[Closed] City Break location

Amsterdam? Most euro cities would be great though it's just what you make if them

Cities i've personally really liked, Seville, Granada, Marrakesh (take Euros and dollars a lot of places) and Lisbon all may fit the bill?

Seville, Granada and Lisbon are all fairly easy to get around and of a nice size with plenty to see and good food and drink.

Marrakesh purely because i used to work out there and think that with a short flight, you can be somewhere completely different.

Heard good things on other website about Lisbon actually, might look into that one some more.

Dusseldorf; cycling along the Rhine, boozing in the Altstadt, gawping at posh boutiques on the Koenigsallee.

And they fully embrace cycling, to the point where you get shouted at for walking on the cyclepaths...

Was gonna say Lisbon. Mostly because I just discovered Portuguese custard tarts 🙂

Prague.
Budapest.
Salzburg.

I end up in Lisbon a few times a year and can't stand the place. Used to be lovely, now run-down, seedy, expensive and oppressive. If you don't mind being offered drugs on every street corner and street buskers demanding money with menaces if you eat outside, go for it.

Barcelona, good hire bike scheme with plenty of locations throughout the city. Great nightlife and excellent food.

San Sebastian

Barcelona's good. And Dublin

Brugge is great (but a bit small)

Zurich

Hire some bikes and ride the downhill trails just outside the city centre on Uetliberg

and then take your pick of many great restaurants and bars

Valencia is good fun.

Barcelona.
Verona.
Rome.
Bordeaux.

London.

Yep, seriously.

Barcelona I have to save for my OH as he's never been there so I promised I would.

Dusseldorf does sound fab but being as we've done Germany twice now we're looking for a different country to tick off!

Bordeaux is a great shout.

We always hire bikes and cycle around to see the most in our time there, so must be somewhere that integrates well with that. Nowhere that bikes are not encouraged or banned/embraced.

Go to Rome and walk? Weather will be perfect in November.

It's the most spectacular city I've ever seen but I really wouldn't want to cycle there.

If you must cycle then Seville.

I end up in Lisbon a few times a year and can't stand the place. Used to be lovely, now run-down, seedy, expensive and oppressive. If you don't mind being offered drugs on every street corner and street buskers demanding money with menaces if you eat outside, go for it.

Reading back on my post, i realised it must be 16-17 years since i went to Lisbon, really liked it, shame if it has gone downhill so quickly.

Cork, nice city friendly people

Already done Rome, didnt enjoy it at all! best mate also went last year for rugby game so that's out, but cheers!

Paris is great, they have cycle hire. As does Barcelona and a few other Spanish cities. I really enjoyed Seville.

I've just booked flights to Bordeaux. Have a friend I stay with there, it's a cool town

Bruges is supposedly good too. Especially if you drink beer

I might be a bit biased as I have an apartment there but Vienna fits your requirements perfectly. You can get Boris Bike type bikes for very little money to travel round and the public transport system there is perfect and reasonable.

[url= http://www.francevelotourisme.com/contenus/villes-a-velo/bordeaux ]If you choose Bordeaux[/url]

I've been to Rome in November and found it unpleasant even on foot. Dirty, noisy, smelly (and not in a hot pizza way) but yes, sunny.

Having lived in Barcelona I'm always surprised at how enthusiastic tourists are about the place, I suppose it would be OK for two days, or even three but on a bike, no thanks.

Edit: is Paris too obvious to suggest?

Dusseldorf I liked. Cork too. Seville yes. Valencia, yes. San Seb', yes but you don't need a bike. Amsterdam is every bit as cold and damp as London in November.

Madame and her sister toured Morocco, dress local to reduce hassle if you must go. STW isn't the place to type my own impressions

We were in Lisbon last spring and had a great time, seemed to us like a more relaxed Barcelona, didn't experience any of the issues that Flaperon did, we were there for a week.

Plus a vote for Marrakech too, for feeling like a properly 'different' place to Europe, in a good way!

Another vote here for Bordeaux.

Prague is lovely but I don't think it's very cycle friendly.
Isn't Lisbon a bit hilly?

Amsterdam is famously good for bikes.

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I have great memories of cycling holidays around Nice which was on the easyjet route way back in the mists of time...but that was spring, not sure what it's like in nov.

Krakow is nice...and cheap.

cheers for the tips, we've now chosen Seville! Nice and simple

1. Galway
2. Bratislava
3. Lisbon

Good choice Golf Chic, cathedral is beautiful (seem to remember a great irish pub opposite, as is Plaza de Espana and the Museum of fine art

Went to Reykjavik last feb, amazing place but didn't see anyone cycling due to snow, would recommend it

Verona last November......amazing place with lots of cycling (bikes to hire on the streets) and a fab wine trail that takes you all over the city whilst sipping wine on the go, everyone had wine glass holder draped around their necks!

Seville hey,I believe you have made a good choice, will be going there later in year.

Happy trip!!

