Look beyond the French capital for a romantic break, advises BRIAN BOYD, who knows five destinations to challenge the City of Light in the sweetheart stakes
IT IS IRREDEEMABLY NAFF to go to Paris for St Valentine’s Day given the number of cheaper, more original parts of Europe you can visit. If you want to pay a small fortune and be treated like some something stuck to the bottom of the waiter’s shoe in a classy Left Bank restaurant, feel free, but at least consider what else is available. With February 14th falling on a Sunday this year, and with airfares and hotel prices looking particularly tasty in the off-peak month of February, all of these recommendations make perfect weekend-break sense.
Romantic Road
Once an important trade route through Bavaria, the Romantic Road is a leisurely 200km drive through medieval cities and past half-timbered houses and impossibly romantic old castles. It’s all quintessentially Bavarian scenery, and because it’s a stretch of a journey there’s never any fear of its being overrun.
Strictly speaking, the road runs from dreamy Würzburg up to Füssen, Bavaria’s highest city. Along the way you’ll come across numerous courtyard restaurants, inviting parks, old town centres and more castles than you thought could exist. Essential stops include the picture-perfect medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein. Commissioned as a retreat for Wagner, Neuschwanstein Castle (which is not easy to ask directions to after a few glasses of wine) is one of the most photographed places in Europe and is the architectural inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland. Accrue bonus points by staying at Hotel Rübezahl (neuschwanstein- hotel.com), which has views of the castle from most of its rooms.
The two main airports here are Frankfurt and Munich – you could fly into one and out of the other – and the great thing is that you can customise your trip, weaving in and out of the Romantic Road as you see fit.Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Munich from Dublin, Cork and Belfast, and to Frankfurt from Dublin; Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to nearby airports.
romanticroad.com
Cosy Carcassonne
Framed by the Pyrenees, punctuated by turrets and with horse-drawn carriages regularly passing by, the old city of Carcassonne, in southern France, can give you that just-stepped-out-of-a-time-machine feeling. The influences of Visgoths, Franks and Moors are never far from view as you stroll around this eminently walkable city, drinking in its other-worldliness. Organised walking tours with a bossy and strident guide are usually hell on earth, but there’s one here from Château Comtal that brings you into normally out-of-bounds areas and gives an informative and, at times, amusing sociopolitical history of Carcassonne.
If you’re in any way interested in antiques or wine, you’ll have to be pulled out of some of the shops here. The best thing, though, is when night falls and everywhere is artfully flooded with light. You might even discover your inner chivalrous self. Make a reservation at the ultrafriendly Clos Occitan restaurant (00-33-4-68479364, restaurant-carcassonne-closoccitan.com) and you can’t go wrong.
Ryanair flies to Carcassonne from Dublin and Cork.
carcassonne.org
Beguiling Bruges
The film In Brugescould well have been wholly funded by the city's tourist office, such was the spotlight it shone on this previously overlooked part of north Belgium. A canal-based city, it's all narrow cobbled streets and gabled houses. You certainly won't get dizzy from the excitement of it all, such is its slow-paced charm.
If sinfully giant mugs of hot chocolate and pubs that give you 10-page beer menus are your thing, you’ll be in heaven – particularly if you opt for the chocolate stout, which combines both delights.
You find the Number 11 BB (00-32-50-330675, number11. be) here. It costs more than €100 a night but is worth it for rooms straight from an interiors magazine. You’ll be thanking the owners profusely in gratitude as you leave.
You can have a lot more fun than you would think by hiring a bike at the main train station (about €10 a day) and heading out on the flattest road imaginable to the North Sea.
Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Brussels, about an hour by train from Bruges.
brugge.be
Portmeirion passion
Granted, this is far from an obvious choice, but this slightly surreal part of north Wales is a wonder. The 85-year-old village was designed as a mini version of Portofino. Quite why anyone would do this remains something of a mystery, but this odd little place is quite a postmodern adventure.
Very Italianate, Portmeirion is run by a charitable trust. People as diverse as Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul McCartney and Ingrid Bergman were so intrigued that they all paid visits. The place is still best known as the setting for the 1960s TV series The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan.
The great thing about it is that it’s only a hop, skip and jump from Holyhead, so it’s an airport-free trip. It’s very small, so be sure to check out the Portmeirion website before you even think of travelling.
Irish Ferries (irishferries.com) sails to Holyhead from Dublin Port. Stena Line (stena line.ie) sails from Dublin Port and Dún Laoghaire.
portmeirion-village.com
Meditative Montreux
There is a good reason why Catherine Barkley and Lt Frederic Henry, characters in Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, fled to the alarmingly beautiful and thoroughly relaxing Swiss city of Montreux, on the northeastern side of Lake Geneva. The only reason people seem to go here these days is to attend one of its numerous festivals, but if you want a jaw-dropping experience, go down to the lakefront the minute you arrive and marvel at the splendor of it all.
The money shot here lies outside Montreux: three kilometres away is the ridiculously enchanting Château de Chillon (the setting for a Henry James novella). If you have the time and energy, at least attempt to walk northwards along the lake to Vevey or southwards to Villeneuve.
Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies to Zurich from Dublin, for a pleasant three-hour train journey on to Montreux; and to Geneva from Dublin and Cork, for an 80-minute train journey to Montreux.
chillon.ch and montreux.ch