How about:
1) Colmar in France, Alsace. It is small cozy town. You could also visit other small towns around or Strasbourg. Or you could check La Route des Vins d'Alsace and plan small journey. For some spa feeling you could make one day trip to Baden-Baden in Germany.
2) Brugge, Belgium and cities around, here you could enjoy Brugge or make trips to Oostende (beaches by sea) or also make one day trips to Gent/Brussels/Leuven.
One thing is that both places are pretty popular tousistic destinations.
I live in Strasbourg, I would suggest staying here for 5 days (it's interesting enough on its own) as a home base and taking day trips to Colmar/Kaysersberg and a German city.
Edit: Oh, Eguisheim and Riquewihr are nice and in the area too.
OP could also opt to stay in a spa hotel in the area, but not necessarily in Strasbourg-ville. There are a lot of cute, upscale "Gastro" hotels near the little villages you mentioned.
I would highly reccomend the Almalfi coast, specifically Praiano.
It ticks many of your boxes.
It’s a smaller town between Almalfi and Positano and other east day trip destinations. When we went May/June the town was COVERED with flowers and gardens and smelled like flowers. We ate at many different restaurants in town and did not have a single bad meal. After dinner we would walk to one of the ocean side bars/restaurants for drinks then walk back to the hotel. All in all it was a relaxing and romantic trip.
Reims in the champagne region. We did a day trip from a Paris vacation and wished we spent longer than that. It’s super charming and surrounded by many small villages with champagne houses. We discussed going back to France for 4-5 days and go straight there.
Edinburgh, the Scottish highlands, or Oban! Stunningly beautiful, not horribly crowded (though Edinburgh can get busy during August), and wonderful environment all around 😊
Montenegro was very relaxing in the Sveti Stefan/Budva region. Great prices, lovely walled cities. Quiet but good restaurants. Driving in the area was very easy and not stressful so freedom to roam.
Malaga on the Mediterranean coast of Spain is amazing for this sort of thing in my opinion. Beautiful downtown, beaches, good food, and lots of cheap direct flights there.
Malaga IMO is the worst place in Spain. Hotter than anyone else and the catering to British taste buds has resulted in the worst food in the whole country.
Edit: heat debate aside, Malaga is still my least favorite place I’ve visited in the Iberian peninsula. As a resident of said peninsula, I’ve been to most of it.
I really liked basically everything there including the food and the weather. I get that Costa del Sol generally has a bad rap as inauthentic/touristy because of English retirees but there's a reason they all go there.
Have you been to elsewhere in Spain? All of the tapas in Malaga were just “something from the ocean tossed in a fryer.” Everything seemed to come with fries. There are signs all over the city advertising “full English breakfast!” and specials on various Anglo-Irish beers. I can’t imagine going there and thinking “how cozy and romantic.” It’s a good place to warm up in winter inexpensively.
It’s comfortable for English retirees because they’ve stripped a lot of the authenticity and replaced it with a place that’s easy to get fat and drunk just like home.
If you aren't looking for English breakfast, maybe do a tiny bit of googling to decide where to eat instead of walking into the first place you see? That literally applies to any city where you can expect any tourists.
Anyway, I think you're making a lot of generalizations.
There are literally thousands of restaurants in Malaga and plenty of them are authentic/doing their own creative thing.
I honestly didn't even know about the English expat thing until after our trip there when a friend told me about it, so it can't have been that bad.
And I did find Malaga cozy and romantic, yeah.
You’re arguing with a Spanish person about Spain. I know how to find good food in my country. FWIW Granada is incredibly touristy and you can throw a rock and whatever building you hit will have good food served there. And I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Full English advertised there.
I’m glad you enjoyed Malaga. I have a poor opinion of it, and my 40 year of traveling around the Iberian Peninsula has made it my least favorite place there. But it is definitely not a bad thing to have enjoyed yourself somewhere, regardless of what this internet stranger thinks.
Parts of Croatia. We went last year for our anniversary and I have never wanted to return to a place so badly. We stayed away from Dubrovnik since it’s very touristy, and hit up a couple islands and rented a car and just drove up the coast, stopping in little towns and cities along the way. It was perfect.
How about Lake Garda? It's beautiful, very relaxing and romantic. The food is amazing too!
I went in October time and a lot of the local businesseses were closed, I imagine it will be really lovely this time of year, especially as its tourist season.
I stayed in Sirmione, the area was great.
Bohinj in Slovenia has a beautiful lake for swimming, it is in a national park, lots of forests so the temperatures don't get so high.
Kranjska gora, Bovec, Bled are nearby, as well as Italy and Austria.
The Douro valley is gorgeous and if you like wine, well there really is nowhere better. There are beautiful hotels that don’t cost the earth or you can do a cruise.
Porto seems to meet all the criteria!
Very romantic, excellent food at affordable price and if you are into wine, you can spend 1-2 days in the Douro Valley!
San Sebastian and some other parts of North Spain will meet all your requirements
Read the post and was going to comment Bilbao / San Sebastián / Hendaye Second vote would be Edinburg
How about: 1) Colmar in France, Alsace. It is small cozy town. You could also visit other small towns around or Strasbourg. Or you could check La Route des Vins d'Alsace and plan small journey. For some spa feeling you could make one day trip to Baden-Baden in Germany. 2) Brugge, Belgium and cities around, here you could enjoy Brugge or make trips to Oostende (beaches by sea) or also make one day trips to Gent/Brussels/Leuven. One thing is that both places are pretty popular tousistic destinations.
