If you’re looking for inspiration for top stag destinations 2012 style, you’ve come to the right place – The Stag Company has got something for every type of stag party, from the very messy to the positively horizontal. Very much in the first category, Bratislava is a destination that promises a stag weekend that offers no end of fun for those seeking value in a city.

The Bratislava stag do leapfrogged many of the traditional stag weekend destinations in the past year, thanks to many of its activity operators spotting a market for Brits to come over and shoot, drive and drink their way to stag party perfection. We offer a wide range of packages available to help struggling best men to find the itinerary that says most about his group and now at reduced prices so you can keep your arm and leg firmly attached.

All packages include hotel accommodation for 2 nights, VIP nightclub entry with two female guides and return transfers.

Rage Against the Machine – £135

If clambering aboard a quad bike and setting off on a safari sounds like your idea of fun, this is the stag party package for you. Not only will we send you off on an adrenalin fuelled trek, conquering obstacles to press home your superiority behind the wheel for the stag do bragging rights. Hotel accommodation and entry into some of Bratislava’s best clubs and bars.

Call of Booty – £119

The Call of Booty package combines the best of British with the best of Bratislava as we send you on that classic Great British stag do activity, paintballing. We know that one of the most difficult aspects of arranging a stag party overseas is that you can spend your entire weekend trying to find the best nightspots – we take that pressure out of your hands by arranging your entry into some of the best clubs the city has to offer – roadtested by The Stag Company.

Eat Sleep Party – £109

The Eat Sleep Party stag weekend package is ideal if you’re looking to satisfy those primal urges. Sleeping is taken care of in your comfortable hotel slap bang in the centre of the city, eating is taken care of courtesy of a traditional three course meal – more than your average stomach lining beer and a burger and we’ll even throw in VIP entry to a lapdancing club so you can see some of the city’s sexiest ladies doing their thing for the benefit of the stag.

So that’s it, what are you waiting for? Get putting together your Bratislava stag weekend now by calling 01273 225 070.

We’ve heard some pretty bonkers stuff in our time but this latest piece of news coming out of Catalonia is up there with the most ludicrous. A Polish firm are planning to build a 100m rock in the middle of down town Barcelona for experienced climbers to scale and sleep on the edge of!

UGO came up with the idea for the Barcelona Bohemian Hostel for Backpackers International Competition and would work by building large stone boulders onto reinforced concrete towers. The crackpot inventor behind it all, Hugon Kowalski, hopes that the rock will become a “symbol of Barcelona just like Ayers Rock is for Australia”.

As you can see from the artist’s impression above, living quarters hang precariously over the hum of traffic below so we certainly wouldn’t recommend that you choose it as the place to rest your heads on a boozy Barcelona stag do! Residents will need to lift themselves up the face of the ‘hotel’ via a harness so it’s probably only going to be useful to experienced climbers and people with far too much time on their hands.

We know we’d rather be down at ground level taking in a tour of FC Barcelona’s Nou Camp, or rolling deep in the city’s best loved casinos. Or perhaps bar hopping our way around the Gothic Quarter, Port Olympic or Barceloneta. Maybe we’d stuff our faces with tapas on Las Ramblas, or pick up something for the missus in a fancy boutique.

Having said this, we do get a lot of foolhardy chaps getting in touch wanting to hear about challenging stag do ideas. Remember our earlier article talking about the blokes who were cycling around the Welsh mountains to raise money for charity on their stag jaunt? Well, perhaps we’ll point them in the direction of the Barcelona Rock Hotel next time around and get them to scale the sides ten times without stopping. Or something!

Good news for those of you looking for an Eastern European stag do location that hasn’t been overrun with stag party groups in the past few years. The Budapest stag do is set to be served further by a number of new flight services opening up this summer with Ryanair from Birmingham, Bristol, Stansted and Dublin.

Around 200,000 passengers are expected on the new services which is also good news for the unemployed in the Hungarian capital where 200 jobs are set to be created by the new routes. The budget airline has also put one million seats on sale at £9.99 to entice customers to book with them. These seats will be available to book until midnight tonight, so get your skates on if you’re planning a Budapest stag party – the tickets are for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, so perhaps do it in this order…

- Get sign-off from work to take holiday.
- Round up your mates.
- Book your stag do with The Stag Company.
- Get on Ryanair and book your flights.
- Put your feet up.

