When you consider fairytale castles, cobblestone cities frozen in time, and picturesque plazas lined with cafés, chances are high you’re imagining Western Europe.
As a lot as safety has taken a flip for the more serious lately—particularly in comparison with the Jap entrance—there’s no denying the West is completely gorgeous: from the canal-crisscrossed cities within the coronary heart of Flanders, all the way down to the rolling inexperienced hills of Alsace, all the best way to the Swiss Alps.
I’ve already given you 5 hiddem gems in Europe as a entire that you simply should not be sleeping on, and my all-time favorite Greek island out of over 20 I’ve ticked off. Now, it is time I shout out my personal yard.
Because the previous saying goes: East Least, West Greatest. Let’s dive in!
PLUS: I’ve constructed a quiz for you on the finish of the article to seek out your excellent match, so stick round!
5 Bucket Record Locations In Western Europe
Thun, Switzerland: The “Anti-Glitz Alpine”
I get it, Switzerland’s not for everyone, particularly budget-conscious vacationers who’re very cautious of paying upwards of $100 on cable automobile rides, and splurging equally-obscene quantities of cash on mountaintop eating places and cogwheel practice rides.
No, Thun just isn’t a uncommon exception to the ‘Switzerland will bleed your pockets dry’ rule, however I will say it’s completely value each hard-earned penny spent.
Lining the crystal-clear shores of Thunersee, an alpine lake flanked by snow-capped mountains, it’s a medieval treasure a majority of the Interlaken-bound vacationers whoosh previous with the practice with out even casting a look out the window.
Thun is that picture-perfect medieval city you didn’t know you desperately wanted visiting till this level.
I’m speaking car-free, cobble-paved lanes lined with centuries-old buildings, framed by your regular overhanging Swiss and Bernese canton flags, sunlit market squares, and an idyllic riverfront with gelato stops and cafés spilling onto the promenad.
The best factor about Thun is that its principal thoroughfare, Obere Hauptgasse, has raised platforms you possibly can stroll on, working adjoining to the road itself, above the arcades on either side. On this “higher path,” there are much more quirky boutiques and eateries with terraces overlooking the full of life avenue beneath.
That mentioned, it is the whitewashed, Disney-like Schloss Thun that attracts essentially the most eyeballs: sitting excessive on a hill above the 800-year-old sprawl, it provides Thun that basic European skyline.
When you’re visiting in summer time, it’s best to know Thun Lake turns a beautiful glacier-blue, and ice-cold as it could be, it feels significantly refreshing on a sizzling day within the Alps.
Individuals often hang around by the water having fun with ice cream, and a few even take a stab at paddleboarding or swimming, prefer it’s the Swiss Riviera… besides the Montreux golf dads and their accent pearl-clutching madames are blissfully absent.
The Vibe: French Riviera power with out the Montreux glitz and glam
Good For: a chill, laid-back alpine escape in summer time
The ‘Do not Miss’ Experiences:
- Obere Hauptgasse: stroll alongside Thun’s Fundamental Avenue and its elevated platforms
- Kayak on Thunersee: for views of the Alps and Thun’s castle-dominated skyline from a distance
Colmar, France: The “Fairytale Flex”
I am a proud Parisian myself, and an absolute sucker for Haussmann structure and our extensive, leafy boulevards, but when there’s one French stunner that deserves a function on this listing is Colmar.
A small metropolis in jap Alsace, essentially the most German-looking area in France, it is like a life-sized Magnificence And The Beast village. Suppose crooked, half-timbered homes in each possible shade, winding waterways navigated by flat-bottom picket boats, and charming fountain squares.
La petite Venise, actually ‘Little Venice’, is the canal-traversed middle, filled with cute bridges and beer halls—for pale ale straight from the faucet and a few of that bacon-sprinkled flammekueche, hit up La Stub, the highest pub-restaurant for Alsatian meals on the town.
A brief five-minute stroll alongside cobbled lanes from the Lauch quayside, you’ll bump into Maison Pfister, a superbly preserved Sixteenth-century townhouse with frescoes and picket galleries. The home itself is only a few steps from Koïfhus, the Gothic-style Previous Customs Home.
