City break Feb/March

[countrygirl99]

We are looking at a city break early next year and struggling to come to an agreement. So thought I'd trawl Mumsnet in case there's something we've missed considering. Somewhere with interesting history (we've been to Berlin and Krakow)/ good museums. Not too fussed about weather but not Scandi as we've done most of those cities and travel to Finland every year to see family. DH would love somewhere with really good food like Italy but as long as it's edible and not horrendously expensive it's a nice to have rather than a must have. I'm quite interested in one of the Baltic states/Poland or Germany.

Rome is good at that time of year.

Been there a couple of times. Also been to Pompeii etc. We did think about Venice or Florence but worried about over tourism as we hate crowds.

Madrid?

Athens for history and food. The tavernas in the Plaka district are superb. You can do day trips to Corinth and Delphi (stunning!) and Aegina.

Malaga, or. Barcelona (day trips out, can do things that avoid most crowds).

Seville, Porto, Lisbon

Malaga.

Nimes or Avignon. I loved Avignon. I’m going to Nimes with a friend next year.

Possibly Cologne for the amazing cathedral and the ancient Roman bits.

@countrygirl99 Edinburgh? unless your preference is abroad ofc

We've been to Madrid and Seville. Athens is a possibility but we would like to do a road trip in Greece sometime so may save it for that.
I like the look of Cologne and Avignon/Nimes. Had considered Carcassonne so will add those to the list.
Hadn't thought about Edinburgh. We could do that by train so worth putting on the list. I had suggested Liverpool and Belfast but DH didn't fancy those but he likes whisky.

@countrygirl99

He may enjoy this then 😉

Feb/March is peak conference time in Barcelona so choice of dates may be limited.

San Sebastian? Best food anywhere.

We did St Malo this year. Beautiful interesting and great restaurants. Great beaches. If you take the car there's loads to see outside the town Mount St Michael etc

Antwerp ~ lashings of history, amazing architecture and art, wide range of wonderful restaurants, market, beers, fresh cream chocolates, zoo, river trip, fashion, even the railway station is a beautiful work of art!

We went to Venice in March this year, I think it’s probably the perfect time to see Venice. We were fortunate with dry sunny if cold weather and it wasn’t quiet but certainly not rammed and we enjoyed it so much.

Budapest. Including a trip to at least one of the baths.

Tallinn? Will be cold though but i feel it ticks all your boxes.

San Sebastian and Antwerp are good shouts.
We are in Finland for a family event next June and were thinking of tagging a couple of days in Tallin onto that. DS1 has been to Riga and enjoyed that so that's a possibility.
There's a few come up that we hadn't thought of so thanks everyone.

Grenada (amazing tapas) or Cadiz? For Grenada we got a really cheap flight to Malaga then the local bus there was very easy.

Edited to add from Grenada really easy to get to Sierra Nevada if you fancy a day of skiing or apres ski!

Seville is great, would be lovely that time of year. Granada is also nice, although smaller so better for a shorter break.
My parents have been to Germany a few times and loved Cologne - it will be cold in Feb/March though.

We've been to Seville and Granada but Jerez is on the possibles list

Vienna ~ lots going on in the arts during the winter season, history by the gallon, interesting restaurants and bars, stunningly beautiful architecture, endless galleries crammed with top notch works of art, great bars, fruit liqueurs, chocolate cake...who could ask for more?

We've been to Vienna a couple of times. Love the cafés there

Bologna is renowned for its food. I know several people who’ve had fab weekends there.

DH and I often travel in off season.

Sicily- Palermo, Agrigento, Catania. We did a mix of train and buses. I've heard Cefalu is lovely, but its a beach resort so might be the wrong time of year.

Malaga- Not the beach resorts along the coast, but Malga 'city' itself. Less touristy, great good, some museums, hugh fruit/veg maket etc. A lovely day trip via train is Ronda. It has a historic and famous bridge and some of the restaurants are amazing.

Crete- We stayed in Reythymon which had some smaller museums but an interesting fort and things to see. Food was nice, but not as varied as Italy or Malaga. We caught a bus and went to Heraklion to see the Knossos site. The museum in Heraklion was really good.

Budapest- We went in Dec. A day at the Gellert spa was amazing. The parliament building- book tickets before you go because it can book up quickly. Museums, the basilica, large synagogue and alot of history. As part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, they had some amazing pastries to rival anywhere.

Prague- This was 15yrs ago, but the food was far more meat based, dumplings and veg only when ordered. Still loved it though. Wenceslas square, the clock etc. There is Sedlec ossuary has a half day trip via train- a unique church/museum of bones! Also Cesky Krumlov is stunning and also accessible from Prague.

We loved Prague

Venice in November (you would be going off season as well) was absolutely heavenly. No crowds, lovely weather and great times. I would never go there in the summer but off season was wonderful.

Give Antwerp a miss: Bruges was hyped but I thought it was just another European city.

Marrakesh although slightly further would be great off season.

Barcelona is fab (been in season and off). Off season was fun and the weather was still good. Valencia the same. Madrid is a great city too.

Lisbon was a lot more interesting that I thought it might be.

I love Netherlands - not Amsterdam (so overrated and touristy) but love Utrecht.

Copenhagen and Stockholm were great but maybe too Scandi as you have mentioned.

etc etc