Niche city breaks

[BreezyFish]

Looking to go on some city breaks next year which are niche.

which city is the nichest you’ve been to?

Oh yes Cuitadella is absolutely lovely. We had a great few days there. There are some lovely restaurants off the tourist drag.

I genuinely thought Liverpool was breathtakingly beautiful, loved all the old buildings. I love certain parts of Manchester too though so maybe no hope for me! 😀

My DH recommended Ljubljana.

Wroclaw in Poland, loved it

Belgrade was fabulous.

Lyon. Surprisingly untouristed and packed with fabulous museums.

Tours also good - city itself is nice and great day trips to Amboise, Blois and Loches. The Leonardo da Vinci museum in Amboise is mindblowing.

Avignon and Aix en Provence both beautiful.

Merano in the South Tyrol is absolutely lovely. One of my favourite places ever.,

Vilnius, Belfast, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Hamburg, Köln

Gdansk

Lausanne

Maybe not niche but my favourite ever city break was Copenhagen

I really liked Ghent.

I'm planning a trip to Baku! But further away with more expensive flights.

I also want to go to Leeds Armouries but I need to find a couple of other things to do nearby with kids.

Another vote for Gdansk, and while you're at it add a daytrip to Torun. I quite like Wroclaw as well. Poznan is on my to-do list....

Maastricht Netherlands. Short hop across the border to Aachen Germany, both charming and off radar.

Ghents a really charming city - I mentioned lovely Utrecht on an earlier post but if I can also mention Haarlem , Leiden and The Hague- all well worth visiting , all charming and have both the terrific national parks plus beaches with funky bars for summer etc very close by . Great active holiday too if you have kids as they have several of the really good Dutch centre parks and Eurocamps in that area - budget dependant and you can get both beaches and countryside activities whilst not being particularly hot if you aren’t a ‘med weather’ type family .

Perpignan - a fascinating city and a really interesting mix of Spanish and French culture and food. You are also within easy reach of the beach and the mountains for some interesting day trips.

How old are your DC? Eureka in Halifax is great for very young ones (7 or younger I'd say).

I second this and Tirana! Beautiful places. Travelled this year to both and would definitely return.

Depending on how old, interests, how far you're coming from and how you plan to get around when you're here, York with the Railway Museum and a load of other stuff might be good.

Or the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which also has Cannon Hall Farm nearby, I think it's been on TV?

If they like animals, the city parks all have small animal attractions (I like the penguins at Lotherton Hall but there's also Roundhsy Park and Temple Newsham) as well as play areas, woods. Abbey House museum and Kirkstall Abbey also worth visiting.

In Leeds the food scene is great with street food areas in both the market, which is near the Armouries or in the Trinity Centre, which is a modern covered shopping centre that feels like open air. You could get from the Armouries to near the Trinity's by water taxi along the river or by walking and going in the Corn Exchange on the way, which has quirky little shops and sometimes exhibitions.

I would second this. Only had a day trip, but a lot more Interesting than we expected.

8 and 10. Too old? Other suggestions in and around Leeds welcome!
We're spoilt for choice in London.

Thank you!

How do you get there? There don't seem to be many direct flights from UK. Do you fly to Bilbao then train or bus?

Luxembourg very pretty and public transport free;
Trier - the oldest city in Germany (fly to Luxembourg or Frankfurt Hahn);
Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf - easy to go between the 3;
Budapest is gorgeous;
Bratislava also pretty and could be combined with Vienna;
Munich;
Stuttgart
any where along the Mosel - Frankfurt Hahn for flights

also depends on the time of year. Would say for Germany December is great but busy with Christmas markets but all nice no matter what time of year.

I flew into Bilbao for a day and night and moved on to SSeb by coach. Took about an hour or so. I agree SSeb is unrivalled for atmosphere and food. Just a different "Spain" completely!

I spent two days in SSeb and then went to Biarritz and Bayonne. Not mad about Biarritz ( a bit full of itself and full of the surfing type lol), but Bayonne was gorgeous. Lots of other little places around that area. I flew home from Biarritz.