40th birthday European getaway flying from Scotland

[Scottishskifun]

It's my 40th birthday next year end of April.

DH asked what I wanted a party or a getaway I asked for a getaway for 3-4 days as youngish DS's which my mum will be looking after.

Need to fly from Scotland (ideally Edinburgh) and not more then a 4 hr flight given it will cut into time.

Any hidden gems I can recommend to him to narrow it down.
My only stipulation so far is a choice of eating (I'm gf France is a nightmare!) and not a huge city e.g. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris.
I like chill out bit of culture, good food not mental busy.

Not a massive budget ideally under 1k.

Most of the wowcher etc type deals seem to not fly from Scotland.

From Edinburgh we’ve done short breaks to Athens, Budapest, Malaga (from GLA and PIK too), Corfu (though might be too early)Wroclaw (GLA), Pisa (PIK), Rome, Dublin and in December we are going to Rekjavik from Edi as we got some good bargain flights! If you are in FB have a look at the groups Extreme Day Trips from Scotland and A Few Days away from Scotland as you’ll pick up ideas from there.

Recommend Madrid from Edinburgh. I’m also gf and the food was ideal. Hotel Porcel Ganivet was great.

you can fly to Venice from Edinburgh, I’m sure. I know it’s a city but it’s not that big and really walkable …..and it’s magical. we were there in the summer and it was lovely

Porto - beautiful place

Seconded on Porto, albeit I don't know about flights from Scotland. I am not GF myself but this looks good.

https://www.mygfguide.com/gluten-free-porto-guide/

Do you like fish? There's invariably a good selection in Portugal.

Thank you 😊

I love fish and I've never been to Portugal so Porto seems to be a good one to send him.

I think it's made DH realise that I mostly plan our holidays so he was looking stumped.
Think will say Spain Italy or Portugal and then leave the rest of the planning to him!

GF is a pain I now look at places to visit on my ability to actually eat hassle free rather then oooo really want to explore there. It's why some parts of Eastern Europe are a no go as we would spend ages trying to find a restaurant suitable.