Look, we know how it is. Your holiday days have already been spent on the summer, but your brain is begging for help and you desperately need to break the routine. The solution? The mythical 48-hour getaway. You leave the office on Friday at the end of the day, catch a flight, and Sunday night you're back home to start the week again.
The big mistake people make on these short weekends is choosing huge cities (like London, Rome or Paris). You spend half your time on public transport, run from one place to another like crazy trying to see all the monuments, and on Sunday night you're more tired than when you left.
The secret to a 48-hour getaway is to choose compact cities, where you can do everything on foot and where the airport is close to the centre. Martin has hand-picked these 5 perfect options:
1. Bologna, Italy: The Capital of Food (and Saved Time) 🍝
Bologna is the perfect city for a quick weekend. First, because the train linking the airport to the central station takes just 7 minutes! Second, because the historic centre can all be walked under incredible porticoes (if it rains, you don't even get wet). Your only job will be deciding whether to have Tagliatelle al Ragù for lunch or a traditional Lasagna for dinner.
2. Seville, Spain: Tapas, Sun and Walks ☀️
Seville has a very practical airport and the city centre is a real open-air museum that you can wander through unhurried. On a Saturday morning you see the Cathedral and the Plaza de España, and you spend the rest of the weekend hopping from tapas bar to tapas bar in the Triana or Santa Cruz neighbourhoods. It's the perfect getaway to warm your bones in autumn or spring.
3. Bordeaux, France: Wine and Elegance 🍷
It's a little over 1h30 of flight from Portugal and is super compact. Bordeaux has stunning architecture (some call it "Little Paris"), the banks of the Garonne river are great for a stroll at the end of the afternoon and, of course, the wine is out of this world. You hop on the tram at the airport, reach the centre in no time and unwind with a glass of Bordeaux in hand.
4. Valencia, Spain: Paella and Cycling 🥘
It's less chaotic than Barcelona but has the same fantastic energy. In Valencia, the best thing to do is rent a bike on Saturday morning. The city is completely flat and has a giant park (the Turia Gardens) that crosses the whole centre all the way to the City of Arts and Sciences. You pedal, you see the main sights, you eat real Paella and you go home happy.
5. Marrakech, Morocco: The Fastest Culture Shock 🐪
Want to feel like you've gone to the other side of the world but only have two days? Marrakech! The flight is very short and the change of atmosphere is instant. Stay in a Riad (those traditional Moroccan houses with an inner courtyard) in the Medina, lose yourself haggling in the markets, drink mint tea and on Sunday night you're back in Europe.
If You Only Have 48 Hours... Every Minute Counts!
Pay close attention to this maths: if your flight leaves Friday at 7pm and you return Sunday at 9pm, you literally have your minutes counted. Your time is worth gold!
Are you really going to waste two precious hours of this weekend at the airport here in Portugal? If you go by public transport, you lose an hour dragging your cabin bag around. If you call an Uber, you wait for it to arrive and risk getting stuck in traffic. If you go looking for that low-cost lot 5 km from the airport, there goes another half hour waiting for the shuttle bus.
For quick getaways, you need speed and efficiency.
Take your car, turn on the radio, relax after a day of work and drive straight to the Departures door. A Multipark driver is there waiting for you. You don't lose a single minute. You hand over the key, walk into the airport and embark on your getaway.
When you return on Sunday, dying to fall into bed before going to work on Monday, your car is exactly where you left it, ready to take you home in just a few minutes. Our Valet Parking is the only way to maximise the time of your weekend.
Make every second of your 48 hours count! Run the simulation and book your spot on the Multipark website and take off at the speed of light!
