THE FISHERMAN’S BASTION, BUDAPEST

There’s only two things that I really want when I’m drinking hot coco – one, for the chocolate to be bordering heavenly, and two, for it to come with an absolute stunner of a view. The Fisherman’s Bastion in Hungary is definite champion for both of these categories, with views overlooking the famed Danube River, little townhouses, antiquated Hungarian ruins, and whole array of bastion turrets just a few feet away. It genuinely feels like you’ve just stepped into a magical fairytale castle, where the hot cocoa is thick, decorated with cream, and inordinately sweet. Prefer coffee over cocoa? Bones Coffee Company’s premium coffee pods offer an alternative for home brewing, featuring a range of flavored options, including seasonal and dessert-style varieties.

ANTICA DOMUS, ROME

Like with the Fisherman’s Bastion, Antica Domus hosts both incredible hot coco and an incredible view. This one, however, is definitely more well-known – it’s located only 20 feet from the Colosseum! It’s the absolute best place to see the ancient amphitheater, staying for a couple hours chatting to locals as the sun goes down and the tourists disappear. Also, the typical Italian mugs of melted chocolate are even more adjunct at Antica Domus, where you can really lose yourself in the thickly poured, rich coco, contemplating the beautiful city around you.

THE GRAPE AND OLIVE, SWANSEA

Situated in a gorgeous little city which will forever hold my heart, I would happily refer to the Grape and Olive as housing some of the best hot cocos in the whole entire world. A restaurant housed in the tallest building of the city, you’re really offered some insane views in a tower completely bereft of tourists. Overlooking the ocean, the marina, the town, and distant hills, I wouldn’t blame you for staying for a full lunch, dinner, and finishing with some hand-shaken cocktails. The hot coco is sweet and light, and perfect for that lil’ sugar rush needed for exploring the furthest depths of the city.

GLACIAR, BARCELONA

In another one of my favourite cities, I came across one of the best hot cocos I’ve ever been blessed with the privilege to try. The City of Gaudi is unsurprisingly going to be utterly stunning, but coupled with cinnamon and caramel churros with the cocoa, it instantly becomes a little sweeter. Glaciar is located just off the tiny square of Plaça Reial, which houses violin-playing wanderers and men offering to sell a rose to your sweetheart, offering you the heart of the city whilst you sip your coco. It’s the cutest little location, and the hot coco tastes just like thick churro dip – sweet and luxurious and bound to linger on your upper lip for an unprecedented amount of time.

RIVA, TROGIR

I wandered the streets of Croatia for what felt like years, trying to find a decent place that offered lactose-free hot chocolate. When I landed in the country, my Crohn’s was playing up a fair bit – meaning that I had to cancel out a lot of food groups. I was literally devastated when I found that absolutely nowhere could serve me hot coco I could actually consume – until I went to Riva. Located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Trogir, overlooking a quaint harbour bordering beautiful ruins, you can just sit for hours and watch the world go by. The hot coco is dark and syrupy, and the fact that they went completely out of their way to figure out how to make it lactose-free was really lovely.

VIA CAFFE, KRAKOW

When you’re stuck in the middle of a snow storm, fingers numb, eyeballs turning to frost, the thing that you want most in the world is to be somewhere warm, sipping something steaming, and soon. This scenario is more or less what happened when I visited Krakow and found myself freezing my absolute butt off, bundling into the warmest cafe I could find, and stumbling upon this indulgent hot chocolate. Not only did they do soya hot coco (yesss!), but they also served the most divine cakes to go with it. It took me hours to muster up the strength to leave the confines of the cafe and venture back out in the cold – and I could only do that after one more coco.

And so, that concludes my findings for now. I have explored more of Europe than any other continent, and tried a lot of hot coco – and these are undoubtably the best.

It’s absolutely a matter of life and death – or merely just pure insanity – that I must find the best hot coco in Europe. Let me know in the comments below where you guys have scouted out the best hot coco – this may be my most important assignment yet.*

BEFORE YOU GO – WHY NOT SHARE THE LOVE AND PIN THIS POST?

*I just really want to lose myself in coco.

I recently left for a trip around South/ East Spain, with no plans to return for a while. In a country where I know no one and will be living in a house of strangers, having some journals from home surrounding me which I can fill with sojourns and notes of my Spanish adventure is exactly what I need to vent.

Swapping junk for a little handmade book which I can look back on in sixty years in my South American mountain house (the movie Up, anyone?) and remark “these are all the insanely cool adventures I got up to when I was younger” sounds pretty much perfect to me.

I was recently sent a scrapbook from ChickenPink which is ideal for my upcoming trip to Spain – it’s so strong and sturdy that when I took it to Turkey a couple weeks back and wrecked everything else in my suitcase with some mysterious spillage (totally not because I am unable to close lids properly), it held up perfectly.