The home itself is just a few steps away from Koïfhus, the Gothic-style Previous Customs Home, and the Saint-Martin Collegiate Church, a Thirteenth-century marvel that towers above the city’s gabled roofs and waterways like a storybook belfry.
Individuals often pull as much as Colmar in December for the Christmas markets—even prettier than the Strasbourg ones, imo—however it’s downright beautiful no matter season.
In actuality, the perfect time to go to is springtime, when the flowered balconies are in full bloom, and you may go on wine tasting excursions alongside the Alsace Wine Route, ranging from Colmar, and reaching quaint Alsatian villages like Eguisheim and Ribeauvillé.
The Vibe: real-life Magnificence And The Beast village (with full of life beer halls and canals)
Good For: experiencing Franco-German tradition and sampling Alsantian delicacies with out the Strasbourg buzz
The ‘Do not Miss’ Experiences:
- Canal Tour: discover Colmar from the water on a guided flat-bottom boat trip with a educated native, drifting by the dreamy canals of Petite Venise.
- Kut’zig Hop‑on Hop‑off Bus: a bus line ranging from Colmar, with stops in quite a few medieval cities within the neighborhood, costing solely €29 | $34.40 per particular person.
Dinant, Belgium: The “Cliffside Time Capsule”
I am not gonna lie: I am not an enormous Belgium fanatic myself. Whether or not it is the more and more harmful Brussels, the touristy Bruges, or the now Instagram-ruined Ghent, I not often really feel just like the nation has an terrible lot to supply, particularly should you’re coming all the best way over from America.
That mentioned, if there’s one Belgian metropolis I really feel is well worth the Transatlantic journey, and that also feels surprisingly-quaint and preserved—actual unspoiled Tintin-era Belgium if you realize what I imply—that might be Dinant.
Positioned within the staunchly French-speaking Wallonie, this postcard fort metropolis lies wedged between steep cliffs and the fast-flowing Meuse River. The colourful homes alongside the water, that majestic church spire, and the fort standing watch over the river might seem like AI, however I promise you it is the true deal:
The Collegiate Church of Our Woman, virtually synonymous with Dinant, is nothing wanting a Gothic marvel, with a novel, bulbous bell tower formed virtually like a pear, and a dramatic nave supported by sturdy stone columns and stained-glass home windows.
Atop the city itself stands a formidable medieval citadel, perched over a limestone cliff like a royal crown. With its thick stone ramparts, fortified partitions hugging the sting, and Disney-like towers elevating Belgian flags, you possibly can hardly inform the place artifical ends and rock begins.
The stroll up there’s a little bit of a thigh-burner, with 408 steps counted. When you’re not precisely eager on maintaining with leg day on trip, you possibly can at all times take the cable automobile and admire the views of the winding Meuse and the inexperienced hills of Wallonia within the distance.
I am going to wrap this one up by saying Brussels’ overpriced Grand-Place frites cannot maintain a waffle to La Phine Frite’s crispy golden fries—and a small cone will not value you upwards of $8.
The Vibe: sleepy riverside metropolis on the foot of a historic citadel.
Good For: absorbing Europe’s medieval attract with out crowds or the hefty value tags.
The ‘Do not Miss’ Experiences:
- The Citadel: climb as much as the Citadel for breathtaking views of Dinant and the Meuse River. Alternatively, cable automobile tickets common $17 roundtrip.
- La Phine Frite: the perfect Belgian fry spot on the town, with cones ranging from solely $2.70.
Schwerin, Germany: The “Unspoiled Aristocrat”
Probably one of the vital lovely cities in Europe, full cease, Schwerin is a hidden treasure of Northern Germany most vacationers stay fully oblivious to. Not that I am complaining, thoughts: it virtually feels such as you get this storybook lakeside metropolis all to your self.
The capital of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin is finest recognized for its astounding Renaissance palace, constructed on an island on the sting of a lake (one in all seven that ring the city itself). It’s mainly wrapped in water, with bridges and landscaped gardens topping all of it off.
The schloss is definitely one of many prettiest I’ve seen in Germany: now a UNESCO World Heritage Web site, it’s a boldly yellow Nineteenth-century edifice with hovering golden domes and towers. Although it nonetheless capabilities as a seat of presidency, you possibly can discover a lot of the inside.
