Christmas in a European city 2 adults

[myidentitymycrisis]

DP and I are planning about a week away over Christmas but cant agree on a city, flight 2 hours maybe. He likes the idea of Istanbul, but I've been before, or somewhere in the Balkans. I'd like Italy, maybe Bergamo or Florence or Budapest, maybe Portugal. Looking for somewhere we can wander and have nice stops for a glass of wine or coffee, architecture, DP likes shopping, and where we can maybe get a couple of day trips out from by train or bus not too far away.

My friend has just come back from Split in Croatia.
She cannot praise it enough.

Budapest is not in Italy ;)

With those requirements, you can basically visit any bigger city throughout Europe, they all offer what you want.

Personally I will avoid southery countries in the future during the winter - have done it before, but accomodations often don't have very effectice heating systems, since it isn't cold there often, so we ended up freezing.

Vienna

@SmartPlay, thanks I know where Budapest is. My punctuation of that sentence did make it look as though it is grouped with Florence and Bergamo.

I know I can go almost anywhere on Europe, that’s why I’m looking for suggestions. Never mind.

I also came on to say Vienna! The Christmas markets are lovely.

"I know I can go almost anywhere on Europe, that’s why I’m looking for suggestions. Never mind."

The point of my comment was to suggest for you to write a bit more about what you like to do and see, so that it narrows down the options.

Vienna is lovely. Bruges is wonderful too. Do you want to be somewhere warm though?