271 Europe-Reisen

A singing Christmas tree and a Baroque abbey

A small high range, on two countries' border

Cheaper skiing, in a range nobody queues for

Britain's largest area of high ground, in snow

Advent markets with a coffee house between each

Masks, high water, and a mostly empty city

Three Baltic capitals, three claims to the first tree

Three resorts, and the trains between them

A hotel built from river ice, every winter

A wooden pier, a Hanseatic front, and a sand spit

Lake steamers, fell walks, and sudden rain

High meadows, mountain huts, and dumplings

Crater lakes, and food cooked in the ground

Cliff coves, a lagoon, and warm water

Cliff villages, Baroque stone, clear water

An artists' bay, a food harbour, a coast path

The Tuscan hills while they are still green

Long light, no midges, empty roads

Terraced vineyards, budding, and a slow train

The coast path open, the crowds not yet arrived

Provence before the lavender and the crowds

Gorges open, hills in flower, sea still cold

Two alpine lakes and a very small capital

Almond blossom among Greek temples

Turning birch, and distilleries at full run

White sand, clear water, and a Catalan town

Where Silent Night was first sung, in 1818

Midnight mass, a hundred cribs, empty ruins

Two Advent capitals, and Germany's oldest market town

White truffles, Barolo, and autumn fog

Blossom, long evenings, no summer queues

Midnight candles, red eggs, wooden churches

The Wiesn, a hill monastery, and Franconia

The market that every other Christkindlmarkt copies

Two months without a sunset

Polar night, Sámi country, and king crab

A maypole, pickled herring, and no darkness

Good Friday statues, then a running Risen Christ

A flower festival, and levadas through laurel forest

Blossom, parks and the Chelsea Flower Show

Santa at the Arctic Circle, then real darkness

Nativity cribs shaped like the city's own towers

Seven million bulbs, open eight weeks a year

Four hours of daylight, and ice caves

A thermal lake you swim in through the frost

Sixty brotherhoods and a procession all night

Barefoot hooded penitents, in the Minho

Three cities, and a julbord table in each

Pebble beaches, modern art, and traffic

Mont Blanc, groomed pistes, and a lake at the end

Public saunas, and a hole cut in the ice

Opera in a castle, and sauna on the shore

The month the population doubles

Christmas market, torchlight procession, street party

Painted-egg markets, then apricot blossom

A living Passion play, then pintxos

A procession that lasts twenty-four hours

Via Crucis at the Colosseum, then Umbrian quiet

Blessed baskets, mystery plays, and Wet Monday

Midnight fireworks, roast lamb, smashed pots

Grapes still trodden by foot, in September

Four valleys, one circuit, Italian mountain food

Four islands, one ferry line, one summer

Roman walls, island ferries, swimming off rocks

The oldest Christmas market in France, then the villages

Georgian markets, stone villages and carol services

Nativity scenes, chestnuts, and no real winter

Light shows, port lodges and a river tree

Tivoli under half a million lights

Thermal baths, cellar rows, and noble rot

Advent market by day, outdoor hot pool by night

Flemish squares, ice rinks and winter beer

Turning beech above dark fir, and a spa town

A fantasy castle, above a frozen lake