In other news, the Brighton Argus has reported that a Brighton councillor, Ben Duncan, has hit out at the Brighton stag do, saying,

“The people who organise the stags and hens have to take responsibility for the effect on the neighbourhoods where the groups stay. It is one thing to draw up a list of places for groups to go and drink but that’s not managing them in any proper sense. The issue is how they behave.”

Keith White, marketing manager here at The Stag Company has hit back, stating:

“Brighton has, for a long time, worked to promote itself as a fun, exciting, vibrant city, and a specific chunk of tourism, in the shape of £4.3 million, would be quite a shock to the local economy, jobs and businesses were it to ever leave for pastures new,

“I’m sure many of those complaining about stag weekends, perhaps are forgetting about their own ones they enjoyed all those years ago.”

Quite right, Keith, MPs out of touch? Who’d have thunk it, eh?

Sending people on stag weekends to over 80 destinations across Europe every Friday means that we need to have our grubby mitts on the pulse at all times. This includes of course knowing the news stories which could have an affect on how you lot enjoy your trips away.

Whilst scouring the interweb for funny stuff to tell you about we came across a report that’s no laughing matter. Condom sales in Poland have fallen a record 10% over the past year, whilst other forms of contraceptive have also seen their sales slump. Now this struck us as a little odd seeing as Julius Fromm, the inventor of the rubber johnny, originated from Poland!

We came up with a couple of reasons for the slump. Firstly, lots of people could be deciding to kick off the new year by having a baby. Perhaps the economic crisis means people are so down they have decided to give up sex all together. One thing is for certain though. When out on that carefree, birds and booze-heavy Krakow stag do you should heed the words of that loveable oaf Jeremy Kyle and “put something on the end of it.”

We’ve heard our fair share of hilarious stag party stories involving the best man deciding to stay in Prague, Budapest, Riga or wherever he was supposed to come back to supervise his best mate’s wedding from, in order to settle down with a lady he’d enjoyed a holiday fling with. A few times the happy couple even started a family and new life together, yet we’ve also had a couple of blokes telling us about relations they had on stag weekends only for an unexpected mother and son/daughter couple to arrive on their doorstep years later.

So chaps, when you’re thinking about getting friendly with the wonderful Krakow ladies, remember to buck the trend currently being experienced in Poland and buy lots of rubber!

Whilst the rest of the UK suffers from the post-Christmas blues, the proudly party-loving folk of Scotland have been excitedly gearing up for Burns Night, a celebration of the famous poet’s birthday that takes place on and around January 25. The festivities always involve the consumption of haggis, whisky and the recital of his works.

This year however the event has taken on a special meaning as two pandas have taken up residence at the capital’s zoo, a special black and white tartan being created in their honour. The garment was unveiled at the zoo to tie in with the Burns Night celebrations as well as those of Monday’s Chinese New Year.

Just as it pays to experience a European Christmas market first hand over the festive period, or Hogmanay north of the border, so too does it pay to enjoy an Edinburgh stag do around Burns Night. This is definitely one to file under ‘thinking man’s stag do’, but if you were thinking about heading to Edinburgh on that last weekend of freedom then we’re guessing that’s just what you’re after anyway. You may have missed the boat this year, but those considering a trip in January 2013 can expect amazing food, loads of potent whisky, music and general all round good times with the locals.

Confirmed to be occurring over the next couple of days are various public get-togethers, the highlight perhaps being the world first ‘Ceilidh Flash Mob’ event in Parliament Square, whereby you just turn up and party with a couple of thousand locals. Sounds perfect to us!

This Friday sees a night of Scottish stand-up comedy combining with the traditional supper of haggis, neeps, tatties and whisky at a venue called The Voodoo Rooms. Having experienced this type of thing ourselves first hand a few years ago, we can safely say that this is the most fun you’ll have on Burns Night.

