Recommend me a great city/interesting town/area

[Boxina]

I'm already planning next year's holiday and interested in recommendations.

We love a self catering holiday where we can visit museums, places of interest, etc. We have already done Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Lanzarote and Menorca.

Where would you recommend?

Valencia was recommended to me on mums net and we went last year. Loads to do and great transport. By the beach to we combined site seeing with some beach mornings/afternoons.

I don't like to drive abroad - but if you are happy to do it there were loads of beautiful places within a few hours you could visit too.

Brussels.

Dubrovnik or Florence..my two favourites

Florence is indeed amazing, I'd recommend it to anyone. I've never been to Dubrovnik. Hadn't even got it on my radar. What do you like about it?

Seville or Granada.

Dubrovnik is avery attractive city with lots of history but it can get extremely crowded with tour groups off the enormous cruise ships that visit almost daily.

Recently went to Athens and had a great time. Not only loads to see in the City centre, but you can take a train or bus to the beach (Piraeus). It's getting hot there now, and the locals leave every July and August, so it's more a Spring or Autumn place to go.

Closer to home we found the Peak District to be fabulous. Loads to do, interesting national trust buildings including a cotton mill, wedgewood where you can throw a pot, peak wildlife park, loads of lovely rambles and walks. Buxton is a great base for travelling around. We stayed for a week and could have easily filled two.

a second vote for Athens, wonderful place to spend a week although I definitely would visit in October when it's cooler. Spending a day on the Athenian Riviera was a particular highlight and if I returned I would stay in Vouliagmeni as it's easy to get into the city on the very efficient metro

abd well. Venice. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️. I'm planning my third trip in 12 months for October

porto is really interesting too, if you liked Lisbon it's apparently very similar although I felt it was more of an adult destination as it's a wine and food paradise, not sure what there is to do with youngsters. I described it to a friend as an adult Disneyland 😂

helsinki is fascinating and you can easily travel to Tallinn for the day. There is a lovely zoo, a military fortress called suomenlinna and from May to October I think the Linnemaki theme park is open, they have loads of rides including some antique ones

Strangely, I found Berlin really interesting. We went for a short break and I wish we'd stayed for longer. Lots of museums, sightseeing, etc., such as the Brandenburg Gate, the remnants of the dividing wall, the tower, the Jewish war memorial, etc. We did a cycling tour of the city centre sights which gave us a brilliant overview of the city and then chose what individual sights/entries we wanted to do in the subsequent days.

I'd avoid Brussels like the plague. Not a nice place at all, lots of deprivation just a street or two back from the main tourist routes. When we went, I preferred other Belgian towns such as Ghent and Bruges which were nicer and had plenty to do and see.

Close to home - Naples. Full of life, great food, non-touristy, amazing history & art.

Further away - Kyoto!

We loved Copenhagen. Expensive though!

Seville or Lisbon, depends what time of year you want to travel though. I wouldn't go to Seville in the peak summer months. Nice has loads to do and it's easy to get up and down the coast on the train - Antibes and Villefranche sur Mer are lovely.

We loved Budapest. Lots of history, museums, castle, quirky little places such as The Houdini Museum and caves where Dracula allegedly hid.

Then there are the hot Spa Baths and river cruises. A real mixture
Not too expensive either.

Malaga
Seville
Venice
Athens for a few days followed by some islands (Naxos was my favourite)

Naples is amazing. Fantastic food, wine, coffee and vibes. Amalfi coast with Capri, Ischia and Procida nearby if you want stunning sea and coast. There's more history and art than you can shake a stick at in Naples itself and nearby are Pompeii and Herculaneum. You can also take a trip up mainland Europe's most active Volcano.

Prague, Bergen, Cologne, Warsaw, great Zoo and old town.
Don't forget some of UK places, Liverpool is fantastic https://www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool/

I really enjoyed Dubrovnik - the city does get very busy with tourists in peak season but that seems to be most places recently!

Budapest
Oslo
Stockholm
Brno
Gdansk

Have you been to Istanbul? The depth of history and culture in a very much living city is breathtaking.

We really loved Stockholm, would definitely go back.