5 cities for a romantic weekend

Today we present a guest article

A romantic weekend is one of the best dating activities you can do. As European residents, we're lucky because there are plenty of weekend cities that are perfect for a weekend love trip!

Relationship magazine Passionate are experts in dating and write about everything from good dating sites to practical dating tips. Using their experience, they've compiled a list of 5 romantic weekend destinations in Europe that are perfect for when you need to take care of each other! What all the tips have in common is that they are a bit more unique than the classic romantic tips you get (you know, Rome, Paris...).

Loving destinations for a weekend date

Venice

Venice is one of the most romantic cities in the world, that's for sure.
The whole city is built on more than a hundred islands connected by more than four hundred bridges. Everything feels very picturesque and intimate here. Small streets and alleys run between the beautiful colourful houses and wherever you look you can see canals filled with beautiful turquoise water on which elongated boats sail.

Best of all, Venice is off the coast of Italy, so expect cosy taverns, delicious pasta, good wine and a generally loving atmosphere a la Italia!

We really recommend taking a boat ride on the canals, having a cosy picnic at one of the fantastic viewpoints or watching the sunset at the Ponte di Rialto bridge. Don't forget to book a table at one of the small waterfront restaurants - you'll find something you like wherever you go, and it's usually enough to stick your head in and ask if they have a seat for two tonight!

Booking websites are not as widespread in Italy as they are in Sweden, where you usually have to call or stop by!

Budapest

Budapest is a perfect weekend destination for a date as it is close to Sweden, relatively cheap and incredibly beautiful. The city is beautifully situated on the waterfront and is full of old historical buildings and strolling around here is incredibly cosy and interesting.

Don't miss walking along the Danube River or crossing the chain bridge if you like water. You can also enjoy a beer at one of the many beer cafés along the river! If you like romantic cafés, we also recommend visiting the New York Café. It's one of the city's most visited cafés and has high ceilings, lots of beautiful paintings and everything is covered in gold and marble. Definitely a place you can spend many hours in!

In the evening, you'll find everything from wine bars to lively underground nightclubs and large beer fairs, depending on what you're in the mood for. What is guaranteed is that there is nightlife for those who like it!

Edinburgh

Scotland's capital is just over two hours away by plane and is incredibly cosy to travel to in summer and winter. It is usually possible to get really cheap tickets via Norwegian's low-cost calendar and if you are out in good time you can fly there for less than SEK 700.

You land just outside Edinburgh and then take a small train into the city. The city immediately feels very compact and small and, unlike London, it's easy to move between everything there is to see and do.

The old quarters are full of cosy classic pubs, old buildings and bookshops. The main square has live music, haggis restaurants and antique shopping, and wherever you go, you can navigate your way from the large castle visible from all over the city.

Edinburgh is also next to the sea and it is very cosy to go for a long walk along the coast or visit a fish market.

Axel works with dating at Passionerad and says that "Edinburgh is perhaps not one of the most classic romantic destinations, but there is a great charm about the city and if you like a little rougher cities with a lot of history, you will definitely have a good time here."

Axel continues: "Having a pint of Innis & Gunn in one of the many picturesque pubs with live music after a great day on the rugged coastline is definitely a treat!".

If you like history, intimate pubs, friendly people and a city unlike any other in Europe, then Edinburgh is perfect! If you want to go on a weekend over the New Year's weekend, we can also recommend Edinburgh which has one of the world's largest New Year's celebrations, the so-called Hogmanay!

Biarritz

Biarritz is a not-so-classic destination and (hopefully) new to most people. It's a small coastal town in south-west France with only 25,000 inhabitants, and everything here feels exactly as you'd expect a romantic seaside town to be.

It's full of beautiful hiking trails, beaches, waterfront cafes, coastal roads for car hire, art museums, small music venues and cosy boutique hotels.

Anyone who wants to try something completely new and who also wants to experience the French romantic culture should definitely go on a date weekend to Biarritz!
We recommend coming here in spring or summer and skipping autumn and winter as the city is pretty dead!

Prague

Last but not least is Prague, an incredible gem that is both close and cheap to travel to. There's good beer, cheap and good food, an intimate and cosy old city centre and the world-famous Charles Bridge.

There are also plenty of great vantage points from which to watch the sunset, and finding small pubs filled with locals isn't difficult either.

We also recommend a visit to the unusually hot "Sex Machine Museum" if you're travelling to Prague for love!

To summarise

We hope you'll invest in a truly romantic weekend together, and remember that it doesn't have to cost a lot of money to be truly loving, the most important thing is that you have each other in a new and exciting city.