Skip to content
Spike Travel
Menu

Europe

Short hops, long histories, and the best rail network on earth. Our European dossiers lean hard on timing: the same city is a different trip in May and in August.

Gabled canal houses reflected in the still water of the Reguliersgracht at dawn, with a row of arched brick bridges receding into soft mist

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Gabled canal houses, world-class museums and a city that moves at the speed of a bicycle bell.

Best Apr–MayFrom $120/day

The Acropolis and the Parthenon at golden hour seen from Filopappou Hill, with the city's white apartment blocks spreading towards Mount Lycabettus

Greece

Athens

The Parthenon above the rooftops, souvlaki for under €5 and dinners that start after nine.

Best Apr–May, OctFrom $70/day

Barcelona from the Bunkers del Carmel in late-afternoon light, the Eixample grid running down to the sea with the Sagrada Família's towers rising in the middle

Spain

Barcelona

Gaudí on the skyline, the Mediterranean at the end of the street, and dinner that starts at ten.

Best MayFrom $85/day

Icebergs drifting on Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon at sunrise, with the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier behind

Iceland

Iceland

A country where the weather sets the itinerary, and the reward for patience is a sky that moves.

Best Jun–AugFrom $120/day

The Süleymaniye Mosque and the domes of the historic peninsula above the Golden Horn at dusk, with a commuter ferry crossing in the foreground

Türkiye

Istanbul

A commuter ferry to Asia, a sixth-century dome before lunch, and tea in a tulip glass wherever you stop.

Best Apr–May, Sep–OctFrom $55/day

Alfama's terracotta rooftops and white church domes stepping down to the Tagus at blue hour, seen from the Miradouro das Portas do Sol

Portugal

Lisbon

Steep cobbled lanes, river light on tiled walls, and a counter espresso that still costs about a euro.

Best May, SepFrom $80/day

The Thames at blue hour seen from Waterloo Bridge, with the lit dome of St Paul's Cathedral and the City's towers on the north bank

United Kingdom

London

Free national museums, two thousand years of layered streets and a Tube map you'll stop needing by day three.

Best May–Jun, SepFrom $120/day

The Seine at sunrise from the Pont des Arts, with the stone arches of the Pont Neuf and the tree-lined tip of the Île de la Cité in soft mist

France

Paris

One river, twenty arrondissements and a city that rewards the walker far more than the queue.

Best May–Jun, SepFrom $110/day

Porto's stacked riverside houses and the cathedral on its hill across the Douro at golden hour, seen from the Jardim do Morro beside the Dom Luís I Bridge

Portugal

Porto

Granite lanes tumbling to the Douro, port lodges across the water, and a sandwich you eat with a knife and fork.

Best Jun, SepFrom $70/day

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle above the misty Vltava river at sunrise

Czechia

Prague

Gothic towers, river light and tank Pilsner at pub prices, once you learn to sidestep the Old Town traps.

Best May, SepFrom $60/day

The Roman Forum at sunrise seen from the Capitoline Hill, with columns and temple ruins below and the Colosseum in the distance

Italy

Rome

Two thousand years of ruins on the walk to dinner, and a city that will not be hurried.

Best Apr–MayFrom $90/day