and it's only an hour or so on the Eurostar from St Pancras. You'd probably be able to watch a Lille game too. I went to Tallinn (excellent photo opportunities) and Helsinki last month and I'd recommend them both. You can kill two birds with one stone as well seeing as it's a couple of hours between each on the ferry. The only problem is that they would probably be better in winter. Nice one Mike.
Budapest would probably be my shout. Really beautiful city, especially around the Danube, some really excellent views if you climb Gellert Hill. If your into architecture then its pretty nice throughout in the centre. Couple of good football opportunities aswell, went to see Ujpest who despite having a number of racist fans was a decent day out. I wasn't that fussed about Milan, the San Siro is excellent however and afffordable, cost me 24 euro to see Inter play, half empty stadium but impressive nonetheless. I got bored there after a day really! Each to their own though. Berlin is another shout as has probably been mentioned. There's so much to see, very interesting too, there's a number of walks you can do along the former site of the wall, a line shows you where it use to run. If your thinking further afield then Sarajevo is awesome. Really really different to western europe, the old town is quite like walking around a middle eastern city. Some of the views from the surrounding hills are brilliant, you've also got Mostar only 3 hours away which is a must. Avoid Belgrade though!
Lille looks pretty nice Martin, but it reminds me quite a bit of a few towns/cities I've been. Agreed about Helsinki too, looks a great city, but looks even better in the snow, something I think I would be missing out on as the weather will be different in March/April. Starting to shrug off the idea of Milan as it seems there are plenty of better cities to go to. The cities that I think at the moment are best suited to what I'm hoping to get out of this holiday from what I've read about them etc. are Budapest, Hamburg, Zurich and St. Petersburg so I'll try and narrow down the list a bit more over the coming weeks. Just wanna say thanks to everyone for giving your opinions and ideas, it's been extremely helpful
The only thing which I think lets it down is the area outside of the ring road around the old town. Some of the buildings are pretty old and run down. Of course there's not really a need to venture there though.
Another vote for Berlin from me, fantastic city full of history and culture, you'll not put your camera away once...
Milan is quite small btw. Ultimately there's not that much to actually do. The San Siro is a must for any football fan though. Other than that going up on the Il Duomo roof is worth the few Euros they charge for admission. Especially so if you're into photography as you are. Then there's the decent Italian food as always although it can be overpriced there from my experience. And Florence is ok but mainly if you're into Renassiance art, architecture and history!! Personally, I wouldn't go back there in a hurry as I've only got a passing interest in certain aspects of that era of history. Some of the art is undeniably impressive but if you're not into that kind of thing, I'd say don't go. I've certainly had my fix of Florence from a couple of days there.
Out of interest: when did you go there? Tallinn (and pretty much the whole of Estonia) improves massively by the year, it's now one of the richest countries of the former eastern block.
This is now looking like happening at the beginning of May, and I had mentioned the main 3 for me. My Dad came home a minute ago, and said "What about Reykjavik?". Looked into it a little and it looks like it'll be great for my Photography and looks like a great place, anyone been there before?
Not been yet but heading in October, can't wait. Lot of my mates were there last year for a football match, said it was well nice, though still very expensive. Easyjet flying there now has made it much more affordable too
If you're old enough to drink...And closer to home, is Dublin, during the day visit the Guinness and Jameson's factories by open top bus, Temple Bar by night is a must, and a trip down to Hoth for Sunday lunch shouldn't be missed. Vienna, Prague and Budapest are the nicest cities in E.Europe, Moscow is also worth a visit but is very expensive.
