To ask: if you had a four day weekend and a budget of about £600 for flights and accommodation, where would you travel in Europe?

[lookingdownoncrearion]

In March. Had a half marathon booked but I’m never going to get to the required fitness level and the thought of it has me dreading running ever again. So I’m going to cancel and go away.

Any recommendations welcome!

We went to Porto on holiday and it was super interesting but it was So rainy. We were absolutely drenched multiple times. We went in late October which does get more rain than march, but it's still 15 days a month of rain at that time of year. So as many days of rain as you get in the East of England at that time of year and double the overall rainfall for that month.

Budapest is great and the accommodation is very affordable.

You’ll still go. You’re just virtue signalling.

£600 for 3 nights is peanuts? I’ve done ten days in Italy this year for £680 total accommodation costs - two Airbnbs!

I’m considering a home reading break too. It could be fun!

Valencia is a beautiful city and the beach along that coast is lovely.

The planes wouldn’t be flying if people gave it up. Humans are selfish, and they will carry on doing whatever they want regardless of the consequences. It’s always “ other people” who have to stop doing things first.

I was going to say Budapest, too.

Lisbon. We stayed in amazing boutique apartments and once there it was very reasonable cost wise.

Budapest is amazing. One of the safest cities in Europe.

Last time we went we flew with BA to Budapest

We went to Pisa in March 2023 for 4 nights and did a day in Pisa, day in Florence and day in Luca. The trains are super easy and cheap and it’s cheaper than flying into or staying in Florence. We loved it.

Just got back on Monday from Faro in Portugal with two girlfriends. Lots of people only use Faro to fly into and then head off to other Algarve resorts, but the town itself is nice. I stayed at the Faro Townhouse which was v cheap (£97pp for 3 nights based on 3 people staying in a 3 bed room) and flights were about £160 each flying from Luton.

The airport is a 15 min uber away. The town is not directly on the beach, but you can catch a ferry to get to the coast which takes about 30 mins and is a couple of euros.

Faro is also a great starting point for some nice coastal tours or hikes, plus, plenty of lovely food. The town has a bit of history and old town etc.

Highly recommend!

It’s probably already been mentioned but I vote Lisbon. It’s a gorgeous city, a lot of culture but easy to navigate. It’s relatively cheap too and the people are lovely.

Milano

It's a bit analog in a digital age but you might get a deal by trying a physical travel agents, they often have access to last minute deals that don't make the websites...

When various world leaders stop flying around the world to tell us how bad climate change is I'll give up my fortnight in the Med. Fair enough?

One person on MN not flying isn't going to impact aviation demand anyway. Anyway I actually enjoy flying and seeing other places.

UK aviation accounts about 0.07% to 0.1% of all total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Exactly. It’s nothing.

If the weekend in question is not near Easter, so not peak demand, I'd wait until a few weeks before and see what flights are available for sensible money. Or perhaps a last minute package - Jet2 fly from Bristol and their late deals search function is good when you don't know what you're looking for. In March, a city break to somewhere like Malaga or Seville could be good.

Well no. 0% is nothing

We went to Seville and Granada in March a couple of years ago and it was lovely. Warm enough to not need a coat but not too hot.

We went by train but I appreciate if you only have 4 days that is probably not practical.

But the point is that if all leisure flights from the UK to Europe stopped today, it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to climate change. But a lot of people's lives would be much smaller and a lot of people would be out of work.

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