Why taking a pub crawl in an unfamiliar city is a great idea

To get a feel for the city, it’s social culture and habits a guided pub crawl is a must do, especially on the first evening of your arrival. A new and unfamiliar town where do you go, which places are the most frequented, trendy or popular? An organised pub crawl is essential to make your visit a memorable and fun one.

Pros & Cons of a Guided Pub Crawl:

There are almost no cons (apart from the fact that you need to pay for it) in taking a pub crawl as you are escorted around the most interesting and popular venues with an experienced guide that animates your evening too. You meet other visitors and locals who are willing and proud to share their best beers with you. You also avoid the danger spots as any popular destination will have that negative element of running a scam or two. The guide will keep you and your bank balance safe. Large groups will have a problem in entering certain venues at times whereas on an organised crawl the problem doesn’t exist, Local knowledge is much more efficient and fresh rather than internet searches for information which maybe out of date. An experienced guide can tailor your evening to suit your requirements whether it is beer, entertainment or ambient surroundings preferred or all three together. Also, closing times can be different to what you are used to, in many countries pubs stay open just like the dance clubs and late evening you will see the venue transform into a dance club. The organised pub crawl offers the best introduction to an unfamiliar city with all its specialities from beer, spirits, wine , cocktails, Karaoke, live music and exciting in pub attractions like crazy golf and axe-throwing to name but a few. Probably each major city, which is also a popular tour destination, have a wide range of specialised companies with which you can book your nightlife tour. A thing to distinguish is whether you want to join a group of individual travellers (then you should book with so called “city pub crawl companies”), or you are e.g.: a stag do group and you wish to book a guided bar crawl with a private Rep at your disposal. Usually specialised stag do companies can provide such service (e.g.: in Krakow / Poland you can check PartyKrakow.co.uk if you’d like to have a personalised pub crawl tour or if you are a touring rugby club you can also check Krakow Rugby Festival as bar crawl with open beer bar is a part of the festival agenda)

Best Beer & Not Only:

Many European destinations popular with Stag, Hen and visiting groups alike enjoy the opportunity to savour special brews from local breweries and new found mainstream companies. One of the most searched for is Czech beer, the most well -known brand is Budweiser but look out for other Czech beers produced and sold in Europe. Poland has a revival in the micro-brewery business and most cities in Poland will have their own locally produced bevvies on draught too. Germany’s most requested beer is Pilsner or shortened to Pils which by the way has Czech origins. Cocktail Bars are becoming very trendy and many more venues are springing up in all the top destinations around Europe. Delve into the national choice drink like vodka in Poland, Pernod in France and Jägermeister in Germany along with grappa & prosecco in Italy or Spain’s sangria or excellent sherry.

Dos & Don’ts:

Do ask before you go on a pub crawl the opening and closing times of the pubs that you are visiting as this helps to pace your drinking so you don’t top out to soon. Also find out if alcohol drinking in public is legal or not, this will avoid an inconvenient fine and damp squib on the celebrations. In the popular destinations you will encounter street promoters offering ‘too good to be true’ invites to pubs and clubs, avoid them and listen to your guide who has first hand advice on what not to accept. In many places riding a bicycle under the influence will bring you a hefty fine and in some cities an overnight stay in the drunk tank with a further levy on your bank balance even if you are not riding a bike.

Pub Crawl Bonuses:

Organised pub crawls usually have a certain amount of freebies, shots, beers or tasty snacks and some offer free entry to dance clubs. Priority service is another bonus that a guided pub crawl includes which is really useful in a well frequented and trendy place, if you organised a crawl on your own these treats would not be available and think of all the time spent trawling the internet to set up a pub crawl. The main bonus is that everyone can feel relaxed and enjoy the atmosphere including the organiser who no longer has to read a map to get to the next venue, your dedicated Pub Crawl Guide knows the best places by heart and, of course, the best ales, beers and special drinks.

Drinking Games:

An organised pub crawl leaves the group leader free to add in his or her talents for the games and entertainment during the pub hopping. Some of the most favoured drinking games is Beer Pong, this needs a table , plastic cups and a table tennis ball. Players at each end the table attempt to land a ball in a cup to then nominate a drink to the opposing team. There is a host of different games involving all sorts of sport such as Rugby Matchplay, while watching a live match the rules require the spectators to take a drink a varying quantities every time a team scores, fouls or kicks, this can be adapted to any kind of sport being broadcast live. Unusual quirks are often put into practice with each new pub visited, they include not going to the lavatory in a venue, last one to finish a drink, only lefthand or righthand drinking, no spilling of drink or drinking by mistake someone else’s bevvy. All of these quirks get penalised with a vicious concoction decided by the group.

Pub Crawl History:

The infamous or notorious Pub Crawl was supposedly invented back in 1645 by a British group of heavy drinkers led by a man called Sir Geoffrey Toppenbottom who after drinking large quantities of ale in different villages and many taverns forgot where they left their trusty steeds, hence the expression pub crawl entering the English language as they literally had to crawl on all fours to get home due to being so drunk that they couldn’t stand without toppling over. This story may or may not have substance but it is indicative to the way through centuries groups of people enjoyed life through social drinking and people’s creativeness to take a simple get together to ever more extremes.

Pub Crawl Guide Lines:

Always prepare in advance, eat well during the day & sleep well the night before.

A pub crawl on average is around 4hrs long with 5 or 6 different pubs on the circuit unless you do the challenging 12 Pubs of Christmas Crawl!

At some point during it, hydrate to avoid or lessen the dreaded hangover in the morning, a cool glass of water is really effective for this.

Leave no-one behind no matter what state that person is in.

Crawl home if legs not working properly, that’s why it is called a pub crawl after all.