Iowa_Redhead

My last day at my current job is 4/22 and I'll start my next job on 5/2, giving me a week off. I need to clean my house, take down the Christmas tree, relax, etc.

I keep looking at that week and thinking "I won't be able to travel again until December. I could fit a city visit into a week..." However, no city really catches my eye. I love London, but I am NOT visiting London the week of the royal wedding. I haven't booked anything yet because nothing has really caught my attention but it's about time to either decide to go or decide to stay.


What would be good for a short 4 night visit? I want history and architecture, but no beach. I don't have a set budget exactly but cheap is good (I want safe, clean lodging with an ensuite bathroom, nothing fancy).

Athens? Barcelona? Paris? Nowhere in the US really sounds like that much fun. I'm not big on shopping. I'm solo, but don't do the party/bar scene that many solo travelers my age do. The beach and I do not play well together and the thought of a resort practically makes me break out in hives. I've been to Italy recently and while I loved both Rome and Florence, I don't want to go back just yet. I loved Beijing but the flights to Asia are a bit too long for such a short visit.

Any ideas? Please and thank you!

jamikins

We loved lisbon and found it to be very cheap andsafe. Great food and wine. We hate beaches as well. If you search bikerscott you will find our trip report over new years and pics. We spent five days and would go back in a second.

jamikins

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-20102011.cfm

Here it is!

Iowa_Redhead

Thanks for the idea jamikins.


Not 5 minutes after I posted, my new hr lady called and asked if we could push the start back to 5/9 due to a massive new software conversion that will have my supervisor tied up for the week of the 2nd. Now I have 2 weeks to play with which changes things.

Back to the drawing board a bit...

FoFoBT

Amsterdam (you can still catch Keukenhof: http://www.keukenhof.nl/ ) explore the city, day trip to Delft, The Hague, Utrecht etc.
or
Munich (no ocean beaches in sight there!); day trip to Salzburg

HappyTrvlr

My first thought was lisbon and second, Amsterdam. Now with two weeks, you could go to Greece.

Leely2

I think Paris is a great city for a solo trip to relax. If you do end up going for just four or five nights can you fly nonstop? That always make a difference for me when it's a short trip.

michele_d

Heck, you're 1/3 of the way to Christmas now. Just leave the tree up and go for two full weeks. So many more options now. We didn't take down our outside Christmas lights the last two years, now I don't feel so bad. I would leave my tree up all year too if I could.

Iowa_Redhead

<<<Heck, you're 1/3 of the way to Christmas now. Just leave the tree up and go for two full weeks.>>>

I'm not late, I'm just seriously ahead of the game! I don't think I can pull that one off and the tree is a bit in the way but I LIKE how you think! It's not that I like having it up, I just haven't had time to undecorate the stupid thing.


Non-stop flights aren't a possibility. I have to take a puddle jumper to a hub like Chicago, Detroit, etc.

flanneruk

This sounds like a great opportunity to visit places you might not usually bother with.

In mid-spring, Greek Macedonia (the hinterland of Thessalonica) comes 1, 2 and 3. Stop off in London, get the bus to Oxford and see the current Macedonia exhibition at the Ashmolean en route. You're barred from visiting Mt Athos, but the changing exhibitions of Greatest Hits from Mountain at its "embassy" in Thessalonica is as close as women can ever get (and, in the view of Mrs F, 15 mins of their version of plainsong as much as she ever wants to hear)

It's too late for Venice (damn crowds). But not for minor Italy , or for places which combine a bit of history with spring flowers. The Piero trail in Tuscany/Umbria, for example). Serious walking in Andalucia (spring flowers are just about still at their best). Standard Provence (ditto).

Personally, if I never saw another Dutch tulip in my life,it'd be too many. But you're still getting blossom on trees in towns like Leiden in late April. And if it's only the modest crowd round the Mall on the aft of April 29 that's turning you off Britain, the countryside's looking amazing right now.

jaja

Of course, Ireland is lovely in the Spring. Everything is green and blooming, the new lambs are cavorting....

Cosmia

Barcelona and Paris are easy for solo trips. And there's NYC of course. I haven't been to Berlin, but it sounds interesting.