We have the opportunity to visit on of these cities before spending a week in Paris. Two almost middle schoolers plus three adults (parents and a spry grandfather).
Any recs?
All cities would be new for our family.
For my taste, Vienna. Music, palaces, fine art museums, an interesting city center, a lovely setting on the Danube with day cruises, Grinzing with it’s wine and music, and delicious pastries. The kids will enjoy the giant Ferris wheel and the Lippizaner horse show.
I have only been to Vienna, but I would say NOT Vienna.
I think that I would go with either Lisbon, (warm, sunny, more laid back than Paris), or Helsinki, (long days with the "midnight sun’):
I agree with #3 – Helsinki and Lisbon are more “off-the-beaten-path” cities worth exploring if you get the chance. Almost everyone who “does” Europe will at some point travel to Berlin and Vienna. I think the vibe of Lisbon would contrast nicely with Paris; haven’t been to Helsinki (but I’d like to) so can’t comment.
Not Helsinki. I have spent a couple of weeks there, really not a great city even for a day.
Lisbon might be nice so you can get an ocean breeze. The major tourist cities in Europe can get bit hot during July.
I loved Vienna! It’s a very cosmopolitan city. I’ve never been to Berlin but a friend went recently and loved it. Her husband is an architect and it seems that Berlin is a hotbed of modern architecture. They did extensive touring.
I’ve been to Helsinki. I don’t think there’s enough to see there to occupy a whole week.
Not sure the OP will have a full week in this other city… But would not pick Helsinki regardless.
Finland was a backwater province of the Russian Empire so no grand historic past.
In Helsinki you can hop on a ferry and do a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia.
You can also visit St-Petersburg but you will need a few days and a visa.
Basically Helsinki can be just a base for other trips in the area.
I recently visited Berlin. I liked it, but don’t think I’d want to spend a week there. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any of the other cities.
Maybe do 3/4 and visit two?
Also, not on your list, but everyone I know who has been to Prague has loved it.
I like Berlin a lot–it has fantastic museums, and lots of other stuff to do. A week might be a bit long–perhaps add some day trips out of town.
Another one not on your list, but I bet your group would love Stockholm
I’ve been to all the places mentioned and recommend choosing another city. How about Amsterdam?
If you have to choose one, I would say Vienna. It has more cultural sights.
Helsinki is really bland, a lot of Soviet style cement block buildings. Lisbon shows a lot of wear and tear due to Portugal’s near bankruptcy. Berlin is mainly a business commercial center, newer buildings but it has the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate and Pergamon Museum. As for Vienna, I find it has more to offer in terms of history, culture, just a beautiful city.
Vienna
Thanks for the replies - we have to decide this weekend! Helpful. I’ll post the decision.
I would also be in favor of splitting up the week. What about a Prague/Vienna combination?
We once did berlin-prague-vienna all in one trip. We drove. Enjoyed them all, but really LOVED berlin.
Berlin is a historical nexus point. Besides the obvious Cold War sites, berlin also boasts some of the most incredible museums in the world, like the jaw-dropping Pergamom museum w entire sections of ancient temples from the Classical world. There’s also the Egyptian museum w the famous bust of cleopatra.
There’s great shopping & people-watching along the Ku’damm & the mouth-watering excess at the top of KaDeWe. Lots of hip cafés. Berlin is a sophisticated city. No oompah bands, beer halls & lederhosen-- that would be Bavaria to the south (I love Bavaria, too).
Then there’s a day trip to Sans Souci palace in Potsdam. Worth doing.
Really wished I had bought property in berlin right after the Wall fell-- could have bought it for peanuts.
If u want baroque architecture, go see Prague & Vienna. They are gorgeous. The upside to getting occupied early in WWII is that u didn’t bombed out, like berlin suffered. After a while in Vienna, all the touts dressed up as Mozart do start to get on your nerves. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Prague.
If u do vienna, u might also consider seeing the countryside. We once did a agri-turismo stay at farm where they grew cabbage & made sauerkraut.
In prague we stayed in a b&b in a grand old mansion in the embassy district. Not a convenient location w/o a car. The house was notable because it was around the corner from the iraqi embassy. Every morning as we drove past the embassy, we saw the painting of saddam hussein waving to us (like i said, it was a while ago…)
We just went to Lisbon in December - an easy city to navigate and, as others have said, “off the beaten path” enough to make it a bit different. We also had our first Airbnb experience there which was great and surprisingly inexpensive. We generally need 2 hotel rooms now that our kids are adults so having an apartment was great.
You could easily spend a week – after touring the city and a day trip to Sintra (only an hour away by train) you could rent a car and spend a couple days in the Algarve - the most southern point of Portugal with gorgeous beaches and plenty to do (it is only like a 2.5 to 3 hour drive). We rented a car (drove to Algarve then on to Spain) and it was SO easy to drive in Portugal. The highways are well maintained, the signage was excellent and the Portuguese people are so friendly and helpful!
Have fun deciding!!