I have spent hours combing the internet and still am struggling with this …DH and I have 7-10 days we could spent virtually anywhere. This is not our ‘splurge’ vacation but we are willing to spend what it takes to have a nice time. The details:

 We love to explore and see new things, but want to assure a leisurely pace.
 We like cities and countrysides, but not beaches for this type of vacation.
 We would prefer to leave the Saturday before Thanksgiving and we can return as late as 10 days later.
 We are leaning toward Europe but are open to other suggestions. We have both spent enough time in England, Ireland and the Madrid area. Moderate/warm weather is a plus. Never have been to Paris…
 At most, we want to unpack twice, meaning no more than 2 hotel/destinations; we are also allured by the idea of a cruise.

Help! Any suggestions or advice are greatly appreciated.

I would head to Andalucia in Southern Spain. In 7-10 days you could see Seville, Cordoba, Ronda and Granada maybe a little more maybe a little less depending on the length of your trip and your style.

We did this in (mid) November and temperatures were in the 70's with sunny days, in other words, perfect. I can't imagine anyone going in summer when it is routinely 95F - 100F. We fly into Seville and out of Granada which worked very well.

Portugal might be one alternative (though I haven't been).

hi ginny,

i was thinking Andalucia as well. though as Bardo says you might want to think of three centres rather than two.

alternativly, Sicily would be very nice.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

Just saw your last requirement about two hotels max. Andalusia would still work: 4-5 nights in Seville (day trip to Cordorba via train), and 3-4 nights in Granada (with a one or two day car rental for day trip(s) to Alpujarras, Antequera, Nerja, etc.).

Thanks for you help so far. My husband has seen most of Spain but not Barcelona. I have been areading weather posts about Paris here -- that type of weather would not bother us. If we were to split our time, could we drive fairly easily between Barcelona and Paris? How long would that take, or is there a better alternative? Also, how about half Athens and half Istanbul?

We have same problem [hardly a problem] in the same time frame with similar issues. We're thinking seriously about Portugal .. Lisbon for 5 days and countryside [maybe Evora] for 3. We're also thinking about Amsterdam and Berlin, although wife wonders if it will be too cold.

We've been to Madrid in December and Barcelona in July [5 days each], but have never been to southern Spain. You could easily spend most of time in Barcelona and a few days in Valencia. We took day trip by train from Barcelona to Girona and it was very interesting.

Google maps says Barcelona to Paris is 9+ hour drive. If you do that maybe you should fly. Good luck. - Steve in Nantucket, MA

Sevilla, Granada, Ronda, etc. Anywhere in southern Spain.

Since you've done Spain and your husband has seen most of it, I'd vote for southeastern Europe. Sicily, Athens, Instanbul. And a cruise sounds lovely, too. They usually "drive" at night and port in the a.m. But if you're looking for R&R, I think a cruise is more work than you'd want. (on/off/on/off/etc)

Search Fodors for trip reports to Athens and Istanbul. I bet you'll find some great ideas!

Have a wonderful trip!

Sicily or Athens or Instanbul could all be nice.

Maybe I'm just spoiled/softy, but I like NICE weather when I'm on vacation. It sounds like you travel enough that you could save Paris and Barcelona for a Spring, Summer or Fall trip.

For less chilly weather in late November you need to head to southern Spain, perhaps Sicily or Malta. The rest of europe will range from chilly to cold. And that won;t be beach weather - but probably highs around 60 at most.

If you want really weather at that time of year you need the Carib or Asia.

Barcelona was pleasantly warm last weeek - early September. I suspect that it might be on the chilly side by November - certainly not as warm as I gather you would like.

I agree that GReece, Turkey or sicily are the places to head for in europe that time of year.

YOu either want to go south (Naples, Southern spain or portugal) Tavira ( in Portugal) is nice with lovely restaurants, bird watching and water poodles (of Obama fame) come from here. Or maybe Southen France Arles,Nimes, Avignon will work out ok unless the Mistral is running in which place it will be a bit bitter. Short days, cool nights

I agree that Sicily, Portugal or Andalucia would offer the best weather. The problem is you say you want only two bases and at least Sicily and Portugal work best if you are driving and can do a lot of one or two night stays. We spent 6 days in Lisbon (most people seem to spend less) but the rest of our Portugal trip was all one or two nights. Very enjoyable but different kind of travel than you say you want. Andalucia would work with only two bases (our trip was three but you could do Cordoba as a day trip from Seville). But you say you've spend time in Spain.

I did a trip your length in March a few years ago split 6 days Paris/4 Barcelona and that was great. We flew easyjet between them.

Re Istanbul/Athens, I did both this year but in two separate trips. We did 8 days in March to Istanbul (all eight nights at one hotel) and weren't bored. With a couple more days you could easily do another location in Turkey. I think I just read somewhere that there is new flight service between Athens and Istanbul but don't recall which carrier. As of last year when I was researching, there were very few options to go between those two cities. We did Athens as part of a two week trip that included islands and mainland Greece. But by Nov I think the ferry schedules are slim so probably not the best time of year.

What I would do is pick one city that you'd like to see despite the weather being "crisp" (Paris? London?) and then check easy jet to see where you can fly easily. They fly out of Orly so it's pretty painless for Paris at least.

I'm doing 7 nights in Paris in late Nov (but I picked Paris because I'm visiting someone) with four days in the middle of that in Nice. I'm thinking (hoping) the Cote d'Azur will be a tad warmer than Paris.

Thanks, everyone. Isabel, your comments "despite the weather" really resonated with me. We are leaning toward Paris for 7 nights in an apartment, and perhaps then fly somewhere else for 3 more nights. I think we’ll save Turkey and Greece for a cruise. Thanks again.

We were in Paris in November a few years back and had a wonderful time. It was chilly at times, but nothing that a sweater and jacket/lightweight coat and scarf couldn't fix. During the sunny days it actually warmed up quite nicely.

Alternatively, we were in Croatia in November in 06 and it was lovely. Long sleeves during the days and a light jacket for the evenings were fine. The coast is beautiful and we had many towns all to ourselves because it was off-season.

Tracy