O/T City breaks in January

Thanks in advance
Currently looking at a few nights away in January and wondered if anyone has been to any of the following and their views of it. We like to go off the beaten track, and January in Eastern Europe and the Baltics is lovely and cold making it often more scenic and subsequently cosy indoors.

We like small breweries (even if they are long established, as long as they are local and haven't sold out), architecture, wandering the streets, authentic sights (even if some decay and a little unloved), locally sourced food (a mix of tradition and modern) and as a bonus, wider scenery of rivers, water, mountains and open spaces.

So far.... the contenders include...

Bergen
Timisoara
Cluj-Napoca
Lublin
Lviv
Ljubljana
Kaunas

Thanks in advance

 

Bergen is great, they have a fab record shop / craft beer place called apollon, you might even bump into a few Norwegian tykes too in there! a few nice hills and mountains to go up too

 

We've only been to Norway once before (Alta in the Arctic) which we both loved being essentially in a log cabin with feet of snow eating reindeer and the confluence of two frozen rivers.

I tend to do a lot of research before taking the jump and it looks pretty in ways, but I'm a bit concerned there may be tones of Copenhagens Nyhavn district... was it touristy and overly done, or is it still a bit quaint and independent and authentic?

 

Its not overtly touristy but being a largish town, with a port and the associated infrastructure its not that quaint. something there for everyone though im sure!

 

Yes, I did see an image which had massive cruise liners and that did make me be a little doubtful, as all the previous things I'd seen seemed to focus on the mountains and the coloured buildings by the water (nyhavn esque)

Might also consider Tromso and Stavanger, but not really looked at them greatly at the minute.

 

If you choose Ljubljana you need to make sure you leave time to visit Bled. Truly stunning place, I went one summer on a day trip there and it was amazing.

 

Thanks Nathan, It does look stunning in the images, though with it being winter... is the lake and mountain backdrop as impressive as in warmer times of year?

 

i went to tromso in 1993 , very nice again

 

Mountains, water, chance of northern lights......

I'm not fancying my chances as the Mrs is a southerner, so anything under 23 degrees is a bit nippy for her! Mind you, anything over 12 degrees and I think its shorts weather and fear sunburn! Mind you, I think we are due a chilly wintery destination

 

That is a good point, I did go during summer, although I would imagine it would be equally stunning in winter providing it was not too foggy.

 

I’ve been to Cluj and had a great time. Interesting rather than wonderfully scenic but some great buildings, restaurants and breweries. Can get trips into Transylvanian mountains as well.

 

Doing my bit for my local tourist industry, I have to say Tbilisi. Craft beer is growing, but wine is still king. Loads to see and do. Cheap cost of living. It is a bit further away though...

Cluj is an undiscovered gem. Bratislava is nice. I also like Istanbul.

Isn’t Hull in Eastern Europe?

 

I have had a little look at Tbilisi and it looks really quite interesting and had heard a few craft breweries were emerging. But yes, for a 2-3 night break and back to work on Monday... the flight might just be a bit too long and eat up a bit too much time. I've had a few people say Bratislava was disappointing, but then travel can be extremely subjective, so I never rule anywhere out completely. Indeed, Riga was fantastic and I wouldn't have gone if i'd solely listened to reports.

 

Stralsund in what was East Germany up on the Baltic. Fly to Hamburg rent a car and drive for a couple of hours to Stralsund. Beautiful untouristy Hanseatic town. I’ve been 3 times marvellous place.

 

Thanks for that. I'm actually in Hamburg and Lubeck for a few nights in just over a month. Visited quite a few hanseatic league places now and enjoyed most of them, so thanks, I'll make a note of that for future reference.

 

It has a jaw-dropping medieval market place just wait until you see it for the first time.

 

I do really like the Baltic region. Three of my favourite city breaks were Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. Seem to go in fits and starts, so before you know it, we might have been to Italian destinations for 3 or 4 breaks, then next thing you know its hanseatic coastal destinations... then inner mountainous regions.

Not got much booked in so far. Just Hamburg//Lubeck (Mrs loves Niederegger) in December and then I think April we've finally got Valetta booked in.

 

wow..how times have changed....not Filey, Brid, or Scarbrough, or even Bournemouth these days then? Affluent reds!

 

The benefit of not having kids.... plenty of spare money and much less stress ;-)

 

Me and Laura do city breaks in this country. So far we've done York, Manchester and Doncaster. We'll have to do Manchester again sometime because we didn't christen the room there because we had a row over a Macdonalds.