Last minute trip - 7-10 days mid April. Help me decide

moss,
April=tulips. Tulips=Amsterdam or Istanbul. I liked both, but Turkey was a special trip for me.

Scotland, five days in Glasgow and five in Edinburgh or Ireland and Northern Ireland with five days Belfast and five in Dublin? Try Aer Lingua they sometimes have sales from northeast US to those destinations. You would. Need the new Etias for those but it takes minutes to receive it on the internet.

I like: History, architecture, museums, cool scenery, a city where I
can walk and explore

Dislike: Crowds, shopping, most festivals

Would like to keep airfare below $1,000 RT and hotel below $250 a
night.

Easy, Budapest meets all your requirements.

Favorite Tourism Video of Budapest https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared
Anthony Bourdain describing how visually pleasurable Budapest is https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX
Favorite Guide Book because its small and does the essentials DK Eyewitness Budapest Top 10 https://a.co/d/6JD82mf

Unfortunate for your dislke of festivals you will be here for the Easter Markets. But Easter Sunday is the steam train excursion from Nyugati railway station to Gödöllő, for the seasonal programs in the castle, as well as the castle building itself.

Can't guarantee on the airfare, depends on how you travel. But very possible under $1000.

Hotel for under $250 is easy. Maybe in a 5 star if you dont want cancelable or breakfast. Certainly in a very well located 4 star with a cancelable room. I would be surprised if you couldnt find one for well under $200 without compromising location (okay i checked).

Nuremberg Germany.

Large old-town center for exploring on foot; plenty of pedestrian-only zones: major train hub with station next to old town
https://wikitravel.org/upload/shared/8/8d/Nuremberg_Altstadt.png
https://www.nuernbergluftbild.de/images/luftbild/Q04190281.JPG

Guide for seeing Nuremberg on foot:
https://lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/lifes_little_adventures/railfan-delights/

Large variety of museums:
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/discover/museums/

Kaiserburg Castle:
https://www.kaiserburg-nuernberg.de/englisch/castle/

Tours:
https://tourismus.nuernberg.de/en/guidedtours/

You could easily spend 4-5 days here, with the remainder spent visiting the "satellite" destinations that are made accessible on day trips by Nuremberg's location and rail-hub status:

• Romantic Road towns: Würzburg, Rothenburg
• UNESCO World Heritage towns: Bamberg and Regensburg, both well-preserved medieval town centers
• Open-air cultural/historical museum in Bad Windsheim: the Franconian Open-Land Museum (Freilandmuseum)
• Recently-restored, UNESCO World Heritage Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth (among other sights there)

For your 10 nights you will find it impossible to spend more than $150 per night for a single room with breakfast in the nicest hotels in Nuremberg.

I like: History, architecture, museums, cool scenery, a city where I can walk and explore
Dislike: Crowds, shopping, most festivals
Flying from northeast U.S.

Berlin has the widest offer for you and is easy to combine by direct train with already mentioned Nuremberg. Enjoy also various Easter festivities of Berlin, e. g. a local bonfire in Britzer Garten.

Front-line history from Prussia over German Reich with emperor palaces in Potsdam, WWII (terror, holocaust incl. former concentration camp and war places), Cold War to presence incl. the two cultures of two fully different political systems in one city divided by the famous Berlin Wall. This is also valid for the architecture conflict in the city (Hansaviertel in the west built by world class architects of the 50s versus the social imperialism of Frankfurter Allee in the East, ...). Or visit all the famous Bauhaus places and buildings.

170 museums plus galleries full of all arts incl. the World Heritage Museum Island. You can walk and experience center areas such as Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg or our big green Tiergarten and also the outskirts such as Köpenick, Zehlendorf with "bridge of spies" or Spandau with its unique red citadel and the Easter Knights Festival. Very special are our small villages Dahlem-Dorf and Lübars within city limits.

Enjoy the spirit of a city with a manifold first-hand history and with today inhabitants from over 190 nations living here including their foods, fashions and cultures.

If you like History, architecture, museums, etc. these places would be at the top of my list:

1)Rome- you have the ancient Roman history as well as St. Peter's Basilica and the incomparable Sistine Chapel. Also, the Vatican Museum.
2)Florence- Two great art museums, the Uffizi and Accademia, as well as the Renaissance Florence.
3)Madrid and Toledo- Madrid has the Prado and nearby Toledo is a great small intact Medieval city.

You made it a bit harder when you said no crowds. Your hotel budget is good except for the late booking date and with a short stay like you plan you dont really want to be too far out of the center to save money. So that pushes you to Eastern Europe, but not a lot there other than Budapest meets your other criteria, My second choice would be Istanbul. It think that would be wonderful in April.

You made it a bit harder when you said no crowds.

Not exactly "no crowds," but I'm not someone who gets energized by joining a crowd of people, even it's at an iconic celebration or festival like Oktoberfest or Mardi Gras. My first choice for this trip was Florence and Rome, but I'm being dissuaded because it's a Jubilee year and Easter week.

