Excuse the op title, but Trier is a fab place, that won't be known to too many people.
Trier is officially Germany's oldest city and is located close to the Luxembourg border in Western Germany, in a major wine growing region on the Mosel.
Historians & booze fans would love a trip to Trier, I'll explain....
Trier was a former Roman stronghold and a number of the monuments made it safely through the wars. If we start in the town centre, there is the imposing Porta Nigra, which will give you a good view of the city.
Trier is also home to a number of cathedrals, one of which, according to cathedral fans(!) rival the best in Europe.
Along with the Basilica and other ruins, the historian will find a number of things to do in the area. Trier is also Karl Marx's birthplace and there is a museum and other related stuff in the city.
For the booze fans, Trier, especially in the summer is paradise. Every month, there's an alcohol related festival, with the Europa Fest, the MoselFest, AltstadtFest and SektFest going on through the summer. The latter 3 festivals are held in the main part of the city, the moselfest by the river, the altstadtfest in the town and the sektfest in the wine growing area. All are fun and attended by people of all ages, when I was at them, I didn't see any trouble.
In addition to the above, Trier has a number of cruises which sail up the Mosel, city tours for those with a small interest in the historical side of things and many great hotels, bars and restaurants. The town has been well preserved and the central part is completely pedestrianised. Many older buildings remain and the city is worth exploring. It's also very safe and clean.
On the eating out side of things, the town centre is littered with great restaurants with a number of hotels having great food options. Of course there are McDonalds et al, but loads of restaurants sell inexpensive and nice food, plus a number of places have english menus and english speaking waiters/
Hotels are cheap, you can get a 4* for about £40-£50 a night.
A 3 course meal in the average restaurant will cost between £10-15pp and a large beer (2/3 of a pint) is about £1.50. There are a number of Italian and Chinese (Lee Ping near the Irish Pub is good) restaurants in the town.
The Viehmarkt is the place to head in the evening, with a load of pubs and the biggest terrace you'll ever see, it's huge and you can usually get a table and served within a few minutes. Clubs are few and far between and none can really be recommended, but there are a lot of bars open late, such as Zappotex.
I'd say Trier is good for a long weekend visit. However kids may get bored (but there are loads of ice cream sellers to keep them happy!) If you're around Trier for a while, the outdoor swimming baths in the south of the city are good fun.
On a Saturday, everything closes at lunchtime bar restaurants, bars and tourist attractions, the same goes for Sunday.
Getting There-
The cheapest way is via Ryanair to Hahn (about 30 miles away) and there is now a bus to take you to Trier, or get a hire car. (Ryanair fly from Bournemouth, Glasgow and Stansted.
Or, fly to Luxembourg and get a train / bus to Trier. Luxair go from Manchester, London and Dublin, but are quite expensive (but v.good and do deals for U-26's)
Or, fly to Frankfurt main airport and get a 2 hour train to Trier.
If you want to make a week out of Trier, go to Luxembourg and Strasbourg (about 2 hours away) which are lovely places.
Overall, a great place, oops I forgot to mention, also Germany's hottest city in summer (av 33oC in August), quite a bit to do and surrounded by other great places to visit. Also, if you're there for xmas, the xmas market is one of the best in Germany.
Worth looking into if you're after somewhere new.
Enjoy :)
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