Forget Venice and Barcelona: Valencia and Kraków beat popular tourist hotspots to be crowned the best city break destinations in Europe.
Both received full five-star ratings for their cultural sights and food and drink, and an impressive 92% destination score.
Best of all, a weekend visit won’t break the bank. Valencia, Kraków and Funchal on the island of Madeira (which tied with Berlin and Seville for third place) all clinched four stars for value for money – the highest in our survey.
Stockholm took second with 91%. The Swedish capital scored four stars for tourist attractions, food and accommodation but only two stars for value for money.
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Europe’s best cities, as recommended by visitors
Using the table
- Star ratings range from one to five. A dash (–) indicates we didn’t receive enough responses to provide a rating.
- Cultural sights and tourist attractions Includes range, quality and price of historic buildings, galleries, museums, parks and city tours.
- Ease of getting around Includes range of public transport options, ease of understanding transport-related maps/information/ transport ticket pricing systems, ease of walking/travelling between sights.
- City score Based on a combination of overall satisfaction and how likely people are to recommend the city as a holiday destination
Kraków: best for a cheap cultural break
Video: Take a tour of Europe’s best city
Poland’s second-biggest city has a Unesco-listed old town with elegant buildings and cobbled streets, plus the imposing Wawel Castle. At its heart is Europe’s largest market square, where flower and pretzel stalls are dwarfed by Cloth Hall and St Mary’s Basilica with its Gothic steeples.
Kraków has topped our survey for the fourth time in a row thanks to its winning combination of historic charm, cultural interest, great food and excellent value. A hotel room is just £65 a night on average, while a three-course meal for two with a bottle of wine costs around £79.
Don’t miss: Visit nearby Auschwitz for a moving reminder of the horror that happened there during the war
Find holidays to Kraków with Which? Recommended Provider Jet2holidays, Saga, Hays Travel and Trailfinders.
Valencia: best for a cultural and beach break
Spain’s third-biggest city has 300 days of sunshine a year and miles of sandy beaches as well as a charming historic quarter, fantastic food and great museums. The extraordinary architecture ranges from a 15th-century Gothic silk exchange and Art Nouveau food market to the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, which has an opera house, planetarium (pictured above) and science museum.
Valencia is the birthplace of paella and the stylish bars and restaurants of the El Carmen district rival Barcelona’s. It was one of only three cities to score four stars for value for money and also landed the top spot in our recent survey of the Mediterranean’s best seaside towns.
Don’t miss: Turia Gardens – the former riverbed reinvented as a 9km park meandering through the city is a lovely spot for a picnic.
Find holidays to Valencia with Which? Recommended Provider Saga and Trailfinders.
Funchal: best for an island escape
The capital of Madeira cascades down the hillside in a surge of white stucco, but its old seafront is the place to go. Start on jacaranda-shaded Avenida Arriaga and marvel at the unhurried rhythm of morning ‘rush’ hour. Lined with palm trees and misty botanical gardens, the promenade offers unrivalled views of the Atlantic Ocean.
The narrow cobblestone lanes and pretty squares of the Old Town (Zona Velha) are perfect for café hopping. Here, you’ll also find the stout 500-year-old cathedral and its gilded Gothic ceilings.
It’s relatively cheap to eat in Madeira and the island enjoys plenty of excellent local produce (including its world-famous wine) thanks to its subtropical climate and fertile volcanic soils. It was also awarded the full five stars for food and drink in our survey.
Don’t miss: Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal’s Art Deco farmers market. Sample local delicacies, including the toothy, bulgy-eyed scabbard fish. It’s tastier than it looks, traditionally served fried with banana and passionfruit sauce.
Find holidays to Funchal with Which? Recommended Provider Kuoni, Jet2holidays, Saga, Hays Travel and Trailfinders.
Our research
In October 2023, 1,637 Which? members completed an online survey about European cities they’d visited for leisure purposes in the past two years and stayed in for at least one night. The results are based on 2,458 experiences. Comparison site Kayak provided average hotel rates, while Skyscanner supplied the average price of return economy flights from London. Food and drinks costs are from the Post Office’s City Costs Barometer 2024.
