Just been thrown a curve ball, recommendations needed

naughtysmurf

So, we usually do two weeks in the sun every year, maybe not always the typical spots that the Irish head to but sunny & near a beach & usually throw in a few day trips to look at important stuff & be photographed with it & fair enough it can get a little boring after day ten.

Mrs Naughtysmurf has decided that next year, we are going to do a few days in London, see the sights & then shoot off somewhere else in Europe for a few days ( to do & see stuff) & then follow with a week or so by a beach to chill & relax.

Any recommendations on the somewhere else in Europe to do & see stuff (city)?
Two adults, one teen & one nine year old in July / August

Don't want to do Paris, Rome, Venice or Barcelona if possible

Thanks in advance

Gran Hermano

Stockholm or Dubrovnik?

5p9arw38djv2b4

Croatia? It's beautiful, you would be on the coast and could do boat trips out to islands, or inland to national park, it's not hugely expensive. Some cities are gorgeous too. And people are lovely. Weather would be fab if ye still wanted a few days at the beach too

naughtysmurf

Funnily enough, Dubrovnik did come to mind for some reason, never been there.

athtrasna

Istanbul? One of my favourite "European" cities I've ever visited. And you can just hop on the ferry to get to the Asian side

naughtysmurf

Any thoughts on Bilbao?

schemingbohemia

You could do Biarritz, Bilbao and San Sebastian together.

If you just wanted a city, I think Berlin would be amazing, you could then head up to Gdansk/Sopot for the beach there or somewhere else along the Polish coast - from last summer the Baltic doesn't live up to its name, nice and warm for a swim.

old hippy

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Funnily enough, Dubrovnik did come to mind for some reason, never been there.

Split is lovely; there's a 2000 year old Roman Palace there, still in use - markets, people living there, churches, bars... and a short ferry trip away is beautiful Hvar. Croatia is lovely

Ms.Sunshine

Sounds like your trip will be alot of fun! How about central europe? Germany & Czech Republic? Both are beautiful.
I agree with what OP said, Biarritz in summer is lovely. I was there for three weeks before in the month of June and Loved it. There is alot of surfing as Roxy like to have their tournaments there. You can go on day trips to nearby areas such as Bayonne (which is a great place - windy streets and the likes! ) and you could go to San Sebastian where it is a lot more quite but has lovely restaurants and views.

ronnie3585

Budapest is fantastic.

worded

Courttown? Always a laugh, good local chipper.

Saw a good documentary on it one new years eve

lisasimpson

+1 for Croatia. meet a number of your requirements on that one. my favourite place in Europe so far

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Any thoughts on Bilbao?

Someone said Biarritz - I think this might be a better option. If you're the athletic type of family, the scenry in the Pyranees is lovely. They weather is a bit mixed dow nthere though, they get thunderstorms coming in off the sea every 3 or 4 hours.

Berlin would be a good place for the kids, given the difference in ages - let me know if you do choose, I can recommend a few thigns.

Vienna/Bratislava you could do together - Vienna is lovely, but I don' know mch about Bratislava.

sarkozy

Agree: in summer, Berlin *is* nice. There's even swimming by lakes and so much to see and do. I know parts of it quite well by now and, with a kid, I'm thinking of it more as a family holiday destination, and I think it's really got it.

While I agree the Basque coast would be lovely, especially Saint Jean de Luze and San Sebastián (I'd personally skip Bilbao), they get mobbed at certain times (and that whole Biarritz area). The weather can also be very mixed.

I very much enjoyed Lisbon - we spent a whole week there. The weather is nearly always perfect and it never gets too hot or too cold. Amazing atmosphere, history, culture, food, an amazing aquarium, beaches, drives, architecture. Quite a perfect city if you ask me.

Vienna is nice in summer. Remarkably relaxed with lots of history and good pastries. I'm sure there's lots to do, we I was only there for two days. Bratislava is interesting, and has perhaps come along since I was there last, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Slovakia looks like a beautiful country, though.

I also like Málaga. It gets a bad reputation because it's so close to package holidayland. But it's compact, and relaxing and no nonsense with a Picasso museum, nice small contemporary art gallery, a moorish castle. Lovely for a city break, but possibly not what you're looking for.

ronnie3585

A few people have mentioned Croatia. Here's a review I sent to a friend last year.


My girlfriend and I were there 18 months ago for a two week holiday. Overall it was a good holiday, I enjoyed our time there but I wouldn't be rushing back. I found it expensive, difficult to get around and the people weren't that friendly.

We started in Dubrovnik, which is a must. The old town is absolutely beautiful. We rented an apartment about 1km from there. Sitting on the balcony having local seafood and wine while watching the lights come on in the old town is a memory I won't quickly forget. You will see and do everything you want to do in Dubrovnik in 2 or 3 days. It's an expensive city. Hotels are very expensive, up there with Paris. As tourism is one of the main sources of income, you get the 'hard sell' every where you go and it's a complete tourist trap.

We then spent a few days on an island off Dubrovnik called Mljet. It's a lovely little island with not much for doing, perfect if you want to chill out and unwind.

From there we took a arduous 6 hour bus journey up the coast to Split, then we went straight out to an island called Vis. It was, by far, the highlight of the trip. We stayed in a small fishing town on the west side of the island called Komiza. It's a sleepy place with a beautiful harbour and a decent beach. The island was a Yugoslav military stronghold until 1992 - before that no tourists were allowed on the island. There is a huge network of underground tunnels and bunkers under the whole island, we did a tour of them and it was fascinating. We loved it so much there that we cancelled our plans to go to Hvar and stayed there an extra two nights. If it wasn't so difficult to get to from Dublin, I'd probably go back every year.

We did a night in Split before making our way back down the coast to Dubrovnik. I thought Split was a pretty unremarkable walled city. As with Dubrovnik, over-run by tourists.

The biggest disappointment for me were the beaches. Croatia's beaches are one of its main selling points as far as I can see, I found them to be rubbish. Firstly, it's very hard to find a sandy beach. The majority of them are stones or pebbles. I've no real problem with that, however my main gripe is that every beach I was on was filthy. Even on Mljet and Vis, which wouldn't be tourist hotspots, there were plastic bags, cans, bottles, cigarette packs etc strewn everywhere. It was disgusting.

As said, I did enjoy our time there overall. It made a nice change from the usual European destinations of France and Italy, however I would be slow to go back.

pfannkuchen

Spent about 10 days in Cavtat, just outside Dubrovnik, last summer. Gorgeous little town with a very regular bus to Dubrovnik (20 minute journey). There is a very good choice of restaurants and shops and while it is quite tourist-y, it's not overrun. Would go back in a heartbeat, it was a very relaxing holiday, yet there was plenty on offer depending on what you enjoy (water sports, options for day trips to Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina). Dubrovnik itself is very expensive so I was glad not to be based there, but it was fantastic to be able to go back and forth as we pleased. Highly recommended, especially before tourism really starts to boom in Croatia.