Taking a city break in Europe is a tourism trend that appears to be booming over recent years. European city breaks for UK travellers are ideal for people who don’t want to take large amounts of their annual leave all in one go and want to break up their working year into shorter trips – it gives people something to look forward to rather than the long wait for a main two week holiday in the sun. Additionally, those that have copious amounts of holiday entitlement often take a city break in Europe along with a main summer or winter holiday to a far flung, tropical destinations or shorter haul beach holidays with the family. Taking short holidays during the year represents a good opportunity to recharge your batteries and is great for your sanity.
Before committing to a long expensive holiday in any particular country, taking a city break there beforehand is a chance to experience the local culture and will give you a taste of the destination before you spend a lot of money on an extended stay there. As well as endless opportunities for sightseeing and increasing your local knowledge, city breaks in Europe offer something for everyone. There’s the Louvre Museum in Paris for art lovers and culture vultures, gastronomic delights at Rome’s Trattorias and Pizzerias for Foodies, and in Barcelona there are some fantastic beaches and the upmarket holiday resort of Sitges is less than 30 minutes by train.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a city break in Europe can’t make a great family holiday. In fact, if you’re travelling with kids, once again the city of Barcelona is within easy commute of the Pot Aventura theme park resort with its thrilling rides and Aquatic Park, located on the Costa Dorada. You can get there by bus if you take the Barcelona-Pineda-Salou-Port Aventura-Cambrils line which takes less than an hour. Also, the world famous Disneyland Paris resort is easily accessible from the centre of Paris. Trains operate around every 15 minutes from five large RER stations and take approximately 30-40 minutes to reach Disneyland Paris. Staying in central Paris and commuting to Disneyland Paris can also represent a huge saving based on staying on site at Disneyland Paris Resort.
European city breaks are a great way to travel on a budget. Gone are the days when holidaymakers needed hand-holding to book their travel arrangements. People nowadays are independent travellers and are happy to wander away from the traditional package holiday with the comfort and security of a tour operator representative. And with consumer confidence growing in the use of the internet – including making online transactions via it, travel booking companies such as Expedia are experiencing a phenomenal growth. Their technologies are able to offer prospective bookers much more rich media and interaction with their chosen destination before booking – more than a paper brochure ever could. If you tie this in with low cost flights from one of the many budget airlines that operate flights to many of the European city destinations, you’ll usually find that a short city break represents a significant cost saving against a traditional package holiday.