The beer gardens reopen under the chestnuts

Three alpine lakes, an hour from Munich

The bulls, then the beach

The harvest, new oil, and empty hills

Empty ancient sites, and a warm October sea

Châteaux without the coaches, and game on the menu

Gold larch under limestone, and a green river

A ski capital, the Arlberg, and a famous downhill

Cold clear lakes, and an emperor's spa town

Thrones, patios and sherry, without the crush

Empty plains, walled hill towns, cheap good wine

Rebuilt old town, Chopin and Uprising history

Gothic old town, modernista markets, city beaches

Baroque capital of porticoes, cafes and chocolate

Rail from Red Square to Lake Baikal

Walled medieval capital on the Baltic

Matterhorn, 4 Vallées and year-round glacier skiing

Bernabéu, Camp Nou, the Seville derby, San Mamés

Roman ruins, gilded domes and a mountain above

Whitewater on the Soča below the Julian Alps

Open rota links from Fife to Sutherland

Hermitage, palaces and Neva embankments

Onega wooden churches and Ladoga marble

Seven medieval towns north-east of Moscow

Europe's highest summit and the Caucasus ski valleys

Down the Danube arms to the Black Sea

Old town, Art Nouveau streets and market hangars

High passes and refuges along the border crest

Ericeira reefs to Nazare giants to Sagres

Holmenkollen, the Olympic town and the Sjusjøen trails

Four canal cities linked by flat cycle paths

Kremlin, metro palaces and riverside parks

Design, art and Gothic Milan in one city

Tramuntana passes from a spring training base

Moorish fortress, Picasso museums, city beaches

Lord's, Wembley, Twickenham and the league grounds

Four Volga cities from Kazan to Volgograd

A 40 km piste circuit around the Sella massif

Ferrari, Maserati and the circuits at Imola and Monza

Sella Ronda passes from Bolzano to Cortina

Gran Sasso peaks to the Adriatic shore

Four Atlantic links courses from Clare to Kerry

Baroque wine towns, Tokaj cellars, the puszta

Neoclassical center, Finnish design, island fortress

Athens charter base to the Saronic islands

Collieries, blast furnaces and gasometers of the Ruhr

Nordschleife laps, Eifel towns, Moselle wine

Four linked resorts on one Three Valleys pass

Chalk cellars, vineyard slopes and timbered Troyes

Four valley bases for the classic Tour de France climbs

Old Trafford, Anfield, Elland Road, St James' Park

Charter route through the Kornati and Telašćica archipelagos

Four trade-wind coasts across four islands

Belle Époque boulevards, communist colossus, old-town bars

Four Arlberg villages on one linked lift network

Old town, lake swims and design shopping

Cafes, cobblestones and Zagreb's off-beat museums

Medieval walls, a Gothic minster, Viking history

Ardennes citadels, river towns and wartime history

Car-free villages, the Matterhorn and the Aletsch Glacier

Frescoed basilicas and truffle country in Italy's green heart

Renaissance art to cypress-lined wine roads

Byzantine churches, buzzing markets and waterfront tavernas.

Italian Switzerland's lakeside villages

Granite islands, oyster villages and Nordic seafood

Graz's old town, Styrian vineyards and a volcano-rock castle

Half-timbered canals, a Gothic cathedral, Alsatian cuisine

Mountains, castles and a fantasy village

Moorish palaces and flamenco in Andalusia's capital.

