Which city break?

[andye30m3]

Well every year my work take us away for a long weekend and the time has come to try and decide where we all want to head off to.

I have to choose four of the following to vote for and as I'm not 100% sure I thought I'd open it up to PH for any suggestions.

Needs to have plenty to see and do during the day, a couple of decent but not extortionate restaurants for the evening and a few nice bars.

Short list from the easyjet destinations are:

Athens
Barcelona
Bordeaux
Budapest
Cologne
Dubrovnik
Geneva
Grenoble
Hamburg
Innsbruck
Krakow
Malta
Marrakech
Marseille
Milan
Munich
Naples
Palermo
Pisa
Porto
Rome
Salzburg
Valencia
Venice
Vienna

So which would you recommend? and why and any you'd not bother with?

currently tempted with the Budapest and Marrakech but open to suggestions.

[Ultuous]

Barcelona's great, and appears to meet all of your criteria.... I know it's 'fashionable' to like it these days, but it really is a wonderful city - probably the best holiday I've ever had in Europe!

[Silver993tt]

Hamburg, Vienna or something a little different - Malta

By the way, Malta isn't a city, it's a country. Valletta is the capital of Malta (it's been in the news alot recently)

If you go to Malta, make sure you stay in the Portomaso Hilton. Fabulous hotel in an area full of reataurants/bars etc. The hotel also has a Blue Elephant Thai reataurant which is superb.

Edited by Silver993tt on Tuesday 1st March 09:58

[Bill]

Barcelona and Venice are the obvious choices, but both are very touristy and can be pretty expensive and restaurants can be mediocre if you don't choose carefully.

Vienna is stunning, but I have to admit I'm not sure how much there is to do (And what I am aware of is "culture").

Geneva old town is lovely but the rest is pretty grotty, handy for the Alps though...

I love Marrakech but it's pretty hardcore (as in intense) and it depends on how the women in your group like to dress as the hassle can get a bit much.

You don't have Lisbon on your list which should be IMO, as it's got the feel of Barcelona but with far fewer tourists.

[Ultuous]

I love Malta (going for a week this summer for the 3rd year running!) and certainly agree it's worth considering, but I'd have some reservations for a works trip, as it could be a bit too chilled for some - St Julians has bars and clubs, but it's not a 'City Break' in the traditional sense, and personally I think you need at least a week to explore what the island has to offer to any degree!

Bill said:

Barcelona and Venice are the obvious choices, but both are very touristy and can be pretty expensive and restaurants can be mediocre if you don't choose carefully.

Agreed - I can only speak for Barcelona, but the flights tend to be cheap and hotels relatively expensive (making a short break a good way of doing it financially speaking!)... Las Ramblas in particular is horribly touristy, and gave us completely the wrong impression of the place on our first day....

It's definitely worth researching a few eateries in advance - found a recommendation on here for a street called "Enric de Granados" IIRC which had some fab restaurants at very reasonable prices, and despite being central was off beaten the tourist track!!

[andye30m3]

Cheers for the replies

I can see Barcelona winning but despite everyone I Know who's been there saying it's a great place it just feels a bit unadventurous.

It will be all blokes escept 1 going so the issues with Marrakesh might not be to much of a consideration

Haven't listed Lisbon as we went there the 2008, agree it was a great city.

We did Istanbul 2009 which I think I preferred just because it was a bit different from the traditional european destinations.

[BigAlinEmbra]

I really enjoyed Krakow, although I went for New Year and I found that the cold weather made Auschwitz all the more atmospheric. Possibly one of those cities that's better for a winter than summer break.

Budapest is visually stunning and cheaper for food and drink than Western Europe, but you can still use euros. Wee bit pricier than Krakow in my view.

Avoid Milan, of all the cities I've been to in the world, this is my least favourite. Not that much to see and do given the size of it, and a lot of tourist rip off places in the city centre. I try not to moan about anywhere I've been in favour of finding the positives, but I really didn't bond with this place.
Go for Bologna or Bergamo instead if you want Northern Italy.

I've been trying to sort a trip to Barcelona for years, but somehow it always eludes me!
On the basis I haven't been, I'll recommend it.

[Jonnas]

Wouldn't go back to Marrakesh if you paid me. I was hoping to rock up and have a smoke with the Rolling Stones in my Kaftan and all I got was food poisoning and a monkey chucked on my shoulder every 5 minutes with a demand for money to get it off. Too much hasstle everywhere you go and the whole place stinks of st which sums it up nicely as far as I'm concerned.

