Long(ish) Term Travel Locations?

I highly recommend Bologna, Italy, a university town, a food center. Wonderful and on the main train line for exploring.

Florence, Italy.

Florence is well placed for day trips throughout Tuscany, and even Emilia or Umbria.

However I would consider also spending several days in Rome and Venice.
Both can be visited from Florence on a day trip (1.5 - 2 hours via high speed train), however both deserve more than just a day trip.

I second Bologna. Great location and easy to travel from for day trips.

We have been thinking of doing the same thing someday. We have chosen Lille, France for the easy connections to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and London. It's also a university town and a lovely city on on its own.

Sticking to the Italy theme, I'd add Padua to the list because it offers a lot of really good day trips, even including Venice. While we all recommend staying in Venice proper, the fact is that hotels there are quite expensive. Padua's a completely different story and has quite a lot of worthwhile sights of its own.

My preference for longer stays is a place of some size. I don't want to be day tripping every day over an extended period, so there needs to be a good bit to see right in town. A month, to me, is a very long time to spend in just one place unless that place is London, Paris, Rome, etc. Last summer I spent 12 days in Stockholm and found it lovely, but a month would be way too much, even for me, on a single trip. The list of places where I've stayed at least six nights during a single trip is much longer: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Barcelona, Seville, Naples, Venice, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Oslo, Kyiv, Lviv, Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow. All of those places would have been enjoyable for more time than I spent there (and it was ten nights in Barcelona and nine nights in Venice).

The smaller the base town, the fewer transportation options you're likely to have. You may find trains heading out in only one or two directions rather than three or four. And the trains may be regionals--trundling along slowly with stops at nearly every station along the way. Being limited to slow trains or buses will significantly reduce the distance you can reasonably cover on a day trip.

Nice (France) offers a lot of easy side trips along the coast (by train) and up in the hills (by bus). However, it's too far from Provence to use it as a base for that area.

I think there must be a good option or two in Belgium or the Netherlands, but I don't know those areas well.

We're a year from retirement and have been have lively discussions on what and where we'd stay if we went for a month or more. Our 1A and 1B choices to start are London and Nice. The what is more concerning because I'm not one for sitting still so I don't know how I'll adjust if I'm away from my creature comforts and activities. I don't think I'd do well for lengthy stays in smaller centres for extended stays and so will need cities.

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I’d consider a number of places in Spain, with Madrid being number one. I don’t think you’ll necessarily pay more in a big city and I find Spain to be relatively economical. But the rail network there is fantastic. And there are so many possible day trips. Plus, Madrid itself is lovely.

Also Nice. We spent two weeks on our last trip
there and easily could have spent more time.

I was all set for a month in Bologna and some additional stays in the area and it was adding up with all the cost of day trips. Unfortunately since covid, the digital nomads have driven up the price of month stays. Bologna is double what it was pre covid, and Bologna also has a lot of foreign Uni students....so book well ahead.
Ferrera is a town between Bologna and Padua that could be an interesting option.
I am heading to Malaga for the month instead as it is warmer, cheaper, and so much to do right in the city.
They may not be realistic for budget, but there are plenty of YouTube videos on cheap places for longer stays.
Or find a list of second tier cities in a country of choice.
You don't say when you want to do this, so I'll leave it to you to determine time and then the weather for that time.

Salzburg. Tons of options nearby via train or bus: Hallein, Werfen, Berchtesgaden, Hallstatt, Munich. The list goes on and on.

Given your interests , Munich and Vienna , would be among the choices at the top of my list.

There are many in Spain, Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Zaragoza to name a few, all well connected by high speed rail.

For a more off the beaten path destination, consider Poland, Krakow, Wroclaw, Warsaw, and Gdansk all make good home bases for day trips with excellent public transportation, thanks to the communist period.

Both countries are quite affordable and have history, music, theater, food, art, books, and scenic places as you mention.

Time of year makes a difference. As does whether or not you want to do a lot of day trips.

Copenhagen is an interesting place for a longer stay. Berlin/Potsdam. Strasbourg.

This is how I mostly travel. My trips are three months long. (I can't go any longer because I can only get a 90 day supply of prescription meds.)

To ask where to go is simple.....get a paper map, tape it to the wall, throw a dart. Where it lands you go.

That may sound silly but that's basically it. Much of what you say interests you can be found all over Europe. I tend to move around but I look for a spot that will allow me to encompass a region.

Let's say I wanted to visit southern France. Perhaps Nice would be a good place to base. I would ask myself the following questions:

1) Does Nice or it's suburban areas have enough to to keep me busy?

2) What areas can I visit from Nice that are within two hours. (I wouldn't want to spend more than four hours on a train for a day trip. The amount of time you spend may be less or more.)

3) Would another base nearby with decent transportation options be better?

You could spend a month in Nice, then move to another location. Or two weeks. You decide.

I would suggest, for longer stays, either get an apartment or a room in an extended stay type hotel. These have kitchens in their rooms and a self-service laundry in the building. Some offer free breakfast.

Eating out every night on a two week trip is fun. Eating out every night on a 90 day trip can be tiresome and expensive.

For a long trip, plan on down days. Days you just take it easy.

Remember, it doesn't matter what people here say. That's where they like. You have to find an area that will give YOU what you want.

The cities listed below are not recommendations because I have not been to many of them. But just looking at an older rail map of Europe, I was struck by the number of rail connections the following cities have: Brussels, Lausanne, Mannheim, Cologne, Nurnburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Leipzig, Verona, Bologna, Florence, and Budapest.

I know that there was years ago a book on traveling Europe by Eurail that showed for nearly every major city what side trips could be made from it.

If you are considering doing this in Germany, then I suggest Berlin for cultural, linguistic, historical, nature, cuisine, architectural , etc reasons....lots to explore and find, depending on your level of your interest and determination to track down these sites in both parts of the cities plus the towns within the Greater Berlin area, eg. Seelow, Rheinsberg, Neuruppin, Neustrelitz, Wünsdorf. Potsdam, etc. well served by public transport, thee regional and ICE trains.

The longest period where I stayed 2 weeks , ie, 14 nights, consecutively, is Berlin, staying in a Pension, the apt. is not an option.

"Anywhere in Europe"....If a long term stay is defined as 6 consecutive nights or more, then other cities I have done that also are Paris (obviously), Vienna, Arras,

I would suggest first that you decide on which country to do this stay. My choices would be France and Germany, for the obvious reasons, Then , select the city, where again for me they are Paris and Berlin. You have to narrow your choices here.

Bottom line...if you know where to go in these places, the lure and excitement do not leave.

Thanks so much for the responses, everyone. They've been very helpful, and have given me a lot of good places to start thinking about. To those who asked when/what time of year we're planning to travel, we're really open to anything, and will plan our trips around the best times to go. So anywhere is really possible.