Hey everyone,

I'm in England, but I'm going for a 3-day holiday to somewhere near here in a weeks' time! I was just wondering if any of you could suggest a place which you liked! It must be 2 hours or less away by plane, and I've already considered Iceland (Blue Lagoon?), Edinburgh and Copenhagen, but I'm really not sure yet...

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

M.

Blackpool !!!

It depends very much on what you enjoy. If you like cities, bars, culture, art, people etc then I would highly recommend Barcelona to you.

Skegness, Scarborough, Ramsgate, Cornwall, most places in Wales........ Speak to the Tourist Board or your local Tourist Information Office

Paris is nice.

Oops - yeah, sorry, didn't have time to add enough detail!

phil.d.g: -- No comment! Hehe!

esteeven: I actually live very close to Spain, so I've been to Barcelona before... It's cool though - very nice!

XavierP: I've been to Paris several times, and it's brilliant! I'll check out those places you mentioned though! Google Images here I come...

Basically, I'm looking for a place where we can all relax. But, as well as relaxation, be able to explore the region's culture, scenery, etc... You know - a nice place.

edit: Sorry, forgot to add: good hotels. Hehe! I guess it would be good to get away from the UK for a bit though...Yet first pictures of Skegness don't look too bad... *ponders*

I used to love my holidays in Cornwall, but haven't been for 10+ years. I hope its still is good as I remember, I wouldn't mind going back. Though I think the weather's going to be too bad now till summer for a relaxing holiday anywhere in the UK.

Can't recommend Lisbon enough, especially for relaxing and culture etc. Should also have some OK weather too, but you can check online before you go.
If you want to do some serious drinking, then check out Prague.
Berlin is also a pretty cool place - especially now they've opened up the east.

If you want to go to one of the most wonderful places on Earth which is still undiscovered and you want to remain in Europe I can suggest you the National Park of Cilento in Italy (the place where I come from).
If you do like REAL nature and don't want to get into crowded places it's definitively where you want to go!
There are VERY important historical places to visit: the greek temples of Paestum and the ruins of Velia, the old churces (I expecially love the Monte Stella church, no photo avaible on the Internet because it is close to a radar which was used by NATO in the last decades).
There are more than 100 little villages (no more than 2000 people each) and you can hear people talking a very nice dialect (really different from Italian).
It's plenty of exceptional little sea towns with no pollution at all (a lot have been European Blue Flags for their sea) and there's no industry at all and sea places you can visit (I suggest the breath-taking Palinuro and Punta Licosa).
There's also a little village with prehistorical caverns (Grotte di Castelcivita - more than 4 kms long).
And in the end THERE'S THE BEST FOOD AVAIBLE ON THE FACE OF EARTH AT REALLY LOW PRICES (you know about Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, DOC, DOP and IGT fine wines and pizza, right?).
Popular culture is great too but you really have to ask to discover something.
However it's in the list of UNESCO.
What you won't find there is a good organisation for guided tours, etc. but if you like to discover, you're welcome....
let me know!

If we're talking nature: in the UK, New Forest, Dartmoor, the Pennines, and loads of Scotland and Wales.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'm gonna take a good look at them, and I hope I'll come to a conclusion with the rest of my family....thanks again!

M.

If you like cities, then, no question:

Berlin.

Best people in Europe....

If it's for relaxation, then theres only ONE answer.

AMSTERDAM

Plenty of "culture" for the family, then you head down to the Red Light area, into one of "those" Cafes, get a coffee, then ponder the menu and get stoned watching the world go by.

Excellent.

Ha! once you've relaxed enough with beer and puff, then hell, just go "window shopping".

Nuff said!

arrrhhhhah ... the aquariums ??



ok , either the pyrenees or daste's place , shake off the family if you could ...

not that i had been there before but sometimes i read them for fun ...

Berlin and Amsterdam - to tell you the truth, I hadn't thought of either of them! Still going over the options though - will get back to all of you on the final choice!

Max

Alred- yeah, can't really shake off the family... :P Haha!

Don't forget J_K9, most of the major European capitals, have plenty of stuff thats "family oriented". Though they often have a hidden side.

I mean, like with London, you can do the usual tourist thing i.e. Changing of the Guard, Tower of London, maybe one of the National Museums (Science or Natural History are usually favourite for kids - age dependant of course), but if "they" are old enough, maybe theatre or if you check the tourist info, "The Jack the Ripper" walk is quite novel/unusual.

Though it's worth remembering, France doesn't have to mean Paris, Holland doesn't have to mean Amsterdam, Germany>Berlin, etc etc, but if thats the stuff that the kids are likely to remember then great.

Problem I've found, is that people from the US (America on tour stereotypical) seem to feel that after they've spent 2 days in London, a day in Stratford-upon-Avon and 2 days in Edinburgh, that they've "done" the UK. Which I'm sure you can gather, is rather limiting.

So it depends what you and family feel is best, option wise.

regards

John