Looking at going on a city break with the Mrs for the October school holidays (1 week).

Short list at the moment is Amsterdam, Berlin and as of last night, Venice.

Looking to go for 4/5/6 days, flying from Glasgow (probably) with Easyjet.

Any recommendations / thoughts / advice? What city would you go for?

October weather?

What about doing 3 days in Berlin and then 3 days in Amsterdam?

Thanks in advance

Not on your list, but I’m just back from 6 days in Rome. Awesome place. Not cheap mind.

Venice is next on our list. Can’t say Berlin or Amsterdam really strike me as a couply getaway place….

The Dam is awesome. Rent bikes and just pootle around. Lovely little city! I have many bar and restaurant tips if you end up there!

How about Bruges? I went to Amsterdam at 17 and had a great time but I imagine those aren’t the kinds of places you want to go to! Berlin has never appealed, Venice does but I imagine like a lot of touristy cities it’s expensive. I fancy Belgium, Bruges places like that, just a suggestion. Plus I would’ve thought a lot o the places you have mentioned in OCtoebr will be a bit autumy wintery weather wise.

Berlin for sure. It’s ace, definitely my favourite place.

Geneva, but then I’m biased

Or Ljubljana

Amsterdam is great, Tallinn is beautiful….

Berlin is great. Really good museums and art galleries, good general sightseeing particularly if you have an interest in history and the best clubs in Europe.

The others are good too but with a reservation – the stag do’s and groups of tourists (particularly young Brits and Germans) can be a right pain in the arse in some parts of Amsterdam. Venice attracts a different sort of tourist but it is properly packed with tourists during the summer and equally as annoying – but maybe that isn’t so bad in October.

Only about two blocks of the Dam are the seedy bit. The rest is ace!

Of those 3 Berlin. I was in Venice last December and it was deserted. Apparently it’s now so expensive that the majority of property owners are extremely wealthy and their place in Venice is a just for the summer. On the other hand it might not be around for ever so maybe it is worth a visit. if I wanted to go to Italy though I would choose Rome or Florence

Thanks for the comments – weather is a bit of a concern – just looking at average temps there – except for Rome, most places seem to be similar to Britain.

Now looking at Rome and Bruge!

We have been to Paris many times and just fancy something different. Happy to do museums / history / bars / restaurants / sightseeing. Think all these cities have plenty to do. Not bothered about red light district / amsterdam cafes but heard it’s a good city to see.

Well Rome was 30 degrees last week.

And I found out you do not need to wear trousers to get into St Pauls / vatican, despite what the guide books said there were plenty of blokes in shorts, and me slowly boiling in jeans….

I would say you could do the key sights in 4 days if you get up earlier and put in full days. That said we did late nights /lazy mornings with sight seeing starting at 11ish. After 3-4 hours we were knackered because of the heat.

I really enjoyed it. The Pantheon is incredible, lovely restaurants in the square. Not many places you can have a beer looking at a 2000 year old building pretty much as the Romans first built it.

Budapest. Fantastic city. Stay at the Gellert Hotel, it’s an amazing place. Cheap flights go there as well.

Others to consider:

Copenhagen
Budapest
Krakow

Madrid’s pretty good for a long weekend break, you’d be hard pushed to get a whole week’s worth of things to see – but then you could easily combine it with a trip to Seville or Cordoba, there’re loads of fast trains.

In the same situation but looking for New Years Eve –

I’d recommend
Amsterdam (some ppl can get snobby but theres something for everyone, hiring bikes is the way forward, best way to get around to check out the pron, drugs, culture etc, but seriously you can t go wrong here)

Prague (a beautiful place, again lots of bars, things to see and do – did a 6 hour walking tour, sounds long but turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever done whilst away, pretty much a perfect destination that you’ll want to return again and again)

Tallinn (really quite small (intimate) and last time I went – 6 years or so – the lack of tourists was noticeable – lots of Fins come over on the ferry for the weekends, Friday night is the big night – got to meet lots of locals who we tagged along with and took us to the best places)

Krakow (loved it here even though I did get sprayed with CS gas in a club within 2 hours of arriving – did the usual trips Aschwitz, Salt mines but the best was a ‘communism tour’ where a few local youths had got together, bought a couple of Trabants and took you well and truly off the tourist trail, simply amazing day drinking vodka with them all day)

Budapest (went about 10 years ago and have been itching to get back ever since, again fairly quiet, well it was back then, hire bikes and go to Margaret Island via the tower blocks along the Danube, Margaret Island was one weird place, imagine somewhere deserted after a nuclear attack)

Anyone been to Gothenburg, Bucharest, Munich? what’s there, would it suit a few days over New Year with celebrations etc.

+1 Amsterdam.

Been quite a few times now and it’s a great place to be a cyclist. Spent many happy days drinking, eating and biking my way around the city.

Salzburg is the best city in Europe I’ve been to. Very beautiful you could get train to munich too.

(I suppose I should list the other cities I’ve been to which I rate Salzburg as better than Munich, Vienna, Budapest(good), Barcelona(good), Heidelberg (this is really good too), Paris, London and St. Petersburg)

Could maybe even get a bus from Salzburg to Wolfgansee if your staying long enough.

Amsterdam is great for galleries and culture, the canals, Anne Frank’s house, Van Gogh, etc, but 1 week is more than enough. Personally I would stick to 2 or 3 days in Dam (have been approx 8 times).

As above, Salzburg is stunning but quite a small city, i’d highly recommend a couple of days there then a train journey to Vienna (approx 2.5 hours) which is also a fabulous city with a great cafe culture.
If youve never been to Vienna, I would have it as a priority to visit.

Don’t go to Gothenburg! I went there as Ryan Air or Easy jet did 1p flights, it was rubbish. Insanely expensive, not particularly pretty and not much there. Stay away!

Bruges you have the clock tower (as long as all the work has finished), chip museum!!! And much much more. Bruges for me if I had to choose.

Can’t really imagine spending a week in Amsterdam – there are only so many cheese sandwiches a man can eat.

Rome sounds a much better idea 🙂 Or Paris. Or, of course, Copenhagen.

Budapest. Fantastic city. Stay at the Gellert Hotel, it’s an amazing place. Cheap flights go there as well.

All of this.

Also, Geneva will be huuuugely expensive.

Ljubljana too. but If you can plan, then Book some nights in Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest, then cruise down the Danube between the 3. No Vienna to Bratislava is only a couple of hours at most, then about 3-4 to budapest.

So plenty of time in the cities but only stay at the Gellert in Budapest.

Krakow…thread closed. 😀

Krakow…thread closed.

No, no no.
If you want Poland, then try Rzeszow

Bruges, DO IT.

Madrid’s pretty good for a long weekend break, you’d be hard pushed to get a whole week’s worth of things to see – but then you could easily combine it with a trip to Seville or Cordoba, there’re loads of fast trains.

I really liked Madrid.

But you could also consider combing Seville or Granada (romantic, pretty, huge historic things to see) with a couple of days on the coast down in Andalucia.

I notice that the Gellert hotel in Budapest has had two recommendations.

Loving the responses – thanks everyone.

Need to take 6 weeks of work and go everywhere by the sounds of it!

Will continue the research tonight, with even more places to look at.