I’m planning a break with my girlfriend in August.

Basically we’re after a bit of nice scenery and hiking, a bit of city / culture and some great food.

Any recommendations? I’m paralysed by choice at the minute.

Sort of middling budget – maybe £500-600/each for a week.

Thanks 😀

I’m about to head for a week in the Garfagnana in northern Tuscany – beautiful chestnut forests and mountains for hiking, lots of little Tuscan hilltop villages, great food, and easy drive of places like Pisa, Florence, Lucca (walled city), and Bagnidi Lucca (spa town).

Flights to Pisa or Florence can be very cheap with budget airlines, and accomodation in Garfagnana is very reasonably priced as it’s not on the ‘Chianti’ tourist trail.

Thanks Sue, that does actually sound lovely.

I’ve also got Marrakesh and Biarritz on the list… anyone been?

That place in Tuscanny looks amazing! SueW, do you have any links to good accommodation there?

We’re staying here:

http://www.tuscan-retreats.co.uk/properties/al-melo/

(the company has lots of properties in the area). Got a 20% discount, so a week is £500, which I was amazed at as it has a private pool, grounds, and sleeps 4/6 (whereas villas with private pools in the rest of Tuscany seemed to be in their £1000’s!). So far, the company has been really easy to book with etc. Return flights to Pisa were only £55 / person, and car hire about £120.

Worth googling ‘garfagnana acomodation’ – I think owners direct did a lot of properties too.

Aye I found a few on owners direct. Cheers Sue, you may have just fixed our holiday woes!

Found some guided riding in the area too if I can slope off for a day…

Italy is great for the sort of holiday you want and typically works well for the GF. You might also try Dolomites, Lake Garda, Amalfi Coast.

You’d get better value and less crowds if you go in September after the schools have gone back.

Marrakesh is great – the most different you can get without flying far. Touristy in the main touristy area, obviously, but still very atmospheric. Wouldn’t do a full week there though. Great hiking in the nearby Atlas Mountains – my gf and I did a mint 3-day hike from Imlil – worth slotting that into a week-long visit, I reckon. Plenty of companies will sort it all out for you. Think we paid around 150 euros each for the walk, with transfers from Marrakesh, basic accommodation, friendly guide, mule to caryy stuff and a cook. You could do it yourself for a fraction of that cost – depends how much you want to plan/navigate/wing it etc.

Also Kas in Turkey is great.

Actually, Kas isn’t a city and not so good for culture – soz.

UK?

Morocco is a good option, cheap flights to Maarakech with Estjet, easily get up to the High Atlas mountains, or go to beach area, or hang out in the “city”. Really enjoyed my visit

Sue – who do you go to for car hire, if you don’t mind saying? Or anyone else for that matter – I’ve no idea who’s cheap/dependable in Europe.

Croatia!

We had a great few weeks there a few years ago, would love to go back again.
Scenery – check! bucket loads the mountains the coast and islands
Hiking – check! plenty & Mountain biking, rafting etc etc
City/Culture – check! Dubrovnik is beautiful
Great food – check! very Italian influenced, loved the cured means and cheeses…..

not too pricey either.

We stayed on Korcula but visited Dubrovnik and the mainland from there on day trips.

Great, thanks loads everyone – plenty to think about here.

I know it’s unsustainable but the UK is out – i’m going to Wales and Scotland at various points over summer so it’d be nice to get abroad.

Morocco is fantastic, I fancy Croatia and Italy!
How about French or Swiss alps? Slovenia supposed to be fantastic too.

Istanbul (3 days) then Cappadocia (4 days). We just got back on Sunday – it was amazing! Felt as if we were properly ‘travelling’ but it’s not really that far away.

I would recommend the Travellers Cave Hotel in Goreme (the most awesome hotel I’ve ever stayed in – an actual cave house, beautifully restored with lovely staff and terrace gardens), Anatolian Balloons for the dawn balloon ride over the ‘fairy chimney’ landscape (worth the money, I promise), exploring the underground cities, make time to climb the mountains near Cappadocia (we didn’t – wish we had), and do a boat trip up the Bosphorous between Asia and Europe to the Black Sea.

It’ll be a bit hot in August for any mtb… we met a couple of mountain bikers in one of the Cappadocian valleys… they were pooped and it was only about 10am!

Here’s a link to the hotel I was on about: Travellers Cave

Wouldnt bother with Biarritz when San Sebastian is just along the coast. ticks all your boxes.

San Sebastian

I’d second that. And Bilbao’s a great city too. Region-wise, Cantabria, Galicia, everywhere I’ve been at the top end of Spain has been brilliant.

a few days in the Dolomites for the hill fix
then go to Verona (Romeo & Juliet) or Venice for the romance and play your cards right you’ll get lots of “special cuddles”

Hey SueW – we’ve booked a villa through Tuscan Retreats, certainly looks awesome! Now looking into bike hire and guiding in the area…

Another vote for Croatia here too – loved it last year and look forward to going back in a couple of years. I have a list other places to get to over the next year: Iceland in September, Skiing in Jan/Feb, New York and Philly in Spring – then maybe something cheaper later in the year if I am lucky.