Move over Barcelona: four great alternative city breaks

For weekends away, we tend to stick to the same old places. Why not dodge crowds and high prices at these less high-profile – but no less interesting – cities: Parma, Cadiz, Helsinki or Hamburg

The old town poking into the Atlantic like a finger is (famously, photogenically, obviously) ancient, but thanks in part to entrepreneurial Gaditanos (Cadiz natives) returning home after the crisis, the place has an invigorating, youthful, playful spirit and some cute retro bars. It may be synonymous with waves of cruise-ship daytrippers, but you don’t have to arrive by boat: Seville and Jerez airports are 1½ hours and 40 minutes’ drive away respectively, and it linked by rail as well.