Europe weekend inspiration

[FoxHedgehogBadger]

I want a weekend break over the next month or two but I’m really lost for inspiration, mind has gone blank. I’ve done a lot of city breaks, mostly capital cities, where I see the standard things - a museum, art gallery, palace, etc.
Please can I have suggestions of places you might have had a lovely experience, or enjoyed a stunning view, done an activity, or just done something different?
It needs to be Europe for the short travel (from London) as it’ll only be a Friday-Sunday sort of break.

Off to Seville on Monday. Have been before, absolutely love it

Malaga was great. 10 mins to the turn from airport. Great castle to climb. And the best gluten free options according to my GF friend. And wine is €4-5 a glass!

What about staying outside Naples on the train route to Sorrento and visiting Vesuvius and Pompeii?

Strasbourg
Salzburg
Rome
Valetta
Seville
Valencia
Lisbon
Porto
Monte Carlo
Cologne

If Italy appeals then you could try Bergamo or Trento in the north, or Syracuse in Sicily. These are often overlooked tourists places but are all stunning with plenty to see. Obviously food, wine and coffee will be great too because Italy.

We went summertime snd it was lovely 😊

I know exactly what you mean about something different from the standard city break OP.

You could:

fly to a Greek island and have a beach based short break. Or fly to Split and get a boat to a Croatian island (Brac is close and lovely)

go to San Sebastian and do pintxo (tapas) bar hopping, there’s also a beach

fly to a mountain location and go walking in the mountains - although there can be quite a long transfer to get anywhere high from the airport.

Fly to Split, travel to Omis (1hr) and do canyoning, rafting and other adrenaline activities

Go on a short small ship cruise - there are 3-4 night trips available

Fly to Tromso for hiking, boat trips in the fjords and the midnight sun

I did a fortnight of European cities last September spending two nights in each.

I was disappointed in Vienna, surprisingly, and while Innsbruck is pretty in terms of it's surroundings I wasn't struck by the place itself.

The three places that I absolutely adored, none of which is been to before, were Florence, Strasbourg and Lucerne. All beautiful. Lucerne has less to do and it's expensive but perfect for two nights. Strasbourg and Florence have an incredible amount to do and food in both was fabulous.

Other cities I've loved include Bologna, Strasbourg, Brussels, Porto and Copenhagen.

Chanel Ab Fab in Villefranche sur Mer . 6 miles up the road from Nice . Beach, very pretty, seaside village ,views over to Cap Ferret. A beach, a Citadel and fabulous bars and restaurants. Walk to the Mouton Rothschild villa on Cap Ferret which is their version of National Trust.
Small enough so it feels like “yours”. Actually it’s mine ( got married there)

Interlaken and go out into the Alps on the Swiss railways. It’s just beautiful! We went in early September.

Bologna is brilliant. Get the train to Ferrara, Palma, Modena, Ravenna or go to the Ferrari museum. Something different. Definitely good food and markets.

Paris - less visited areas. LV Foundation - have you been. Alaia studio exhibition and cafe? Always new things to see and do.

Lisbon, Porto, Padua, Valletta, Palermo, northern Spain for food, Ireland and Iceland for scenery and Bordeaux for a wine escape.

Avignon has a festival in the summer. We left just before it started but looked like it'd be great fun. It's a fabulous small city to just hang out in with loads of easy links to interesting places nearby.

I really enjoyed Rotterdam. Great food hall, historic trams, interesting ar chitecture like the cube houses, a good maritime museum, and the best bit was a boat tour round the huge industrial port seeing all the vast containers being loaded and then past the skyline (very modern as mostly smashed to bits in ww2). We also found the small bit that was historically and went to see a windmill. Great for a long weekend.

Ghent - really underrated city with loads to see, lovely vibe and lots of bars/restaurants if you just want to chill. Great public transport and a short train ride to Bruges if you want to include as well.

Agree, we went out to Gexto to see the gondola bridge. The kids were very intrigued by the moving walkways on the pavement going up the hill on the other side of the river

Second San Sebastian. Really great food and a wonderful setting by the sea (with an amazing beach).

I'm a bit confused why you think galleries, museums etc are generic when they are each full of unique treasures you can't see anywhere else? If you're not interested in paintings etc, it's not compulsory to go there. One of my parents is visually impaired so they never go to galleries. They like food shops, cathedrals and train stations so visit those instead. Personally I love the galleries and also just touring around living like a local.

What do you actually enjoy doing? I wonder if you'd be better saving your time and money for a longer trip, because Friday to Sunday by plane is mostly going to land you city-adjacent.

I absolutely loved the Basque country so would recommend San Sebastian or Bilbao. Or how about taking a sleeper train to Scotland or Cornwall for something a little bit different?

Annecy- city, lake, beach, hiking and biking.
Malaga- great food and beach city
Palma- lovely feel and gorgeous city with beach option.

Ryanair to Trieste, or Goteborg? Small but explorable.

I've found a super cheap flight to Zagreb so I'm going in late summer for a weekend.

Thanks so much for this, we have booked exactly what you suggested and really looking forward to it!

Already have a trip to Vilnius planned for this winter. I hear good things from people who have been, looking forward to that a lot!

Pompeii is a great suggestion, thank you! I wanted to go there for a while and had forgotten about it so it’s going on the travel wish list!

@deplorabelle I didn’t say anything was generic? I said I’ve done a lot of city breaks and was looking to do something different. I enjoyed all of my city breaks a lot, but sometimes it’s nice to do something else. Nothing to be confused about.

Thank you so much everyone, there are some brilliant ideas here! I feel privileged that I have already visited many of the places suggested - I love to travel so I’ve explored many places and have really enjoyed them all. A lot of the suggestions given here are forming a travel wish list for me now!

Oh fantastic! You’ll have a brilliant time. So much to see. Check out the Innsbruck Card. You can buy it at the visitor centre and it’ll give you entry to both gondolas, public transport, the tourist bus and ALL of the museums and attractions. I LOVED the bergeisl slope even though the lift was broken so 400 steps up 🤪. The Swarovski shop is cool but didn’t go out to the museum thingy

Please report back!

Ah you actually said standard rather than generic.