European break for couple 3-7 days - Go!!

[ToothFairy2023]

Help wanted we are fairly recent empty nesters (but we have done our time with little to no family support) and are looking to go away.

Europe - less than 3 1/2 hour flight.
Time of year - either mid April or early June.
Duration - 3 to 8 or 9 days
Departure Airport - Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester (in order of preference).
We like good food, cafe culture, laid back, some nice scenery, nowhere too industrial not hiring a car.
We would like somewhere warmer than the UK if it was April or if June a temp of late teens or early twenties max.
Budget: for flights and hotel £800-£2000.
Hit me with your suggestions.

Ideally, not Dubrovnik, Florence or Paris as have been fairly recently.

Wondered about Budapest, Malaga, Rome, Vienna, Barcelona or anywhere I may have missed. Finding flights from the north, a nice looking hotel in a place we want to visit is proving very difficult.

Thanks 🙏

Catania. Weather will be warm in April. Airport is a 15-20min bus ride and the city centre is easily walkable. Regular trains to Syracusa, Etna and Taormina, secret nice beaches, amazing food and great atmosphere.

Haven't read the full thread but if you're looking at Jet2 or easyJet then try their 'holidays' sites instead of flight only. Jet2 particularly offer much better value for a package than flight only.

Just got back from Porto and it was the best city break I've ever done. It ticks every box on your list and was so reasonable to eat and drink. Lovely days wandering interesting streets, sitting in squares, lovely views and absolutely incredible food every single place we went. Happy to share recommendations. Airbnb very reasonable and well located too.

Stresa, Lake Maggiore, staying at Hotel La Palma.

There isn't a train between Malaga and Nerja - but you could go on the bus .

I think 33 degrees in April would be unusual TBH. We've been to Nerja a couple of times at Easter and it was nice and warm but nowhere near that hot - the seasonal average is early 20s in April .

Agreed. Infact, my DDad lived near Nerja for over 20 years - if it was going to piss down with rain, around Easter was always a good bet.

I’ve never been to Krakow but I was chatting to a bloke in a hostel in Gent last year who has been to over 200 European cities and he said Krakow was the nicest. It’s high on my list of places to go to. I see you mentioned Vienna as well OP, Dd went there last year and loved it, she also took a train to Bratislava for a visit, it’s close enough for a day trip.

Valencia has its own beach too - a short bus ride out of the city centre .

Highly recommend Granada in Spain. I lived there for 6 months and it's beautiful, lovely tapas bars and you usually get free tapas with any drink in most bars (unless that's changed!)

If you are liking idea of Seville you can easily catch a train to Malaga from there and then be in Costa del sol in a couple of hours so you can do both easily - 3 days in Seville and 5/6 in Malaga. Another alternative would be to combine Malaga and Granada (easily connected by bus) and Granada is home to the fabulous Alhambra. No car needed for either itinerary. Xx

I love Oslo and have been many times.

Malaga is lovely but will be packed in June.

Fly to Pisa, train to Lucca. It's a wonderful city.

Another vote for Seville. DH and I went in October and had a wonderful time. We were only there 3 nights but if we’d stayed longer we would also have tried to fit in a visit to Cordoba or Grenada as both are apparently well worth a visit and not far from Seville.

We're going to Krakow in April. 4 nights for just shy of £800. I don't think it's going to be warm, probably similar to here. The main square looks so pretty and we doing a day trip up to Zakopane in the mountains so I'm really looking forward to it.

We did Copenhagen January last year would love to go back maybe in spring/summer.
Also loved Barcelona, we went for a week but stayed in Sitges (45 mins away on train). Worked really well as a base, we went into Barcelona 3 days, tarragona 1 day and a couple of days relaxing. But so many other options in the area.
Budapest or Prague next on the list.
We always fly from Edinburgh, Ryanair usually.

Prague! Beautiful city, jet2 flights from Newcastle. Perfect for a 5 night break.

have you looked to see where Teeside International have flights too now? They were supposed to be expanding routes this year.

I have checked and lots of airlines fly from Newcastle to Madrid: EasyJet, Air France, KLM, British Airways. I realise I didn't say why I love Madrid. I like:
Art
Football
Architecture
Food
Parks
Markets
Madrid delivers on every one of those.

Madrid is wonderful and you can easily do a day trip to Toledo which is also love

I’ve have previously flown into Rome for a few days then got the train to Venice and flew home from Venice. Flights were really cheap as only one way which means the return isn’t extortionate and the rail system in Italy was great.

We did also stop at Milan but I didn’t enjoy it a lot and wouldn’t recommend it.

@orangelotus yes, me too, Toledo is great! Glad someone shares my view.

DD is studying this year at the university of Malaga so we have visited a few times and we love it! Amazing streets to wander, food, sights and weather. Not Benidorm-like at all.

On Monday she sent us a picture of herself in a t shirt on the beach and yesterday of the sunset from the castle against a clear sky, so yes the weather is great!

We are going again in early May and can’t wait.

Prague and Budapest both get my vote for April. Easy to get to, good value for money, beautiful and lots to do

Snap! Great holiday. We are also close to Newcastle to understand the pain. We went from Edinburgh.

I've also done Rome - train to Naples and then on to -Sorrento which was also lovely and totally doable. Flew back from Naples.

Would love to hear more about this - pondering a trip in November. What’s the shopping like? Going with shopping mad sister. Also would be v grateful for Airbnb recommendation?