It was Italy I was thinking about when I said that. Barcelona and most of Spain these days too. Maybe Amsterdam too, but maybe not in April. But it's a bit pricier than it once was and the room budget may require some compromise. Again Istanbul hits all you conditions, but maybe doesn't hit your comfort level. That I would understand. Maybe 2 stops in Poland. Krakow and ..... ?

Again Istanbul hits all you conditions, but maybe doesn't hit your comfort level. That I would understand. Maybe 2 stops in Poland. Krakow and ..... ?

Warsaw and Krakow was definitely on my list but airfare is currently high. It might balance out with lower hotel rates.

Istanbul is definitely on my bucket list. Why might it not fit my comfort level?

I've known people who it didn't. That's all.

I like: History, architecture, museums, cool scenery, a city where I
can walk and explore

Balkans maybe. But no one stop will use your time so it not a laid back destination. Croatia has gotten a bit pricy so maybe it works better if you split it with BiH or Montenegro. Not many memorable museums. Great scenery, more like towns to walk and explore.

Balkans maybe

What about Slovenia?

Or Slovenia!!!

Try something very different, ie, go to eastern and North Germany, where numerous historical and cultural cities/towns fit your list of "likes"

Cities such as Dresden, Leipzig, Jena, Naumburg, , Meissen, Weimar, Lüneburg, Dessau, , etc. No swarms of crowds to contend with, numerous museums...fascinating ones. Go to Berlin and Potsdam too, which are not on your visited list.

To get around northern and eastern Germany cities and towns, would a car be necessary?

Since I only have a few weeks to plan this, I don’t have time to plan out about and book accommodations in lots of places. Can I make one city a home base and do day trips by car or train?

Good idea Fred. My son in Germany has been asking when i am coming for a tour. Which of those cities have intact pre-war and earlier city centers and which are near total post war reconstruction? Which reconstructed and which went modern? I'm an architect and it all interests me ... but for different reasons.

Here is an interesting article on the subject:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/european-cities-post-war-rebuilding/

To get around northern and eastern Germany cities and towns, would a car be necessary?

In Berlin and Hamburg a car is not really meaningful because public transport is excellent in both cities, also to day trip destinations such as Lübeck and Potsdam for example. Train connection between both large cities is 2 hours.

Journey planner train: https://int.bahn.de/en

Heads up: North-South platforms of Berlin Central (Hbf) are closed over Easter. Therefore use the joinery planner for alternatives, e. g leaving to Hamburg from Berlin-Spandau. See thread with details.

Also Flixbus connections are a good option.

You can do the northern part, e. g. Schwerin (nice old town and castle), Rostock and Wismar by car and also by public transport. Car gives you more freedom left an right. For parking you can use park garages (find by Parkopedia) or EasyPark app for street parking. A decent and very safe hidden gem in Schwerin is Hotel Speicher am Ziegelsee, directly located at a lake with an own separated parking lot. From there you can easily do car round trips into every direction.

So, you could do a few days Berlin, rent a car at leaving the city and drive around.

For driving a car in Germany ensure that you will have driving permission. For this check validity of foreign driving licences in Germany and maybe need for an IDP.

Thanks for all the advice. Have decided to ignore all of your expertise, and go to northern Italy.

Was it a good decision? We’ll see soon enough

I think you chose well.

@ Mr E....As an architect , no doubt you have an unique interest is seeing towns that escaped the war unscathed and conversely seeing those plastered in the Allied strategic bombing offensive. You'll be going the breadth of Germany to tack down these places

Those undamaged by the war: Celle, Heidelberg, Frankfurt-Hoechst, Sigmaringen an der Donau, Hechingen, Flensburg, Ploen, Lüneburg, Weimar, Meissen, Schleswig, Ludwigslust/Mecklenburg, Eutin/Holstein. Towns in Schleswig-Holstein survived intact .

The horrific fire-bombing of Dresden hit the Zentrum, whereas Dresden-Neustadt, where today's military history museum is situated , was left intact and not targeted, ironic since that immediate area was the German Army's immediate area, that of the Infantry School.

On the other hand, the post-war reconstructed towns (do you really want to see these places? ) Some are downright ugly, I went to them anyway, such as Duisburg, Essen , Hamm, Wesel am Rhein.

@ moss....You don't need a rental car to get around in eastern and North Germany. North Germany is well served by its public
transport network, not only the extensive one of Hamburg (S- and U-Bahn) but also the S-Bahn net work of Hannover.

Likewise in the Greater Berlin area and the Potsdam area with its tram network.

Unless you intend just drive in the area trying to get as many towns and villages in Brandenburg , such as Grossbeeren, Zossen, Wünstorf, Neuruppin, Rheinsberg, etc as possible, there is no need for a car. I've been driven (luckily and gratefully) to these towns/ villages, not just "backdoor" conceptually, but really more aptly described as "backwater" in Brandenburg.

I see your decision is already arrived at. Good, I suggest in northern Italy the region of Lombardy.