Travel between two of the great romantic, artistic, and historical cities of Europe by making the hop from France’s captial to Italy’s. It’s a move that’ll see you trade a skyline dominated by the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur with the seven hills of Rome, topped by the silhouette of St Peter’s Basilica and … Read more
Paris and Brussels are next-door neighbours. They’re separated by just the poppy-spotted Flanders Fields and the winding rivers of the wooded Ardennes forest, across 160 miles of Northern Europe. All sorts of travelers make the hop from one to the other, with business commuters mingling with budget backpackers on the trains, planes, and automobiles that … Read more
If Madrid is the heart of Spain, little Toledo, sat some 41 miles to the south-west, could just be its soul. Its maze-like old city perches on a hill above the curvaceous Tagus River, rolling from Gothic cathedrals to arabesque mosques to hidden Roman ruins. If you’re keen to ditch the hubbub of the capital … Read more
You’ll cross the heartlands of the western Netherlands on the way from Eindhoven to Amsterdam. The journey points more than 65 miles northwards, from the home of the great football club of PSV and the electronics giant of Philips to the UNESCO-tagged capital of the country. It’s one that many travelers will make, especially with … Read more
There are loads of fun and fast ways to go from London to Brussels. Some will let you munch on fish and chips beneath the Gothic tops of Big Ben at midday only to be stepping onto the eye-watering Grand Place with a chocolate-topped waffle in hand before 4pm. Others mean taking to the skies … Read more
Vienna and Budapest are linked by much more than just railway lines, riverways and cycle tracks. These were the dual capitals of the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire. One of the mightiest powers of Central Europe, it reigned supreme from 1867 to 1918. Today, you can still spy out remnants of the grand Habsburg crown in both, … Read more
Millions of travelers make the trip from Poland’s cultural capital of Krakow to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Auschwitz each year. They come to pay their respects and unravel the dark history of one of Europe’s most striking and sobering places: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Between 1940 and 1945, it was one of the principal … Read more
To hop from Lisbon to Porto is to hop from Portugal’s vibrant capital to its culture-rich and bohemian second city. Both spots should definitely be on the itinerary of anyone looking to feel the true pulse of this wave-washed country at the end of Europe. First will come Lisbon’s hilltop Moorish castles and pumping nightlife … Read more
Get ready to be enchanted by Bruges. Leaving the big-city bustle of Brussels behind, you’re about to be immersed in a fairy tale of haunting churches and silhouette spires, of cobbled lanes and drifting canals. It’s considered to be one of the best-preserved medieval centres in all of Europe, with a good dollop of Belgian … Read more
So, you’re looking to trade those proud Habsburg palaces and manicured city parks for the snow-capped outline of the Austrian Alps? A trip from Vienna to Salzburg promises to do just that in a couple of hours. There might be 160 miles of rolling forests, winding rivers, and soft hills between them, but these two … Read more
Prague has a maze-like Old Town guarded by one of the biggest castles in the world. Budapest has a gritty nightlife quarter of ruin bars and a grand Neo-Classical palace that once housed the Habsburg emperors. Joining those together on the same itinerary is now possible for travelers keen to explore the jewels of Central … Read more
Every Spain bucket list should include both Barcelona and Madrid. One is the home of the spiked turrets of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, fringed by vibrant summer beaches, and cut through by the Art Deco playhouses of Las Ramblas. The other is the nation’s fun-loving, hedonistic capital, where nightlife pulses through the streets and the ghosts … Read more
Grab a marker and get ready to strike two lines from your bucket list: Paris and Barcelona await on this cross-Iberian odyssey. Among the greatest cities on the planet, they beckon with a Flamenco twirl of tapas, wine and top-notch sites, ranging from the iron girders of the Eiffel Tower to the haunting spires of … Read more
Amsterdam to Paris is a route followed by thousands of travelers every year. Backpackers, business folk, city hoppers – you name it, they’re on the hunt for ways to move from the 16th-century canal rings of flower-strewn Holland to the rich art collections and romantic wine bars of the French capital. If you’re among them, … Read more