Late to the party as usual but I'd suggest Budapest well Pest as its pretty flatish, seemed to be plenty of bikes knocking about the place. Loads to see and do but you've settled on the orange place! 😀

Reykjavik, but not for cycling in November.
Marrakech.
Budapest.
Funchal.

Budapest was high on the list but the hills of Buda plus the lack of Euro made me side more towards Seville. Maybe friend will pick there for next year!

In fact scrap that idea, I'm not driving all the way to London Gatwick, which is the only place in the UK that goes to Seville. Manchester, East Mids, Brum all possible departure points for a weekend break, not the big smoke!!

Good choice Golf Chic, cathedral is beautiful (seem to remember a great irish pub opposite, as is Plaza de Espana and the Museum of fine art

Not been yet but I'm off to Vilnius next month,

£60 for flights, 45euro for B&B 3 nights, 50p pint beer...

looking forward to it 🙂

edit: not sure what temps will be like in Nov, but currently -20C !!!

If the cycling's not too fundamental a part of it, Madrid is great for a long weekend. They do have a municipal bike hire scheme - eBikes no less - although I've not tried it. TBH I'm not sure how keen I'd be on riding round town here during the week, cyclists are a fairly new weekday phenomenon and Spanish driving is pretty aggressive. There are also places you can hire bikes out of town if you fancy hitting the local mountains, either mtb or road.

Does it have to be abroad ? Wife and I have just had a cracking weekend in Liverpool.

I spent 5 months in Seville, I think you'll end up going back.

Girona?

When I visited Seville I flew to Malaga and then got the train, which is very straight forward and easy. Most UK airports/airlines fly to Malaga.

Bruges and Antwerp are also nice and easy to access by train or ferry.

I think due to flights we're now down to choosing between Budapest, Dubrovnik and Krakow.

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Although it may be a bit cold for cycling in November.

But, for a dark horse suggestion, how about Lviv, Ukraine?

It does not take the Euro, but the exchange between the pound and the hryvny will make you feel like a millionaire. The city is GORGEOUS and filled with fabulous restaurants, bars, and other cultural attractions. It will certainly keep you busy for a day or three.

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OK, now I want to go to Budapest.

I went to Tallin recently - highly recommend it. Interesting, friendly, reasonable costs

From Manchester, fly to Bilbao, 45 minute airport bus to San Sebastian.

Stockholm was nice in September.
New York in November was bright & sunny but cold.
Venice in October was rainy & cold

Swindon. Best take your 160 sled though....

Prague ?
Exceptionally beautiful in the winter, cold, frosty, quiet. Much better than the summer when it's hot, overcrowded and full of stag do's.

From Manchester, fly to Bilbao, 45 minute airport bus to San Sebastian.

Or just stay in Bilbao, which has nicer people and isn't quite as up its own **** as San Sebastian 🙂

Visited Seville at Easter. Had a great 4 days there. Enough time for seeing the sights and chilled out strolling around, tapas etc.
Also really liked Innsbruck and Salzburg, which we spent some time in as add-ons to alpine walking holidays.

Reassured by the Lisbon recommendations - visiting in March.

I know Budapest really well, I spend the "wall came down" period out there, bit scary at the time.

All I will say now is "it ain't like it used to be" the people then were scared but lovely, now they're Italian and loaded. It gets crowded in the summer, go springtime when it's still bloody cold.

If you get the chance go to Lake Balaton too.

Lisbon - been twice recommended no issues but I do get offered drugs everywhere I go so can see some of flaperon points but we are going back.

We did Vienna and Krakow last sept and both places are great...Vienna is expensive beautiful and very opera loving, in fact had more hassle off the ticket sellers for the state opera than drug dealers in Lisbon.

Krakow great city cheap great places to visit and interesting,

London is a really good call, I did a few days working there in October and actually used Boris bikes ....Good fun

Edinburgh? Again great city

Berlin is going to be cold but a city folk rave about but we found it meh

San Sebastian is great ....

I really liked Bilbao. Been back twice now. Very down to earth but got excellent food, friendly people and some excellent things to do, not least the Guggenheim. Oh and you can fly direct from Manchester.

Been going to Krakow several times a year with work for around 10 years - lovely city, lovely people, highly recommended. Better in Spring / Summer in my opinion though.

Last year I spent quite a lot of time in Utrecht, a sort of smaller nicer version of Amsterdam. Great city for a 'short break'

Barcelona - awesome place
Seville -brilliant tucker& if you don't mind travelling for an hour, there is an amazing hammam at Jerez .
http://www.hammamandalusi.com

Or just stay in Bilbao, which has nicer people and isn't quite as up its own **** as San Sebastian

I'm not sure I'd recommend cycling in Bilbao mind (loads of places nearby, but not in the city itself).

In Bilbao there are bike paths along the river to Portogalete (it's the Compostelle route on the left bank and a variant on the right bank) then the most impressive bike path I've seen to Playa de la Arena. There's a viaduct over a major junction that must be 200m long.

The other half & I both loved Wroclaw when we visited in September. Lovely place, cheap as chips and Ryanair do reasonably priced flights. Seemed very bike friendly too.