Bar crawls around Europe

As the photos show; I've been on a few bar crawls around Europe, and I thought I'd share my experiences with you and compare them, just in case you're looking for that great place to go on a bar crawl and meet new people. (Apperantly I don't take too many photos of the bars, so you'll have to settle for photos of me.) I've realised not everyone know about bar crawls and what it is, so let me explain quickly. A bar crawl is basically just bar hopping, meaning you go from bar to bar. On a guided bar crawl there'll be a guide who takes you to the bars, and on most you'll also get shots and/or drink deals. This can be a great way of navigating the party life of a city you don't know, it's also a great way to go out on your own or as a group if you want to meet new people. I'll list the crawls I've been on starting with my favorite and work my way down to the worst.

1. London My favorite, so far, is in London: London party pub crawl runs a crawl in the city centre every night, in addition to this they have crawls in 2 other areas on the weekend. I've only been on the one in the city centre so I'll talk about that here. I've done their crawl 3 times, once with my cousin and twice alone. The meetingpoint is central and it's outside a bar, once you're checked in they send you into the bar where you can get your first free shot and meet people. I've started talking to new people right after getting my first drink every time. They also take photos during the night, I think this is good, it means I can enjoy my night and not wory about photos but still get photos from the night. But if you don't want your photo online I guess this isn't ideal for you. They take slightly different routes on different days, so if you want to do this crawl several times you'll most likely not visit all the same bars, but some bars are included every day. I've personally enjoyed this crawl every time I've been on it, I might not love every bar, but overall it's been good every time, and they make sure you know when to meet outside ready to go to the next bar. 2. Dublin My second place goes to Dublin's Backpacker pub crawl. Again, the meetingpoint is outside the bar, and once you're checked in they'll send you in for a shot, or a half pint of guiness. I've done this crawl twice, once you're checked in you can go to the crawl again without extra cost as long as you keep the wristband on. They make sure you know when to meet outside the bar and tell you the drink deals before each bar. The bars are roughly the same each night, and I quite like a few of them, one even has a photobooth and silent disco. The end bar however isn't great, so some people stayed at the second to last bar and others disappeared shortly after getting to the last bar.

3. Brussels So, this bar crawl started outside, at grand place, which I was a bit sceptical about, looking at number 5 you'll understand why. But it really wasn't too bad, the temperature outside wasn't too bad and we didn't wait that long before heading towards the first bar. And here is where this bar crawl was different from all the others I've been on. Before going inside we were told to go find a seat and the guide would get us a small beer. Because of this, rather than everyone going to the bar to get their drinks we all sat down together and started talking. This means we connected as a group in a way I've never seen a bar crawl group do before. The bars we went to were pretty cool, we had some good drink deals and we all ended up dancing the night away with the group. The reason this isn't at the top is simply because I've had even better nights in London and Dublin, but this was also a really good experience.

4. Reykjavik

This crawl would have been really good if it wasn't for the fact that it was me and a group of girls who knew each other. With a bit more of a mixed group this would have been really good. I was supposed to try the cocktail crawl first but that was cancelled, there wasn't enough people. I had booked the beer crawl too though, so that's the one I got to go on. When you pay for these crawls some drinks are included so the guide gets the drinks while the crawlers can start to get to know one another. And in one of the bars, a quieter one, we did a drinking game (without too much drinking pressure though). So I feel the crawl was pretty good, and if the group had been more diverse I think it would have been really great.

5. Edinburgh The 5th place is split, but it's split between two crawls running in the same city. They're basically called the same thing: Edinburgh Pub Crawl and The Edinburgh Pub Crawl, they cost the same and my experiences were pretty similar. They both start inside a bar, however the last one I went on had some issues and had to change the start bar, this caused the start to be chaotic. Some of the bars are good, some not so good. I really didn't like the end bar/club at either of these. I don't know why, but I felt like the mood wasn't as good for meeting new people as it should be, this also goes for both crawls. I really tried though, so I did end up getting some new friends. One crawl went by a bar where there was a quiz on, which is a bit strange when you're not staying long enough to really participate. The other was bad at letting you know when you needed to be out front, I ended up finding the guide to ask after entering every bar. This one also had tequila as the free shot several times, I don't think I'm alone in having to pass on that.

6. Prague

We started at a bar where there were no one other than the crawlers, and there were only 6 of us. It was a Thursday so I guess it's not surprising that there weren't a lot of people. We got 2 hours unlimited drinks in the first bar, I think we would have had one hour if there were more crawlers. A few more guys arrived after an hour. Tessa and I felt the drinking pressure was way to much during the two hour "power hour" and we didn't enjoy our night as much as we had hoped. But they did start with beer pong to get us to socialise with each other, so that is a positive. Overall though the crawl just wasn't that good.

7. Budapest Budapest's "All night crash" was the worst bar crawl I've ever been on, and I've told them. Most other crawls gives a start window of 30-60 minutes by or in a bar, this one however was outside (I did this in November and it was cold), and even though the start time was 9pm we didn't move from the spot til closer to 9:30. And we were a 15 minute walk from the first bar! (In the direction my cousin and I came from!) The crawl centres around ruin pubs, which I get, it's a cultural thing in Budapest, but I don't really think they chose the right bars at the right times. Having been outside for about an hour (I'm guessing we were not alone in walking to the meeting point), and the alcohol consumed beforehand quickly wearing off, no one seemed too eager to try to make new friends before being inside with a drink. But the first bar was packed, everyone were separated and we didn't end up talking to anyone else until the second bar. So the start ruined our night a bit. We did end up talking to some cool people later on, but we never got the "we're together" feel that bar crawls normally give. And like a lot of bar crawls the last stop wasn't good, we went back to the bar/club before that. The one good thing was the coupons; at the start of the crawl we all got a small booklet with deals in the different bars, the ones we didn't use could be used another night if we wanted.