Fleur_de_Lis

If you choose Barclelona, consider basing yourself in Sitges - a much smaller coastal town with charming architecture, super friendly people, and gorgeous beaches. I did go in the summer but i Imagine it'd be lovely in the spring as well, and much more natury than Barcelona.

michaelpianko

I went to Spain in March 2022 but I didn't make time for Barcelona. I went to Madrid with a day trip to Toledo, and in Andalucia in southern Spain, Seville, Granada, and Cordoba. In the middle of those 3 cities, or at least in the touristy areas, some streets may be pedestrian only, some streets are like car-free alleys between buildings, some streets are like quiet low-traffic residential streets. There is a high chance you will still have to cross a few busier streets with much car traffic. When I was there it was in the 40's in the evenings to the 50's. Fahrenheit in the middle of the day; it rained a third to half the time I as outside. As someone mentioned, the hills around the Alhambra in Granada are nice, and reasonable quiet. My vote is try traveling to Andalucia in Southern Spain in April-May or June, or September or October.

TravellerSince1970

I would respectfully recommend The Camino Frances, from France to Spain....but it's a long walk.

MaryMat

Definitely Greece: Athens and Crete

kleeblatt

Valencia, Spain

happy_traveler_too

that’s a broad generalization by saying an island will be less busy without an airport and totally untrue.

happy_traveler_too

Let’s start by unpacking your list. First of all you say you don’t want tall buildings,congestion, cold weather or traffic, yet ALL of these cities have it more than others. Barcelona, while beautiful has tall buildings,albeit not Manhattan tall, it also has traffic congestion. Athens? Really? Athens has all of the above yet is still a very beautiful city. Amsterdam and Brussels have all of the things you don’t want and I’m not even going to speak of Mexico City, a city of 22,000,000. You need to provide more details on your likes and not just a vague sentence of “I don’t like things that occur in a large city normally” Help us to help you.

tanek

I would chose either something in Spain, Italy, Portugal or something like Fethiye and other towns in its area in Turkiye. Small buildings, around there there are lots of historic cities.
Check out Ölüdeniz, it's unbeliavable. Maybe not exactly European but historically those lands were important for Ancient Greece.