My parents have offered to take our two kids in the summer holidays so that we can have a short holiday for our big anniversary. I would love to hear any recommendations you might have for a grown-up holiday in Europe in the summer. Budget is around 3K, and our 'shopping list' is:
- preferably not more than 3 hour flight time from UK
- relatively high-end/boutique type hotel, though within reason obviously - White Lotus style is way beyond our reach!
- Not all-inclusive
- near the sea, but don't care too much about a beach - swimming pool would be better
- small-ish town/village feel, not madly touristy (though I appreciate that we are tourists - I guess I just mean not a 'strip' type resort?)
- nice restaurants where we can sit and people watch over good food and wine, preferably in pedestrianised squares with fairy lights strung up
We are less keen on a city break, though a small city maybe - I think I would feel a bit under pressure to sightsee in a city, and I kind of just want to relax and read by a pool with nice scenery as much as possible. A less-touristed Greek island would be my dream destination, but I don't think we can do the 4+ hours to Athens plus ferry journey - we only have 5 days, and also kind of want to be somewhere we can relatively easily return from, just in case. Does anyone have any recommendations that might fit the bill?