A European weekend is decided as much by the airport transfer as by the city. The cheap flight into a distant secondary airport is the most common way a two-night trip loses half a day.
The transfer arithmetic
| City | Airport to centre |
|---|---|
| Málaga | 12 min train |
| Amsterdam | 15 min train |
| Vienna | 16 min express |
| Lisbon | 20 min metro |
| Kraków | 20 min train |
| Porto | 30 min metro |
| Rome Fiumicino | 32 min express |
| Milan Bergamo | 50+ min coach |
| Paris Beauvais | 75+ min coach |
An airport 75 minutes out costs two and a half hours of a two-night trip in transfers alone, plus the coach fare.
Price the total journey and total cost, not the headline fare.
Compact cities, which suit two nights
Porto — the Douro, the port lodges across the river, tiled churches, and the best value in western Europe.
Kraków — an intact medieval square, Wawel, Kazimierz, and very low prices.
Ljubljana — small, riverside, walkable end to end, with the Alps an hour away.
Bruges and Ghent — Ghent being the less-visited and arguably better of the two.
Seville and Valencia — both walkable, both a fraction of Barcelona's density.
Bologna — porticoes, food, and a rail hub with Modena, Parma and Ravenna within an hour.
Tallinn — a walled medieval centre you can cross in twenty minutes.
Cities that need three nights
Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, Barcelona, Istanbul.
Not for lack of things to see but because the sights are spread and each crossing costs 25–40 minutes. Three crossings a day is two hours underground.
On two nights in these cities, pick one district and stay in it.
The flight timing
The earliest reasonable Friday or Saturday departure. A 7am flight gains most of a day; a midday one loses it.
Price in the possibility of a taxi to the airport if public transport is not yet running at that hour, which frequently erases the fare saving on the very cheapest flights.
Hand luggage only saves 30–45 minutes at each end plus the fee.
Book before flying
The short list per city, because turning up without these wastes the trip:
Barcelona — Sagrada Família, Park Güell.
Rome — Colosseum, Vatican.
Amsterdam — Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum.
Paris — the Louvre.
Granada — the Alhambra.
Milan — the Last Supper, months ahead.
Porto, Kraków, Ljubljana, Bologna and Tallinn need essentially nothing, which is part of their appeal for a short trip.
Off-season
The same weekend costs 30–50% less between November and March, and a city break is the trip type winter damages least — the museums, restaurants and bars are indoors regardless.