'2nd tier' European city breaks

[Deleted User]

Kicking around a few ideas for some upcoming city breaks that are not on the usual list of suspects - Venice,Amsterdam,Paris,Madrid,Athens.Dublin etc all of which we have done - but on the smaller,less well-known destinations such as Bilbao which we enjoyed immensely.

First on our list is Porto but other ideas would be gratefully received.

Locations should include a good old town, flourishing cafe culture, reasonable LCC connections, low street crime.

The sort of place where you can mooch about for a long weekend doing nothing much in particular.

These are trips being planned for outside current Covid

restrictions.

Thanks in advance.

814man

You mention the big usual suspects which of course many will have visited, but how about looking at cities that are close to one of the these so you can take advantage of the travel links but also get a little off the beaten track.  A great example for me would be Potsdam.  Lots of easy LLC connections to Berlin of course, then just a short bus, train or even boat trip to this great and very much unexplored city.  Stunning parks and palaces as well as lots of history and the old town and café culture. 

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/15-reasons-why-you-need-to-visit-potsdam-germany-at-least-once-in-your-lifetime/

 

PollyEsther

Off the top of my head a few '2nd tier' places which should meet your requirements:-
Bergen
Bern
Dresden
Gdansk
Leipzig 
Ljubljana
Lucca
Maastricht
Strasbourg
Trieste

daveyjp

Lisbon, Stockholm, Bordeaux

[Deleted User]

Thanks for lots of great suggestions.
Many are Northern European cities so any suggestions further south would also be gratefully received.
Like Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife.
Fantastic city for a long weekend.

Neruda

I am not sure whether it is 'second tier', but Sevilla is just about the most beautiful city in western Europe. If direct flights are too expensive, the train journey from Malaga is interesting and enjoyable. Similar remarks apply to Cordoba.

And then there is the Ukraine: the city of Lviv is roughly half-way between Krakow and Kyiv, and is extremely attractive.

maman

You mention the Dublin but Belfast and Cork are also good for a city break.

I'd second Seville and also Grenada (although that may be on A list) and also Palma. Heaps of towns and cities in France other than Paris. 

daveyjp

Valencia is a good alternative to Barcelona,  smaller and not as crime ridden.

Naples, Bologna, Milan.

If you are happy with 4 hour flights Madeira is worth a few days. 

maman

Good train links between many of these cities so we've done some 6 day trips taking in 2 at a time. We've done Prague to Budapest, Venice to Milan and Krakow to Warsaw. Warsaw was a great place.

And while not a city break as such, we had 6 days in Malta exploring with a bus pass one October, nowhere near the horrible high rise hotels. 

maman

daveyjp said:

Valencia is a good alternative to Barcelona,  smaller and not as crime ridden.

Naples, Bologna, Milan.

If you are happy with 4 hour flights Madeira is worth a few days. 

I'm enjoying this virtual travel! 🤣

We flew to Naples and had a week based in Sorrento. Brilliant for the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Pompeii. 😁🌞

TheMilkmansDad

this reminds me of my inter-railing trip from years ago:

Ferry From Malta to Catania
Then trains to:

Naples
Rome
Treviso
Zagreb
Budapest
Kosice
Krakow
Berlin
Amsterdam
Brussels
Paris

Finally back to London on the Eurostar.

Squashed it into 3 weeks. Think my highlights were Naples, Zagreb, Budapest & Berlin. Although could quite happily do them all again (although maybe spend a bit more time in each!)