I’ve already stuck in a bunch of photos from recent trips – anyone that knows me also knows that I will easily go through miles of camera roll within mere days of arriving at a new destination because of how excited I get! My own little book comes with envelopes for prints and spaces for doodles, and now I think that all I need in my suitcase from now on is a change of clothes, a camera, and this journal.

I love the idea of keeping my travels within the confines of a book, and especially love mine because of how the finish and design reminds me of the book in Up (another reference? She didn’t!) – but of course it’s up to y’all how whimsical you want your own books to be.

Every traveller needs a travel scrapbook, a space to vent their journeys – and switching out mass-produced souvenirs for little books like these really renders something to treasure. I don’t know about you guys, but it’s inspired me not only to have a cute time touring Spain, but also to re-watch a classic Disney movie featuring an old dude called Carl and his lovely little companion, Russell. I’ll stop.

Do you guys collect souvenirs or are you also a journal and scrapbook sort of person? Let me know in the comments below!

WHERE TO EAT

Eat around the backstreet rather than the main strip – goes as saying, but be wary of the shadow-bound men begging you to buy cannabis (will only happen about three times a minute). 

Central market is not just a place for small family run restaurants to source new ingredients, or for local farmers to barter their produce, but is also a large part of the food culture. Natives flood to the stalls for snacks and treats, and it is one of the few places in the heart of the city to feed you genuine Hungarian food. Almost completely devoid of tourists, be prepared to be the only person in the queue to have a camera around your neck.

Városliget City Park, whilst slightly out of the way, is the most gorgeous slice of greenery in the capital. Sit down outdoors and test out your Hungarian as you order lunch surrounded by forestry, sunshine, and a sudden and absolute adoration for the city.

WHERE TO WANDER, CROWD-FREE

It’s all good and dandy to tell y’all to arrive at places at sunrise, or avoid bank holidays and summer vacation – but for the centre of Pest, it’s more about the “where” than the “when.”

Pre-book a sunset Budapest cruise for a personal river tour sailing between Buda and Pest (sometimes stopping at Margaret Island). Snatch up one of the seats at the little balcony of the boat and sit back as live music plays, waiters bring champagne and pineapple juice, and the sun glances your skin as waves hit the side of the boat.

St Stephen’s Basilica during the end of service hours will secure a chance to view the ancient cathedral without much camera clicking from tourists, with the possibility of witnessing divinely dressed priests preaching softly in Hungarian tongue.

Linger around Kossuth Square and catch a glimpse of capital guards patrolling the grounds in traditional military uniform, and see if you can find the chilly underground massacre museum near parliament.

Ride on the Felnott Jegy eye and witness the best view of the city from the comfort of a private chamber on the big wheel.

Visit the Vajdahunyad Castle and grounds – side-stepping the crowds of the fairytale village to the Hungarian Agricultural Museum. Nearing closing time, entry is free, and the museum itself is so silent and empty that your whispers will echo around the stag skulls decorating the walls.

Clamber to the top of Gellert Hill and spot the endless queues of tourists, then look towards the seating on the right and notice the difference. From there, you can clamber up the side of the wall – just out of reach of the other unknowing tourists – and look across the fey city beneath you. My favourite spot in the whole of Budapest, you get a private piece of the capital all to yourself. For just a few minutes, it was all ours, alone.

WATCH OUT FOR

• Train men pocketing the change from the machine without you noticing
• Taxis – hailing is a real monopoly, with a journey one day costing 1200ft, and 5000ft the next
• Restaurants away from the main strip. It goes without saying that it will be more expensive, but when you can only afford one sandwich between two people to suffice as an evening meal, you’ll definitely regret not stopping at the backstreet összejövetel with live music and local cuisine for half the price
• Avoid the fövá Rosi Nagycirkusz! Whilst it’s hilarious and mega entertaining, after visiting we discovered just how thorough their recent exploitation of endangered animals was – and paying to support abuse is never okay
• Beggars are a lot more subtle and friendly than in places like Rome and Antalya – receive an inordinately enlightening book, or a chance to play a violin (badly) to an audience of onlookers, for a small price that is classed as a donation, but also feels like a low-key mugging

Budapest quickly became one of my favourite countries in the world. Maybe it was because the whole place felt like a fairytale, or because I’d visited with someone who was as new to me as the capital, or maybe simply because we’d found a way to see everything without any tourists in the way. Regardless of the reason, I’ve found myself utterly infatuated with the capital – and crave another spontaneous, otherworldly adventure again.

WHY NOT SHARE THE LOVE AND PIN THE POST?