Im relatively new to crytocurrency. I have read in manys sources that the safest place to store bitcoins is in a offline wallet.
Yep you heard right that is why many service providers use them to store their large amounts of Bitcoin.
Why are offline wallets the safest?
because they are not connected to a network @mocacinno explained
What are your recommendations?
choosing the right wallet comes down to how security conscious your are with your funds and i would recommend something easy to use for yourself and has been around for a long time like blockchain.info ,
then there are desktop and hardware wallets which will be the most preferred for the security conscious users the only downside is the time is takes to sync if you do not regularly use it.