City Break Ideas for Hubby's 50th

fluffbrain

I am planning to surprise my lovely husband for his 50th Birthday ideally with a short city break away in July and need the help of all you great money savers.

I can easily fly from Manchester and was looking at Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam or Munich (Seville was 1st idea but no local flights ) Amsterdam has the cheapest flights but the others are also options. otherwise Liverpool, Birmingham or Exeter are also airport options - so my questions are;

1. Which destination would you recommend/prefer
2. is there anywhere reasonable in price, quality & location to stay?

A self catering apartment style would be better rather then hotel (we both like a lie in!) and I was thinking 4 nights if budget allows, over a weekend.

Thanks in advance!! :beer:

alba7

What are you both like with heat? Barcelona in July is very hot (that's when I went) and I imagine Madrid will be the same. Barcelona is a fantastic destination for a short break though, having the advantages of being a city but with beaches as well. I loved it there, even in July. I definitely recommend Parc Guell as worth as visit, and a cable car ride.

I like Amsterdam as well, although the weather is obviously not so predictable. Lots of do, especially if art is an interest, and lots of apartments available if you don't like hotels.

I haven't been to Madrid or Munich, so I can't help you there, I'm afraid!

DCFC79

Depends if your wanting to do anything while there eg see any sights, Barcelona and Amsterdam are really nice to see, be careful in Barcelona with phones, handbags (not trying to put you off), just make sure phones are in a secure pocket, guess its like anywhere just be aware.

I can't suggest where to go for SC but Amsterdam is close to the station and its about a 40 minute (might depend on time of day you get picked up) taxi ride from Schipol Airport to Amsterdam.

Fluff15

fluffbrain wrote: »

I am planning to surprise my lovely husband for his 50th Birthday ideally with a short city break away in July and need the help of all you great money savers.

I can easily fly from Manchester and was looking at Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam or Munich (Seville was 1st idea but no local flights ) Amsterdam has the cheapest flights but the others are also options. otherwise Liverpool, Birmingham or Exeter are also airport options - so my questions are;

1. Which destination would you recommend/prefer
2. is there anywhere reasonable in price, quality & location to stay?

A self catering apartment style would be better rather then hotel (we both like a lie in!) and I was thinking 4 nights if budget allows, over a weekend.

Thanks in advance!! :beer:

I've been to both Amsterdam and Barcelona, and loved both!

If you're wanting heat, BCN is the obvious choice, with lots of architecture from Gaudi etc. However, Amsterdam is just as charming and I went in August and it was still warm. Both have good transport links, good food and beer, and the people were friendly in both too!

I stayed in the L'Eixample district of BCN, lots of cheap apartments here with lovely restaurants, and still close to key places such as Las Ramblas and the beach.

In Amsterdam, I stayed in the business district, was a bus ride away from the city centre but with the transport so good in Amsterdam it was no bother.

The Dutch were very friendly and I loved them. I never had any issues with pickpocketing in BCN (I travelled young female solo), and I speak a little Spanish and the Spanish were very friendly too.

Both for BCN and Amsterdam I chose these areas due to less cost but easy transport. BCN will be more costly for an apartment at that time of year, but you can still hunt for good deals. Try booking.com first, then other websites to see if it's cheaper.

I booked both my flights with Easyjet (presumably that's who's doing yours too) and you can redeem nectar points against flights.

To be honest, I'd find it VERY hard to choose between the two. It would swing it for me for BCN because of the time of year you're visiting, but I think I'd prefer to return to Amsterdam.

fluffbrain

Thanks for the replies so far!

Alba7 - Good point, neither of us is great with heat and we will want to walk and explore as much as poss so maybe scratch the Spain options!!


Thanks DCFC79 & Fluff15 - Amsterdam is looking like a good option and your comments are really helpful.

A straw poll in the office also brought up Vienna, Split & Budapest if anyone has any experience??

totallybored

I've been to all of them plus Budapest. I've always avoided Vienna as I find Austria a little boring and also expensive. I've been looking into Split, Zagreb and Dubrovnik for a few days but I'm not sure I actually want to visit them that much.

Out of your choice and as you don't want heat I'd go for Amsterdam. I've done 2 airbnbs there recently which were great. The first was a houseboat near the museums and the 2nd was an apartment in De Pijp. I found this much better than hotels that I've done on previous visits. Both were near all the sights but far enough away to get away from all the tourists so I saw a different side of Amsterdam which was great. Amsterdam is easy to get around on tram.

I prefer Madrid over Barcelona. Fewer tourists and pickpockets and better tapas bars but it's very hot in summer.

