by Shannon Lintott

I’ve been travelling for the better part of ten years, but I feel as if I have only seen a small fraction of this planet we call home.

I have been lucky in my life to be able to afford the time and costs associated with exploring (mainly) the European continent. It took me many miles by bus, plane, train, car and in some cases, my own two feet, and I feel as if I am finally able to make my list of my favourite cities in Europe.

Disclaimer: I will say here that some travellers often argue about whether or not certain countries are truly a “part of Europe”…but this is what my atlas tells me is correct and the water ways of the world dictate.

Right. Now that that is out of the way, let’s get onto the list! The cities below were chosen for their culture, food, bars, history, transportation (getting around), museums, architecture, markets and friendly locals (at least most of the time).

Summation? These cities are utterly unique places on this earth; each in their own way.

Top 10 European Cities to Visit

Reykjavik, Iceland

 

Budapest, Hungary

 

Istanbul, Turkey

Prague, Czech Republic

Berlin, Germany

 

Porto, Portugal

 

Edinburgh, Scotland

 

Kotor, Montenegro

 

Venice, Italy

 

Paris, France

 

Honourable mentions: Lisbon, Portugal;  Florence, Italy;  Palermo, Sicily; Sofia, Bulgaria;  Nantes, France; Amsterdam Netherlands; Krakow, Poland; Zagreb, Croatia.

Don’t forget while travelling around to the big cities that you should try to make time to do day trips outside of the city. In my opinion, the only way to completely feel as if you’ve experience a country is to have spent time exploring smaller towns.

Happy and safe travels!

 

Shannon Lintott spends her free time reading, writing and travelling as much as possible. Check out her travel blog at travellingcanuk.blogspot.com and her movie review blog I Like (good) Movies and follow her on Twitter.