We bet you didn’t expect to hear about stag do ideas like that, did you?!

Ah, the Amsterdam stag do, one for the purists looking for a city that really comes into its own for pre-wedding parties. Famous the world over for being a city of vice, Amsterdam is a no-brainer for lads looking for some after-dark mischief in a city that practically forces its tourists to misbehave.

The Stag Company has got its foot in some of the best doors in town, meaning we’re well-placed to make some recommendations for those brave souls heading out to this Dutch mecca of partying. Take a look at our pick of packages in Amsterdam.

Indoor snowboarding

Activities are vital for setting the tone of your stag do. Failing to prepare is definitely preparing to fail in our opinion, so make sure that you pack the days of your weekend with fun activities to get everyone in the mood for a memorable weekend. We offer indoor snowboarding in Amsterdam which is an adrenalin-fuelled triumph for cementing bonds between your party. Much trickier than it looks, snowboarding is difficult to master, but once you get into the swing of things you’ll have a ball and have plenty to talk about when you hit the pubs later.

Call of Booty

As far as Britain’s international relations go, Holland must be right up there when it comes to countries that we get along with, and your stag do can be a beautiful mix of British and Dutch as you embark on the UK stag weekends tradition of paintballing before exploring Amsterdam. You’ll also be given VIP entry to one of the city’s best nightclubs to bring your stag weekend to a decidedly messy end.

Football package

The Dutch gave the world Total Football in the 70s and this is your chance to see if British grit can compete, as you take on a local side. You’re representing your country, so make sure you put your best foot forward – even if you don’t come out on top, you’ll be favourites to best the Dutch with your alcohol intake after. That’s one thing us Brits are world-class at.

So there you have it, some inspiration for your Amsterdam stag weekend – we’ve got the best packages at the best prices so give us a shout if you’d like to make it official. 01273 225 070.

At a time when school budgets are being cut and the vast majority of us are feeling the pinch, Her Majesty looks set to receive a rather lavish gift as a reward for 60 years of, er, receiving lavish gifts, in the form of a new royal yacht.

Not content with already making questionable policy decisions, Tory education suit Michael Gove has sent a letter to senior politicians demanding that H.R.H be furnished with a new luxury boat so that the “diamond jubilee is not overshadowed by the Olympics”.

It’s been quite a boat-themed week for news, what with an Italian cruise ship running aground and now this, so we thought we’d tie it all in with one of our favourite nautical things to do in the summertime, the Marbella stag trip! Whilst The Queen is sailing the high seas we’ll be enjoying a few beers, some tasty grub, water-skiing and wake-boarding in Puerto Banus, thank you very much!

Yes folks, not surprisingly our ‘Striptide’ package out in Marbella has proved very popular since its launch last year. After a day out on the waves living the life of the jet set we’ll hook you up with the world’s smallest bar crawl. We say smallest because all the bars are within thirty steps from one another and many of them line the waterfront itself. Who needs a luxury yacht, hey?!

Amongst the other Marbella stag weekends popular with sea lovers is our ‘The Business’ package. This one allows you a full day at a luxury beach club with VIP sun loungers, a private pool and al fresco lunch with cava. Now we’re no experts on royal tastes but we’re sure this is one day in Marbella that old Queeny would really appreciate. She could anchor her new boat just off the coast and be relaxing by the pool in a jiffy. We wouldn’t recommend you invite her to the strip club gig later on though, mind.

The definition of metrosexual: ‘a man who spends a lot of time and money on shopping for his appearance’. This description would seem to fit impeccably-presented pop superstar Justin Timberlake to a tee. JT you see has, according to his grandmother, just proposed to his girlfriend Jessica Biel and that can only mean one thing: the man needs to start thinking about stag weekends!

As if being a role-model for a well dressed generation of male 20-somethings wasn’t enough, JT took time out on Christmas day of all days to call his granny and confirm the good news. It has been reported that Timberlake will wed his sweetheart in either his native Memphis or her Boulder, Colorado, yet in terms of the obligatory stag do nothing has been mooted as of yet.

