rin1018

I'm going to be in London for a wedding mid-September and am planning on staying through the following weekend to give me 5-6 days to check out another area of Europe while I'm over there. Have RT flight booked into and out of LHR and will book intra-Europe flights once I figure out where I'm going!

I've done London, Paris, Berlin, the Netherlands and Belgium, but haven't yet been elsewhere in Europe.

Initial ideas on my part were either Greece, Croatia or Italy (or maybe 2-3 days in two of these if it makes sense logistically and is worth doing). I'd like to do a little bit of historical site seeing and then also get a few days on the beach in (assuming its still beach season!).

Don't want to spend a ton of money, but have a number of Starwood points that will likely get me through the week depending on what hotels are where (although I might pay cash if better value and it looked like rates are fairly reasonable and often <$150/night)

Tentative schedule would be departing London for wherever I'm going on Monday and then I need to be back in London the following Sunday morning to fly back to states on afternoon (3pm) flight.

Thoughts/suggestions??

Thanks in advance!!

KLouis

Rome? And, perhaps, Naples or Florence?

JBord

Greece and Dubrovnik, Croatia would seem to fit your interests. What about Barcelona or southern Spain as well? Seville and Malaga perhaps?

I'm not sure of the weather in western Portugal in September but what about Lisbon-Sintra-Cascais?

Clint Bint

Head South.
Check out Easyjet and Ryanair for somewhere like Crete.
Lots of history,great beaches,fabulous food.

gt6373c

Oktoberfest, Munich. Beer, lots and lots of beer.

KLouis

What a great piece of "advice"! The OP mentioned "I'd like to do a little bit of historical site seeing and then also get a few days on the beach in (assuming its still beach season!)."

MSPeconomist

September is a great time to be in Europe. It's shoulder season in the summer resort areas, which are less crowded than in July and August, but things aren't yet closing for the season. It can still be hot in the south and the north can have pleasant fall days with sunshine and leaves beginning to turn.

What do you want? City with culture and museums, beach, island, mountain scenery? Driving trip?

How many SPG points do you have? Enough for some awesome hotels in Greece and Italy? Think about trying to take advantage of fifth night free awards, which would mean staying in the same hotel for six nights.

BTW, with separate tickets and plans to use a LCC, you should arrive back in London the day before your TATL flight. Note that you might need to change airports too.

ADDED: For history + beach, Nice might work well. You could take a day trip to Monaco, another day trip to Cannes/Antibes/St Tropez etc. Barcelona would also be good. Or Lisbon, with a day at one of the beach nearby resorts (not the Argave). Or Naples plus either Capri or the Amalfi Coast.
Athens: two great Starwoods right in the center and a resort complex (V......) on the outskirts along the coast.

Doc Savage

OP, if you haven't been to Greece, this would be a nice opportunity. Lots to see and do.

tkelvin69

I'd vote for Croatia or perhaps Turkey with a stop in Ephesus while working your way down to the southwestern coast.

exilencfc

Dubrovnik sounds like a good plan. Or somewhere in Italy, Rome with a couple of days on the Amalfi coast perhaps.

Since price is an issue it might be worth looking at British Airways fight+ hotel deals which can be incredibly cheap - and you'd get some miles out of it though probably not many.

stut

Second this. I've had some fantastic deals through this recently - often cheaper than the flights alone. You can equally look for flight+car, adding on AirBnB yourself, which can offer you similar discounts.

rin1018

Wow - lots of ideas! Thanks!

I've got about 80,000 *wood points, so can't go super high end on the hotels, but can cover the week if I don't go luxury properties. Price isn't *really* the main driver of anything - I just don't want to spend a fortune as its been an expensive year and travelling solo means no one to split hotel costs with... Based on my very quick glance at flights to the areas I was looking at, seems like I can pick up a flights for <$150 one way to most places (BA or Aegean to Athens ie)

I'm on the 3:20pm United flight going back to Chicago on Sunday, so could in theory get back to London that morning (I booked the later flight for that reason), but did think about coming back night before to prevent any issues.

The recommendation of going to Nice with day trips from there will get added to the list of places to investigate... a friend of mine was just there and raved about it!

I'm hearing lots of echos on the Italy or Greece or Croatia idea. Can folks chime in with more specifics? If I did a few days in Athens and a few on an island, which island? If Croatia, should I do a few days in Dubrovnik and a few in Split (the Le Meridian there made it look gorgeous!)? Or just stay in Dubrovnik? If Italy, just Rome? What is reasonable and would optimize the short time?

I should also add that I don't mind getting off the beaten path if anyone has any lesser-known suggestions there - I like checking out the major sites, but not a huge fan of overly touristy areas. Very comfortable travelling and getting around.

Thanks again all for the ideas!

rin1018

Oktoberfest is an awesome suggestion! Just not for this trip... I'll do that with friends at some point!

mrgreen

Barcelona! Vibrant city, great atmosphere.
Worth a visit

Clint Bint

I'd do no more than a couple of days in Athens and then pick an island within easy travelling distance.
Somewhere like Aegina is very close but there are many others within a couple of hours by fast hydrofoil.
This is a useful guide to everything Greece.
http://www.greektravel.com/lesson1