Thursday night out, Monday morning back, four cities where three days feel like a week. Lisbon, Copenhagen, Vienna and Palermo, with the hotel, the table and the walk.
The long weekend is the most efficient unit of travel a working man has: one day of leave, four nights away, a complete change of scene. The trick is choosing a city that rewards three days rather than demanding seven, and structuring the days so that you come home rested rather than as if you had done a second job. Four cities do this better than most.
The structure
Fly out Thursday evening, straight to the hotel, one drink at the bar, bed. Friday is for walking without a plan: the old town, a market, a long lunch, a nap, dinner at the place you booked a month ago. Saturday is for the one thing you came for, a museum, a drive, a swim, followed by the best restaurant of the trip. Sunday is slow: a late breakfast, a park, a bath, an early dinner. Fly home Monday at seven in the morning and be at your desk by ten, or on the Sunday evening if you must.
Lisbon
Stay in Chiado or Príncipe Real, in a small hotel with a terrace. Walk down to the river on Friday, take the tram to Belém on Saturday morning and the train to Cascais for a swim in the afternoon, and eat grilled fish at a place with paper tablecloths on Sunday. The light in October is the best in Europe.
Three days in a city is enough to fall for it and not enough to tire of it. That is the ideal length of a love affair with a place.
Copenhagen
Stay in the centre and rent a bicycle on Friday morning; the city is built for it. The Louisiana Museum on Saturday, an hour up the coast by train, with lunch on the terrace looking at Sweden. Dinner is the reason many people come; book one serious table and eat smørrebrød and beer the rest of the time. Swim in the harbour if it is June. Wear a coat if it is not.
Vienna
Stay near the Ring in a hotel with a proper breakfast. The Kunsthistorisches Museum on Friday afternoon, followed by a coffee house where nobody hurries you. Saturday is for the Wienerwald or the Heurigen of Grinzing, wine gardens on the edge of the city where dinner is a plate of cold things and a jug of the new vintage. Sunday morning a concert, Sunday afternoon a walk in the Prater.
Palermo
The wild card. Stay in a palazzo hotel in the Kalsa and accept that the city is loud, chaotic and magnificent. Friday is the markets, Ballarò and the Capo, and a street lunch you will remember for years. Saturday a driver to Monreale and the coast at Mondello. Sunday the Palatine Chapel early, before the coaches, and a long lunch of raw red prawns and a bottle of Etna white. Fly home changed.
Try the tool
Packing ListOne bag, packed in twenty minutesQuestions we get asked
Which season?
October and May for Lisbon and Palermo, June and September for Copenhagen, December and May for Vienna. Avoid August everywhere except Copenhagen.
Hotel or apartment?
Hotel, for three nights. The bar, the breakfast and the concierge are the point, and an apartment is a chore for a stay this short.
How much should I budget?
Around €1,200 to €2,000 for flights, a good hotel and food, per person, depending on the city and your appetite. Palermo is the cheapest, Copenhagen the dearest.
