Weekend break, Europe, 1st weekend in December-where to go?

[piscofrisco]

We are trying to choose somewhere to go in Europe for my birthday weekend in December. Up for a Christmas market but doesn't need to be the focus of the trip.
Ideally a city beak with a bit of culture and must have good restaurants and bars.
Looked at Berlin but can't make the flights work.

Have been to Budapest, Prague, Paris, Lyon, Copenhagen, Bruges, Lisbon, Barcelona, Vienna and Amsterdam already. Anyone have any recommendations please ?

Bologna?

Focussing on the good restaurants / bars:

Seville - amazing tapas, flamenco bars, great atmosphere

Bologna - best city for food in Italy imo

Ljubljana - underrated food city, great restuarants, amazing value

San Sebastian - great pintxos (like tapas), brilliant fine dining

We looked at San Sebastián as deffo on our list but would it be better to go in summer do you think?

I will check out the other suggestions too Thankyou !

We went to Madrid in December. It's in a desert so normally dry. The lights and the Christmas shoppers gave it a lovely atmosphere, completely different to Spain in the summer. It was cold but sunny. Perfect weather to enjoy churros con chocolat

Cologne? It had lots of Christmas markets, and a nice compact city to walk around for the weekend

Strasbourg or Colmar in Alsace will be lovely at that time of year.

Also Cologne.

We did a winter city break to Milan which was fun too.

Malaga (city). It's got everything I think. Great buzz, fab shopping if you're into it, and a brilliant food and tapas scene. Picasso museum, the Roman theatre and Alcazaba, fab new marina area, and more besides. Easy to get to and enjoy. Christmas is a big thing there, but not sure when in December it all kicks off.

Seville. ❤️

Where are you based? I'd say Ljubliana for the reasons a PP gives above, but you can only fly from LGW (EasyJet, so good prices) or LHR (BA, so not as cheap)

Porto is another great small city. We went in Nov last year and the weather was nice - short sleeves in the day, jacket at night. I imagine it would be long sleeves in Dec, but that wouldn't impact enjoyment!

Rome. We went the 1st weekend of December for my 40th. The 1st weekend of each month has free entry into lots of the ancient sites.

Malaga is also great at that time of year.

I would have said Berlin until you mentioned the flights issue, but Ljubljana is a strong contender. We had a fantastic long weekend there a couple of years ago.

Krakow is lovely at Christmas and so was Bologna

I love love San Sebastián and went in December it's definitely nicer in the summer

Oslo - has a lovely wintery feel, plenty to do/see.

Seville, Malaga, Rome. Xmas market will have started in Cologne. Strasbourg is beautiful.

Valencia?

Lille is nice.

Zagreb

How about Tallinn, Bratislava, Krakow, or Stockholm?