Travel to Europe

Finding time to spend on a relationship is increasingly difficult. Our hectic lifestyles, with the demands of the 9-5 and ambitious social calendars, work towards keeping hard-working couples apart. Sometimes you hardly get the time to say a single sentence to each other in one day. The winter is also a particularly difficult time for relationships. The cold , dark and depressing conditions tend to put a dampener on romance. We’ve still got a whole month of the season left, and summer seems a long way off.

For these reasons, it’s never been more important to put some time aside and go away together. Whether you’re in Birmingham dating or in London dating, you will definitely feel the benefit of a short weekend jaunt to somewhere in Europe. Plus, you can get great deals at this time of year. Here are a few suggestions for mini-breaks to give you some ideas…

Icy Innsbruck

If you’re keen to escape now, without having to wait for the warmer European weather, why not try catching the end of the snow season? If you can ski or snowboard, an activity-packed icy adventure in one of the great European mountain ranges would make an ideal mini-break. Just imagine it: an energising day in beautiful surroundings, with time to collapse by the fire and cosy up together in the evenings.

Innsbruck is worlds apart – well, a country apart – from the mainstream resorts of the commercialised French Alps. This tranquil Austrian town is only an hour away from the airport, so it makes the perfect weekend ski location.  It is also free from raucous students and has many fabulous restaurants and 285km of pistes to explore.

Bustling Bruges

City breaks would also work well at this time of the year, though you may want to wait a few weeks if you want to catch a bit of sun while you’re there. Europe is packed full of fascinating and deeply romantic cities. Venice, Paris and Rome are particularly renowned locations where couples enjoy mini-breaks. There are always things to do in cities, so you’ll definitely find ways to amuse yourselves.

Bruges, although negatively presented in the recent Colin Farrell blockbuster , is a gorgeous little-known city in the middle of Belgium. It has been referred to as the ‘Venice of the North, with the advantage of fewer tourists’. With its quaint little canal and fascinating architecture, it makes the perfect place for romantic trips.

Quiet Cephalonia

If you’re willing to wait a bit longer and hit the beach for your mini-break, it will definitely be worth the wait. The beach is the ultimate romantic environment – sun-kissed skin, high temperatures, cooling dips in the sea and a regime of sun-cream application – it’s every couple’s fantasy.

Cephalonia is a Greek island in the Mediterranean and is already enjoying a temperature of 24C in May. Its beauty is immortalised in the pages of international bestseller Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and anyone who has read the book will realise the extreme romantic possibilities of such a place.

Whether you met through dating sites or at a dance class, don’t let a busy lifestyle and the gloom of winter destroy your relationship. City, beach or snow – take a trip away and start falling in love again.