To be slightly done with Eurpopean city break type holidays?

[LindorDoubleChoc]

My one holiday this year involved 10 days split in a
much loved European city, equal time in a smaller town a few hours away, plus a day in a pretty much unknown town just over the border in another country. And of course the inevitable 2 days travelling.

All very pretty but all quite similar! Most of the 10 days of my holiday involved 12 to 15k steps because we had to see as much as we could while we were there. And, tbh, I just thought - this is all very nice but I could be in Rome/Barcelona/
Lisbon/Paris/Amsterdam/Bruges/Prague/Sienna/Montpellier/Munich/Faro/Seville/Cadiz/Cherbourg/Dinan/Porto ... anywhere I've already been really. We walk around and take photos for the sake of saying or feeling like we've been here. We will take in the major sights, read a bit about the city's history and not remember a thing about that after a few days! I won't be putting photos on IG or FB because that's not my thing. So why am I doing it?

Perhaps I need a different type of holiday.

One of my most favourite holidays was 10 days in Tuscany where we did a few days of ‘city break’ in Florence, then a few more cycling around Chianti and finally a few at a small coastal resort on the outskirts of a little town called Castiglione della Pescaia. It was like three holidays in one and each felt good for the soul in a different way. I’m not sure if you’re travelling with kids though, this was in our pre-children phase and maybe I look back on it as such bliss because ‘holidays’ now involve wrangling two under 5s!

Do something else instead! We went to Zillertal in Austria this year and found it a great change for a summer holiday - hiking in the mountains, but with cable cars to take you most of the way up so it wasn't too knackering; pleasant swimming pools (with waterslides for the kids) in every village; good quality (if sometimes fat- and carb-heavy) food and drink. If you want then combine a week of something like that with a day or so of city sightseeing at the beginning or end.

We've also done long weekends in a couple of different cities where we've only done a day's sightseeing, plus the rest of the time at a waterpark/spa complex where the kids can have fun and we can relax.

You can also get great value by booking a 'fly and flop' type beach holiday near a city or two that you're interested in visiting. Don't dismiss big hotels in resort areas out of hand - the best of them provide a great setting for relaxing, reading a good book and winding down. Sometimes that's what you need from a holiday, and if you only ever travel to places where you 'need' to do 15k steps a day to see 'everything' then you'll miss out. Give yourself permission to do something different for a change!

I echo the Basque country around Biarritz also. I'm not a great fan of Biarritz itself but the surrounding towns are great such as Bayonne, St.Jean de Luz, Hendaye and so on. Such a different culture and boy are they into their rugby. Allez, Allez! The food is superb and connections are easy by train or bus. I flew into Bilbao and went to Guernica, then off to France. I am unable to walk the Camino now, but it was a long held dream, so I took the train from Bayonne to St. Jean de Pied de Port which is the starting point of the Camino Frances (French Way) and spent the day there mingling with the pilgrims. It was such a great experience.

A visit to San Sebastian/Donostia is not to be missed either. I ate my way around the old town lol.

Dýou know? There was a thread some days ago requesting pps to "confess" things they had done they haven´t éver confessed to anyone. I couldn´t think of anything until I read your post. This is me. Love travelling in Europe, but can´t be bloody bothered about the rest of the world. So, yeah, I eat kids. I would like to visit Egypt, but devoid of the people who live there, and that is so unreasonable that I can´t entertain it.
OP I think your problem is that you are not "being yourself" on these breaks. What do YOU like doing?

Yes we never book hotels, I have a 'home' for the week.

I found Biarritz as boring as pond water, but I seccond the rest of your recommendations. Hendaye is quite boring too, but the beach is beautiful. The Spanish side of the Basque Country is more vibrant in my opinion.

Northern Spain is great.

I find the constant eating out - having to book - a bit wearing after a while and I'm not that into art or churches.
DP and I go self-catering, so we have the option to eat in if we get tired of eating out (I do know what you mean about that).
But if you're not that into art or churches then no, city breaks probably aren't your best bet. Your hols in Wales sound lovely.

Next year it will probably be a villa with pool in Italy or France with one or two interesting cities in striking distance.
That sounds like a good solution for you.

I will say, though, that I usually find the best things about city and town breaks are not the major 'sights' but more everyday things like finding a tiny, quirky shop or artist-run gallery, or a busy food market, or a nice city park.
I think city breaks take a bit of energy.

I also find a good strategy is not to arrive and think you have to 'do' Paris/Madrid/wherever you are, which can be both over- and underwhelming, but to have one thing you know you want to do or see, and then anything else you come across feels like a bonus. e.g. years ago there was an exhibition about Picasso and Francis Bacon at the Picasso Museum in Paris, so DP and I went expressly to see that. It meant we avoided the feeling of 'where do we start?' that you can get in cities, and felt relaxed enough to just wander and find things (we came across a lovely neighbourhood full of bookshops, a parade of nursery-age kids and their parents with signs/costumes/balloons, some fusty little junk shops etc).

If you do cliche stuff on holidays it doesn't matter where you go or what type of holiday you go on.

The trick is to find more hidden aspects to a city, get off the beaten track, do cultural things unique to the city and seek out events. It's about people and culture not places. It's about experiences not ticking off the greatest hits of tourist destinations which are the 'must do' things.

The alternative is breaking out of your comfort zone and going somewhere really different...

