Travel
Short & Sweet September Escapes
Want to get the best from your city break? Wait until summer draws to a close and the schools have reopened, advises Eva Ramirez. You’ll be rewarded with a great escape – not just from everyday life, but from heaving holiday crowds too. And here’s where to go…
A Note From Eva Ramirez
Timing, as any frequent flier knows, is everything. No-one wants to be caught in a crowded throng when they’re on a romantic break – unless they’re at a festival. So holding off until the school gates have reopened can be a wise idea for couples looking to reconnect and find fresh inspiration, once the summer masses disperse and cities exhale. Practice a little patience by waiting until September and you’ll enjoy a more authentic version of the same destination – with shorter queues, better tables, uninterrupted views, and often more reasonable prices too. These cities are ideal for a short but sweet escape with your other half.
Vienna
Vienna wears autumn well. The trees lining Stadtpark’s wide avenues are dressed in copper and amber, and the entire city seems aglow. Spend a day drifting between the Leopold Museum and MUMOK in the Museums Quartier before losing an afternoon admiring Klimt's The Kiss at The Belvedere Museum. A wander through the palace's baroque gardens will add to the romance. Find a window table at Café Central or Café Sperl, order a Melange (Vienna's signature softer version of a cappuccino) and do some people watching. For a base with personality, check into Hotel Motto on Mariahilfer Straße. This boutique art-and-design hotel is brimming with energy after dark, particularly at Chez Bernard, its restaurant on the seventh floor. In the morning, follow the buttery scent of almonds to MOTTO Brot, the hotel's own bakery, for pastries still warm from the oven.
Berlin
Berlin isn’t the prettiest city, but what it lacks in polish it makes up for in personality. Start at The Store X, Alex Eagle's concept space inside Soho House Berlin, then head to Pinci on Große Hamburger Straße for a coffee and a croissant taken standing at the bar. From there, explore Mitte's back streets, where there are plenty of concept stores and wine bars worth discovering. For dinner, book a table at Nobelhart & Schmutzig, which is described by its owner as “brutally local” – there’s no imported anything. Afterwards, find your way to Buck & Breck and ring the buzzer. It’s a speakeasy so small it seats just 14, serving very good cocktails in the dark. Stay at Château Royal, set inside two historic Mitte buildings that have been reimagined by David Chipperfield as a contemporary hotel. The founders started out framing other people’s art before deciding to collect their own, and now more than 100 pieces hang throughout the hotel. It feels more like the home of a friend with excellent taste than an inner-city hotel. Stay here for a few nights and you’ll have forgotten you’re a tourist at all.
Budapest
Budapest has beautiful architecture, excellent food, thermal baths and a nightlife scene that can take you from sophisticated cocktail bars to famously scruffy pubs. Try to time your stay with a performance at the Hungarian State Opera House, home to the Hungarian State Ballet. Even if you don’t catch one, the Neo-Renaissance interior is worth a look on its own. Many visitors come to Budapest for the city’s thermal waters, and while the famously ornate Gellért Baths are currently closed for restoration, Széchenyi is a great alternative. There are 18 indoor and outdoor pools set inside a vast Neo-Baroque complex, where locals play chess while shoulder-deep in steaming water. A short stroll along the river brings you to Buda Castle, home to the Hungarian National Gallery. Short weekend breaks mean you can’t afford to waste a meal on a bad restaurant choice, so head to Déryné, which serves seasonal Hungarian dishes with a contemporary twist. Hungarian food leans heavily on meat, so a dish worth trying here is the schnitzel, stuffed cabbage and duck confit. Stay at Bagatelle Gardenhouse, a six-room boutique hotel. It’s tucked into the quieter, leafier fringes of Buda but still close enough to the action, without ever quite feeling like the city.
San Sebastián
If your love language is cuisine, San Sebastián should be top of your must-visit list. This Basque coastal city is the perfect place for long walks, so wander along La Concha Bay and to the harbour, or climb Mount Urgull for the views to work up an appetite. Visit the Parte Vieja’s pintxo bars that spill onto cobbled streets, and make like a local by hopping from one to another, pairing miniature plates with a small beer or glass of wine. End with dessert at La Viña for a taste of its famous burnt Basque cheesecake. For shopping, Casa Munoa has been making exquisite handcrafted jewellery since 1935. Cross the river to Gros, the city's laid-back, surfier side, for concept stores like LaCentral. Stay at Villa Soro, a 19th-century aristocratic villa in a quiet residential pocket of town, just minutes from the buzz of the centre. There are rooms with log fires, deep sofas, and a well-edited stack of books and magazines. And don’t forget to borrow one of the hotel’s bikes to cruise along the coastal cycle path.
Seville
Seville’s whitewashed courtyards, tiled plazas and orange-tree-lined streets are stunning year-round, but as the summer swelter begins to ease, you’ll be able to enjoy it all without breaking a sweat. Spend a morning discovering the Real Alcázar, a Mudéjar palace that’s still used by the Spanish royal family today. Then cross the square to the cathedral, which is the largest Gothic building in the world. The streets around Alfalfa are where you’ll find Seville's best shopping spots. La Importadora blends fashion, design and art under one roof, while Populart, tucked into a dusky-blue building in Santa Cruz, sells vintage ceramics and azulejos. Then cross the river to Triana for ceramics workshops and small, family-run studios producing the hand-painted tiles that the city is famous for. If you happen to be in Seville on a Thursday, visit Mercadillo Histórico El Jueves, a legendary antiques market. Calle Mateos Gago in the Barrio Santa Cruz area is a well-known street for tapas bars, and you’re unlikely to go wrong with any of the spots along here for dinner. For somewhere to stay, choose Cristine Bedfor Sevilla, which occupies a Neo-Mudéjar building with a rooftop pool, just a two-minute walk from The Alameda de Hércules.
