Romantic Mid-Week Break, Ireland or EU?

Postman-Layla

I'd like to try and plan a mid-week break my myself and the boyfriend for either the last week in January or the very first week in February. This would be our first time travelling together, and I might make it his Christmas present, so I think I'll be planning it alone.
Problem is, I haven't got a clue where to start from. I'm hoping some more well-travelled boardies than I could offer some advice?
I've got a fairly tight budget of around €300 for flights/boats/trains/buses + hotel.
Basically, I want people's own recommendations from experience as to which would be better for such a small budget:
A few hours on a coach/train down to somewhere like Kerry or Galway or trying for a cheap flight to somewhere like Budapest or Prague.
Can anyone suggest any specific hotels here in Ireland or abroad which are reasonable enough and in an area that isn't as rip-you-off-ish as here in Dublin?
A few things that I'm baring in mind:
- I'm aiming for 2 or 3 nights nights if we're staying somewhere less than 2 or 3 [travel] hours away from Dublin, or 3 nights if its somewhere a bit further. [Mon/Tues to Thurs]
- Neither of us will be driving either to our destination or while we're at our destination, so if anyone has any knowledge of what taxi's are like in the area that'd be great.
- I want a fairly luxe hotel for what little money I have to spend on it, and don't mind at all getting a cheap bus/rail ticket instead of flying etc.
So.. yeah, helpful hints/tips? Cheers in advance

cson

Right quick little search brought up this example;

Mon 9th February - Wed 11th February

Barcelona - Fabulous city, loads to do, relatively cheap if you stay off the tourist train and the clincher is it'll be mild enough in February wheras most other places will be chilly.

Fly Dublin - Girona for €40pp with Ryanair. Girona is about an hour away on coach, €20 return I think.

Stay in the H10 Marina Barcelona. Nice 4 star that's central enough and close to where the Ryanair bus lets you off. 2 nights is €160 total.

Total basic deal = €240 for flights and accommodation for 2 people. You'll obviously need €20 each for the bus in and then after that it should be cheap enough - stay off the tourist train when you eat and definitely do the bus tour.

Thats just an example of what you could do midweek with a budget of €300. You could replicate what I did there for a multitude of cities midweek; just use these;

www.ryanair.com for flights
www.lastminute.ie for hotels
www.tripadvisor.com for referencing those hotels
maps.google.com for finding out where those hotels are

As for Ireland;

http://www.avvio.com/hotels/Meyrick_Galway/bookings/client.php?formname=offercheckin&rpgID=4341&oID=28857&rID=4099&SID=6258db49de0d4eb98e23161185854293&ul=8

Galway is a great city and thats a decent hotel. A little over budget but reasonable for 2 nights b&b, one dinner and a spa treatment.

Tbh if I had the choice between that and Barcelona though, it's no contest.

whiterob81

if you're staying here I'd recommend just heading down to the Westport plaza hotel. You can get 2 nights b and b and a dinner for 260. the hotel's lovely. myself and the wife have gone down there a few times. it's walking distance to the town but admittedly there's not a whole pile to do there in the middle of the week.

I booked us a weekend away in Edinburgh last year and got the whole thing for less than 300. We stayed a cheap hotel called the Frederick House Hotel which we booked through www.hotelclub.com. It's not the lap of luxury but you couldn't fault it for the price and location (just off princes street). And Edinburgh's a fun city so you probably won't be spending too much time in your hotel anyways. Be warned, though, it's absolutely fupping freezin this time of year



Another option is Berlin. Myself and the wife were over there at the end of august for 5 nights. great city and we got the whole thing for 550. but you'll probably get it cheaper mid week and at the time of year you're heading. also, it's a very cheap city when you get there. We stayed in the best western ost and it was really nice

booked flights for both through ryanair and hotels through www.hotelclub.com