Where to go in Europe the week of Thanksgiving

Obvious choice is Vienna. Christmas Markets galore, many world class museums, opera, cake. Great day trips - Bratislava, nearby charming villages, Melk

Have you been to Italy?

We are excited about spending Thanksgiving in Florence in the Oltrarno neighborhood. It has a small-town feel — and easy access to the Florence’s Duomo and all museums across the Arno River.

It’s also an easy train ride to many small towns like Lucca, Pisa, and Siena.

Happy holidays!

Emily i woukd agree with you except the OP doesn't want to be in a big city but wants to do day trips. So I vote for Gyor.

We had a great Thanksgiving week trip spending several days in Venice and the rest in Bologna.

I second Susan's Florence suggestion; a fantastic, walkable Birthplace of the Renaissance city that teems with beauty. As Tuscany's capital, Florence has excellent transport connections for day trips. Side note: with so many American ex-pats living in the city it is not hard to find a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner on the day, with turkey and all the fixings, or enjoy a delizioso Tuscan version. And that's another fabulous bonus, you can eat exceptionally well and not bust your budget all over Florence.

What you want is a transportation hub that will allow you to visit the big city and it's attractions while allowing you to stay in a quieter local. I can think of a few of these, although they are smaller cities.

In Bavaria I suggest Ansbach. Easy to get to and from, with great connections to places like Nuremberg, Munich, Ulm, Ingolstadt, Rothenberg, etc. It was a major location for the US Military until the 1990's (there is still some presence) and it's an attractive place on it's own.

Further west I'll recommend Neustadt (on the Wine Strasse). Easy connections to Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Mainz, Trier, Stuttgart, and even the Alsace-Lorraine. A tourist destination for Europeans in the summer it has the infrastructure and there are dozens of small, picturesque villages within walking distance.

In the Alsace-Lorraine I'll suggest Metz. It's larger than either of the others, but feels small. Beautiful on it's own, easy connections to Paris, Trier, Nancy, Strasbourg, it's an excellent place to spend a week exploring the area.

Take a look at these, and the surrounding areas. They check all the boxes on your list, they can be destinations in their own right, but offer the convenience of access to a lot more of the local area. I've spent weeks in all of them, and in the nearby places, and I could easily do it again.

Disclosure: I've spent the last two Thanksgiving weekends in Paris and Strasbourg, and this year I'll be in Krakow.

My suggestion of Gyor was only half in jest (its half way between Vienna and Budapest and it has a lovely old town and not many tourists). But let’s start with your request:

We'd like to stay in 1 location, taking day trips out and avoid large
cities. Looking for some quieter slower travel for this trip. We enjoy
sightseeing, museums, theatre and just walking around taking in the
flavors of different towns and small cities.

Museums, theatres, different towns to visit and 7 or 8 days. So a small town with everything that makes a big city?

Someone may know of a “not a city” with a half dozen museums and a theater that is conveniently connected to several other cities and in all honesty, I am sure something fits the bill.

But with my lack of knowledge of the world, I can’t help because of the “small city” requirement. But I can say that, otherwise, what you are looking for is fairly typical of what I enjoy. But I do it in larger cities. Larger cities are just a collection of smaller neighborhoods, and you choose one of those to stay in. Not one so far removed from the tourism that all there is to do is sit in your accommodation, but not a neighborhood sitting in the center of the tourist traffic either. You can feel “small town” and still have everything you want convenient to you. Day trips can be to neighboring villages and towns or the day trip can be to the center of the city life.

On that premise Emily’s suggestion of Vienna works well. You will need to ask her where to stay in Vienna to get that small town feel with plenty of pedestrian areas for walks and maybe parks and views, etc…… You could also do this in Budapest for which my suggestion would be District XI in Buda or District XIII in Pest. Both well connected but both their own environments with beautiful views of the river, very pedestrian, plenty of outstanding food and easy access to the theaters and the musums and to surrounding towns like Szentendre.

But I suspect you can do something similar In any of 100 European cities. The trick will be finding someone like Emily in Vienna that can guide you to the right part of town, without that it could be a bust. And remember 7 or 8 days is sort of marginal to do much running around. You will want things convenient.

Southern Spain? Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba. These are smaller cities that still have a lot of things to see and do.
Here is Rick's page on Andalucia:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/andalucia

Without wanting to hijack this thread I'd like to thank KGC for their recommendations for Germany. I really like the country and people but I've neglected it at the expense of other country's so it's nice to have some recommendations beyond the usual spots.

I'd like to suggest Poland or the Baltics for consideration.

Short trip, I’d take the shortest flight: Portugal. Weather is still warm and sunny, good food lots of sights.