Gothenburg, Sweden (Leonid Andronov/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Forget Paris, Rome and Vienna; these smaller cities are just as big on culture and style.
1. Vintage Seville
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Andalucia’s lively capital may lack size, but it offers an atmospheric old town, 12th-century architecture, the Moorish Alcázar palace and the grand square of Plaza de España, combined with fiery flamenco shows, top-notch tapas bars and good-value hotels. There’s also a chance for some late-night partying in the bars and terraces of Alameda de Hércules.
2. Musical Salzburg
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Best known as the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the 1965 film The Sound of Music, this Austrian city’s elegant historic centre – with its alluring mix of medieval and baroque architecture – is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site. Hotels book out well in advance for the prestigious music festival, which takes place annually in July and August.
3. A food lover’s Lyon
Strangely off the radar of British holidaymakers, despite a direct link with Eurostar, Lyon not only has a remarkably beautiful old town of Roman, Gothic and Renaissance architecture, but a spectacular redevelopment has recently transformed the riverside Confluence district, and, of course, this is the food capital of France.
4. Rotterdam rising
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Flattened by German bombs during the Second World War, Rotterdam has risen from the ashes to become a vibrant modern city of wide avenues and eye-catching contemporary architecture. It also has a thriving arts scene underpinned by one of the Netherlands’ greatest arts museums – the Boijmans Van Beuningen.
5. Porto renaissance
Sure, this Portuguese city is most famous for its cobbled riverside district, and the port warehouses that line the quays of the Duoro, but the rest of compact, highly walkable Porto is enjoying a renaissance with new hotels, restaurants, cafés and craft shops springing up on the steep streets of the city above the river.
6. Alfresco Gothenburg
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Sweden’s capital of café society is best enjoyed in the summer when it comes to life as an outdoor city, and the leafy canals and boulevards are lined with bars and restaurants. The young vibe is underpinned by its status as a university city, and some popular summer music festivals.
7. Cultural Hamburg
Unfairly typecast by its red-light district, Hamburg is, in fact, an attractive and sophisticated city – qualities recently underlined by the spectacular glass Elbphilharmonie, with its three concert halls, built above an old warehouse on the Elbe river. It joins the city’s “art mile” of five major museums and galleries to emphasise Hamburg’s status as one of Germany’s cultural capitals.
8. Antwerp has arrived
A thriving opera, a house built by Rubens, a spectacular cathedral and excellent museums, including the fascinating Plantin-Moretus – one of Europe’s great printing houses – this is a city of the arts and history par excellence. And if you don’t enjoy high culture, the beer and chips are among the best in Belgium.
9. Genuine Genoa
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Eat out in Genoa and you will be surrounded not by tourists, but by the Genoese. This is a city that has yet to lose its soul to tourism, despite its seaside setting, a stunning medieval centre, dozens of Renaissance palazzi, and a harbour front redesigned by local boy Renzo Piano.
10. Artistic Aix
Compact, leafy and full of surprises, Aix-en-Provence is surely the most beautiful city in the whole of southern France. There’s enough to do here for a week – from Cézanne’s studio to a cathedral adapted from a Roman temple, and a superb arts museum. And enough excellent restaurants to last you a month.