City break ideas for my 40th

[Kmj2018]

Hey everyone,

So I’m turning 40 in September and husband said he would take me away for a long weekend. I can pick anywhere I want to go. The grandparents are taking my little one so would like to go somewhere cultured with great food. Any recommendations?! I have Santorini in mind but would love to hear other suggestions.

Many thanks

Bordeaux is lovely. As is Tallinn.

I went to Reykjavik for my 40th. It was fab.

I have been to Montenegro - Bar, Budva and travelled around. Am not a fan of hot weather so prefer Northern Europe and the summer we were there, it was 40 degrees and the town only had running water for 90 mins a day. But that was 20 years ago.

I was going to say Nice. It has a lot of Michelin starred restaurants and some of the villages in the region are amazing. So much to see and do.

I would also recommend Berlin, Palma de Mallorca, Stockholm, Bologna, Florence, Vienna and Lisbon. All have enough to see and great restaurants.

Copenhagen
Bilbao
Porto
Hamburg
Biarritz and Bayonne
Lucca

UK - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast.

Malaga
Seville
Vienna
Marrakech

@Kmj2018

Ohhhh… great suggestions everyone . Love the idea of Iceland, Seville , Granada and portofino. Never been to any of those places .

If you're considering Portofino, may I suggest also looking at Santa Margherita Ligure? It's very close to Portofino (you can walk along the cliff top coast road or take a boat over) but not as busy and has a better choice of hotels and more restaurants, bars etc. we stayed there and took a boat to Portofino for the day but really only needed a couple of hours there tbh. It's lovely for a weekend break, just wandering around and enjoying great food and wine.

I love Cagliari in Sardinia- there is a historic city centre with lovely restaurants and bars, but it’s only 20 minute by bus (or hire a car, but buses are very frequent and cheap) to Poetto beach which is long, sandy and beautiful. The weather will still be very warm in September.

It’s one of my favourite places

Porto, palma or Amsterdam

Seville, Cadiz, Ischia, Italian Riveria as mentioned above. Salamanca, San Sebastian.

We're just back from Cadiz and Jerez which are both fab. Also love Palma, Seville, San Sebastián, Nice, Biarritz, Malaga, Bordeaux. Have a lovely time.

Oh yes .... Lisbon and Cascais

I'm hoping to go to Marrakech for my 40th in November !

Bologna is foodie heaven!

Why not find a smaller island close to Santorini and do a day trip there?

Amalfi would be lovely at that time of year and quieter.

@cpjoli

I'm hoping to go to Marrakech for my 40th in November !

It’s a lovely place. We stayed in a riad in the medina.

Seville.

Valletta, Malta is great, I'd go back like a shot.

San Sebastián if you haven't been. Such a good food scene and weather should be nice in September. I'd love to go back.

Bilbao, Aix en Provence, Antwerp.

Venice: really fantastic to experience although busy and can be over priced around the main square.
Marrakesh: amazing, stay in a Riad but be prepared for the hustle and bustle outside. Also good temp most of the year
Santorini: looks good but not much else and prices in the main bars with the good views are like London plus
Seville: recommend it for a couple of days
Dubrovnik: same
Amsterdam: really accessible and great experience

I've never been to Florence but heard lots of positives about it

For food I would chose San Sebastian, always wanted to go and heard great things

New York would be my choice

I’ve been to Montenegro, op. Kotor / Perast about five years ago. Exceptionally pretty, and I’d love to go back. The local food and wine was a highlight. However, I wouldn’t describe it as a city break destination really. Kotor itself is very small so doesn’t take long to see. Most people who visit are on cruises (the town is dominated by the cruise passengers when they visit), on an escorted tour where they’re staying two nights max or they are touring the country/region independently with a car.

I went for a week with no hire car and it was a lot of relaxing in bars with a book interspersed with going to Dubrovnik for the day on a bus, visiting a monastery with a local guide and checking out the sights in Perast and Kotor themselves. It wasn’t as easy to do the two trips as it would be in other countries as they really do seem to be set up for the specific types of travel mentioned above - the hotel didn’t know how to deal with us when we started asking about such outlandish things as public transport, despite offering a tourist desk service. The sense of relief from the guy manning that desk when we made it back alive from Dubrovnik was palpable! He had tried to get us to go to Herzeg Novi instead, which he described as having lots of stairs and a rheumatology centre. Of course, that may have changed I went.

So if you want to be based in one place that has enough to do you won’t be scratching about for ideas, and it’s a short break you’re after, I’d choose Croatia every time in that region. If you are happy to take things at a much slower pace or you have time to tour around with a car, then Montenegro is amazing.

@LillethCrane

I love Cagliari in Sardinia- there is a historic city centre with lovely restaurants and bars, but it’s only 20 minute by bus (or hire a car, but buses are very frequent and cheap) to Poetto beach which is long, sandy and beautiful. The weather will still be very warm in September.

It’s one of my favourite places

Yes! We went to this part of Sardinia years ago and are returning this year. I’m one of those people that never goes back to the same place, but we had such a good time and it was so easy we couldn’t resist. Plenty to do without it being one of those breaks where you’re on your feet all day and things need to be queued for.

On the other side of the island, Alghero in the north is really nice too. Also has that mix of stunning beaches and historic city centre.

Florence!
Or
Venice
Lisbon
Prague
Krakow
Madrid
Malaga
Tallin
Amsterdam