Recommendations cities that suit a 48-hour break

[ginforall]

We’ve just returned from Porto where we went for 48 hours. It was brilliant, just the right size for a short break, very walkable, great food, lovely atmosphere in the evening by the river. We felt like 48 hours was the perfect amount of time there (I know we could have spent longer and explored outside the city more but loved the convenience of the small city).

Any recommendations for other small, walkable, cities where 48 hours is a sensible amount of time to spend there?

Bruges

Copenhagen

Seville

Bruges is lovely. Rotterdam also. And if in the UK you can ferry there from Hull. Madrid is easy for a few days. La Rochelle. Santander.

Brussels, Bergamo.

Budapest

Verona.

Belfast

Ghent. Stunning and a more vibrant authentic version of the manicured twee of Bruges IMO. Great to walk around, plenty going on, and wonderful bars and restaurants all along the river where you can eat and drink and people watch to your heart's content. Boat trips are great, the guides/captains are very entertaining. My ten cents. Easy hop on the train from Brussels if flying in.

48 hours isn’t enough for Copenhagen, in my opinion.

I’d say Cologne, Cannes, Avignon, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Lucerne, Bordeaux and Strasbourg.

Some great ideas here that I wouldn’t have thought of.

I’ve been to Copenhagen and did really enjoy it.

Ghent sounds great.

Would like to visit Budapest so interesting to hear you think 48 hours is enough @BreadInCaptivity

Nimes or Lille

I did Luxembourg this year and 48 hours was perfect. Plus free public transport!

Gdansk or Vilnius

Presumably 48 hours not including the two days travelling?

I'm of an age now where I'm not prepared to get up at silly o clock for a flight to only go somewhere for two days. So I base my main holiday around a city I want to visit.

This summer I also went to Porto but it was part of my week long holiday in Northern Portugal. I loved Porto (have been before in the winter) and it's not huge but the walking involves walking up and down massive steep hills and tons of steps - just to warn anyone!

We did four days in Copenhagen recently and I’d have happily spent longer! Nice would be good (but flight times are terrible from my local airport. I did Paris with my mum and sister last year - we just did two days and it was great!

Bergamo is a good suggestion.

You can do Rome easily in 2 days. I done a few timed in a day trip with the olds

I genuinely think almost any city suits a short trip - obviously you can always stay longer and do more, but if you just pick a couple things and spend the rest of the time wandering any city would be lovely. I usually just picked based on flight times and distance from the airport as I wouldn’t want to spend hours on a bus for a short trip.

Strasbourg

It doesn't have to take a whole day to travel. I often fly somewhere after work on Friday night then back on Sunday night.
OP look at where you can fly to for a weekend. Most places work, even if it's a big city you don't have to do/see everything

Lucerne. Fly to Zurich and it's about an hour by train.

I don't think 48 hours is anywhere near enough for Budapest! My suggestions are Montpellier or Cork.

Helsinki

Malaga or Bordeaux?