Scotland's ultimate wild coastal road trip

Baroque city into sandstone cliffs along the Elbe

Mozart's city below an Alpine fortress

Cube houses, market halls and daring modern skyline

Wooden churches and painted monasteries

Trulli, whitewashed towns and cave dwellings across Italy's heel

Baroque cities, medieval bridges and wild northern peaks

Tiled streets, port wine cellars, and a legendary bookshop

Hanseatic ports, a giant brick castle, and gingerbread streets

Barolo cellars, Alba truffles and Turin's cafes

Gritstone edges and limestone dales of the White Peak

Norway's classic railway journey to the fjords

Norse history and wild northern isles

Fjords, wildlife and the Arctic coast of Norway

Roman forts, clifftop castles and a tide-locked island

Basalt coastline, rope bridges and walled-city history

Byzantine monasteries and wild mountain villages

Ottoman cities, ancient lakes, alpine peaks

Riviera glamour meets old-town market life

Pizza, catacombs and Vesuvius views

Royal squares, beer gardens and Alpine day trips

Riesling vineyards, riverside castles and Roman Trier

Bay of Kotor to Durmitor's peaks

Underground wine cellars and cave monasteries

Sailing lakes and fortress towns in Poland's lake district

Mountain villages, hidden coves, ancient stone towns

Bouchons, Roman ruins and Renaissance traboules

Dragon bridges and riverside cafes in Slovenia's green capital

Baroque capital, island castle, Baltic dunes

Baltic beaches, castle ruins and river-carved valley

Roman cities and fortress towns of Languedoc

Vineyard terraces and lakeside towns around Lac Leman

Balaton's shores and Hungary's volcanic wine hills

Royal castle, grand square and Kazimierz

Royal Krakow to the High Tatra peaks

Two wild Atlantic peninsulas by car

Monastic ruins, medieval towns and the Rock of Cashel

Venetian towns and turquoise Ionian bays

Remote fjords, thunderous falls, and volcanic craters

Steam trains, timbered towns and witches' peaks

Austria's highest road, glacier peaks to lake beaches

Victorian architecture, Mackintosh design and live music

Qvevri wine country and the Caucasus peaks

Amber-lined lanes, Gothic spires and a storied Baltic port

Rías, seafood and Albariño wine country

Surf, Basque villages and Pyrenean foothills

Alpine lakes, Baroque towns and Mont Blanc peaks

Imperial castles, smoked beer and baroque courts

Renaissance art and Tuscan flavors in one walkable city

Flemish masters, canals and medieval towns

Saimaa lakes, lakeside saunas and a medieval island castle

Conquistador towns and Roman ruins

Medieval capital, windmill islands, and a Baltic beach resort

Alpine lakes, Romansh villages and Switzerland's only national park

Italy's richest food region, city by city

Windmills, tulip fields and a car-free canal village

Georgian squares, trad pubs and literary history

Baroque Dresden reborn on the Elbe

Prehistoric caves and clifftop villages of the Dordogne

Copenhagen to Skagen through Denmark's design towns

Hilltop truffle towns and the Roman arena at Pula

Ferry-hopping the Dalmatian islands

Venetian harbours, Minoan palaces, mountain gorges

Honey-stone villages and dreaming spires

Medieval Girona, Dalí's coast and Mediterranean coves

Surf beaches, cliffs and a tidal castle in Cornwall

Genoa's old port to Cinque Terre's cliffside villages

University city to Portugal's highest mountains

Grand-Place gilding, art nouveau and chocolate

Fairy-tale canals and medieval architecture

Corsair ramparts, oysters and granite coastline

Castles, cathedrals, and Small Carpathian wine country

Ottoman bridges, dervish tekkes and turquoise Herzegovina rivers

Grand cru châteaux, oyster bays, and Europe's tallest dune.

Porticoes, towers and Italy's best food

Grand spa colonnades and the fairytale bend of Cesky Krumlov

Spa towns, cuckoo clocks and forested valleys

Guggenheim, pintxos and Basque design

Waterfalls, cogwheel trains, and car-free villages below the Jungfrau

Fairytale castles and Alpine villages

Guggenheim, pintxos bars and Rioja wine towns

Cider, coastline and limestone peaks in Green Spain.

Art, diamonds, and daring fashion in one Flemish city

Whitewashed pueblos, sherry bodegas and the Cadiz coast

Storybook villages and cellar-door tastings on the wine route

Volcanic island-hopping off Sicily's coast

Castles, cliffs and coastline from Cardiff to Conwy

Lochs, whisky and island crags across the Scottish Highlands

Canals, art and beer, city to city by rail

Empty calli, Roman opera, and then nothing

Glacier and Bernina Express panoramas across the Swiss Alps

Alpine lakes and a walkable green capital

Caldera, then mountains, then nothing at all

Cathedrals, castles and wine from the Rhine to Alsace

Terraces, quintas and a train that follows the river

Gdańsk to Kraków, Poland's history in four cities

Northern lights in winter, granite peaks in summer

Ancient theatres, oracles and clifftop monasteries

Ten iconic capitals, one legendary rail adventure across Europe.

Northern lights above the Arctic Circle

Four capitals, one easy rail loop

Four Baltic old towns, one route

Crater lakes, whales and volcanic wine islands

Vermút at eight, churros at six

Street drinking, then silence for the fado

Bunker clubs, live rooms, fish market at dawn

Techno, beer gardens and trains that run all night

Splavovi in summer, courtyards in winter

Vermouth from the barrel, warehouses until dawn

Cliff villages, gardens over the sea, boats instead of roads

Eight stages of the French Way to Santiago

Pizza, cave towns and trulli through Italy's deep south

Greek temples, baroque towns and Etna's clifftop views

Saxon citadels, castles and Carpathian scenery

Provence hill towns to French Riviera coast

Castles, cobblestones and cheap beer

Iconic landmarks, world-class art and café culture

Pintxos, cider and seafood along the Atlantic coast

D-Day beaches, a tidal abbey and corsair towns

Royal landmarks, world museums and buzzing markets

Cliffs, coastal pubs and peninsula roads along Ireland's west coast

Walled medieval towns and Neuschwanstein's castle

Divided-city history, Venetian walls and Aphrodite's coast

Waterfalls, Roman ruins and island-hopping ferries

Design capitals by train across two countries

Nine cities, six countries, one bus route

Alpine towns, cable cars and world-class skiing

Hill towns to golden coastal cliffs