I echo this. We loved the area though because you can go up into the mountains and some of the villages around there are really interesting. There's water sports options and cycling options. You can do a pool holiday or a sightseeing holiday or a mix.

No one spoke English. It was French, Basque or Spanish. There were no Brits really.

We loved it and we'd like to go back. We didn't do the Spanish side but would like to.

It was a pain to get to cheaply though especially without hiring a car.

The food is amazing too.

That’s why when we go to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks ( part work) we are staying in Haarlem - 15 minutes away on train - lovely, less hectic , good size, fab Saturday market , loads of nice places to eat I can walk too - and a fab hotel as well .

Why am I doing it?

For fun? To see somewhere new? To appreciate the differences between Paris and Prague, the architecture, the culture, the history. To not be in Croydon (or wherever you live). Did anybody ever stand at the Eiffel Tower and say “meh, that’s not impressive”? Or visit the Colosseum and not marvel at how the fekk they managed to build it nearly 2000 years ago, in only 8 years. A venue that housed an estimated 80,000 people, built from very hard rock that had to be cut into intricate patterns and lifted in to place. Compare that with the Royal Albert Hall built 1900 years later, houses only 5000 people and took over half the time to build.

If none of that is your bag, get yourself to the beach or the safari or climbing a mountain in Nepal or whatever, but to suggest there is nothing to be gained from touring European cities other than getting your step count up or making an insta post is laughable.

I wonder if the travel method isn't helping? You might find planning a trip around the transport, e.g. a rail journey through somewhere interesting, more relaxing and a bit more of a novelty. Or a Canal du Midi holiday on one of those beautiful massive wide-beam canal boats? Very different pace but a good mix of nature/cities/culture etc.

I love a city break, or any trip for that matter. But I never charge round in an attempt to see everything. I like to go somewhere, rent an apartment, maybe do a free walking tour, and then just bimble about, stopping for drinks / food where there is a nice square or view. Love a market to pick up some bits and try to have a nice terrace to sit on with a glass of wine, or a coffee. I hate having to be up and ready for breakfast at a fixed time. I love trips to smaller places - love Italy and Spain - where you just relax and pretend to be a local for a few days. Away from the big cities - Cadiz / Sanlucar, Ronda, Gaucin, Monopoli, Ostuni, Tropea, Ortigia, Taormina, Sestri Levante, Antibes / Juan Les Pins, Aigues Mortes etc etc. I have Matera on my to do list - have tried several times and the flights get cancelled. Bit of beach if we want it.

We walk around and take photos for the sake of saying or feeling like we've been here.

If you’re ticking off sights for the sake of telling other people without having a real interest in the place then of course it’s not enjoyable.

Why not just choose something you really enjoy?

Boat trip on Canal du Midi is a fab holiday. We did one direction through the Camargue, where there are hardly any locks, via Aigue Mortes, Sete, Bouzigues etc with a side trip to Montpellier. And the other direction via Carcassonne. Lots of drinking wine and watching the scenery. You can stick some bikes on board.

Yes! I feel the same! Holidays are incredibly overrated! I’m so much happier just staying at home now…not sure if that’s an age thing 🤔 (in my 40’s).

Too much apple pie by the wedding present came to mind to be honest . Too much of a good thing or just getting older. Personally I live in a big city so my idea of holiday hell is a city break. Noisy and too crowded too much hassle. I love my self catering breaks in Wales preferably remote and by the coast. Could just stare at the changes of the sea colour for hours and walking barefoot by the shoreline. Bliss.

I like to do different types of holiday within a year, so whilst I would go on a city break, then I would also do a ‘sunshine holiday’, plus UK breaks which may be coastal, countryside or city. Often we are combining a city with a more relaxing sea/pool/beach vibe eg staying in a villa just outside of Dubrovnik, or a beach resort with a day or two out to a city in Spain. Also when we are in a city, we don’t rush around feeling we have to see everything. We always do the bus tour and the cathedral, have a wander, take in the atmosphere but don’t feel we have to visit every museum and art gallery there.

I think it’s the pace that needs adjustment from x10 hectic physically, mentally and sensorily overwhelming and demanding days vs x10 unsatisfying and dull days around pool / on a beach - both of which seem to be trying to meet others (perceived) needs and not any of yours or a compromise.

And yes try a short or long break alone to reset / recharge - even if it’s just a few nights in UK.

I like city breaks. I tend to research and plan what I want to see. I love history so do retain a lot of information. However I would only go for a long weekend and plan to have a lazy day on return as they are exhausting.

we have started to do beach holidays and throw a city visit or history into this. Egypt went to Cairo and Luxor. Relaxed the rest of the time.

I struggled in Dominican Republic as there was not much to do and I realised I like to explore and chill.

why not combine? We are looking at a cruise and stay. So we get to do lots of things first week and chill the rest.

We spent 6 days in Prague last month. It was great but hard work. We walked 80 miles (and used trams, the Metro and buses). My right foot was so painful when we got home it was like an elephant had stood on it. I never want to see a cobbled street again. We crammed so much in. The worst bit was we left home at noon and got to our hotel 11 hours later - the flight was only 2 hours! Nest yearcwe’re thinking of taking a train to Europe instead. City breaks have their appeal but are rarely relaxing holidays.

This sounds wonderful! I've always wanted to go to the Camargue but wasn't sure how to do it/where to stay, and this sounds like a good way to see it, while also seeing towns/cities/history.

Loved Northern Spain and the Spanish Basque region