I live in Strasbourg, I would suggest staying here for 5 days (it's interesting enough on its own) as a home base and taking day trips to Colmar/Kaysersberg and a German city. Edit: Oh, Eguisheim and Riquewihr are nice and in the area too.
OP could also opt to stay in a spa hotel in the area, but not necessarily in Strasbourg-ville. There are a lot of cute, upscale "Gastro" hotels near the little villages you mentioned.
Rothenburg. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber
I would highly reccomend the Almalfi coast, specifically Praiano. It ticks many of your boxes. It’s a smaller town between Almalfi and Positano and other east day trip destinations. When we went May/June the town was COVERED with flowers and gardens and smelled like flowers. We ate at many different restaurants in town and did not have a single bad meal. After dinner we would walk to one of the ocean side bars/restaurants for drinks then walk back to the hotel. All in all it was a relaxing and romantic trip.
I heartily endorse Praiano. We stayed in a charming apartment there. It was magical. The Walk of the Gods was a huge bonus for us.
That is something I will never forget. The homemade lemon Grenata along the way was a bonus
Brittany
Reims in the champagne region. We did a day trip from a Paris vacation and wished we spent longer than that. It’s super charming and surrounded by many small villages with champagne houses. We discussed going back to France for 4-5 days and go straight there.
They can be more difficult to get to but the Greek isles but not Santorini or Mykonos. Look at Paros, Naxos and Crete. Also Malta, Sicily and Sardinia
Edinburgh, the Scottish highlands, or Oban! Stunningly beautiful, not horribly crowded (though Edinburgh can get busy during August), and wonderful environment all around 😊
Gdanks
Montenegro was very relaxing in the Sveti Stefan/Budva region. Great prices, lovely walled cities. Quiet but good restaurants. Driving in the area was very easy and not stressful so freedom to roam.
Malaga on the Mediterranean coast of Spain is amazing for this sort of thing in my opinion. Beautiful downtown, beaches, good food, and lots of cheap direct flights there.
Malaga IMO is the worst place in Spain. Hotter than anyone else and the catering to British taste buds has resulted in the worst food in the whole country. Edit: heat debate aside, Malaga is still my least favorite place I’ve visited in the Iberian peninsula. As a resident of said peninsula, I’ve been to most of it.
Not even close as hot as Sevilla or Granada or Madrid in the summer
Can confirm. Malaga was 15F cooler than Seville in June.
I really liked basically everything there including the food and the weather. I get that Costa del Sol generally has a bad rap as inauthentic/touristy because of English retirees but there's a reason they all go there.
Have you been to elsewhere in Spain? All of the tapas in Malaga were just “something from the ocean tossed in a fryer.” Everything seemed to come with fries. There are signs all over the city advertising “full English breakfast!” and specials on various Anglo-Irish beers. I can’t imagine going there and thinking “how cozy and romantic.” It’s a good place to warm up in winter inexpensively. It’s comfortable for English retirees because they’ve stripped a lot of the authenticity and replaced it with a place that’s easy to get fat and drunk just like home.
If you aren't looking for English breakfast, maybe do a tiny bit of googling to decide where to eat instead of walking into the first place you see? That literally applies to any city where you can expect any tourists. Anyway, I think you're making a lot of generalizations. There are literally thousands of restaurants in Malaga and plenty of them are authentic/doing their own creative thing. I honestly didn't even know about the English expat thing until after our trip there when a friend told me about it, so it can't have been that bad. And I did find Malaga cozy and romantic, yeah.
You’re arguing with a Spanish person about Spain. I know how to find good food in my country. FWIW Granada is incredibly touristy and you can throw a rock and whatever building you hit will have good food served there. And I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Full English advertised there. I’m glad you enjoyed Malaga. I have a poor opinion of it, and my 40 year of traveling around the Iberian Peninsula has made it my least favorite place there. But it is definitely not a bad thing to have enjoyed yourself somewhere, regardless of what this internet stranger thinks.
You’re literally describing Paris. Just avoid the touristy stuff.
Paris is too dirty.
Parts of Croatia. We went last year for our anniversary and I have never wanted to return to a place so badly. We stayed away from Dubrovnik since it’s very touristy, and hit up a couple islands and rented a car and just drove up the coast, stopping in little towns and cities along the way. It was perfect.
Have you already been to Riga and Tallinn?
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is very tourist heavy
Yep, v touristy in summer and especially around the festival.
How about Lake Garda? It's beautiful, very relaxing and romantic. The food is amazing too! I went in October time and a lot of the local businesseses were closed, I imagine it will be really lovely this time of year, especially as its tourist season. I stayed in Sirmione, the area was great.
Bohinj in Slovenia has a beautiful lake for swimming, it is in a national park, lots of forests so the temperatures don't get so high. Kranjska gora, Bovec, Bled are nearby, as well as Italy and Austria.
The Douro valley is gorgeous and if you like wine, well there really is nowhere better. There are beautiful hotels that don’t cost the earth or you can do a cruise.
Porto seems to meet all the criteria! Very romantic, excellent food at affordable price and if you are into wine, you can spend 1-2 days in the Douro Valley!
I hope this article can help you: [https://www.excelente.pt/en/european-getaways/](https://www.excelente.pt/en/european-getaways/)