City break in July

[milkysmum]

It's my 40th in July and am thinking of planning a short city break. I split with H last year so thinking of going with my sister ( so non romantic break suggestions please!).
Budget not huge either. I have two children age 10 and 8, sister has a 3 year old but am thinking my mum will probably look after them for us if it's just a couple of nights. So where do people suggest? Short haul, low budget, but nice! I've been to Rome, twice, so not there. If my sister had her way she will take us to some hideous AI resort in Benidorm for 2 days- this is not what I want to do! Help me come up with something lovely Mumsnet 😊

Copenhagen is lovely. Beautiful, tons to do, not too coupley feeling. It isn't the cheapest, so depends on exactly how tight your budget it. It's not cripplingly expensive either.

Berlin is nice for a short city break! Lots of museums, and good food/drinks options!

Ljubljana. It's a beautiful little city, easy to get to from the UK, inexpensive and not toooooo touristy.

Otherwise, Vienna, Budapest, Tallinn are are interesting places. I found Prague to be a bit 'meh'.

Berlin
Lisbon
Gdansk....
Love all 3 but gdansk region would be my choice from what you've said

Hopefully this will work.. vimeo.com/114645823

Madrid is fab. I have been twice with ny best friend so not a romantic getaway. We are also going to Seville this year.

Krakow is also lovely.

Amsterdam is nice for a short break.

Florence is my favourite city and Barcelona is a close second.

Seville

Granada lovely city , the Alhambra is gorgeous . All the bars do traditional tapas so if you buy a drink you get a snack , no need to buy dinner !!

Or Barcelona for something more lively

You always get the same mix of cities put up on these threads but unless you are more specific with requirements, they are not much help. I don’t get on with Venice or Amsterdam although others rate them.
Also which hotel you pick in the city will be key.

So for me I have to have a warm city break and preferably a nice pool or the sea ( Rome was the exception but I love it there so it’s ok). I also think that as you don’t have much time it’s better to go somewhere low key. I love Barcelona for a weekend but only because I’ve been lots of times so don’t need to cram five Gaudis, two Cathedrals,a tour round the old town and a Segway down the beach, into a weekend. I think Rome is good in this respect as it’s very small and you can see things like the Trevi fountain and forum by just walking round rather than planning the queues and clogging up time with scheduled tickets.

I’d go to Bordeaux or Berlin. No one has a bad word to say about them.

Depends what you like to do. Girona in Spain is small but lovely - bit of culture, lovely shops and great cheap restaurants. Not many tourists . Not famous monuments and nightlife though.
Palma in Majorca is also nice but bigger and more touristy .

Carcassonne? I went earlier this year with my mum and it was great. You need one day to do the medieval fortified bit and another day to do the town. There are hotels with pools etc.

I've always wanted to go to Bruges, people rave about it.

Munich is fab, as is Salzburg. Munich probably the cheaper of the 2.

If I was choosing somewhere i hadn't been before I'd try Vienna, Copenhagen or Geneva but again maybe not too cheap.

Prague and Budapest are the two places that people seem to go on a budget that are raved about.

Bruges is ok but aside from the glorious hotel ( staff were crap) it didn’t feel much different from a couple of nights in ( a smaller) York really. It’s all centred round tourism so every admittedly pretty bridge is only crossed by people admiring and photographing it rather than going to work or doing Brugesy type things.

The key for me is what you would like to do whilst there ?

• people watch
• art galleries
• museums

-outside places etc etc

I dislike Bruges now as have been too many times

• I love Rome, didn't like Florence ! - no flaming please I am being honest

• love Paris & always find something new to do
• love NY
• Love Barcelona
• didn't love Seville or Amsterdam

-loved Venic e- could spend all day sitting on water bus going up Grand Canal

• loved Copenhagen - small but beautiful

would love to go to Madrid, Bologna, Budapest, Berlin, Lisbon

apologies that Im not helpful

It really depends what you want to do - give us a clue.
Art galleries, shopping, eating, archaeology...

Lucerne. The lake, the mountains, Expensive but very lovely.

Lyon is also good. Great food too.

July is going to be miserably hot for Spain/Italy. Friends recently went to Antwerp and raved about it so much it is now on my list. Budapest is great, plenty to do, very interesting city.

Krakow is great if youre on a budget. Cheap to fly to, cheap to stay and cheap to eat out. Really lovely

Florence or Nice ?

Or Prague?

Hamburg is a really interesting city - lots to do, easy to get around, and not too expensive.