I like Munich but I did get a bit bored of it so I think 4 nights might be too long. However, you can take the slow train to Salzburg on a schoneswokenende ticket for not much money which is a nice day out. And if you like beer it's fine! I got bored by the food in Munich though , it's not very cosmopolitan! There is only so much meat, potato and sauerkraut you want to eat!

It's a while since I went to Budapest so maybe it's improved. I went before all the cheap flights started flying there and while it was pretty I found it a bit dull.

benjus

Just got back from Vienna and Budapest last week. Verdict:

Vienna: impressive city, grand architecture, nice cafes, lots of cultural things to do (museums, opera, etc). But people are not particularly friendly and you're always fighting off guys dressed as Mozart trying to sell city tours or something.

Budapest: also quite impressive, although maybe not as much as Vienna. The Danube running right through the centre of town gives it a nice atmosphere. More of a laid-back feel than Vienna, people are friendly and English is widely spoken (among people that come into contact with tourists, anyway). Some great cafes and nice old thermal baths. General sense of "faded grandeur" about the place.

You can quite easily do both of them in a single trip - it's a 2 hour train ride between them.

maman

I could bore you to death with all the city breaks I've loved!:D What's your maximum budget? What sort of things do you like to do (museums, galleries, sights, bars, nightlife). Just a little more info would help.


I've not used them myself yet but heard very good reports of Airbnb. But so many hotels do room only now you might just as well stay in one if it's just a lie in you're interested in (rather than actually cooking in the accommodation) if its a better price.

benjus

totallybored wrote: »

I prefer Madrid over Barcelona. Fewer tourists and pickpockets and better tapas bars but it's very hot in summer.

I think I'd agree. Everyone seems to go mad over Barcelona but I really like Madrid.

agarnett

A weekend in Budapest for me was a few years ago and interesting - everything from castles to cheap opera to cool mojito bars and cultural spa baths!

Vienna was more recent and was a great boutique style hotel, a little cosmo shopping and high end window shopping plus of course and museums culture, with a few cosy tavern restaurants to suit any pocket.

Interesting place Vienna if you are a smoker - they allow restaurants to decide for themselves if they will be smoking friendly or not! Best to ask during the day if you are booking a table for the evening - if you are a non-smoker it can come as a surprise, but not unpleasantly so if you state your preference and are open-minded about different culture.

Barcelona is always a great long weekend kinda place. It has everything and it is a city to walk in to see all you want to see or reach.

I've only been to Madrid once and felt it was was missing something - I need to do it again.

You mention Split and Zagreb. Split is of course a coastal resort, Zagreb far inland with mountainous backdrops in the mid distance. If we are talking Croatia (and we are here), I can thoroughly recommend Trogir up the coast from Split. It is a small walled city - a Unesco world heritage site. The harbour is frequented by palatial superyachts at night who come clubbing, but there are numerous unpretentious lovely small and good value restaurants in the narrow streets of the little walled city area. I can recommend a great family run B&B/small hotel right on the opposite quayside to the walled city (there is a sort of narrow inlet/river with a narrow roadbridge across to it). The superyachts moor on the citadel side.

Thinking of small citadel type awaydays, have you considered Carcassonne and maybe splash out a little on a garden room at Hotel de la Cite (which is accorhotels thesedays). The hotel is old style with a lovely garden and some of the garden rooms come with your own little 20 square metre terrace under the trees looking out over the city wall. Churchill stayed there (at the hotel in a garden room) once or twice to recuperate! Again there is a great choice of good value restaurants. Ryanair fly there - the airport is just ten minutes out of town.

And then there is of course the citadel of citadels - Alhambra in Granada. It may be expensive now to book in the state owned luxury hotel (http://www.parador.es/en/paradores/parador-de-granada) actually within the grounds, but I loved our stay there, and have visited Alhambra and Granada three times now. It again is a low level, old building, surrounded by wonderful gardens type place. And you won't feel rushed to abandon any lie in, in any I have suggested.

fluffbrain

Wow - thanks guys for all your fab replies, you have all given me lots to think about.
During my many travels around Google today I discovered airbnb and really like the idea of their places so will probably go that way accommodation wise as they seem to cover most of the locations I am looking at - Location still to be decided though as you have all got me thinking again and a bit outside the box!

If its any help in what we like we had a great trip to Prague (his 40th treat!!) and loved it (Recommend Prague Room if it's still going) anything similar would be ideal, nice buildings, places to explore, things to see. Basically we like to wander, explore have a drink & repeat with a break for food now and again!!