3 Cities you Should Visit in 2020

Every time I travel, I think about sharing a post sharing my experience in the new city. However, something comes up and I end up delaying the article. All of a sudden, the year is ending and I haven’t posted about any of my short trips this year!

When it comes to writing about a trip that happened months ago, there is a negative and a positive point. The negative one is pretty obvious; you don’t remember every single detail of the journey. You need to squeeze your brain to recall the experience. The positive one, the few memories you recall must have been pretty awesome if they are still alive… and that makes them worth sharing.

I love spending my free time reading and stalking other people’s experiences in different cities (travel blogs or not) and I know how helpful it can be when it comes to selecting a place to stay or eat, so I have decided to summarize those adventures in a single post. 

The first place I visited in 2019 is Iceland

I have wanted to visit Iceland for a long time and February seemed like the perfect time to do so. The company we were flying with was Icelandair. I loved the flight, every single seat had a small touch screen where you can watch a decent selection of movies, TV Shows and documentaries for free during the flight. As someone who is terrified of flying, having something else to focus my attention on during the journey is very important. I usually download a couple of movies and try to watch them on my laptop, but the screen on the front seat was a lot better.

I recall reading in some flyer inside the plane that, if you buy a ticket to the US with them, you can stop in Iceland for free. Not sure if that’s a temporary offer or something that the company offers all the time, but if you are thinking about visiting both the US and Iceland in a row, that sweet offer could be interesting for you!

There is one thing I wish I knew before. The huge CON of visiting Iceland in winter is not how cold it can get, but how freacking windy it is.

So Windy!

You basically walk under a tornado, which is a nuisance when you are just trying to walk around the quiet streets of  Reykjavik. The place is lovely, despite being the capital of a country, it reminds you of some sort of fishing village, and it also has some amazing street art. Here is some of the art you find around: 

 We made a pretty complete 1-day trip around the Golden Circle that ended up at the Blue Lagoon, which is an amazing geothermal spa. 

The number of trips you could make while in the Country depends on the amount of time you have, your energy levels and of course the money you want to spend, but I believe joining a group for a trip around the most emblematic places is absolutely worth it!

In the food department, you won’t have any trouble finding a place that serves fish soup or lamb soup. There is a small beautiful bakery in one of the main streets called Brauð og Co. They must have sold their soul to the devil for their life-changing Cinnamon roll recipe. They are very, very, crunchy, sweet and delicious enough to make me remember it every single time I see or eat any other pastry with cinnamon.

Next Stop: Paris (just 3 days!) 

Enough to see the Tower Eifel, taste the snails and do my first bus tour around the city. 

I remember we were staying near the beautiful shopping centre, Galeries Lafayette. Aside from the luxury brands, the place looked like a museum. The walls were tastefully decorated with golden colours that made it look like a royal palace. On the top floor there was a gorgeous terrace with amazing views of the city, something that you can enjoy for free.

My biggest mistake here: forgetting to bring my sunglasses 🙁

Maybe I forgot, or maybe I decided I wouldn’t need them. Sunglasses and white blouses would have helped me a lot under the Parisian sun. Here’s a photo that could have been a lot nicer if I had brought my sunglasses with me.

The city centre was, as expected, full of people and I forgot to mention this visit happened in August! The sun was shinning hard and I came home tanned, and with some extra energy from the vitamin C, as I had been pretty much deprived for months. I love winter. I love low temperatures, coats, boots and snow. However, staying for a few days under the burning sun made me feel especially positive during the following weeks. 

If you want to visit this eclectic city during the summer months, remember to bring some sunscreen, sunglasses and make bookings! 

We visited a few well-known food places, but I remember the last day we had dinner at a more traditional restaurant located in a massive building in the city centre. The tables were massive, and you were sat with other families and couples. 

Remember, it’s a very busy city and you should make a booking before you get into any decent restaurant.

Next Stop…?

We wanted to make a trip for my birthday and I was trying to decide between Turkey and Croatia. I watched a bunch of travel Youtubers visiting these two cities, I read about the best attractions… I spent a week doing intense research to make the best decision. It was complicated… Turkey seemed insanely interesting but too big for the few days we were going to stay in there. Croatia had several cities I wanted to see and it was difficult to select only one.

After all the research and time spent looking at YouTubers eating street food in the streets of Split and Istambul, we randomly booked some flights for… Hungary!

Budapest

Budapest is a perfect place for coffee lovers. Every street has beautifully decorated coffee places and bars. There seem to be one every 4 steps, something like Alice in Wonderland for coffee lovers.

I think we also did a great job scheduling the places we wanted to visit. The first day, we went to the Széchenyi Thermal Baths. The Széchenyi Baths are the largest baths in Budapest and they are located in Pest, in the “City Park”. It’s very easy to find them, bet remember to book in advance on their website! We went on a weekday and the place was packed by both tourists and locals.

Apart from doing some “Coffee tour” around the city, the city is home to the place known as the most beautiful cafe in the world, the “New York Cafe”. If you love looking at buildings and architecture, the place is totally worth a visit. They offer food, desserts and drinks and of course I would recommend booking in advance. Another amazing place to visit is the Parliament. It is situated in a beautiful square (Kossuth Square), in Pest. I read it was the largest building in Hungary and I just love gigantic buildings so I had to visit it.

There is another place you must see: in a dark street in Pest, there is an open building with different types of bars inside. The name is Szimpla Kert. If you like drinking, eating and checking out super creepy art inside empty dark rooms, this place will steal your heart!

The entrance is free and you just need to decide if you want to eat or drink in one of the stands located on the first and second floors. If not, you can still get some awesome photos.

One of the positive points of Budapest is the prices. Food and pretty much anything else is pretty affordable, so you will be able to squeeze the juice out of the city and explore it as it deserves without squeezing your wallet too much!