Well Justin, being a high-maintenance A-lister requires that you look and feel your best at all times, so we’re going to suggest a Budapest stag do that’s right up your street: the Recovery Stag Package! Jet-setting Justin would appreciate the quality Hungarian dinner on offer, and he’d definitely feel right at home in the steam rooms, plunge pools and massage rooms of our favourite Budapest spa. He’d emerge from the building looking and feeling a million dollars. Well, a million dollars richer perhaps!

If recovery is the last thing on your stag do-obsessed minds then we’ve got just the ticket; one for a cruise on the HMS Stripper to be precise. Meander through the waterways of the Hungarian capital whilst a few ladies do their kinky thing in front of you and then load up on alcoholic toxins with a guided pub crawl rounding things off nicely back in the Old Town.

For the unconventional stag do Budapest certainly seems to be ideal, as you and the guys can also get stuck into activities such as caving. Don’t worry folks we haven’t gone soft, merely continuing to offer you lot as much to do on that all-important stag do as possible. Simples!

A video of a group of divers ‘walking’ on the frozen bed of a lake in Finland has gone viral on YouTube. The extraordinary footage appears to suggest that the divers have parked a wheelbarrow on the bed that remains practically motionless and have bored a fishing hole into the Earth’s depths. They even manage to ‘pour’ water from a bucket into said wheelbarrow.

Of course, this laws-of-nature-defying film is absolute cobblers. As you can see below, the bubbles emerging from the divers’ breathing apparatus are going the wrong way, suggesting that the age-old tactic of camera trickery has been employed. Remember thinking that Batman and Robin were walking vertically up a building? Yep, you’ve guessed it, the film has been flipped 180 degrees. In actual fact, the ‘walkers’ and their wheelbarrow are being held to the underside of the surface by the effect of buoyancy in water.

When we think of a stag do Riga style we can certainly imagine Arctic surroundings such as frozen lakes and ice cold plunge pools. That’s because we’ve experienced exactly that ourselves! At the end of 2011 a few of the office booze hounds necked a bottle of Baileys and hopped on a plane to the Latvian capital for a stag do-style time. There they were thrown down a hill, stark naked, into an ice-covered lake and forced to enjoy themselves doing so. Thankfully, there were plenty of natural hot springs to warm up in afterwards.

Of course not all stag weekends in Riga see such extremes of temperature having to be withstood. You could just plump for something like a game of football against a local team, a night at the casino or a steak dinner with erotic dance afterwards. You’ll certainly be getting hot under the collar though, that’s for sure!

And as for those pesky divers, you’re fooling nobody.

Ice cream lovers the world over have just been handed a rather tasty piece of pre-Christmas news. Baskin-Robbins, providers of frozen sweet things to customers in shopping centres up and down the land, are to reintroduce their much-loved Bobsled Brownie flavour in time for the festive period.

Inspired by the US women’s bobsled victory at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, this creamy masterpiece is made up of a combination of butter caramel ice cream with chocolate chip brownie pieces and milk chocolate mousse ice cream with a fudge crackle ribbon. Rich and tasty then, just how we like our ladies!

Thankfully, if you don’t fancy adding to the calorie intake any further over the festive period then there’s always the option of the real bobsledding deal out on a Bratislava stag do.

A few of our staff here at Stag Company HQ recently returned from a wintry weekend in Riga where they jumped into the sled and hurtled down the Latvian Olympic training track at breakneck speeds. Not to be left out, Bratislava got in on the act recently and we are now beginning to introduce this popular activity across our Slovakian stag offerings. You won’t want to attempt the act of eating any kind of ice cream whilst hurtling down the icy track at up to 50mph, as we’ve heard on good information that the driver will be taking no prisoners when it comes to the corners and the use of brakes! It is becoming clear that for an adrenaline-rush stag do Bratislava just doesn’t stop for a breather.

Perhaps the ideal time to pause and enjoy a frosty treat is whilst watching the other members of the stag party engage in a spot of clay pigeon shooting. Just picture it; serene quietness, the beautiful Slovakian countryside and you, graciously chowing down on a Bobsled Brownie as the little object in the sky smashes to smithereens. How very English!