City Break for Dd and Bf for 18th Birthday July 21

[Andi2020]

Looking Recommendations City Break for dd and her bf for their 18th birthdays in July if Covid allows travel.
Where would be good not into the party scene

Madrid. Dd now 17 loved it. It has everything.

I loved Kraków and it’s ridiculously cheap.

Another vote for Krakow. Wonderful place. The city is beautiful. There's so much to see and do (we went to Auschwitz, Schindler's factory and on another day we went boating on the Vistula river which was stunning) and yes, excellent value for money. And the people were absolutely fabulous.

Do they still like to drink, just not into clubs etc? If not I wouldn’t go to Krakow. Not sure if I just had a bad experience but everyone was just absolutely smashed when I went?

Love Madrid, there is loads to do and it’ll be really warm. Budapest is popular with young people at the moment I believe. Malaga is lovely if they like the beach as you’ve got the perfect mix of being in a great city with the sea right there. Berlin also has loads to do, great if they love history, but very different vibe to Madrid so depends what they’re into!

Edinburgh also fab if they want to stay closer!

Barcelona.
Paris.
I loved the weekend i spent in Eindhoven.

Does it have to be abroad?
York
Edinburgh
Carlisle (unexpectedly nice)
Chester
Lincoln

Budapest- beautiful city, amazing spa baths would be very romantic together
Lisbon- also beautiful. Vibrant streets. Port tasting was fun
Barcelona I prefer to Madrid. Madrid is a very night life, party city.
Paris and Rome very romantic.

Oooh I love me a city break

Do they still like to drink, just not into clubs etc? If not I wouldn’t go to Krakow. Not sure if I just had a bad experience but everyone was just absolutely smashed when I went?

DD found that when she was in Prague when she was interrailing. They were there over a weekend, and it was full of stag parties. I think Krakow is also a stag party destination.

So, I would also say avoid any obvious stag party destinations.
My favourite European cities are Bruges, Lisbon and Rome.

Rome? Easy to travel on Metro and see everything, or if staying centrally, it's all walkable.

Depends really what they like doing, your budget and whether they like heat or not. We paid for DD1 and friend to go to Paris for her 18th and Dublin for her 21st. They liked both - did a lot of sight seeing, ate out, went to bars and met the locals (the last 2 obviously not compulsory!). I’d organised all the travel, printed off metro maps, bought a Lonely Planet etc for Paris.

It’s not a cheap city but Stockholm would be an easy and interesting first solo trip. Barcelona with its history, beach & art a good option too. Rome’s great - my experience of travelling there as a teen with a friend though is that you get hit on a lot but if they can deal with that, it’s fine. Budapest is pretty and very cheap and feels safe.

I didn’t see any stag groups in Prague! I’ve been in May and December, so maybe I went the wrong time of year. We stayed a couple of stops from the centre on the metro, so got a lovely hotel which was cheap but out of the tourist craziness. It’s a beautiful city and eating out, drinks and attractions were inexpensive.

Barcelona is also nice, although having gone in July once it was absolutely packed and very hot. Also the high season can get really expensive for accommodation. I’d love to go again but off-peak.

TBH, I think they might be stuck in a UK city break for the summer. Edinburgh is probably the perfect UK city break in my mind and going by train is fun.

In contrast to the PP, last time we were in Prague (tbf, over 10 years ago) it was crawling with stags. Our hotel had a strip bar in the basement and we had to barge through the queue of largered up stags to get into the hotel entrance. This was in a February and I hope for Prague’s sake (it really is the most beautiful city in Europe) it’s done something to tackle its reputation as stag central like Dublin did.

Thanks everyone we live in Ireland and with all this Covid19 don't think they will be going anywhere.
At least they are young and hopefully will have many more trips in years to come

Barcelona – beach and city, great food. There are lots of warnings about pickpockets etc but I've never had any trouble, as long as they are sensible.

Lisbon is compact, beautiful, interesting and good value. The food is great and it has a chilled vibe in the evenings.