Good European city breaks

RobGuggle

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

I’ve got a week off work in three weeks and fancy a quick city break somewhere in Europe, probably for three nights.

I don’t really want to go to one of the main European cities or countries (ie Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc) and just want somewhere with a bit of history, culture or some interesting architecture or museums and decent places to eat and drink! I’m erring towards the eastern Europe area and cities like Prague, Tallinn, Ljubljana, Dubrovnik, Krakow, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions or cities they visited and liked?

Went to Valencia recently and loved it. Really cool city. Dubrovnik is one of my fav places in Europe, absolutely beautiful but watch out in Aug as it's hugely busy and expensive. Lisbon and Porto in the north of Portugal are well worth the visit.

welnik

I would recommend Berlin. Loads to see, quite compact and interesting if you like history. We had a 3 hour walking tour with Sandemans which was free but they kind of expect a tip at the end of the tour. This tour gives you a good idea about what you would like to go back and have a second look at.

Found it quite reasonable on food and drink (no more expensive than the UK depending on what you want to eat of course).

There are some great museums on Museum Island.

You can enter the Reichstag for free but you have to apply beforehand and there is the "Topography of Terror" (which sounds a bit grim), which is an outdoor exhibition charting certain events, again free.

Lufthansa were doing some really cheap flights (I'm visiting Berlin in a couple of weeks and only paid £80 for my flight) but not sure how much in advance you need to book to get that price.

I would highly recommend Berlin.

angelil

More votes over here for Berlin, Budapest and Lisbon; have visited them all this year and loved them

Ballymackeonan

It depends where you are flying from. and what the choice of destinations is - I've used Ryanair in the past and stayed close to their airports. They use Lubeck for Hamburg, but it's a lovely city itself with plenty of museums and culture, and it's only about a 10-minute bus ride from the airport. Maastricht is another interesting city, and again the airport is close by (with Aachen only a few miles up the road.) I've also had a suggestion from a friend of flying to Bdgoszcz but staying in Torun.

worried_jim

Bruges! Bruges! Bruges!

Absolutely brilliant with so much culture and dead easy and quick to get to. I went in June and it is now one of my favourite places on the planet.

Where ever you go have a great time.

hollydays

Florence.
Fly into Pisa. The uffizi gallery.squares which are like open air museums..
Home of the renaissance.short flight, great food.
Would love to go to lisbon... One day..and Budapest

skint_chick

I loved Prague despite it being very busy with tourists when I went in May - the same with Krakow in September. Both have lots of history and museums and are reasonably priced for food and drink. I went to Tallinn in the depths of winter when it was minus 20 and loved it - art museum, a beautiful palace with a lovely park, gorgeous old town and still cheap for food and drink. This time of year avoid Dubrovnik - too many cruises docking and it's getting very pricey.

I really enjoyed Riga - we took the train out into the countryside too, and I loved Cologne and spent a very happy 3 days there alone seeing museums, sights and visiting some historic houses.

Where are you flying from? Are you staying in a hotel or a hostel? What kind of museums do you like/period of history/types of culture? That might help us narrow down the recommendations

fufu_banterwaite

Wow, so many suggestions thanks everyone!

Of the places suggested I've been to Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam and Riga. Haven't been to Seville but have been to Cordoba. Also Been to Brussels and Bruges which I thought were nice enough, but not a patch on Ghent, which is lovely.

My girlfriend is just spending three days in Berlin and seeing as I will be going with her, as good as it sounds I don't think she would want to go back there!

I'd love to go to Scandinavia, but to be honest the prices put me off a bit.

I live in the South-East so can fly from Gatwick, Heathrow or Stansted (or any of the other London airports). We'll probably stay in a hotel. I have no taste really in museums/culture, but just like quirky interesting stuff, sorry if that doesn't help much.

But I've got some really good suggestions, at the moment I am thinking it will be between Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Krakow. Anywhere here ever been to Ljubljana or Vilnius?

Thank you again everyone for your suggestions!

PeteDoff

Istanbul without a doubt.

glitterpuss

I loved Krakow, loads to do, but also easy do it yourself days trips out of the city. Locals friendly too.

If you're looking for somewhere totally non touristy go to Vilnius. We went for a few days one November and had an enjoyable break. I'd recommend a walk up to Gediminas' Tower , and a visit to the former KGB building. Very few people speak English - I got by with a mixture of German & smiling!. The pizza in Vilnius is fabulously cheap too.