3 nights in Europe, where to go?

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

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Looking to go away for three nights at the end of the month. Will be a solo trip and I enjoy modern art, architecture, food (all types from junk food, street food up to Michelin starred dining), cake, cocktails, craft beer and wine. And just generally wondering around.

I can get pretty (or very!) cheap flights to Carcassone (£30), Valencia (£63) or Brussels (£19). Seville (£67) is also possible but it’d be an extra night and trying to make this cheap.

These seem like the best options, but also considering: Nimes, Beziers, Nantes, Bari, Düsseldorf, Palma, Ibiza.

Any other suggestions? Limited to flights from Glasgow/Edinburgh. Been to pretty much all the capitals in Europe so not looking to go back to any of them.

Has anyone been to any of the above and can sing their praises, or tell me they are rubbish?

My alternative idea is to take my tent and go camping in Scotland but figure it’ll probably rain, I’ll get eaten by midgies, it’ll cost a fortune in fuel, the food will be crap and I’ll spend more money on whisky than I’d spend on hotels abroad.
 
Quite partial to Düsseldorf myself having lived there. Great food and drink scene, especially Japanese and Korean due to the big expat community. Good selection of galleries/museums, nice old town, some great little clubs (the iconic Salon Des Amateurs) , tons of beer, naturally. A lot of fancy hotel/cocktail bars and the like as it's the most affluent place in the region. Also has some more edgy punk venues like Zakk and AK47. The airport is very good and has very quick train connection to the city centre. It'll never win any 'most attractive cities' awards, but has its charms... Regularly comes top 10 cities in the world to live in.

Carcassonne is very picturesque, and food is great everywhere in France obviously. Been a very long time since I've been there though.
 
I know next to nothing about modern art, architecture but a friend of mine went to Tallinn in Estonia which they said it had a very nice Art Museum.

Didn't really pay much attention them talking about the museum but it was in Tallinn and that is supposed to be a nice City for sightseeing and stuff.
 
Carcassonne is somewhere I've always wanted to visit. You might even get decent weather too.
 
@mid_gen I had a look at Düsseldorf after you said, but I’ve been scuppered by Ryanair’s airport naming. They fly into Weeze airport which is quite a distance from actual Düsseldorf.
Shame as did some reading and the city does sound good!
 
Ahleckz said:
@mid_gen I had a look at Düsseldorf after you said, but I’ve been scuppered by Ryanair’s airport naming. They fly into Weeze airport which is quite a distance from actual Düsseldorf.
Shame as did some reading and the city does sound good!
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Ah yeah Weeze is nowhere near Duesseldorf, and has no public transport links. You want DUS if you do go there, it's very close to town.
 
Seville is a great city to visit if you can make it work and you'll still get very good weather this time of year. Plenty going on you could easily lose a couple of days there.

Palma is very nice too though a much more relaxed, take your time sort of place. Transport links are good if you stay outside the city centre and the cost of getting around reasonable. Relatively expensive to eat out though conversely not very expensive for pretty good food (if that makes sense).

Sticking to the Germany theme I don't think I've ever visited anywhere in the country and been disappointed. Was last in Hamburg which despite not being a place I'd have particularly picked has lots to offer over a weekend - a very different feel to the city round each corner
 
Düsseldorf has the largest, if not one of the largest Japanese communities in Europe and there is a lot of good Japanese food there....that's where i'd go.
 
Valencia is really nice (I much preferred it to Barcelona actually) great food and some interesting architecture. Not too touristy either
 
Carcassonne is a bit weird. Like, everything's real but it's still kind of fake; tat shops full of medieval swords, themed menus etc.

Going to Riga this week, will report back if you haven't been!
 
I've been to Brussels for a 3 or so nights a couple of times and really enjoyed it. Plenty of Belgian beer (obviously), and from my perspective they've got a good range of food and prices - in part because it's such a multi-national city and you've got a wide range of people from students and interns up to senior business folk.
 
Well neither Nimes nor Carcassonne are 3 day venues for me unless you're hiring a car and seeing the area. Liked both but not 3 days worth. Brussels must be worth a visit I've visited but never really seen the place properly.
 
Jim99 said:
I've been to Brussels for a 3 or so nights a couple of times and really enjoyed it. Plenty of Belgian beer (obviously), and from my perspective they've got a good range of food and prices - in part because it's such a multi-national city and you've got a wide range of people from students and interns up to senior business folk.
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This is a good choice, and Belgium is so small that you're only a short journey from places like Ghent too (40mins on the train)
 
rodenal said:
Seville is a great city to visit if you can make it work and you'll still get very good weather this time of year. Plenty going on you could easily lose a couple of days there.
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Second this, awesome city, easily plenty of things to do for three-nights, would recommend doing the jump-on-off bus for a few hours to see bits of the city you're likely to miss.
Valencia also another worthy city especially for a three-night stay.

Personally Brussels isn't all that unless you make use of the metro and trams (both very good) and venture out a bit as the centre is very much tourist trap central - ultra busy and expensive for what it offers. Two-nights would be plenty; lots of art deco architecture; few decent museums; the Atomium is worthy of a visit although it's a bit of a trek and not much else to do around it; but if you're anywhere near Schaerbeek, try L'Ane Vert for food (it's not just waffles and chips) as it's really good and extremely well priced (French speaking so Google Translate app and/or brush up on your GCSE French).

Other recommendations - Budapest, i appreciate it's very marmite to some but i enjoyed the place and would go back, lots of things to do (do the RiverRide water bus, it's cheesy/cringe but awesome at the same time) for three-nights, great food, museums, architecture etc. Sofia, again great place for a cultured weekend away, full of soviet-era architecture and museums, food is ok but a bit touristy and, three-nights is probably just right.
 
Lots of suggestions, thanks!

To rule some out:
Been to Riga, it’s awesome, but not enough to go back to.
Must have been to Paris around 7 times so that’s out.
Budapest been to when I solo’ed around the Balkans. It’s a brilliant solo destination and going again next year.
Berlin been to three times.
Belgrade I’ve been to, but a cool city. Eat lots of Borak!

I think Valencia is winning, flight times are good (arrive 9pm on Saturday (taking hand luggage so straight off the plane to a bar!) leave the 10pm on Tuesday). Accommodation looks pretty cheap, can get an Airbnb for £40 a night which is relatively central.

Suspect Carcassone is too small, and too fake as suggested.
Brussels is cheap to get to but will be pricier when there, and I’ve been so best discounted.
 
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