January short break

Amsterdam is accessible and very interesting.....

I went to Brussels in November a couple of years ago, and was surprised at how interesting, and full of things to do it was. I have also been to Bruges in the winter. It was lovely. As for Britain, what about Edinburgh or Glasgow or Newcastle upon Tyne?

Edinburgh looks appealing but I'll take a look at prices for Bruges and Amsterdam too. Is Bruges quite compact? Thanks for the suggestions.

Have you considered a coach holiday to a specific city? You get terrific value for money; most companies pick you up locally and all the hotel bookings including meals, tours etc are done for you at group booking prices.

I enjoyed Belgium in the winter, shopping, markets, art museums, battle-field tours (maybe?) and the food is really superb.

What's your budget? What do you enjoy?

Belgium is sounding promising, I'm not a good traveller on coaches or boats/ferries so prefer to stick to trains, planes and automobiles.
As for budget I'm looking at about £500 for a short break. I love museums and art galleries and my husband likes history in general so I'm torn between Edinburgh and Bruges. We went to Copenhagen last year, which we loved, somewhere similar would be ideal.
I appreciate all your ideas, thank you.

Bruges is very compact and pretty much flat - unlike Edinburgh! The art galleries have some wonderful Northern Renaissance paintings, and there is a Michelangelo sculpture in the cathedral. To get there by train you have to go through Brussels, and it is worth breaking the journey and going to the Brussels Beaux Arts gallery for more gorgeous paintings.

What about Venice? DD2 and family are off there for five nights next week for around £350 including flights from Heathrow and staying near St Marks Square. I think they opted for self catering to get the independence - there's so many eateries, just buy stuff and take it back.

If you've never been to Bruges that's a lovely trip. I went with my sister and on one of the days we were there we caught a train from Bruges to Zeebrugge on the coast and that was fun too, we hopped on one of the teams to the next town.

In fact there's a tram service along almost the entire coast of
Belgium:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_Tram_(Belgium)

Trams not teams.

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All lovely places to visit, but if you are going in January I would recommend Barcelona. Fantastic (literally) architecture, great food and wine, busy nightlife if that's your kind of thing, even a beach and promenade you can stroll along.

Great ideas, I've plenty to think about!

Agree about Barcelona. Have you been to the football ground there, lefthanded. Although I only went there because my partner wanted to go I loved it; I found the cathedral disappointing, not having realised it was still a 'work in process'.

What about a two centre trip and do Bruges and Brussels? It's about an hour on the train between the two cities. The Belgian people are lovely and nearly everyone speaks English.

There is a wealth of art work to be seen and it's steeped in hisotry.
link here to Brussells museums and art galleries

It's quick and easy to travel by Eurostar from London. link here for train information

If your husband likes history he might like to go to Ypres for the day for the museums and the ceremony at the Menin Gate.
link to Ypres here

Malaga is a lovely city and there are plenty of cheap flights. We spend three weeks nearby in Jan / Feb and love wandering around in the sunshine. There is a fantastic indoor market, some good museums and a beach.

Oh and if you want Northern Europe we had a lovely few days in Turin one year, travelling through the Alps by train.

Thanks everyone, plenty to work on here. Belgium seems to be ticking all the right boxes, I'll start planning soon, all comments have been very useful.

I agree re Barcelona for a winter trip. I will never forget one year sitting in the warm sunshine in a cafe watching people surfing - on Boxing Day!

is the best.

The wife and I went to Bruges, a number of years ago. There were plenty of places of interest, and restaurants. It was a holiday weekend, and everything was closed. Worst of all the place stank to high heaven. The locals, didn't seem to notice. We did.

balini I'm amazed. What struck us about Bruges is that the whole town was immaculately clean with no litter in sight. What on earth could have caused a stink to high heaven?

And everything closed on a holiday weekend? Why would that have been the case?

I'm currently in Alicante for the first time. It's amazing!! Short flight, 15 mins from airport. Beautiful.
Closer to home, try Belfast. Fab for a short break. Lots to see and do plus the friendliest folks ever!

On Malaga, we recently went for 3 days in January and it rained all the time. Not good if it does because it doesn't have the wealth of things to see that Eg Barcelona does.

I second Belgian cities. Ghent too is well worth seeing -an old city with superb Van Eyck painting in the cathedral. It's a very short train trip from Brussels or Bruges.

If you want to meet friendly folk. Try Dublin.
It has everything!
Great shopping in Grafton Street with lots of designer shops.
In that area, you can stop and have a light meal in the famous Bewleys Cafe where many films have been shot.
Exhilarating nightlife is in the Temple Bar area, here you can join in the crac as most of the pubs have musicians where you can sing your heart out.
There is also an art gallery and museum in the beautiful Georgian Merrion Square.
On the corner is the house that Oscar Wilde lived in as a child and directly opposite a full sized painted statue of him lounging against a rock.
I recommend that you treat yourselves to afternoon tea in the historic Shelbourne Hotel where all the major stars of the past have stayed.
And afterwards walk it off in the beautiful St. Stephen's Green opposite the hotel.
Sorry to sound like a travel brochure. I'm just reliving my past visits. (Happy Sigh).

My favourite place for a short break is Nerja in spain about 45 mins from Malaga.

Malaga is worth a visit. Frigilana and burriana beach are local. Torrox just a short bus ride away.

Nice prom to walk along and a town square that comes alive in the evening (not sure how busy in January though). Off there at the end of November.

If you go to Brussels by Eurostar you can use the Belgian trains for free I think only for 24 hours at each end of trip - worth investigating...so for example you could arrive lunchtime the first day in Brussels, stay there overnight and then hop on a train to Bruges for free the next morning.