As above. Birthday is looming and my wife is taking me away for a long weekend. I’ve seen a great place to stay in Barcelona but I’ve already done Barca so part of me is thinking something a bit more random. We wont have kids with us, so recommendations for a nice boutiquey hotel somewhere for 3 days would be great. Decent flights from Manchester or Liverpool to consider too.

Warsaw, Krakow, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius all will be cheaper and as interesting as Barca (which I don’t rate)
I loved Girona, just up the road from Barca, too. Bratislava is worth a day & is just a short train ride from Wien. Seville is good, Lisbon too. Choose somewhere you can fly to easily.

Bergamo was nice and also the parador at Carmona which was a taxi ride from seville

+1 for Riga. Vilnius is nice, but quite small. Tallinn is great for a day, but it’s swamped with Finns treating it like a giant alcohol cash&carry which is a shame.

St. Petersburg or Stockholm? The latter is b-e-a-yööötiful.

Thanks for the advice. We were thinking somewhere warmish as it’ll be October time. Anyone been to Valencia?

Yes, Valencia is a fab place too! Especially the old part. I was there around 4 years ago in July, way too hot for me. October should be fine. Lots to do and see, too much in a weekend. Don’t hire a car to get round, not worth the hassle.

thinking something a bit more random.

For random, you don’t want advice, you want your eyes closed, a pin and a map

Seville would be great then.

Budapest – beautiful
Istanbul – amazing
Malmo – great little town, nice parks and beaches, great beer and food and you can easily get two countries for the price of one; you can get the train across the Olesund bridge for a day in Copenhagen without paying Copenhagen accomodation prices

Hurrumph. Flights are crap to Valencia or Seville from the NW of England. Bilbao looks nice though. We are somewhat time limited with family looking after the kids so can’t afford a leisurely connecting flight/wait to get to these from say Barcelona.

Budapest is a great city and cheap to. Prague is good to as long as you don’t eat and drink with the tourists as you’ll get ripped off majorly.

Valencia’s great – nice city, not so touristy as others, stunning science park, beach within a short bus ride.
I like Seville too – beautiful, stunning buildings, and a nice easy size for a short trip.
Budapest is cool – nice and cheap and the baths are great, though the food’s not ace.
Istanbul – mint – breathtaking and ‘exotic’ in a way that Europe isn’t.
Dubrovnik – touristy but beautiful, with great swimming near the old city.
Marrakesh – touristy but fascinating.

Lucca – Fly to Pisa, days out in Firenze

Budapest is cool – nice and cheap and the baths are great, though the food’s not ace

I’d disagree there; we had some beautiful meals in Budapest.