"Convenient" European minibreaks?

[Elsbetka]

What are your top cities for a short (two-night) European minibreak with a short, easy and cheap journey to the city centre from the main airport?

Flying from where in the UK?

I loved Venice. And arriving via water taxi is fantastic - like being in a James Bond film!

Florence. You can take the tram from the airport to the city centre in 25 mins

Oslo was very straightforward but to be honest, most obvious city break cities are.

Vienna another one - there’s a train directly into the city centre, which doesn’t stop anywhere else (so you can’t get lost/go the wrong way!) and only takes about 15 minutes.

Copenhagen, very quick train from the station to the city centre.

Venice
Malaga

Avoid flying altogether and go to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Rotterdam or Amsterdam with Eurostar.

But if you aren't close to London, the cities that stand out for me with easy/short train/tram links to the centre are Edinburgh, Belfast (City)(bus), Hamburg, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Nuremberg, Vienna and Zurich.

It's a long way out though isn't it. Like Arlanda/Stockholm - easy but a long way.

Copenhagen is very easy and I loved it there. Great city for a short break and one of my favourites. But I guess it depends when you are thinking of going weather wise… I have also loved Florence, Lisbon and Porto. We did three nights each time but I think two nights also works for each of those cities.

I don't remember it being a long way, but you may be right. Once at the central station , though, Oslo centre is right there - unlike some cities where the main train station is a bit of a trek , or further tubes /buses to the hotels.

Also Duesseldorf and Cologne - very easy and quick by train.

Helsinki as well but I can't remember how long it takes.

Getting from Berlin airport to the centre is a bit of a faff and is the one place post-Brexit where I've queued for a long time at passport control. It's a great place but probably not worth it for two nights.

We went to Dortmund instead of Cologne, Pisa instead of Florence because we couldn't get cheap direct flights to Cologne so I think a lot of the flexibility and ease is about where you are flying from in the UK.

I've not been, but Turin looks easy as well.

Malaga, Rome or Milan (flying to Linate)
Anywhere the Eurostar goes if you lice in London.

We flew to Pisa when we went to Florence as well.

The train from Oslo airport to the city centre is less than 20 mins if you get the Express. It’s quite long to drive though.

Stockholm-great size for 2 nights. 18 minutes on airport train. Stay in radisson blu next to station. Loved it

The other thing to note about the Netherlands is that if eg you get the Eurostar to Rotterdam, you can then use contactless to go anywhere else in the entire country eg if you wanted to stay in Leiden. It's very easy. I don't think it's always the cheapest option as it's just standard second class fare but for ease it's fantastic. They also have the 9090 app which you can use to find public transport links to anywhere.

Any views on what Belfast is like as a wkend away from London G or H? At 50 I’ve travelled around the world but I’ve never been to NI.

Alicante: easy peasy bus direct to the seafront, then short walk uphill to the old town, lots of bars/restaurants, architecture, etc. beach in front of the town. Warm!

Budapest, we go at least twice a year and it's an easy trip to a beautiful city.

That's good to know. When I last went to Oslo (a long time ago!) Fornebu airport was still open and Gardermoen seemed a very long way!

Pisa you can walk from airport to town. Not a lot to do though but good value food and drink p

Prague.