where should i go fro a weekend break

[ETF]

The missus and I want a weekend break somewhere in Europe for the first weekend in November. We've got the monday off. So far we have considered prague, budapest, vienna, rome, dublin, stockholm. We've never been to any of those places before (well I once spent about 4 hours in stockholm but that doesn't count). Recommendations?


I've got a gazillion BA airmiles that i want to use up which may end up limiting choice.

 

[ETF]

Ok vienna budapest and prague are all out due to lack of reward flights. Stockholm looking like a strong contender.

 

[Grand Potentate]

What do you want to do? Sunbathing is probably out...

 

[Fwiffo]

I reckon Dublin's weather will be dreadful at that time.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Which is why I was asking.

 

[Zé Ferreira]

Go visit El Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and then make your way over to Barcelona.

 

[ETF]

What do you want to do? Sunbathing is probably out...

Whatever it is people usually do on city breaks. Spot of sight seeing, spot if shopping, nice meals etc. Weather ain't gonna be brilliant anywhere but we don't mind embracing winteryness by going somewhere cold.

 

[ETF]

I reckon Dublin's weather will be dreadful at that time.

Well yes, but not much more dreadful than England.

 

[ETF]

Go visit El Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and then make your way over to Barcelona.

Both good suggestions but both places I've been before: fancied trying someplace new. Also I'd prefer to stay in one place rather than split the weekend over two places.

 

[ETF]

Ok I booked flights to rome. Anyone got recommendations for things to do/see/eat/buy there?

 

[ETF]

So we had a great time in Rome last weekend. I thoroughly recommend it. Ate so much good food and drank so much wine, think I put on half a stone.

I tried to be #menswear and buy a pair of cardinal's socks from Gammerelli, but they were shut. Dropped into Battistoni, fantastic shop and wanted everything in it (no price tags that I could see, I guess it's the sort of shop where if you have to ask ...). My only purchase was a cheapo cardigan from Boggi. The missus had much more success.

I can recommend a meal at Da Francesco on Piazza del Fico near Piazza Navona. Totally unpretentious, great food, reasonably priced, very popular, more locals than tourists (booking essential). The pizza bianco with porcini was fantastic. Piazza del Fico and the area around was lively with lots of good looking bars full of locals as well as tourists, chief among them Bar del Fico.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Neat. Thanks for the reviews. Did you see the Vatican?

 

[ETF]

Yes we went round the Vatican museums, the Sistine chapel and St Peter's.
We had been on a tour of the Colosseum and Forum the day before and our tour guide gave us a great tip - at the end of the Sistine chapel there are two exits, the one on the right says tour groups only, but you can sneak out that way by pretending to be in a group (no one checks), and it takes you straight to St Peter's, bypassing most of the queue. The frescoes really are lovely, and worth persevering for (it's the last thing you see and you have to walk through seemingly endless rooms and corridors of other stuff to get there, not to mention the queue).
I was more interested in the ancient roman stuff on the whole. The Pantheon is truly astounding when you consider it's age. The colosseum was good but a guided tour was pretty unnecessary. The guide was much more useful round the Forum, she brought to life what would otherwise be a jumble of ruins, pointing out each separate building and what it would have looked like and been used for etc.