Short break recommendations

[Desert76]

At the beginning of September, 3-4 nights. In Europe rather than UK.
Just DH and I. We are thinking Berlin, which neither of us have been to, but would be keen to hear other recommendations.
We have previously enjoyed Paris, Lisbon, Munich, Salzburg, Rome, Nice, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam to give an idea.
But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a city break. We’d definitely consider the coast but would like a bit of culture too - prefer quirky museums to art galleries, and hearty local food to high end restaurants. We’d want somewhere walkable or with good public transport.

Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm?

Deffo tick off Berlin - I've not been but it's on my list too.
Prague - not quite enough for a whole week IME; might feel wintery
Bratislava - day trip(s) to Vienna
Vienna - see the Lipizzaner horses! Solid, bourgeois city
Barcelona - so badass, could be mild weather; go out to the Freixenet winery for a day
Bordeaux - full of good basics and devoted to good eating
Bergen - good for a long weekend, v proud as a post-Hanseatic
Brussels

Barcelona
porto
budapest

Barcelona! It’s a lovely temperature in September and has some quirky museums - White Rabbit, Banksy, Casa Battlo, CosmoCaixa etc…

Have done loads of these trips. Seville, Budapest or just back from Ljubljana/Lake Bled are my favourites.
Vienna is nicer at Xmas.

Naples,my favourite city ever.

Coastal-wise - Malaga, Palma, Barcelona and Nice are all lovely.

Seville, Porto, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Bruges, Dubrovnik, Venice, Bologna, Lucca and/or Florence (via Pisa).

Berlin is also a great city, the museums are amazing and the modern history is so tangible.

Basically, choose a city in Europe and I reckon you’ll be grand.

Strasbourg is ridiculously pretty

Seville

Stockholm

And also, I’ve had the opportunity to visit some other Flemish cities/large towns this last year, and they’re lovely - like calmer Amsterdams.

Reykjavik- We spent only 4 days there and walked around the city. National Museum of Iceland was very interesting. The penis museum was quirky and something I've never seen before! We did a golden circle tour and went to the Blue Lagoon en-route back to the airport. Also did Northern lights, but we went in Dec. You'd have FAR more sunshine hours than we did!

Berlin- DH had a conference so I travelled/walked about most days on my own and felt very safe. Amazing museums on museum Island including seeing the Nefertiti bust. I also went to a pathology museum and the Jewish museum which were also fascinating. Also all the WW2 history.

Malaga- The town, not the coastal resorts. Easy to walk around, lots to see including the Picasso museum, castle, beach area, Atarazanas fresh food market and great food. An interesting day trip via train to Ronda to see the famous bridge. In Sept, it will be still be hotter the above 2 options.

Thank you, some of these we wouldn’t have considered and sound interesting, would never have thought of Malaga!

Rekjavik, Vienna and Stockholm I think will be more expensive, but are definitely on the list for one day.

Budapest I would love, but DH isn’t keen because he disapproves of their current president too much.

I think we are going to research and price up flights and accommodation for Berlin, Seville, Malaga and Strasbourg (DH has just started reading about Strasbourg on the back of this thread, and keeps exclaiming “this sounds perfect” )

Strasbourg is lovely but small. Unless you travel around the region I wouldn't do it for a 3-4 day break. Could you rent a car and explore? There are so many pretty towns, castles and vineyards to explore.

Berlin definitely, Vienna is also on our list.

We are off to Florence this year, me the second time but this time with DD and DH.

I'm flying to Basel later in the year and will take the train up to Strasbourg via Colmar and other lovely looking towns on the French Alsace side. Then back down the German side with a few stops and home from Basel. Early stage planning but it looks amazing. I'll have a week though.

Vilnius?
good value, medieval old town, museum of occupation is v interesting, beautiful architecture and the bohemian area: free republic of uzupis.

Really enjoyed Porto last October.
Over the years I've also done Rome, Milan, Venice, Berlin, Prague, Poznan, Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow and Tallinn

I think Rome, Gdansk and Porto have been my favourites

Malaga has everything on your list, and more.

Berlin is a good choice, enjoyed our visit a lot. Porto and Bilbao other good options, not currently on your list.

Accommodation recommendations:

Berlin- AirBnB near checkpoint Charlie. Will link when I find where it was
Malaga- 1st visit, we stayed at NH Malaga which is a hotel. Pool, nice rooms, central. www.nh-hotels.com/en/hotel/nh-malaga

The subsequent times we stayed in these apartments which are near the Atarazanas fresh fruit/veg market. There is also a lidl nearby. I liked being able to eat out, but also have breakfast in the apartment if wanted. Also having a separate bedroom and living area is my preferred now.https://www.santacruz-apartments.com/index.php?lng=en

If you can convince DH on Budapest, we stayed here in Nov. In the Jewish quarter and walkable to everything. Its an apartment, but with a 24hr, English speaking concierge. They minded our bags when we arrived on an early flight, provided maps and recommendations and also booked an early taxi for us. firsthost.hu/budapest/elisabeth-downtown-apartments/en

Granada.

Porto, Prague or Malaga.

Bergen?

I came on to recommend Vilnius too. Kaunas is also nice and is about 45 minutes by train from there.

I am a bit like a broken record but i always recommend Gdansk on these posts. We really enjoyed our trip there.

Berlin is a fantastic city, so much to see and so much history, especially regarding WW2 if you are in to that kind of thing. Really recommend visiting here!

Valencia is also a brilliant place to visit, the City of Arts & Sciences is super cool and has a really amazing aquarium then the old town has lots of lovely architecture.

A Dutch friend of mine recommended Utrecht, but we haven’t visited there yet so can’t comment!