Hit me with your favourite European hotels/locations

[Bigpinkslippers]

After years planning kid friendly holidays I'm stumped where to go now it's just the 2 of us. Looking for Sept 24.
Requirements: Europe, sunbathing weather, decent pool as I like to swim, nice oldy worldy town to wander round in the evenings.
Bonus if historical sites nearby.
We've done Santorini, Sorrento, Canaries, Rhodes, Crete.
Happy to book self catering as long as plenty of restaurants nearby or AI if hotel food is decent.
Budget around £3k for 10 nights.
Thanks

Taormina
Parga
Pula
Paphos

You'd love Split, but you'll be swimming in the sea not the pool if you stay in the old town

Seville

Sitges
Aramalfi coast
Montenegro
Some beautiful places along the Costa brava

Mallorca. Palma is a lovely city and there are pretty towns all up the west coast.

Dubrovnik ticks many of those boxes

Thanks for the ideas, off to Google now

Taormina
Furnas in Azores, hot springs.

Syracuse
Kas in turkey (NOT Kalkan)

Rovinj in Croatia (fly to Pula). There are 2 or 3 wonderful hotels that are part of the Croatian Maistra group, and are excellent.

In Taormina, try Villa Angela, which is owned by Jim Kerr (yes, that guy from Simple Minds).

Rhodes - Rodos Park Suites, a smallish hotel just outside the Old Town, primarily for adults. (I know you've been, but this is time-based, not a resort).

https://hotelvisavis.com/en/ Sestri Levante, Italy - easy to visit Cinque Terre and Portofino
https://www.hlapalma.it/en/sky-bar/ Stresa, Lake Maggiore - easy from Milan. Lots of islands and boat trips and nice food.

https://www.ischiabluresort.com/en/ Ischia - easy to get ferry from Naples. Bloody marvellous.

This month we are going to Taormina and Siracusa in Sicily and am very excited so glad others are recommending.

That is SO weird I’ve just been looking at those hotels in Rovinj! Thinking of getting ferry from Venice and staying there 5 nights. Which one would you recommend? I was looking at Maistra Select Island Hotel Istra as price reasonable but a bit of a schlep into town from there?

Hotel Welcome in Villefranche sur mer 6 miles from Nice. You can walk out of Nice airport, cross the road and jump on a train . Takes 15 minutes to get to the very romantic little town with an old town complete with citadel and hidden passage .At the far end theirs a proper ,harbour with sea wall walks and fabulous yachts. Best restaurant ever too.
Hotel Welcome is in the prime spot in the old town by the square and spitting distance to the water. Five minutes in the other direction is an almost sandy beach (teeny, tiny stones) and swimming in the sea with glorious views . Restaurant's galore and charming little bars.
The station is 5 minute walk and the train will take you to Monaco and Italy ( 50 mins journey away) or Nice, Antibes, Cannes etc in the other direction. The track is all along the coast so amazing views.
You can walk or bus to the stately home that used to belong to the Rothschilds which is as interesting d glamorous as you would expect. There is Eze village with the cactus garden. If you aren’t impressed with the view over the Med there you should probably get checked out for depression.
The only caveat is cruise ships stop there although they have to anchor quite far out and tender people over. Most passengers go off to Monaco. They really stick out and it’s nice to watch them knowing you have this beautiful but of the world as yours when they’ve gone ( usually by the afternoon).

Bruges and Belgian Coast :)

Anyone else breathe a sigh of relief when their favourite spot isn’t mentioned. 😀

I came on to suggest Rovinj too - and the hotels which @Hbh17 mentions. My favourite is Hotel Lone but all three are glorious and well worth the money.

Malaga city- not the resorts down the coast, but the 'city' itself. An easy, 3euro bus trip from the airport. A mix of tourists and locals, shops, great food, beach, food market, castle, Picasso museum and more. A short train trip takes you to Ronda to see the famous bridge.
A guide to walking in Ronda (terrameridiana.com)

Hotel Porto Santa Maria in Funchal. Adults only, in old town & close to some excellent restaurants

@Georgyporky I'm so happy you suggested this hotel, I'm booked to go there in May. 😃

What a coincidence ! We spent last Xmas there on half-board as we were unsure about restaurants being open & not fully booked. We liked it so much, we're going again this Xmas ! B&B this time, but it's costing more than last year.

Nice.

Lovely coastline, great restaurants, old town to walk around.