One region, one month, no big city, where do you go?

Interesting challenge, Rob. And your suggestions are great, but I'm a bit confused by the "rules," because Tuscany and Bavaria both have at least one city over 250K. So it's okay to pick a region with a large city as long as I don't stay in or visit the city?

Here are my choices (depending on the time of year):

• The Dalmatian coast
• Norwegian fjord country
• Provence
• Iceland

Bulgaria and Romania

• Somewhere in Bavaria, preferably on a lake, easy train distance to Munich and other Bavarian towns
• Provence, anywhere - but must have a car
• Brittany, probably on the coast somewhere
• England, maybe around Bath or Bristol, easy train distance to both London and Wales

Yes, the rules of my challenge are that you could stay in a city under 250,000 and visit a bigger city as part of a day trip, but not as the focal point of the month long stay.

Burgundy or the Aveyron area of France.

Under those rules: 1. Alsace-Lorraine (minus Strasbourg) 2. greater Schleswig-Holstein (minus Hamburg), 3. greater Brandenburg area (minus Berlin), 4, the Loire area.

• Baltic coast/Germany
• Southern Bohemia+Moravia/Czechia
• Galicia/Spain
• Istria/Croatia
• South Tyrol/Italy

Venice.

The total population of the entire commune is around 264,000 but the vast majority of that number live on the Terrafirma - mostly Mestre.

The population on the islands is around 60,000.

I would happily live among those 60,000 - in any sestiere.

One month - one year - ten years.

And I could find plenty to keep me busy without leaving Veneto Friuli for quite a good while.

Iceland. Definitely Iceland. Or somewhere else in the Nordics.

If money is no object then Berner Oberland. Otherwise High Tatra mountains (Vysoke Tatry) in Slovakia.

I also would pick Venice. From Venice you could still reach the Dolomites and if you stretched the rules a little you could go to Lake Como.

This is the way we typically travel every summer. Some month long regions and towns for us have been: Zug CH, Quedlinburg DE, Albi FR, Aix en Provence FR, Perchtoldsdorf AU, St. Albans UK, Freiburg DE, Bath UK.

This summer we are spending 3 weeks in Überlingen DE and 2 weeks in Monte San Savino IT--a different mix for us, splitting our time between 2 destinations.

On our next list: Brittany, the Dordogne region or somewhere in the Netherlands.

Some year hubby and I will rent a gite - I'd love to spend a month somewhere in Provence and just tool around. Or, conversely, I could see staying somewhere in the north of France...actually - pretty much anywhere in France for a month - north, south, east, west, central....

How about on Lake Garda just west of Verona. You'd be within striking distance of Venice, Bologna, Florence, the Cinque Terre, Modena, Torino, the Dolomite Mountains, the Brenner Pass and Innsbruck. And travel by trains from there can get you just about anywhere in Italy really fast.

Sicily for me, without staying in Palermo or Catania - although I reserve the right to visit!! But in May or September or October, NOT the summer. Or Puglia.

Or Burgundy or the Loire . . . .in June or September.

Or Scotland . . . .with definite time in Shetland and Orkney, but also, well heck, everywhere except the cities since they are forbidden with these parameters.

Or an island or coastal area somewhere in the Baltic. Countryside of Finland.

All of these are my dreams to go and stay in a small village or countryside somewhere and just RELAX. I'm so far from having that kind of vacation EVER. Drive around in a cute car with the sunroof open, take walks in the countryside, drink good wine on a cool terrace, eat good food, laugh with good friends (or newly made ones), read good books.

fun day dreaming . . .

Not directly for me but just an idea: the countryside with the small towns and villages around the IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. For me: Dalmatian coast.