Relaxed weekend city break - ideas please!

[SingingGoldfinch]

Hello - looking to book a 3 night city break to celebrate a significant birthday - dh and I and our 2 friends. We’re after a relaxed city vibe - soaking up the atmosphere, mooching, eating/drinking, shopping rather than full on sightseeing so looking at smaller less obvious cities. Flight time 2-2.5 hours from Gatwick and flight times are quite important. We’re going last weekend in Sept and thinking some late summer sunshine would be lovely, but not essential. We’ve been looking at Palma, Mallorca but it’s super expensive so looking for other ideas. We have already done Seville, Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Prague, Paris. I would be very grateful for any ideas!!

I loved Malaga recently!!) great for sitting outside with a glass of sangria/a coffee and people watching!

Done a few of those. Seville being my fave. Others we’ve enjoyed are Budapest, Copenhagen, Valencia, Split, Palma, Munich, Vienna, Krakow, Lisbon, Venice, Verona. Budapest and Krakow the best of these.

DH and I went to Verona for five days when we were both absolutely exhausted and had just moved house, and I remember it very fondly.

Loved Malaga and Budapest as above.
Bordeaux was a surprising hit, nice market on the river, wine museum and lots of nice cafes. Much preferred it to Paris.

We love Palma and didn't find it expensive! Is it the hotel or flights which are?

One of the smaller Italian cities like Bologna or Padua would be lovely.
As would Nice, if you prefer France.

Porto. It’s a fairly small place and you can just have a wonder about, do a bit of port tasting, lovely food and the weather will be great.

First thought was Malaga (the 'city', not the beach resorts) and 2nd thought was Budapest.

Malaga is easy to walk around with multiple things to see/do if you want. But equally nice enough to mooch around and eat some great food, wander along the sea front etc. There is direct bus from airport which used to be 3euro each and had multiple stops to get off. 1 memorable day trip was the train to see the famous bridge in Ronda. First time I went, we stayed at NH Malaga which is a hotel. Subsequent times I stayed in these apartments https://www.santacruz-apartments.com/index.php?lng=en. Its right near the amazing fruit/veg market. We normally stayed a week, but the apartments were much larger than a hotel room and has the convenience of a kitchen and our room had a little balcony.

We were in Budapest last Nov. We also walked everywhere. Spent 1 day at the Gellert hot springs and it was amazing. Wandering between the various heated pools, saunas and steam rooms etc. We visited the 2 storey central markets. Worth a look, but not amazing. Wandering along the Danube was lovely. We stayed here in the Jewish quarter. https://urbanrent.hu/budapest/elisabeth-downtown-apartments/en

Thanks - some good ideas there. I will definitely look at Malaga - sounds like a good option. Should’ve said I’ve looked at both Budapest and Krakow but can’t find sensible flights to fit our plans for sadly. As for Palma being expensive - it’s the hotels - they’re extortionate compared to other places - wonder if there’s an event on or something

Tallin?

As for Palma being expensive - it’s the hotels - they’re extortionate compared to other places - wonder if there’s an event on or something

I know Palma quite well. In fact when I started to read your post I was going to jump in and suggest it. Can you say what your dates are and what rates you are being quoted by one or two hotels?

Valetta
The Hague

Mijas, Spain

Avignon. Go to Acte2 restaurant.

What about Salzburg?

We just got back from Helsinki, beautiful city, very compact so easy to walk around, trams available too. We also did a day trip to Tallinn while there. You’ve also got saunas and beaches. Pleasant climate in summer.

Copenhagen
seville
valencia
porto
lisbon
Verona
Milan & como
riga

Valencia is lovely and should be warm at end of September, we swam in the sea in October. Nice old town and beach area. Verona and Porto are good options too, both fairly small.

How about Ciutadella in Menorca? Lots of late summer sunshine, some lovely restaurants, beautiful cathedral. If it's just for mooching it fits the bill. 2hrs from Gatwick.

Avignon or Lyon or Lille by Eurostar

Definitely Lisbon, really accessible and good value for money.
The shopping is fantastic, the Tivoli Hotel with sky bar is wonderful.

Cadiz is lovely. Beautiful city, amazing beaches & a few historical sites if you fancy it. Fly in & out of Jerez.
Lyon offered much more than DH & I expected.
Porto is lovely but rammed with tourists. It is also incredibly steep with lots of streets turning into steps as they are so step. Lots of these are also cobbled! If you have any mobility issues or issues with knees or anything like that, it would be a challenge.

Dubrovnik.
Or Trogir, a smaller medieval city in Croatia.

Just coming back from a few days in The Hague. It’s so lovely, incredibly chilled and easy to get around, lots to do and great beach with bars to the north of the city. Went there not expecting much (visiting friends rather then holiday) and absolutely loved it

porto