European city for a week recommendation

Cities I would happily spend a week in include Barcelona, Rome, Venice (perhaps not to everyone's taste for 6 days but very romantic for an anniversary trip), Budapest, Istanbul, Amsterdam and maybe Vienna, probably Berlin, and Frankfurt is not a bad choice either. Of course, London, and I loved Dublin too.

Amsterdam is particularly friendly for biking to get everywhere and feel like a local. Other than that, it would depend more on other interests - history, art, architecture, nature, . . .

Best to choose a destination that you can fly to non-stop.

Excellent suggestions. I'll add Prague and Palermo.

If you wanted to split your time you could do walkable Brussels with easy connections to walkable Bruges or Ghent. Same thing with Munich-Salzburg which gets you lots of amazing day hikes.

I’m always going to say London. Always changing, always the same. Good public transport, lots of parks, countless food options.

Free museums, the history, theatre.

I would concur with the previous responses, agreeing that any of the cities mentioned would be most enjoyable. But if I had to be specific, I would offer two recommendations. My personal,preferences.

First, Rome! You could spend a week in Rome and go nowhere else, and you probably still wouldn’t have seen all the sites. Fantastic history, food, people watching, etc. You cannot go wrong with Rome. That would be my first choice, by far. And regardless of one’s personal religious beliefs and practices, the churches of Rome are like art museums - statuary, paintings, etc. “in situ”. And the Vatican - fascinating and spectacular. (BTW! I will be there next month!)

My second choice would be Dublin and its environs. Another lovely city. Smaller than Rome but still fascinating. While you might not spend every day of a week-long visit in Dublin, there are numerous easy day trips to nearby sites. And even Belfast would be worth a day trip, about two hours by train. I have stopped counting how many times I have visited Dublin over the years. At least double-digit. Always enjoyable.

JimD

For only 6 days I'd put priority on a city that you can fly direct to so you're not wasting time in transit. My favourite city in Europe so far is London. 6 days would be a good start. I've spent 3 weeks there over 2 trips and still have things in my list that I haven't seen yet.

What airport? Where can you get to nonstop?

Rome. You could do a week there without day trips, but there’s also plenty of great, easy day trips. I’d say London too, but you mentioned great food lol

I would say Copenhagen. Very walkable, bike friendly, friendly people, great food, and easy day trip by train to small towns and castles nearby.

Ditto the nonstop flight suggestions!

You could fly to Nice, France and enjoy the French Riviera. There are regional trains and buses from Nice to several Riviera towns. We went one year in October and really enjoyed it. We stayed in Villefranche sur Mer at Hotel Welcome with a balcony view of the sea. We also visited Monaco, Eze, Beaulieu sur Mer, Cannes, and Nice. The Nice airport is very nice. You would most likely need a connecting flight from the USA.

This is an area of spectacular scenery with the mountains and the sea. We took a lovely walk to Cap Ferrat and enjoyed several good meals in the Cote d'Azur.

Other good options mentioned are London and Copenhagen!

Lisbon is my suggestion.

I would say Copenhagen. Very walkable, bike friendly, friendly people, great food, and easy day trip by train to small towns and castles nearby.

Copenhagen is on our bucket shortlist but I've always assumed it meant combining it with Iceland or Berlin or ______ because it was more of a 3-4 day place. I'll have to revisit my thinking on that.

...Venice (perhaps not to everyone's taste for 6 days but very romantic for an anniversary trip)...

If you've not been, you should consider going there as it is a perfect spot of an anniversary trip. Lots to see and do, and lots of out of the way places to sit back, relax, have a coffee and just "be". If you should get bored (although I find it hard to believe anyone can), then you can do a day trip to Verona or several other places close by.

"Copenhagen is on our bucket shortlist but I've always assumed it meant combining it with Iceland or Berlin or ______ because it was more of a 3-4 day place. I'll have to revisit my thinking on that."

Chris - I see your point as you can cover the city in a few days. I was in Copenhagen for 4 days and took 2 half day trips to Helsingør and Hillerød. I know some people pop into Malmo in Sweden. But other smaller towns not too far that could be combined as day trip or a sleepover. From Copenhagen I flew to Bergen (Norway) for a couple of days, then to Stockholm before flying back.

CanadianSue OP: Is your plan to have 6 days in the chosen city or does that include travel days?

Canadian Sue,
Since this will be October, weather may (or may not) be part of your consideration. For me, of all he places I have been, and excluding Paris, I could easily spend six days in London, Rome or Vienna. You won't have time to see and do everything, but all three offer a good variety of activities and sights. Vienna....music, art, delicious food, beautiful buildings........Rome...over 2000 years of art, history and architecture, and of course the food!.......London...theater, music, art, interesting neighborhoods, close-by countryside towns to visit.
Oh my gosh! Of course, these are all big cities, but they are popular for very, very, very good reason! I can imagine 6 days in every one. Lots of luck (and fun) in deciding and planning.

Thank you everyone, this was very helpful. I will look for non stop as suggested. 7 days total time but I took out one for travel. Coming from Washington DC so lots of non-stop choices although more pricey of course.

Numerous choices here and depending if you want to do repeat visits, such seeing Paris another week again.

I never tire of going back regarding big cities here to my top 4 : Paris, Berlin, London, Vienna...just walking around, exploring, taking only public transport the bus or subway , ie, no rental car, no ride-sharing, seeking out more esoteric sites, going into residential areas that are avoided or not bothered with, not concerned either with personal safety here as long it is daylight, let alone getting picked.

I fly out of DC, and places I’ve either gone or looked at going for shorter time frames include Madrid (don’t Necessarily have to stay in any of these cities) Dublin, Amsterdam. Western, shorter flights will really maximize your time.
For weather especially, look at Spain, Portugal. Netherlands of course great without a car and for biking fans.

I've had the good fortune of spending week-long periods in many European cities over the past ten years. My favorites would be, in order, Bordeaux, Prague, Vienna, Nice, Munich and Gdańsk. I also love London and Paris, but they're much larger in scope.

I will say I've cycled fairly extensively in Lyon, and it's a really great city for it. And the food in Lyon is sublime.

Hard to find better weather in Central Europe than October. So Vienna, Budapest, maybe Prague (but its tough to spend a week in Prague)

While there are a lot of good places I am only competent with Budapest. Without dates, the special events are impossible to suggest but just a general idea if this is the sort of thing you like:

For the hotels: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/budapest-updated-hotel-list
For the Restaurants: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/restaurants-in-budapest-revisited
For the music and show: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-performance-venue-list
For the special events: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/updated-budapest-events-for-january-june-2026

Monday
Arrive mid-day, check in to the Moments Hotel
Walk Andrassy ut, do the Opera Tour end up at DunaCorso for dinner.

Tuesday
Jewish Budapest Day
Maces Bistro Dinner
Ruin Pubs

Wednesday
Pest Riverfront Day from the Great Market Hall to the Parliament. Tour parliament
Special Night: Danube River Boat Tour with Dinner

Thursday
Margret Island in the morning
Szentendre trip. In the afternoon. Train up, boat back
Special Night: Opus Jazz Club for show and Dinner
Wine Bar evening with music

Friday
Buda Castle District
Special Night: MADÁCH SZÍNHÁZ or VÍGSZÍNHÁZ SZÍNHÁZ or BUDAPEST OPERETT FOR A SHOW
N28 for dinner

Saturday
Budapest Market Halls in the morning.
WWII / Cold War Tour in the afternoon
Opera House
Dinner at Callas Café

Sunday
Depart

Vienna waits for you.