Spiral staircases, regal courtyards, and chandelier-lit chambers—you realize, good old school Western European opulence, besides there is not any Versailles-level crowds.
In summer time, you’ll spot locals heading out onto Lake Schwerin by boat beneath the palace’s dramatic silhouette, or strolling alongside the various flower-lined pathways that hug the shoreline.
Again on the town, the Schweriner Dom is a brick-built Gothic cathedral boasting a ravishing stained-glass assortment and the tallest spire within the state, and should you love cobbled streets and historic cafés, a wander across the Altstadt is a should.
Much less kebab stands and cellphone restore joints, extra timbered buildings and old-school bakeries.
The perfect half? Most of what you see continues to be authentic, in contrast to in Cologne or Dresden, the place lots of the medieval buildings needed to be rebuilt after being diminished to rubble throughout World Warfare II.
The Vibe: genuine German metropolis revolving round a historic Nineteenth-century schloss
Good For: getting a style of actual, unspoiled Germany, away from the overtouristed, globalized metropolises
The ‘Do not Miss’ Experiences:
- Cathedral Tower: climb up the tower of Schweriner Dom for a sweeping panoramic view of Schwerin’s timeless Previous City and chateau.
- Kartoffelhaus Schwerin: German for ‘Potato Home’, this conventional eatery makes a speciality of regional Pomeranian potato-based dishes and glowing flavored lemonades.
Salzburg, Austria: The “Cinematic Heavyweight”
Essentially the most lovely metropolis within the Alps, no less than in my e book, Salzburg is that dome-dotted, artifical limestone maze, beneath a mahoosive fortress, that asks nothing of you however to neglect the chaos of the twenty first century for a minute and immerse your self in a Fifteenth-century dream sequence.
For starters, it’s backed by lush-green meadows and majestic snow-covered peaks, the identical ones you’ve got watched 1,000,000 occasions as a child in The Sound of Music—as in, the much-revered Nineteen Sixties basic.
Then there’s the truth that Salzburg’s house to a compact, fully-walkable UNESCO-protected Historic Middle, with stone-paved roads, pastel-hue housefronts richly-decorated in Germanic motifs, and a plethora of unassuming church buildings hiding frescoed interiors and gilded altars inside just a few meters of one another.
On the southern financial institution of the Salzach River, which runs by the center of Salzburg like a silvery serpent, Mirabell Palace is a Seventeenth-century Baroque masterpiece full with verdant gardens and floral shows.
At its middle, you may acknowledge Pegasus Fountain, which was, once more, featured within the Julie Andrews-starred flick. Good luck with the ‘Strive-Not-To-Sing-Do-Re-Mi Problem’.
As you delve deeper into the previous metropolis, you may discover Mozart’s Birthplace, a 3-story, bright-yellow constructing proper on Getreidegasse, the principle purchasing avenue, and Residenzplatz, a grand sq. with an ornate fountain, finest recognized for accommodating the previous Prince-Archbishop’s Palace.
Salzburg is finest seen from above, although, so for the enduring views of the church spires, rooftops, and the meandering river, head as much as Fortress Hohensalzburg, both on foot or by taking the quick funicular—however do not simply cease there!
After visiting the fort, hold strolling for some quarter-hour, at a reasonable elevation, in direction of the subsequent peak at Mönchsberg. The place you need to be is Winkler Terrace, the place you possibly can see all of Salzburg and its mountains unraveling at your toes beneath the gentle golden glow of sundown.
Belief me, it isn’t a view you may neglect anytime quickly.
The Vibe: limestone UNESCO World Heritage metropolis proper within the Austrian Alps
Good For: taking in a few of that Previous World attract and inhaling contemporary mountain air
The ‘Do not Miss’ Experiences:
- Mirabell Palace & Gardens: discover across the green-flanked pathways and cease by the ‘Do-Re-Mi’ fountain.
- Winkler Terrace: the perfect lookout in all of Salzburg, providing a free, panoramic view of the castle-dominated cityscape.
Western Europe’s Huge 5, verify. Subsequent cease: East!
Now the enjoyable half: choose the one which matches your vibe proper now… and begin constructing the listing for the subsequent 4.
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