Best city breaks

sinead88 · 23-01-2014 2:29am #1

So my friend and I are looking for a really good city break in Europe and wondering about the best destinations. We were in Krakow fairly recently and loved it. We'll be going to Prague next year because my sister will be moving there for erasmus so I'm looking for ideas other than that one. Also I live in Edinburgh so the UK isn't really in contention for a holiday. Essentially, I'd love a place that has brilliant night life as well as interesting historical tourist attractions. Has anyone any good suggestions or experiences?

Ardennes1944 · 23-01-2014 2:32am

Krakow would have been one of my first suggestions, cant really think past Berlin to be honest for what you want.

sinead88 · 23-01-2014 2:35am

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Krakow would have been one of my first suggestions, cant really think past Berlin to be honest for what you want.

Thank you. Berlin is an option we're considering, along with Dubrovnik.

Ardennes1944 · 23-01-2014 2:37am

Always wanted to go there too but none of my friends could afford to go

Berlin is my favourite city in Europe anyway, something special about it, especially if you love history like me

lc180 · 23-01-2014 2:38am

I love Munich and Barcelona, both have lots of history, culture and a lively nightlife. Great spots for city breaks.

sinead88 · 23-01-2014 2:41am

lc180 wrote: »

I love Munich and Barcelona, both have lots of history, culture and a lively nightlife. Great spots for city breaks.

Both great suggestions. I've been to Barcelona before, although it was years ago on a family holiday so it would have been a very different vibe, and I loved it. We have a lot of thinking to do!

Recession traveller · 23-01-2014 9:02am

Dubrovnik is a great city break destination. Loads of exploring of the old town and surroundings during the day and a great nightlife if you know where to look!

It's also still pretty cheap. I'd visit now before it gets too popular!

irish_goat · 23-01-2014 9:31am

Munich is great, lots to see and do, nice beer and you can do a day trip to Neuschwanstein.

clumsyklutz · 23-01-2014 11:22am

Pisa was by far my favourite city break, just enough to see and do and a great night life atmosphere.

Balmed Out · 23-01-2014 11:31am

Budapest
Copenhagen
Barcelona / madrid / seville
Lisbon
Florence

Theres hundreds of possibilities really. Any other criteria to narrow it down?

Axel Lamp · 23-01-2014 11:51am

Another vote for Berlin here. Superb city

spurious · 23-01-2014 11:54am

Berlin here too, or depending on your flight times you could take the two hours to go down to Dresden which is fantastic.

Shedite27 · 23-01-2014 4:29pm

100% Berlin. Great value too - some of the hotels in the West are perfect for bout €60/night, 24 hour public transport, most of the tourist attractions are free/cheap and the nightlife has everything you'd want.

Ardennes1944 · 23-01-2014 5:27pm

Feck sake Im looking up flight to Berlin again now

If only you could still fly there from Cork Airport, which I can see right now!

Stojkovic · 23-01-2014 5:44pm

clumsyklutz wrote: »

Pisa was by far my favourite city break, just enough to see and do and a great night life atmosphere.

Sorry but I found this funny.

clumsyklutz · 24-01-2014 11:00am

Stojkovic wrote: »

Sorry but I found this funny.

Why would you find it funny? It's a beautiful place

Tabnabs · 24-01-2014 11:12am

brilliant night life as well as interesting historical tourist attractions - Amsterdam. We were really impressed with the city and the Dutch are such lovely people.

corkonion · 24-01-2014 11:18am

clumsyklutz wrote: »

Why would you find it funny? It's a beautiful place

hehehe... your just having a laugh I bet!

for me its Baecelona or Berlin, both very different but always plenty to do and see.

clumsyklutz · 24-01-2014 11:21am

corkonion wrote: »

hehehe... your just having a laugh I bet!

I'm not, I've been to Paris, Rome (2x) and Pisa, and while I adored Rome, I really loved Pisa, why is that so funny?

michellie · 24-01-2014 11:34am

Another for Berlin! We loved it there, we went in February and it was snowing, would love to go back during the summer.

Stojkovic · 24-01-2014 4:50pm

clumsyklutz wrote: »

I'm not, I've been to Paris, Rome (2x) and Pisa, and while I adored Rome, I really loved Pisa, why is that so funny?