I didn't have a good time........

[Markytop]

I know it wasnt on your original list (not sure if EasyJet is the only way you can get there?) but what about Berlin? Plenty to see and do, and not too expensive for a major capital city.
I went in December and loved it - will hopefully be going back again in the summer.

[andye30m3]

Thanks again for the replies

Maybe Marrakech isn't quite as good an idea as I first though!

I think Berlin's off the list as they went there the year before I joined, people here speak very fondly of the trip there so I might be somewhere I head to on my own, It's not somewhere I'd have considered before.

[Lastinclass]

Budapest is great, dinner in the Belcanto next to the opera house is great for the waiters floor show!!

I see Pisa on the list, just fly to Pisa and get on the train at the airport. In an hour you will be in Florence - my favourite city in the world!!

Someone else mentioned Bergamo - it's a great place to go, the old town has great views in every direction for miles. 10 minutes in a taxi from airport to town centre, it's also an hour from Milan by train if you feel you really must visit the place. (I wouldn't bother) The largest indoor shopping mall in Italy if that floats your boat.

[mathewb]

Got to be Vienna, though to Easyjet land at the real Vienna airport or and airport in a different time zone? If the former, go for it

[dienamic]

If I were you I'd scrub Athens off the list. The place is an absolute st-hole.

[Silver993tt]

Berlin would definetly be on my list. It's only a 2 hour drive/train journey from Hamburg, so possible to do two great cities in one go

[PaulHogan]

Innsbruck or Florence (Pisa)

[fatboy b]

We did Barcelona a couple of years back and really loved it. BA were cheaper than Easyjet too.

Also love Salzburg, been about 6 times now.

[alfa pint]

What sort of interests does your work group have?

Barcelona is awesome if you're into art or architecture and the climate there is really nice. If that doesn't float your boat, then try somewhere else. Bordeaux for wine and food perhaps? Pisa to Florence for a bit of culture?

Agree that there's not much going on in Geneva unless you ski. The lake's lovely, but it's a bit of trek for a bit of boating around. There's some reasonable shopping, but a lot of the city is just grim.

Only stayed in Vienna and Salzburg for a night each. Not sure if there's enough there for a whole weekend's worth of activities, but worth looking at white water rafting / similar outdoors stuff in that area.

[The Leaper]

Wife and I do one or two city breaks in Europe and maybe USA each year. We do like culture, sight seeing and eating out. Can recommend Verona, Bologna, Pisa (no more than a day needed there), Budapest, Brussels, Venice, Lisbon, Boston, Chicago (especially fab, been there quite a lot)

From postings earlier on this site Barcelona looks good, which is great as we're going there for 4 nights next week! I'll post up my thoughts when I get back.

Our next trip must be to Florence...I will insist!

R.

[The Leaper]

Now back from Barcelona after 5 days/4 nights. Comments are as follows:

• Fab place for a visit. We're into culture, museums, eating out etc and BCN was excellent

• BCN is a large place to go for a short trip so best to decide what you want to do and see before you go

• Before we left the UK we booked a walking tour via the web: very good. Old Town (Barri Gotic District) a must see place in our view.

• We bought the 2 day Tourist Bus ticket. Not bad value at €30 each. The two routes (three in summer)covered a very large area and went to all the top places. In view of queues for the busses at top spots we'd recommend a bit of care selecting where to get off etc because of getting back on when the routes are very busy.

• The Sagrada Familia is the no. 1 place to see and the queue to get in can be quite long. Well worth it though.

• Restaurants are everywhere. We paid between €85 and €110 for an evening meal for two with drinks and wine, which was OK with us. Get away from the seriously touristy areas for the better deals...stop for a coffee on La Rambla and the value is poor.

• We wanted a 4* hotel centrally placed and that worked very well. All the modern franchised hotels are a bit out of the centre.

• BCN Airport puts Heathrow and Gatwick to shame!

• Weather was around 14/16 C but it was COLD: take some warm clothes at this time of year.

Hope this helps.

R.

[JuniorD]

I know Vienna and Salzburg really well and would say that for a long weekend Salzburg is a nice spot but but from the list I'd go Rome which is absolutely breathtaking. Or else go to Budapest and party it up.