valentines? barcelona, madrid, or venice

smokie78

hey lads and lassies, i always find help on this site great......well anyway, bringin the girlfriend away for valentines as a surprise, so narrowed it down to three cities above or if u wanna add another and tell me why that b great.........reason for venice is its meant to b v romantic, barcelona sounds cool too and we wud b able to catch a gig there (kings of leon valentines night) and madrid was just a random choice .....actually maybe ill scrap that one?? haha......anyway ur experiences and help will b much appreciated....did prague and rome already!!!

Zatman

This might sound cliched or cheesy but a mate of mine went to Paris he said its pretty good when your with the girlfriend but not a place for your mates.
You should bring her to Seville i have been told its a really good spot for couples

P. Breathnach

I have been to all three of your prospects, smokie, and liked them all.

Madrid is more a high culture thing: the big attraction is the outstanding art collections. There is a fair amount of other good stuff, too, but if you are not into fine art one of the major reasons for going there is lost.

Barcelona is visually very interesting, and the place has a great buzz. I think it probably has more appeal to the young than has Madrid.

Venice is unique. I think that everybody who enjoys travel should try to get there at least once. Romantic: definitely. Expensive: definitely. Worth it? Yes, if you are not broke.

Don't neglect Paris as a prospect. Whenever Herself and I are stuck for an idea about where to go, one of us mentions Paris, and the other agrees.

Lisbon and Budapest are always worth considering, and both are good on the value for money index.

Do remember that some places can be very cold in February. Dig in here and you can find historic averages: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/country_guides/

smokie78

thats a great help.....i was leaning to barcelona but u make it sound only ok? is venice very expensive?? i can get there flight and hotel for less than 500 which i thought was ok,....but its expensive when u get there yeah??

beertons

I'd go with Venice. It's lovely. Expensive? Just don't sop for a cofee around St Marks Square. €9.50. It can be done on a budget, without going OTT on skimping.

smokie78

in venice, whats there to do if ur not in to art and stuff, we love spa treatments and eating out???

P. Breathnach

smokie78 wrote: »

thats a great help.....i was leaning to barcelona but u make it sound only ok? is venice very expensive?? i can get there flight and hotel for less than 500 which i thought was ok,....but its expensive when u get there yeah??

I think Barcelona is a bit better than okay.

Venice is expensive, but if your accommodation is sorted, that helps a lot. A lot of packages include accommodation in Mestre (not really Venice, but near) or Lido di Jesolo (just about Venice, but outlying).

Good meals are pricey. Very often, poor meals are pricey. You need to get advice, and shop around a bit -- or do as we did, and adopt a "hang the expense, it's a once-off splurge" policy.

To my mind, Gondola rides are ridiculously overpriced at about €80 for less than an hour. So are drinks in Harry's Bar where, famously, Hemingway used to get drunk (as he did in many other places around the world). The other overpriced attraction in Florian's on St Mark's Square for coffee and ice cream. Water taxis are also very expensive.

Your cheap gondola ride is a trajeto, a ferry that takes you across the Grand Canal for about 50c. The other good-value local transport is the vaporetto (waterbus), especially if you buy passes. And you walk, and get lost: that's part of the Venice experience.

beertons

Ok, so we didn't come across any spa treatment places. We were a bit busy with walking and taking pics.Herself developed a uritery infection aswell....but we still made it out to Morrano, and cycled around Lido. Forget about the gondolas, too cliché. And locals don't pay for the vaporetto, so don't bother with the daily/weekly pass either. Just bail on like everyone else. The make enough off the tourists paying. I bought a lil book on things to do in Venice. It points out all the places to go that will blow budgets, but also where the locals go, and get good value for money.

smokie78

as brad pitt says in fight club.....'good answer man!!'

rossie1977

been to barca and venice, liked barca more, much much bigger, way more to do, much better nightlife, shopping, entertainment. huge amount of sightseeing things in barca as well

venice is unique though and worth a visit sometime

chenguin

I have been to Barcelona and Venice. I think Barcelona is so much better. Loads to do there. To be honest 1/2 day in Venice is enough. There really isnt that much to do if you are not into looking at old churches.

P. Breathnach

chenguin wrote: »

To be honest 1/2 day in Venice is enough. There really isnt that much to do if you are not into looking at old churches.

Jaysus!

chenguin

I know most people may not agree with me. But I do think that Venice is only worth a stop off for a few hours to have a look about before you head to your next destination.

zagmund

The one thing I found to be good value in Venice was the coffee - you can go into any of the million or so cafes on the side streets and get some pretty good coffees (and pastries too) for €1. And I'm not talking about some coffee machine in a Spar here - proper coffee.

It's great fun just pottering about Venice, stopping off here and there for a bottle of wine or two in a bar, watching the 'real' tourists paying through the nose for food/drink in the tourist traps when just around the corner are much better value places.

Hotel prices do look to be savage though. I don't think there is such a thing as a good value hotel in Venice. We arrived in by train in the morning and flew out of the airport in the evening so we didn't have to worry about that.

For character, check out the buffet in the railway station. It's the way these sorts of places should be.

Regarding the original post - valentines in Venice must be the local merchants dreamtime. If the place is busy/expensive/loolaa during the summer, I can only imagine it goes into overdrive for valentines with all the smoochy couples there causing aggro in the queues for the gondolas and tables with 'romantic' views. So, unless you want your romantic break to cost you an arm and a leg and for it to be shared with thousands of other romantic couples after their own unique experience I would avoid Venice for that particular weekend. Of the three you mention I would go for Barcelona - there's plenty to do there and plenty of variation. Alternatively try Amsterdam - you can't go wrong there. It's a fun city with plenty of things to do.

z

spadder

instead of Barca, I will suggest Santiago de compostela in northern spain, Aer lingus fly in there I think. Beautiful city, safe and easy to walk around,(parts of Barca are v. dodgy) great food and drink, dirt cheap.
Try the Hotel Altair if you can get it, if not get the hotel obredora.

You won't be dissapointed.

Quint

If you go to Barcelona rent a go-car, they're a great laugh.
But i'd pick venice from your choice of 3. But Paris is definitely the one to go for if it's an option, great city, loads to see and do

biko

I remember those gocars. They talk too
Or you can just get a scooter and zip around the city on. That's what me and gf did and we both loved it. We got one from here but there was another one next door that was a bit cheaper.

cmcsoft

I know this is outside of what you're looking at but I went to Vienna a couple of years ago, lovely city, plenty to do and lovely food etc. Have a look, see what you think

Quint

The go cars were a bit pricey, but you can have a chat as you're driving and the gps brings you to the sites. Didn't do the barca one, but did the san francisco one with the girlfriend, the 50cc engine managed to bring us up the steep hills! at the start we were worried about driving it, after 15 minutes we were having fights to see who could drive!