You're a funny guy !

clumsyklutz · 24-01-2014 4:57pm

Firstly, I am female and secondly why do you think it's so hilarious, I really am fascinated by it, I was only giving a suggestion

ComeraghBlue · 24-01-2014 5:07pm

I thought Warsaw was great, id recommend it . And iv been to the Milan, Paris and Barca in the past two years

spurious · 24-01-2014 11:14pm

Gdansk is nice for a weekend too. Some great value in central hotels.

piptypibe · 25-01-2014 12:46am

Some more city breaks ideas:
I loved Amsterdam! I also loved Belgium: Bruges, Antwerp or Brussels.
Santiago de Compostella in Spain is very cool. As are, of course, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville.....
LOTS to do in Rome, Paris or London.
Derry is a great city.
Carcassone in France is really lovely.
Dubrovnik is absolutely fabulous.
Sooooo much choice!

x43r0 · 25-01-2014 12:57am

Of the cities I've been to

The ones I enjoyed:

Amsterdam: Such a chilled out city and the people are lovely
Barcelona: The one I've been to the most along with Madrid. A really active city with so much to do
Madrid: Often overlooked for Barca but just as good in my opinion. It takes a bit more research to get the same level of fun here but it is well worth it
Krakow: Don't need to tell you about this, you've been there
Budapest: This place is just amazing, especially in the summer. You have and island park on the river in the city and the thermal baths which are unbelievable
Dubrovnik: Probably the cheapest sun resort I've ever been to. Great value, great history and fantastic night life

and not so much:
Paris: I feel like this city has been done so much that it almost takes tourists for granted. Good to go once and get the sights in but that's about it
Prague: I visited here when I inter-railed eastern Europe (Prage>Krakow>Budapest>Bratislava>Zagreb>Plitvice>Dubrovnik) and Prague was the lowest ranking of all those for me. It's not bad, it's just seemed the most modernized of the lot and as a result it seemed to have lost some of the charm that eastern European cities are famous for. In a sense, it was almost too commercialized

sinead88 · 25-01-2014 4:48am

irish_goat wrote: »

Munich is great, lots to see and do, nice beer and you can do a day trip to Neuschwanstein.

That castle looks incredible!

nipps · 26-01-2014 2:42pm

krakow
budapest
basel
bordeaux

irish_goat · 26-01-2014 4:12pm

sinead88 wrote: »

That castle looks incredible!

The view's up there are amazing too. Takes about 2 hours on the train from Munich but it's definitely worth it.

ronnie3585 · 27-01-2014 12:28pm

Budapest, Budapest, Budapest!

It's easily my favourite city break in Europe, it has everything and it's dirt cheap.

Berlin is pretty deadly too.

Muahahaha · 27-01-2014 3:01pm

It might not have the best nightlife in Europe but Vienna oozes history and character. It used to be the capital of the. Austro Hungarian empire and the place is over flowing with amazing buildings, plazas and museums. Also Bratislava is only 45 minutes down the road (or down the Danube on a boat) so if you wanted you could visit two European capitals pretty easy on one trip.

Apart from that +1 on Berlin. Amsterdam also has much of what you're looking for, plenty of crazy nightlife and amazing museums- Van Gogh, Rembrandt, etc. Barcelona also fits the bill and has the added bonus of good beaches on its doorstep. Plenty of Gaudi architecture around the city for you to do the cultural bit and then at night they have tons and tons of unique and funky cafe bars for food and drinks.

Morzadec · 27-01-2014 4:54pm

It's funny how Madrid always gets overlooked in these discussions! Nicer and more fun than Barcelona imo, although it doesn't have the sea so that could count against it.

It's pretty cheap and easy to get to from Dublin. It's a city that would have something for a younger party-going crowd as well as an older museum-visiting crowd, and everything in between.

Perfect for a city break, if you came for a long weekend you could do a daytrip to Toledo which is beautiful.

pfannkuchen · 28-01-2014 9:30pm

Another vote for Dubrovnik - absolutely stunning and very good value. Tourism is going to boom there massively in the next couple of years, would recommend seeing it before it does

Madrid, Stockholm, Tallinn and Berlin all come highly recommended too.

Bo91 · 28-01-2014 9:42pm

Verona is nice lived there for nearly a year . Barcelona is beautiful , even though it has a lot of thief's ,got to be phoenix in the US

Madam · 28-01-2014 11:40pm

Dubrovnic - going there again this year(leaving from Edinburgh).

Last year we visited all the islands and toured 'til we dropped - this year were going to take it a little easier:) Can't recommend it highly enough - it is kind of touristy but not overly so imo(you won't find yourself harangued by trinket sellers or be bothered by drunken neds while there either)!

Ardennes1944 · 29-01-2014 5:04pm

Just to update, i booked a trip to Berlin for April, found Ryanair now fly from shannon

Got the Hotel Plaza Berlin which is a 5* next to the Zoologisher Garten for €275 for 4nights :pac:

Pang · 29-01-2014 9:30pm

Another +1 for Vienna. Absolutely loved it there and would definitely go back again. There was so much to see and do. Beautiful city.

Another city I had a fabulous weekend away to was Bruges. Amazing city, with once again a lot to see and do.

29-01-2014 11:46pm

sinead88 wrote: »

Thank you. Berlin is an option we're considering, along with Dubrovnik.

Went to Berlin with my wife and teenage son at New Year. Loved it, absolutely fantastic place.

Best city breaks

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