Mini-break me

July 2, 2016 8:06 AM

In search of several weekend-length mini-breaks in Europe. Where do I go?

So, through a ridiculous stroke of luck (which probably nullified my karma and doomed me to tripping over my own feet and always getting to the bus stop just as the bus leaves for the next several years), I have a travel voucher worth £4000 for one of those "book your plane and hotel simultaneously through us" travel websites. Said voucher can be used multiple times until all the credit is used up, and is valid until the end of May next year.

I'm going to be studying starting this coming October, so I can't take terribly long holidays unless I book for next summer before the voucher expires, but - judging by the ~£300 I spent for a weekend break in Berlin last May - the voucher should be enough for a dozen trips, more if I'm parsimonious and book well in advance. (Hell, I was idly looking at prices for Vienna and 10 days in a good hotel would cost me ~£500 if booked sufficiently in advance.)

So, where do I go?

Assume the following:

• Female, 30s, sole traveler
• Flying out from London
• No desire to spend half a day on a flight unless it's for a longer holiday, as more than a couple hours flying would cut into sightseeing time
• I am a EU national with an ID card, so anything EU or that follows the same travel rules is game (I could get a passport, and probably will, but see the point above - anywhere I'd need a passport to get to would require longer travel time by default)
• I love art and monuments (a day spent wandering around a museum or visiting castles or churches or Roman ruins or somesuch is my idea of a good time)

For what it's worth, here's what already on my very rough list of possible destinations: Amsterdam, Vienna, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Florence, Bruges, Brussels. But those all seem very... obvious (and most of them are less "I want to go there" and more "I want to go back there", since I've already been).

Suggestions that include when to go, or when to avoid going, would be especially welcome (ie. "for the love of God don't go to Vienna in the winter, you'll freeze your ass off").

Thanks!

posted by sailoreagle to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Two weeks ago, I spent a weekend in Gdańsk, in the old town area, and it was really pretty! (And ridiculously, shockingly cheap.) It's pretty small but has quite a few museums around, and they do boat tours on the Motława. Looks like you can go nonstop from Luton or Stansted, too, in a bit over 2 hours. So that's one idea.
posted by sldownard at 8:22 AM on July 2, 2016

The Baltic capitals are about 2.5hrs, but they might count as too obvious.

Northern: Gdansk, Stockholm, Copenhagen (and Malmö)
Southern: Toulouse, Nîmes, Trieste, Ljubljana
posted by holgate at 8:42 AM on July 2, 2016

Dare I suggest my home town Luxembourg? Tiny and packed full of history and culture. Not that cheap tho.
Salzburg is delightful. Easyjet fly from LGW during the winter months I think (no direct flight in summer afaik).
Bilbao? 1.55h, so just under your limit ;)
And yeah, all the ex Eastern Block capitals (tho they might be obvious?)
And Venice.

I am very jealous, enjoy your trips!!!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 8:50 AM on July 2, 2016

Granada to see the Alhambra. Don't go in the summer, it's unbearably hot. Athens. Oslo or Bergen in the summer. Krakow.
posted by kadia_a at 9:48 AM on July 2, 2016

Stockholm too, in the summer, and Tallinn.

UK -> Amsterdam is great on the ferry (train straight to the terminal, then overnight and you wake up in the Netherlands).
posted by katrielalex at 10:45 AM on July 2, 2016

Lucky you! Other parts of Italy that are not Rome or Venice: I have loved Sicily, Naples, the 'boot' of Italy (can't remember the cities), the Amalfi Coast, and Dolomites in the summer is beautiful.

I have never been through Corsica but I have heard many good things about it.

We were at San Sebastián/ Bilbao and loved it. Guggenheim Museum is amazing.

If you fly economy class from Stockholm to Sydney, prices are about <£400 for a round trip airfare. (of course, you have to get to Stockholm first).
posted by moiraine at 10:56 AM on July 2, 2016

Lyon, France! 2 days is perfect. Explore secret hidden tunnels in the old city (Vieux Lyon), which has been around since the 1300s.

Mont Saint-Michel: stunning castle with an abbey with lots of history, great views, and secret stairways to explore.
posted by glass origami robot at 11:18 AM on July 2, 2016

I would strongly suggest the Basque Country in mid-January (as unlikely as that may sound). San Sebastian/Donostia is currently joint European Capital of Culture and celebrates its namesake's Saint's day every 20th of January with a tremendous Tamborrada (drum parade) lasting 24 hours. This small city of 180,000 inhabitants has an incredibly scenic location on the Atlantic coast, an unrivalled cuisine (more Michelin stars per 100,000 population than almost anywhere else on earth), and is close to several other outstanding tourist destinations: Bilbao for the Guggenheim of course - but don't forgo an estuary crossing on the World Heritage registered Puente Vizcaya transporter bridge; Guernica for the tragic history of the world's first aerial city bombardment; Getaria for the breathtaking Balenciaga fashion museum; and Deba for the incredible palaeolithic painted cave of Ekain (it boasts horses rather than the bison seen at Altamira in neighbouring Asturias). Fly Vueling/Iberia or BA from Gatwick to Bilbao or EasyJet from Stansted to Bilbao - the small but distinctive airport was an early work of renowned architect Santiago Calatrava and has a good frequent public bus connection (75 minutes) to Donostia. Iberia's website has great taster segments listing 60 things to do or see in and around Donostia. Of note, liberal Donostia has a great LGBT scene (I have friends in that community but am not myself involved) and Rafael Moneo's new Kursaal concert building has helped put it on the map as an Arts events destination (the SS International Film Festival held in September is Europe's 4th oldest). Simon Calder recently gushed about 48 hours in the city in the Independent. Although obviously biased - my daughter lives there - I must say that I have been to the Tamborrada three times, and it has never rained once, with brilliant winter sunshine throughout. After two days of living on Pintxos (the Basque version of Tapas) and Txakoli (Basque young dry white wine) you will find returning to London rather dreary!
posted by kairab at 11:32 AM on July 2, 2016

Lille. Nord-pas-de-Calais was part of Flanders, which means beer.
posted by brujita at 2:43 PM on July 2, 2016

Budapest! We went last year and we're going again this year. Good food, lovely architecture, hot springs, fun bar scene, varied museums/art/culture stuff going on and it's really affordable. I can't recommend it highly enough. You can also fly there with Jet2 who are a halfway-decent budget airline. Mid-August is hot, cooling steadily as you go further along in the year.
Also if you're not wedded to booking a hotel with your magic ticket, you could get an Air BnB pretty much anywhere in the city for £25 - £40 a night. A bit more for the nicer ones.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:04 AM on July 4, 2016

If you've never been to Basel, please add it to your list! The flight's only an hour and a half. The Wikivoyage article I've linked to makes the argument for visiting more thoroughly than I can, but there's beautiful architecture, basilisks everywhere, the excellent Tinguely fountain, all sorts of museums, nearby Roman ruins (ten minutes on the train), the river Rhine...
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:16 AM on July 9, 2016