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Welcome to Mumsnet's holiday forum. Discuss all international travel here, including both shorthaul and longhaul trips. Related topics: UK holidays & day trips, skiing, camping & campervans.
Holidays
Which is your favourite European city break?
mumma24 · 04/03/2021 17:51
Hi, I’ve only visited 2 cities in Europe. Paris and Salzburg and loved both. If you could only choose 3 cities which would you choose to go again. (Would be lovely to know why you’ve chosen these) Thank you
Glera · 04/03/2021 20:31
How long are you thinking?
Florence isn't too big a city in that you can explore a lot of it in a few days. Food and drink were incredible and there was a lot to keep busy with. Such a beautiful place.
Rome is great if you have atleast 4 nights. As someone said, a walking museum. Again, try to just walk and explore and eat away from touristy places. We found a cracking restaurant and stayed in an area called Monti. Would highly recommend it.
We did Venice and I expected to hate it after being told it was smelly and filled with rats. We went in the summer and LOVED it. We steered away from touristy hot spots after 9am and just meandered and explored. We kayaked through Venice too rather than paying for an expensive gondola which was phenomenal.
I appreciate I've gone big on Italy but they're mainly our city break places.
Malaga is nice if you want good food and drink and I've heard great things about Seville.
LadyMacnet · 04/03/2021 20:36
Stockholm - beautiful, compact, cool
Gothenburg - friendly, fun, buzzy
Rome - breathtaking
But also Madrid - it’s big and buzzy and has the Praedo.
Superstardjs · 04/03/2021 20:43
Rome, Paris, Barcelona and a sneaky 4th for St Petersburg.
I have lived in London for 30 years and never get tired of it, it is endlessly interesting.
woodbeez55 · 04/03/2021 20:55
Hard to pick 3 because so many lovely cities to choose from. But here are our faves:
Paris - food, sights, people. There's always something new to see/do.
Valencia - food, people, seaside, jardin del Turia.
Bruges - so compact, canals, chocolate, beer, people.
Honourable mentions for: Amsterdam - food, culture; Prague - history, culture; Rome - history, food, people; Lisbon/Porto - food, culture; Barcelona - food, culture; Venice - wow factor; Seville - food, culture, climate;
ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 04/03/2021 21:03
More votes for Budapest - spent 9 days there, and it wasn't enough! Quirky, so much history whatever period you want, cheap. If you have time, head out to Lake Balaton for a day trip, but only after you've sen Budapest itself.
And Paris - what's not to love?
3rd choice is harder. Maybe Stockholm, a city of water and islands, the old town is beautiful, but it's not cheap.
Or Barcelona, or Venice.
Or Prague, even Bremen.
We like walking, mind, so we like a city we can wander around.
kingat · 04/03/2021 21:09
Rome and Barcelona!
One not mentioned before Gdansk in Poland.
Long sandy beach, history (this is where 2nd world war started), old town, party town in Sopot, green, good shopping, lpts to do.
JassyRadlett · 04/03/2021 21:18
I’m so glad you liked Salzburg, it’s a favourite of mine.
I think you have lots of options if you liked both it and Paris as they’re quite different (but equally brilliant).
Great suggestions above - I’d suggest:
Bern or Lucerne (or both, and it’s an easy train trip between the two.) if you went with Bern, look at getting the train up the Jungfrau, it’s wonderful.
Krakow
Vilnius (or Riga, but I have a massive soft spot for Vilnius)
Avignon
Florence
Agree on Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Budapest
For bigger cities - Berlin is a great favourite of mine. And I think you’d enjoy Vienna.
JassyRadlett · 04/03/2021 21:19
Eek did not process request for three!
Go with a mix:
Lucerne
Vilnius
Berlin
Goatsdorhone · 04/03/2021 21:39
I loved Bordeaux a few years ago - did a full day wine tour 
...amazing! Fab food and architecture too...and a wine museum!
Also enjoyed Lisbon for the food, wine and just lovely to amble around.
Bruges in the winter was great - such cosy pubs to while away the time in.
Bit of a theme here! 
imjackieweaver · 04/03/2021 21:42
Rome
We took our teens pre COVID and they loved it.
Only negative was the hawkers everywhere.
Dkfhenzkghsm · 04/03/2021 21:49
Rome - I liked the volume of history and the way it intermingled with the present
Sarajevo - beautiful and endlessly fascinating
Dunno about a third. The list of places I would bother visiting again is probably different to the places I would recommend someone else visits for the first time. I don't tend to return to places even if I loved my time there.
JammyDozen · 04/03/2021 21:58
Istanbul - without a doubt the best. Fantastic food (and I don’t even eat meat, so no kebabs, etc., for me) and so, so much to see. Spent a week there and could easily have stayed longer.
Lisbon - a close second. Again, enough to keep you entertained and interested for a lot longer than a couple of days. In fact, I spent a month there as a student and enjoyed every day.
I’ve loved a lot of smaller cities too, but you’d be looking at day trips if staying longer than a weekend. Split, Turin and Riga top the list here.
Sarajevo is wonderful as other posters have said, but we went for five days in the winter and it was far too long. Many things closed either due to the season or lack of funding. I feel like we walked certain routes once or twice each day! It is very special, though, and the old town is magical to stay in. You could combine with another Balkan city (we flew via Zagreb) or go at a better time of year and do day trips. I’d like to see it in spring.
Are any cities posted so far tempting you, op?
PrancerandDancer · 04/03/2021 22:03
Came on to suggest Salzburg!
Also, Budapest and Amsterdam I loved. The Netherlands is a lovely place, so many places for easy day trips. Last time we went we stayed in Delft which is wonderful.
Dubrovnik is nice, like a weird little tourist bubble but in a nice way. Didn't "get" Prague myself. Probably because we did Budapest before and I felt it couldn't compete!
adeleh · 04/03/2021 22:05
Prague. Never been.
Tubingen or Heidelberg. Never been.
Paris. My happy place.
youwouldthink · 04/03/2021 22:16
Florence
Nice
Budapest
God I'd love to get away right now!!
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