Hoping to get some suggestions for cities to travel to in Europe for 2 weeks during December month? I will be already in Israel visiting family and it will be a quick 4 hour plane from Tel Aviv. I am a very fit and active 40 year old and will be traveling with my best friend ( also a fit female). Where would be the warmest climate? We both live in LA, ( work in ery stressful professions) but ansolutely love big cities with lots of history and culture and great atmosphere. We have been to Paris last year( magical) and Rome the year before( incredible). But this is wintertime? I am not sure where to go? Spain ( I've never been), Greece, Belgium ( never been either) Ihave no interest in the tours which visit 10 countries in 10 days- TOO quick and stressful! I prefer to pick a place or two with beauty, history, and emerse into their culture? This site is incredible information!
Laura from Los Angeles
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7987 posts
Have you thought about Sicily? Fairly warm in December and lots of Greek ruins with almost no tourists. My husband and I spent a week in Sicily this last December and loved it. The food was wonderful and so were the people.
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15794 posts
I was looking for something similar for a trip in February and chose Andalusia. I was there for 3 weeks in February (this year) and totally fell in love with Spain. It's a little farther (5+ hours to Madrid), but only a one hour time difference. I went straight to Cordoba, then Seville, Jerez, Ronda, Granada, and then 2 days in Madrid. There is so much history - Romans, Jews, Moors. In many places, hardly anyone spoke English, and I only know a few words in Spanish (I learned more there :-) but everyone was friendly and tried very hard to help and I got along fine. The trains are very good and easy to use. I did rent a car for 5 days to visit the white hill towns (pueblos blancos), but some of them are easily accessible by bus or train if you want to include them.
Posted by
OP
Los Angeles, ca, USA
22 posts
Cyn, Great suggestion- I am fairly fluent in conversational Italian so that would allow me ability to practice !
Would you say it would be better to rent a flat for 2 weeks and take occasional road trips from a home base? Is there enough to see to stay in Sicily for most of the 2 week period?
Posted by
OP
Los Angeles, ca, USA
22 posts
Chain, Great idea about Spain - as I am fluent in Spanish language . I have seen some amazing and colorful pictures of some beautiful towns in Spain. I think it may have been Andalusia or maybe Catalonia? What would you say we're your preferred cities in Spain? We prefer to stay away from "young" university towns or cities and we prefer to hang out with people our own age.
I heard from this site that Madrid is incredible for first time visitors to Spain.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2309 posts
Re Sicily: you might want to choose one town on the eastern side and one on the western and spend a week in each with day trips out. Sicily is big and there's a lot to see. We used two weeks on each side but were doing it on public transportation.