AIBU to find city breaks absolutely exhausting?

[lightnesspixie]

Just that really. We are in our late 50s and relished the thought of European city breaks once the kids had left home. But we are finding that the reality - while nice - is utterly exhausting even if we try to pace ourselves. I’m certain it takes a week to get over them! Interested to hear how other fifty somethings find them …

I took my DC to Frankfurt last year for a week. We did sightseeing and shopping days but also we went to an outdoor pool one day, a day in the forest and another day at the botanical gardens which all involved relaxing.

Yes, they are, that’s mostly the point for me, trying to see as much as I can and visit as many places as I can. I don’t do tubes and metros or open top buses, and I want to eat and drink all the things, so city breaks always seem to involve 15-20 miles a day early mornings and late nights!

I do loads of city breaks - with Dh and with friends - as DH puts it "leave a bit of room for God to walk through". So plan a thing, be it a walk, or an attraction for the morning and afternoon, stop lots for a coffee/drink / nice long lunch. Soak up the atmosphere. If I go with my friends we always book somewhere with a terrace and normally sit there late afternoons with wine, nibbles etc and gossip. Have a little nap. Dinner in or out. If there is SO much to see, we'd go another time. My friend's dh can't sit still and always insists on long hikes/ tandem rental / quick paraglide / 20k steps in a day sort of thing. That sounds exhausting. This year I've been to Warsaw, Malaga and Utrecht and none of it involved rushing round like a loon trying to cram it all in.

They can be exhausting. But it is a break and totally different from dislike grind so it is different exhaustion which is much nicer!

Wasn’t last week in Malaga. Rained Tuesday night then lovely 20/21 c all week.

Yeah I'm in a different city in Spain. It's been raining here all week

Agree with others: i used to go for two nights now I'm much more likely to go for four! Athens was four... lots and lots of walking! Though the metro was cheap and helped save my legs sometimes! Also book the best flight seats you can. I hate budget airlines and prefer to fly at least business these days because I get stiff knees!

They are hard work. You are basically walking 8-10 hours a day. Older cities also can have a lot of hills. Towers have hundreds of steps. Then you are back to hotel and straight back out at night.
I hate when people slag off beach holidays cause although city breaks are great and i love them, many people simply cannot manage that.

Why are you walking 8 - 10 hours a day? Unless you want to? We normally do a walking tour one day and i admit I do get quite some steps in overall, but I would be drinking aperols on terraces for lots of time and certainly not marching round the place for hours at a time. If that's what you want to do, then fine. But then why describe it as hard work? No one makes you climb the tower, surely?

We’re off to Amsterdam next month for a week. Have been before so we’ve done all the main sights. We will do a few art galleries again and there are other things we haven’t visited. We might get the train to Utrecht, Leiden or Delft but the main plan is a leisurely breakfast, maybe one attraction, a mooch around some of the quieter areas, plenty of coffee breaks and snacks then back to the hotel late afternoon for a few hours before dinner.

I love returning to a place I’ve liked. My main problem is a DH with no sense of direction who automatically assumes he knows the way without looking at a map. I had a full on tantrum in Paris once because I was spending the whole week glued to a map.

Because you enjoy something doesn't mean it's not hard work.
Also, so many places to see
With the towers, I am 50 and morbidly obese. Who knows if I'll be fit enough to do it next time, so will always take the opportunity

I hate travel.

I wish teleporters existed.

@MissAmbrosia I do very little actual sightseeing if I’m honest - I potter round shopping streets, nose in supermarkets, go to weekend markets, have lovely breakfasts/brunches in recommended cafes ( rather than hotels) amble round parks, have an afternoon ‘drink’ somewhere attractive - go back to hotel to read books/ read mumsnet/ answer a few emails, shower , early evening drink and then dinner out - went to Vienna for new year - only sightseeing I did was the tram that goes round the ring road where all the huge grand buildings are- I’m not massive on art or churches or towers , i just like to do stuff I don’t do at home, I do read up though on general culture of the place before I go

As people have said.it is often about priotisation. We tend to have long list of sights and then narrow it down to "must sees".

It's great to see the big famous cities but a good compromise is smaller places - "be" rather than "do" places

We went to Beziers in Southern France last year and it was mainly about wandering around tbe historic streets, walks along the canal and a lot of eating.

@Ginmonkeyagain I agree & we also love revisiting places that we've enjoyed. We usually try to hit the big 'must see' spots on a first visit & that leaves us to just meander & wander on subsequent visits. Other times we return for a specific event & that gives a whole other perspective on a city..

I agree that some of our loveliest breaks have been in smaller cities - where you can just wander about and not feel the need to 'do' the the top 10 list.

We are also good at working out what it worth queuing for - getting up early to miss queues or going late. And also finding smaller quirky museums and spaces to be in.

I'm always finding the botanical gardens too.

Having said that we've just come back from 10 days in Mexico City - amazing.

I love a good city break and do a lot of them. My tip is to be realistic with yourself about what you’re really interested in. So many places have must-see museums, galleries, churches etc but if you’re not into, say, churches, you’re better off just giving them a skip rather than visiting to tick it off a list.

Also, I try to not over plan. Definitely do some research beforehand and keep a list of things and places I’d like to get to, and obviously book anything that needs to be done in advance, but really like the freedom of walking around and just seeing where the streets lead us. Sometimes it’s to a really cool sight, and sometimes it’s to a wine bar.

I am a bit of holoday organisong tyrant. However we were in Brussels last weekend as Mr Monkey had a half marathon nearby, I used to go to Brussels a lot for work so have, over the years, done all the "must sees". Mr Monkey was only really interested in the Grand Place and I wanted to see the Villa Empain.

It was lovely just wandering around, finding places to eat and drink and enjoying not having much to do.

I don't think it is relaxing really. It is stimulating. It depends whether you mainly want to be stimulated or relaxed when you go away. I'm more one for being stimulated - I can relax at home! Though I don't want to be stimulated for weeks on end, so longer holidays need to have more relaxing built in.

That's true. I like relaxing in the countryside, which is probably why I'm not keen on seeing round a city. As I live in London I don't want more city.

I live in a nice quiet village, with some lovely countryside nearby, so I like to visit London or other cities for a bit of vibrancy!

I have been to many of the European cities and I have to say, of all of them, I find London the best! I stick with that now and just mooch around my favourite places.

On city breaks, I always have a couple of hours down time after a late lunch - maybe a nap or reading - before early evening activities.

If a trip that ends for example at 5pm, I'd rest before a late dinner.

I love my city breaks but full on sightseeing and activities the whole day is not for me.

London has it's place for me but it's definitely not top of my list & I have many European cities i prefer & even more i haven't been to yet so can't compare.

Recently in Seville, booked the Real Alcazar palace and gardens. No audio or tour , just a beautiful place to slowly wander, sit, have a cafe con leche. Then a walk around the little streets and shops. We walked over the bridge to a modern hotel tower - Seville 1 I think as DH had research the roof bar. It was amazing!!! Sat up there for an hour with a drink then wandered back through the streets looking out for nice places to eat later. That’s not full on.