Three city trips for the long Easter break

By Mary Whittaker Mar 18, 2008

Good news, says Nick Trend in The Daily Telegraph: this year’s early Easter has played havoc with school holidays, leaving a nine-week gap between Easter Sunday and Whitsun half-term. This means that if you don’t have school-age children, you should be able to find cheap travel for your spring break.

So where should you go? Venice, says Tim Jepson in The Daily Telegraph. This is the best time of year to visit Vemoce, as no one else does, so you get to experience “a living city” rather than a historic theme park. Visit San Marco and the Doge’s Palace, says Venetian Francesco da Mosto in The Sunday Times – but then go further and seek out the tiny 11th-century church of San Giovanni Elemosinario and lose yourself in the surrounding streets.

Where to stay? The five-star Gritti Palace Hotel, which overlooks the Grand canal, says Jepson, or the “decadent and romantic” Ca Maria Adele, which has just 12 rooms and is located in the quiet and “increasingly stylish” Dorsoduro district.

Another perfect spot for a city break right now is Krakow, famous for its arresting architecture, historical buildings and many monuments. The beauty of this “Oxbridge of Poland” (as The Times puts it) lies in its “under­statement and many surprises”, says Ann Jepson, also in The Daily Telegraph. Don’t miss Wawel Hill and Castle, the “remarkable” 20th-century Polish art in the National Museum, or the Galeria Karakowska – a 250-store “shopping extravaganza”. Stay at the historic Hotel Copernicus, located in the shadow of Wawel Hill and complete with frescoes and a grand restaurant sporting Renaissance paintings on the ceiling.

Finally, you might “plunge into Mediterranean springtime”, says The Observer, with a visit to Marseilles, where the annual Winegrowers and Farmers Spring Fair is held from 28 to 31 March. For just five euros you can browse cheese, saucisson and chocolate stalls to your heart’s content, then take an aperitif at La Caravelle as you watch the sun set over the historic port. Marseille’s medieval quarter has begun to be gentrified, and a corner room at Hôtel Péron offers views of the Chateau d’If and the Mediterranean. Taking the Eurostar from St Pancras costs just £109 return.

Published in Travel | More articles by Mary Whittaker

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