Long city break (not UK) with 3 older teens - ideas please!

[Snooks1971]

So this is something we’ve never done as a family.
Me and DH plus 3 teens - 19/18/16
Yes they all want to come with us 😅

Time is straight after GCSEs and A levels so around end June.

10 days maybe? We aren’t hugely cultural but some architectural sights would be good. Art galleries etc a definite yes. Bars/food yes.

i was thinking Barcelona but where else please? Budget around 3-4k for all, is this doable?

I second Valencia-simply because it is a grest student city and there is also the beach.

Italy is beautiful and you could definitely have a wonderful time in Naples which is definitely real and where you can get the train if you want to explore a wider area.

I would avoid Paris as, whilst beautiful, it is definitely more expensive and less student friendly.

Hi @sequin2000

We flew into Riga, stayed a few nights, then took the Lux Express coach (clean, quick, fab) to Tallinn.

Stayed there, then took the Tallink Silja ferry to Helsinki. Two hour crossing in a liner type boat, really lovely.

Stayed in Helskini and flew home from there.

All three cities had great food, museums, galleries, parks. On balance I preferred Riga and Tallinn as they felt younger/cooler, but not a lot to choose between them. Cheap, tasty, fresh food everywhere and so much history. A real sense of the defiance towards the Russian threat just a hundred or do miles away, very interesting.

Helsinki was far more expensive.

Would thoroughly recommend.

Another vote for Barcelona, went last week for a short break, bloody loved it, as did teen DD. So much to do and see.

We just did Seville, absolutely loved it, but 5 days would be enough. Agree with PPs that you should do a mini tour of some sort!

Barcelona or Rome

For that budget I agree that a mini tour would be great.
With teens I'd do a few nights in Reykjavik, including a puffin cruise, glacier hike and ring of fire tour. Then a plane to somewhere further south, Spain or Portugal, perhaps on the Atlantic coast for water sports.

Italy! Pick a city and travel to a couple of others from there.

Many thanks this is great

Istanbul- hands down

Lisbon or Barcelona
I preferred Lisbon though

Fly to naples - capr/pompei - train to rome and then to florence, fly home from Pisa

Oh my, thank you everyone, I knew you people would be able to help!
Re Lisbon, I’m already going on a girls’ 50th birthday 3 night break in September but perhaps we should still consider it because it’s been mentioned a lot. Thank you…you couldn’t buy this information x

Berlin is my pick. I've been to many European cities all of which I've loved but there's something so cosmopolitan about Berlin. I took my son at 16 and he's going back with his girlfriend for his 21st birthday. Stay in Friedrichshain and go to salami social for pizza.

Berlin will fire their ambition

I've been to Rome and Barca in the last 6 months and whilst great, especially Rome, I think Berlin has a vibe that would appeal to teens more

Lisbon and the nearby coast.

Or Florence/Pisa/Lucca.

Fly to Venice, train to Verona and then on to Peschiera del Garda for the lake and Gardaland! Fly home from Verona, Brescia or Bergamo

Our teens loved Brussels. You could go on to a second city from there, maybe Paris.

For 10 days you could do multiple so maybe ones that are easy to get to from one another by train.

you could do Amsterdam and also visit other cities in the Netherlands (Utrecht/hague/rotterdam/maastricht) and some non city stuff.

you could then easily combine with a city in Germany (cologne or Düsseldorf) or belgium (Brussels/antwerp/ghent/bruges)

Scandinavia is great - but a challenge on your budget.

Berlin would be a good starting point - from there go north and west to Lubeck, Hamburg, Flensburg and perhaps southern Denmark (Tønder, Ribe, Sønderborg) and home from Billund via all things Lego (Legoland, or even better Lego House). Or travel towards Leipzig, or Warsaw and Krakow in Poland. Or Stuttgart if there are any petrolheads in the family.

Or there's Munich/Salzburg/Vienna/Ljubljana ...

10 days gives you enough time to do a 2- or 3-centre trip, and the budget airlines, group tickets on the trains (see Seat61.com) and airbnb etc will help to keep within your budget.