Sell Us On: A European City

[metallian]

So we've been meaning to take a trip to Europe for a few years now. We always say it's too expensive, or we don't have time to plan it, or our schedules won't allow it, or whatever. But we're not getting any younger and we want to go, dammit. We have a fair number of frequent flier miles and Marriot Reward points thanks to work-related travel, and

Comments

[abka]

For architecture, food, museums, and decent weather Italy is amazing. Rome is my favorite city with Venice and Florence as must sees as well. (Who said Rome was overrated? crazy or they didn't do it right.)
The cities are romantic, great food, incredible art and architecture (Vatican including Sistine Chapel for example) and each has a very different feel. If flying into Rome is too expensive look at Florence, Venice, or even Madrid.

Istanbul is also pretty incredible. Very different from any European city I've visited but just as impressive. See post above.

Have you thought about Amsterdam? It's like walking into a storybook because of all the architecture. Great museums (Rembrandt, Van Gogh, etc) and easy train rides to Brugge, Brussells (chocolate!), Paris, London, etc.

If you were looking for a seaside vacation I would recommend the Croatian coast. Dubrovnik is awesome if you want a swimming, eating icecream, romantic sunset in a medieval walled-town vacation. Less good for major museums.

Other places I've been that were cool but didn't make my top list: Paris, Vienna (good if the flowers are in bloom, great for music), London (good museums, so expensive), a ton of other places in Italy and Croatia.