Just coming back from Madrid, it was really nice. Wide pedestrian streets, beautiful buildings, nice terraces and amazing food.
I guess being Belgian I always have some negativity towards capital city (Brussels gave its name to the phenomenon of lack of urban planning leading to ugliness, bruxellisation), but this made me reconsider this.
So, dear Europeans, what is your favorite capital?
Prague but only when its not 40°C its beautiful and the people are nice. Only downside is that some shops will scam tourists, but thats normal nowadays sadly. Its best to eat and shop in the areas where the locals are as well.
Prague seems nice, I’ve done Budapest and Vienna, one day I’ll go!
When you say scam, do you mean that prices are just very high, or is it nastier?
By scams i mean 2 liters of water in a bottle for around 20€ (in a store), a specific location (the “restaurant” near the Vltava River Boat Trips Anchor place where a glas of lemonade (literally just water and Lemmon juice) was around 19€ they try to do that because the Czech money is 1€=25CZK and most people don’t have a feel for that.
Look at the Google maps ratings before going somewhere.
Wow, that’s something, thanks!
Big fan of Copenhagen! I love how walkable everything is, and temperatures are usually just fine. The bike infrastructure is stellar as well.
+1 for Copenhagen, Stockholm is nice as well, Berlin, why not.
Copenhagen for win for sure, it’s got Tivoli Gardens which are so much fun! I also really enjoyed Stockholm but it’s so clean and quiet I felt like I should take my shoes off before going Outside
I lived in Berlin for almost 4 years and it lost all of the appeal during that time.
It’s hip and cool to visit, but if you actually live there and have to take the subway to work at 7 when all the drunk clubbers are just getting home, reeking of weed, booze, vomit, and piss, it’s not so fun anymore. Plus it’s really really dirty in most somewhat central locations.
Stockholm on the other hand is awesome, fully agree. Might as well throw Oslo and Helsinki into the mix. And Reykjavik for good measure. I really love the Nordics.
Pro tip: Riga is like a cheap cousin of Stockholm. Just as nice at a quarter of the price.
Amsterdam. Because of the cycling infrastructure.
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I live in Paris, I have been to London, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Athens and Rome.
My two favourites are Berlin and Rome. Berlin because of the energy and just plain coolness, Rome because where else can you find so much amazing art and architecture within 10 or 20 minutes of each other, walking distance? And the food is amazing, of course.
Second in line are Amsterdam, Athens and London, all of them great, but London I found was really expensive. Athens is a bit behind Rome, but a truly lovely place to explore. Amsterdam is also lovely, accessible and very very beautiful.
Brussels is OK, I guess, but mainly for the people who I thought were very kind. Some places in Brussels are ok, but it’s not as nice as Amsterdam for example.
Next in line for me are Madrid and Lisbon, I love Spain already and I can recommend places like Granada and Sevilla, which are totally amazing.
Ljubljana, with Copenhagen as a close second.
Those cities are just so relaxed, chill and interesting.I’ve been to Paris (my least favorite), London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Ljubljana and Helsinki. Now that I think about it, I don’t travel to capital cities much. They’re usually the worst part of a country.
Even though i am german myself, i think i’d have to go with Berlin too. Berlin in summer that is.
Otherwise probably Rome or Lisboa. But capitals seem rarely the best cities of a country to me.
I just realised I have only been to Berlin and Paris. And if I had to choose between the two I would pick Den Haag, be it only to anger three nations at once.
I’ve been to London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague and Copenhagen. My favorite is Paris. If you count Edinburgh or Barcelona as capitals, they would both be higher though…
Probably andorra de la vella. It doesnt feel like a capital(which is a positive for me) and the nature arround there is extremely nice. If its actual capital city like places then I pick copenhagen, stockholm or berlin.
I like Berlin and Lisbon. Luxembourg is also nice. I kinda liked Copenhagen but not as much. These are actually the only capitals I’ve been to, come to think of it. Well I didn’t mention amsterdam but I’m Dutch.
Well, I found Berlin some decades ago quite impressive, culturally. Don’t know how it is now, but via via I was told it’s less relaxed. Prague for was then very nice, and not too touristic.
But, like Bruges ( and Gent) in Belgium, are so, I don’t know, nice, relaxed and pittoreske 2b at.
Bruxxelles, London and Paris are just street & metrowise a mess. If you are OK with that though, and know the places to be, and you can find your way, your experience can be very special. What really helps in those big cities is to have the company of some locals (friends,). That would definitely amp up your experience in some of the “bigger” European cities, imo.
