Long Weekend City Break mid-September

Gatica

Would like to do a city-break in Europe in mid-September. Trying to think of where to go... We'd like to find cheap flights to somewhere romantic with a bit of culture and nice restaurants. Doesn't need to be a beach-town or a shopping destination. Would have loved to have gone to Dubrovnik but flights are coming up in the region of 300 at the moment. Was hoping to find somewhere interesting for under 200.
Any suggestions or ideas?

Looked at Gdansk, but the reviews on it haven't been great. Berlin has reasonable flights, but is it a nice couples' destination?
We've been to Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, so don't really wanna repeat those now. Would love to try a different country too...

HeidiHeidi

It's not a different country, but I've just booked flights to Nice for late September for about 100 quid.

It's a lovely city, and there's the train line that buzzes up and down the Riviera coast and into Italy.

Or a few others I know have been to Alghero in Sardina for cheap as chips as well. Supposed to be really gorgeous.

schemingbohemia

My sister was in Lisbon earlier this year and has booked 2 return trips since!

Alghero is really nice and handy for a weekend trip. If you want to go back to France Nantes is a lovely town too and you can take a day trip to the Coast.

fricatus

Big fan of Amsterdam myself... beautiful city, and there's tons to see and do - way more than smoking hash and going to the Red Light District. Some of the other cities like Haarlem, Delft and Leiden are also lovely apparently. Because the Netherlands is so small, they're only a short train ride from Amsterdam or Schiphol.

I'd also consider Bologna or Florence. Both beautiful cities with lovely food and tons of cultural activities.

Gatica

and Berlin it is...!

Only thing is, we're there Sat-Tue. Mondays many museums close, what else could we do on Monday?

Dodge

Eat, drink and walk around some of the non museum sites (plenty of hidden war stuff there if you like that)

One of the best cities I've ever visited

spurious

Don't know what put you off Gdansk - it's a great spot. I'm off there myself tomorrow. Sopot in August/September is always great.

Berlin's good too, though obviously more expensive than Gdansk. You could go out to Potsdam or Charlottenburg if you have the ABC pass.

Gatica

spurious wrote: »

Don't know what put you off Gdansk - it's a great spot. I'm off there myself tomorrow. Sopot in August/September is always great.

Polish friend said it wasn't the most interesting destination. I guess that pitted it less favourably than Berlin, especially since flights to Berlin were cheaper and never heard a bad thing about it.

Dodge wrote: »

Eat, drink and walk around some of the non museum sites (plenty of hidden war stuff there if you like that)

One of the best cities I've ever visited

Thanks! that's reassuring. We'll definitely want to see the war and city history sites. Doesn't have to be museums.
Any suggestions?

Dodge

This place. I went in 2008 before the building was opened and it haunted me. I've heard great things about it now too. open every day

http://www.topographie.de/en/topography-of-terror/nc/1/

schemingbohemia

We did the Fatbikes tour, was pretty interesting. Could be something to do on the Monday.

Gatica

great idea!

also found this crowd: http://www.insidertour.com/tours.php/cat/27/id/40/title/Tourdetails
sounds really good.

spurious

Gatica wrote: »

great idea!

also found this crowd: http://www.insidertour.com/tours.php/cat/27/id/40/title/Tourdetails
sounds really good.

Insider do really good tours. The standard city tours in Berlin barely mention anything between 1920s and the building of the wall. It's almost amusing how they fail to mention 'what happened'.

Depending on how long you are in Berlin - and there's never enough time to see all available in Berlin - a day trip to Dresden is very do-able.

pjproby

I love Berlin - there is so much to do. For me the Jewish Museum, a trip on the river, an opera in the opera house and a philharmonic concert as well as Potsdam are the best.

pjproby

Just wondering is it still warm enough in early October in Sopot for a sun holiday? Can you recommend accommodation in Sopot?

spurious

pjproby wrote: »

Just wondering is it still warm enough in early October in Sopot for a sun holiday? Can you recommend accommodation in Sopot?

If you're looking for sun, October would be a little bit too late to be sure of it in Sopot. That's not to say you couldn't have a good week. If I was looking for fairly certain sun, I'd be looking further south in Europe.

If you would still like to chance Sopot, the Villa Sedan, the Villa Aqua Hotel and the Villa Baltica are good value without being cheapo.

Good jazz and film festivals in Sopot in October.

MartyMcFly84

I thought Gdansk was beautiful. I was not expecting such a well preserved medieval city. Food was fantastic and cheap for the quality you get.

I was only there for a day but would love to go back and spend more time there. Sopot is also a lovely area.

clmitchell

How about Budapest? Flights can be as low as about 250 - maybe a bit more than you were wanting to spend but accommodation and food is so cheap that it more than makes up for it. The architecture is amazing and creates a romantic atmosphere. It has a very trendy feel with lots of great places to (cheaply) eat and drink.
Another idea - have you been to Prague? Another great place to visit. If you're into it, I recommend seeing a performance at one of the beautiful theatres which is very reasonably priced, as is food and drink.

mjp

Thinking of going to Gdansk & Sopot for 4/5 days in mid June. Unsure of how I split my time between the 2 r whether to base myself in Gdansk and take day trips to Sopot for 2 of the days. Hopefully get decent weather around then.

spurious

mjp wrote: »

Thinking of going to Gdansk & Sopot for 4/5 days in mid June. Unsure of how I split my time between the 2 r whether to base myself in Gdansk and take day trips to Sopot for 2 of the days. Hopefully get decent weather around then.

June you're practically guaranteed good weather. If you're a night clubbing type of person, stay a couple of nights in Sopot, just so you can experience the late night clubs etc..

I can recommend the Hotel Wolne Miasto for somewhere to stay in Gdansk. Not mad expensive, but not 12 in a room budget either. I always stay there.