My votes also for Prague, Berlin, Barcelona and Dublin. I've known of stag parties in Edinburgh and Costa del Sol as well as Istanbul.
But it really depends on which city you'll be originating from--see which of the fodorites' suggested cities have direct flights/good airfares.

Hi suze
>I never understand why people call Venice "couples" city. <

Well it's not exclusively for couples, but it is a great place for couples.

((I))

Prague has cheap beer and loads of nightlife, but you say that's off anyway. I went to Barcelona with friends and it was great. It has a brilliant music scene, if you're into that sort of thing.

My vote would be for Munich. Have you considered Rome? There are plenty of places drinking, nightlife I'm assuming (although really not my thing so not sure), and tons of sightseeing attractions.

Tracy

Another vote for Barcelona. The whole city is pulsing on the weekends, especially in the clubs down by the beach.

Stop messing about with these betwetter's cities and go to Tallin - Lots of culture and architecture etc, and nighlife of EVERY concievable kind (nudge nudge, wink wink). It's also dirt cheap and not running alive with yanks. Oh.

You can even go to stockholm for the day.

Ira, I understand it's romantic, but it's also an easy city to travel solo because of its smaller size, compactness, and lack of traffic
:-)

Cotes, You aren't considering Amsterdam because you think you'll have TOO much fun? That's a good one!

I love Munich but the nightlife there would be tame when compared to Barcelona (both are tame when compared to Berlin but you've obviously ruled that out).

Ask some Germans about the "Bible Belt" and they'll tell you Munich is the buckle.

Barcelona, if you can get a direct flight from your city

At first I was going to vote for Amsterdam, but Amsterdam has too many young people (16-30), so I would recommend Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, or Munich.

I think 40-year olds could feel a little old in Amsterdam. When I was there I saw a guy with over 100 piercings in his face. That is when I decided, I don't want any holes in my body.

Given that this question was posted almost a year ago, I suppose that the renewed discussion is redundant.

Maybe he'll see this and let us know where they ended up and how it went.