anniversary long weekend ideas

[kryten]

Our anniversary falls over the August bank holiday and usually we go somewhere in the UK for a couple of nights, either really good country hotel or somewhere in London - book a couple of decent restaurants etc.

However, it looks like this year I may have persuaded parents to have the kids for a bit of extra time so we could go away Friday (possibly Thursday night, though that may be pushing it!) and come back on Monday.

Anyone got any suggestions of other places to go? Problem is, being the end of the summer holidays I imagine a lot of places will still be really busy (was thinking of Nice/Monaco or Italy) but my wife has always fancied going to Dubai (not too keen myself as not keen on the shopping!).

Don't mind paying out for somewhere really nice and must admit i'm tempted to just go back to Le Manior again...

[havoc]

Don't bother with Dubai - we found it very overpriced (and I mean it makes London look cheap, even after you've paid £200+/night for a beachfront room) and that once outside of the hotels the much-vaunted service disappears quicker than a large tip in a waiter's pocket! Plus end-August will be 40+ every day.

In the UK:-
- Edinburgh. Weather might actually be OK in scotland in August, and it's a lovely (if pricey) place
- North Yorkshire. Some lovely scenery (+ walks), beautiful hotels (one just north of Harrogate...castley-looking place with a good restaurant) and some even better roads...
- York. Can recommend Middlethorpe Hall which also does excellent near-Michelin-star food, and has a decent spa on-site.

Romantic cities abroad:-
- Paris. Obvious, but close (Eurostar?) and will have LOADS of good restaurants. Coincidentally enough we'll be there that weekend...work just booked me on a conference outside of Paris the W/Th/F before, so I mis-booked my flight back for the Monday and Becs is joining me...
- Bruges. Another nice city, with loads of beers to try instead of wine...
- Prague. Lovely place, weather should be very nice too.

Alternatives further afield:-
- Iceland...days will still be long-enough at the end of August, and it'll be cheap
- New York???

[Mobile Chicane]

Here:

Burgh Island, Bigbury Bay, South Hams, Devon

[BigAlinEmbra]

August is holiday month in Italy, so a lot of the locals will have cleared out the cities.

Not a bad shout from Havoc for Edinburgh though, time it towards the end and not only do you have the festival but there's the big firework concert at the end.
Nice dinner and some vino, then up Calton Hill with a radio for the concert and light show.

[srebbe64]

It's my parents 50th wedding anniversary that weekend and we've just booked a family weekend away on a P&O Cruise Ship (can't remember which one, the missus booked it). Anyway, we managed to book eight mini-suites all next to each other so there's clearly plenty of rooms still available despite it being the bank holiday.

[kryten]

Well, decided against the 'surprise' option and my wife would really like to go back to Monaco.

Any suggestions on where to stay/eat?

Looked at booking Hotel de Paris (which she loved the look of when we stopped off in Monaco from a cruise last year) but they only appear to have the top floor suites left that weekend and I'm buggered if I'm spending 10 grand for three nights!

One alternative is to spend one/two nights in Nice/Eze by the beach and then go to Monaco for one night (as we had the kids last year, we couldn't do the Casino...)