Not been to Riga but I'd be hard pressed to choose between those 3 too Helen . Prague has it all there in the centre and more than enough there for several days , Tallin was beautiful , lots of lovely eating and drinking opportunites, the deep deep snow of Estonia made it very special for us there but not a lot if you want to explore just a little further . krakow .. not so much that interested us in the "actual old town centre" but more "honest" we felt than prague and the people some of the nicest we have ever met .. but need I say more if you like your history .. Auschwitz/birkenau , shindlers factory , the jewish ghetto and quarters , salt mines , zakopane further afield ... Yep Krakow wins for me

I'd love some more suggestions though

Have you tried Budapest Lyn? My son just came back from there last week. He went with a few of old uni mates for a 3 night break and he loved it. He said they were so friendly there and although the city was a 'young city' there wasn't your usual groups of stag/hen parties there. The food was cheap and he said you could get a pint from around 80 pence.

I've only ventured to Prague in Eastern europe, which I loved. We hope to return one day. I'm not sure where else I could fly in E Europe from a nearby airport. As I would only want a short break, I wouldn't be prepared to travel to any airports further afield.

Yep been to Budapest Shirley .. Had a lovely time there but the pest side was a bit sprawling and nondescript for me although it was winter . Buda side was lovely.

We did enjoy it and I'd say it was probably the cheapest place we have ever been .

Budapest has been on my list for a while, but at the moment, none of the budget airlines fly there from our regional airports. I'd like to visit Berlin as well, but hubby is convinced. Lyn - we enjoyed our time in Riga, but there's not enough there for us to want to return.

Helen, I'm sure I've read that Ryanair fly from Bristol to Budapest but when I put in a date no fares came up. I didn't try any alternative ones.

Haven't been to any of the places listed except Krakow and we absolutely loved it

Hey guys, if you are talking about these three my vote goes to Prague. Prague has its own unique style flavor. But if you talk about whole Europe certainly Irish land is my favorite pick. Those lush green lands and breathtaking valleys offers something which is heavenly.

Have you not tried Chisinau, Cluj Napoca, or Bucharest? And Wizzair airline?
I flew to Tirgu Mures for £20 each way in April, Just came back today from Cluj, flew from Luton, Flight return was £83, parked the car for £21. In 5 days I arrived in Cluj, took the bus (13 hours £16) to Chisinau, stayed at Hotel Cosmos (not great, but cheap) stay with friends for 2 nights, returned to Cluj for one night, yep on the bus again, and then flew home next day.
In April I flew to Tirgu Mures, took the bus to Bucharest and flew home from Buch, £20 out £30 back.
Beer in Moldova and Romania is arouds 60-80pence for half a litre, cigarettes 45-70p a packet in Moldova and £2-3.50 in Romania. Eating out is cheap, even in the more "classy" places you can eat and drink for £10 per person. In 2010 I was having a night out in a local bar for £5,
Good thing about Wizzair is that they fly many destinations from Luton so you can leave the car there fly out to one place and back from another, making a round trip. You need to read the "baggage policy" carefully though. I would say that Wizzair are no different to Easyjet or Ryan Air, I have flown with them 20 or so times in the last 3 years and cannot remember any delays.
You've not seen Eastern Europe until you've really been East. lol

We love Eastern Europe and our fav so far is Serbia, we went two years running and saw and loved a lot. We have been to a lot of Eastern Europe countries this year Hungary different places that we have already been to and also Slovak republic. Looking forward to it.

Did love Krakow and Prague also,

Linda

Our regional airports are Cardiff and Bristol and the choice of countries to fly to is really poor. We'd have to travel at least 3 1/2 hours to fly from any other airport, which is a bit much just for a short break.