Mid sized city for a week’s stay in September

Paris, Dijon, Lyon, Orleans, Arles, Avignon, Nice, Nimes, Colmar, and a dozen other cities just in France. You'll have to go back to your group and do more thinking.

Or you all go to your public library and check out guidebooks and especially travel DVDs. Then have a viewing party and decide what appeals to the group. Also looking at a map of Europe might be helpful to understand the geography. You question is so broad that it is impossible to answer.

Paris, Paris, Paris! I love Paris and have been several times but have not seen it all and love seeing it again and again. Never get bored with Paris. Great food, great restaurants, wonderful museums, excellent subway system and bus system. Wonderful sites, churches, design of the city.

Look at the week long Paris tours which will give you an idea of what there is to see and do. Get the RS Paris guide book at of your library and watch YouTube free videos and look at the RS online scrapbooks that show Paris. And there are plenty of day trips you can do from Paris.

Of course there is Rome, Florence, Venice that are all wonderful and have great sites, museums, restaurants, culture. I have been to them all more than once and enjoyed each city.

I don't know about going hiking but with all the walking you will do in any city, that will be a lot of hiking!

I have not been to Spain so I cannot say but have been told how nice it is.

OP is looking for "mid sized city" ( see title line ! ) and Paris ( 2.2 million+) is the recommendation?

Florence, Bologna, Verona, Padua fit what I would consider a generally accepted definition of a 'mid sized city', NOT Paris.

OP is looking for "mid sized city" ( see title line ! ) and Paris (
2.2 million+) is the recommendation?

I'm not sure msnowre quite knows what he wants yet.

I would join with those who favor Paris, but wanted to put in my separate vote for Barcelona. While a relatively large city, it breaks down into neighborhoods, each with its own identity. Cost-wise, it is about 25-30% less expensive than Paris, and depending upon the OP's age, it might be more interesting.

Thank you all for the responses. Yes, we definitely want to go to a smaller city. I love Paris but we are trying to find a place that is appealing to all. No big cities is the general consensus and having the ability to go on a half day hike in the countryside is a plus too. We are going to clelebrate our 60th birthdays! I have never been to Spain so I will research the areas that were mentioned. What smaller towns in France would you all recommend?

I think I would like a week in Avignon. Many possible day trips, cute town, lovely restaurants.

Not sure what "mid sized" means but what about Salzburg, Nice, York, Siena, Montreux?

With just a week to play with, you'll want a place that's relatively easy to get to.

Girona, about an hour from Barcelona, might work. Though I think most would class it as a "small city" rather than mid-size, it is very cosmopolitan with lots of good restaurants. Side-trips could be made to Barcelona (which is worth over a week by itself), Figueres (Dali Theatre and Museum), Besalu, Cadaques and other coastal towns, and the Pyrenees. I'm not sure how easy day-trips to the Pyrenees would be without a car, however.

Somewhere in the Italian lake district might be good, but those places are smaller than mid-size. The hiking would be great.

Padua has a number of sites of interest and is day-trip distance from Vicenza, Verona, Lake Garda and Ferrara. Also Venice, but I doubt that anyone here would recommend day-tripping to Venice.

If you plan to travel in early May or late September, check weather at your possible destinations, particularly if you're looking north of the Alps.

At about 215k I'm not sure if it fits your definition of mid-sized city but how about Rennes in Brittany. It's about 1-1/2 hrs from Paris by train. It has a nice old center that is walkable, has the history and cultural options, not sure about great restaurants, but I'm sure there are some good ones. Great day trip possibilities by public transportation - Fougeres, Dinan, St Malo, Nantes, Vitre, maybe even Vannes - all within about an hour and a half. I've only been to Brittany in mid-summer but it should be lovely in either May or September, especially September.

Vicenza, Italy (pop. 116 000)
Visit Verona, Padova, Lake Garda, Venice

Bologna, Italy (pop. 388 000)
Visit Ferrara, Ravenna, Parma, Modena

Arles, France (pop. 53 000)
Visit Avignon, Nimes, Marseille, Aix-en-France

Jerez, Spain (pop. 213 000)
Visit Cadiz, Arcos, Sevilla, Córdoba

Many good suggestions already.

I have a few more ideas:

1) Normandy and/or the Loire Valley (Blois).

2) Lisbon, Portugal

3) Seville, Spain

Hiking + culture makes it difficult.
Not in Italy, France, or Spain, but how about

Dresden

The city offers a compact, reconstructed old town with a lively 19th century quarter on the opposite side of the river, plus several wine villages and villa quarters up and down the river.

Cultural option: several wold-class museums, Semper opera + Kreuzchor
Day trips: several preserved towns like Meissen, Bautzen, Görlitz or Freiberg, castles and fortresses (Pillnitz, Weesenstein, Königstein), or a village with Christmas all year round.
Hiking: Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland, wich offer hikes from this to this, are just 45min away by train, but you can also take a nostalgic paddle steamer from Dresden. And you can hike in the vineyards.

Luzern, Switzerland. Mid-size city fun to explore on foot. Alpine day trip excursions to Titlis or Rigi offer great views and can including hiking. Lake cruises. Picasso museum. Easily reached by rail and easy to navigate using trams and buses. One hour from Zurich airport.

I would pick Seville. It's easy to reach by train if you fly into Madrid. Good, inexpensive food and wine and multiple day trip opportunities.

We stayed here in October 2017, and walked everywhere.

http://www.hotelbecquer.com/en/

Avignon would be great. It's an excellent base to explore Provence. You're a short train ride away from Arles, Orange, and Nimes. Le Pont du Gard is nearby (accessible via public transportation by bus) and there is good hiking there. There is plenty to do in the city itself, lots of restaurants, museums, of course the papal palace, etc. However, to get out and about into some of the smaller towns in Provence, you'd really need a car.

It isn't Italy France, or Spain, but the climate should be fine during your travel dates.

Liverpool, UK. It meets all of your needs, except that I honestly don't know about hiking opportunities, as I tend to associate hiking with mountainous areas. Day trips to Chester and Manchester are easy, and Blackpool if you're interested. There is plenty of history even if you're not into the Beatles or soccer. There are numerous museums, a wonderful waterfront, two cathedrals, a very walkeable city centre and you certainly don't want a car.

https://www.visitliverpool.com/

Not sure suggestions of Lisbon, Sevilla, Liverpool qualify as mid size cities.

Another vote for York. In May the daffodils should be blooming. I don't know about the restaurants but it's got the hiking and history.

Dublin. You can see a lot in the city and then take the train out to the suburbs for awesome hikes.

I like the idea of Dublin, but the first place that came to my mind was Budapest.

I like the idea of Budapest myself, spent 6 days there and want to go back, lots to do. However, when the OP said mid-sized city Budapest never came to mind, neither did Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sevilla and other large cities.

Strasbourg might fit the bill here. Underrated city IMO. Lots off good opportunities for day trips in either France or Germany. Great walkable city center with lots of restaurants. Good hiking in the hills east or west of the Rhine.

DJ