There’s never been a better time to dive a little deeper than you normally might into Europe’s most popular cities. Scratch beneath the surface and you’ll quickly discover treasures like neighbourhood bistros, locally owned businesses and residents’ favourite boltholes. You might just find it’s that hidden rooftop cafe in Athens, that sumptuous patisserie reinvention in Paris or that open-air film session in Rome that makes your holiday.
Catch a film at Rome’s Villa Borghese
The sun shines down on Rome's Casa del Cinema
WHERE: A dreamy landscaped park where you can escape the bustle of central Rome? Yes please. Villa Borghese may be Rome’s most popular green space, just 10 minutes from the Spanish Steps, but it’s also home to lesser-visited museums and local haunts.
WHAT: The park’s arthouse Casa del Cinema is the perfect place to kick off a cinematic love-fest in Rome. Its open-air cinema season runs from May or June until September or October. Check the venue’s website for details.
Read more: Take a cinematic tour of Rome
Book flights to Rome Book holidays to RomeGet on the water in Amsterdam
Help keep those waterways looking pristine on a clean-up tour of Amsterdam's canals / Image: Getty Images
WHERE: More than any other city in Europe, Amsterdam has a watery soul. There are over 160 canals extending for 60 looping miles. Follow the major 17th-century canals – Herengracht (Gentlemen’s Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor’s Canal) and Prinsengracht (Prince’s Canal) – and you’ll find many of the city’s historic sights.
WHAT: Instead of a regular canal cruise, find a different perspective during a ‘plastic fishing’ canal clean-up trip with Starboard. Designed to help protect Amsterdam’s historic canals from the impacts of tourism, it’s good for the environment and also good fun for kids.
Read more: Take a family friendly tour of Amstedam
Book flights to Amsterdam Book holidays to AmsterdamTake a wander through Paris’s Marais
The Marais in Paris is full of hidden gardens / Image: Adobe Stock
WHERE: ‘Marais’ means swamp in French, and until the 12th century that’s exactly what this Parisian neighbourhood was. Today it’s an enclave of medieval streets, hidden courtyards and trendy shops stretching west from the Centre Pompidou – close to major sights, but without any of its own.
WHAT: Bakeries, patisseries and creperies, that’s what. This is the neighbourhood that sweet dreams are made of. Pavement cafes dole out classic Parisian treats, but there’s also a creative side to the area, exemplified in mould-breaking cafes such as L’Éclair de Génie, which has reinvented the traditional éclair.
Read more: Scoff the world’s best eclairs in Paris
Book flights to Paris Book holidays to ParisDrink with locals in Dubrovnik
Find a drinking spot with a Game of Thrones view in Dubrovnik / Image: Adobe Stock
WHERE: Thanks to Game of Thrones, the magnificent thick-set fortifications of Dubrovnik are now famous as King’s Landing. Tourists want to walk atop those walls and photograph them. You can even drink at bars carved into the rock, but a better idea if you want to actually see the ramparts as you sip is to head to The Kop, which has a quayside terrace practically underneath them.
WHAT: For a local taste, you’ve got to try the Balkan firewater called rakia. It’s essentially fruit brandy, and the tipples served at The Kop come from a nearby monastery.
Read more: Where to sip rakia in Dubrovnik
Book flights to Dubrovnik Book holidays to DubrovnikVisit a Venetian island dedicated to art
Venice's Giudecca Art District / Image: Alamy
WHERE: Venice’s beauty, with its lagoon setting, elegant palazzos and Baroque churches, has made it inherently attractive to artists for centuries. There are plenty of major art institutions and small studios, but it was only in 2019 that the city inaugurated its first dedicated art quarter, on the largely un-touristed island of Giudecca.
WHAT: Giudecca Art District brings together a network of artists, projects and exhibitions, along with a foundation for young Polish art, all operating out of a former industrial satellite zone of Venice. It reopened on July 17 with the new exhibition 222. Common Perspective.
Read more: Take an arty cruise around Venice
Book flights to Venice Book holidays to VeniceFind a hidden rooftop in Athens
Athens loves its rooftop cafes / Image: Adobe Stock
WHERE: With its sizzling summers and balmy winters, Athens has just the right climate for rooftop living. And nowhere does birds-eye views better than Keramikos. Splayed out beneath the hilltop Acropolis ruins, this historic district is a prime spot for gazing wistfully up to the city’s star attraction.
WHAT: As part of the excellent Benaki Museum collection, the Museum of Islamic Art in Keramikos has no shortage of fascinating artefacts within it. The icing on the cake, though, is the secret on the top floor – a darling cafe with colourful palm-tree murals and a dazzling terrace view of the Acropolis.
Read more: Take coffee with a view in Athens
Book flights to Athens Book holidays to AthensSeek a harmonious history in Vienna
Mozart feels the music in Vienna / Image: Adobe Stock
WHERE: The Austrian capital of Vienna is one of Europe’s most refined cities, not least for its provision of high culture. A trough-load of this can be traced back to one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: boy genius, prodigious composer and cinematic nemesis of Salieri. Though born in Salzburg, it’s in Vienna that Mozza really made his name (if not his fortune), and the city is home to a host of harmonious spots to hit up.
WHAT: Like the man’s symphonic works of art, Vienna’s tangible tribute to Mozart is a bit of a banger. Gazing over the verdant enclaves of the city’s Burggarten is a natty marble effigy of the tousled composer, atop a rather ornate Art Nouveau plinth. Struggling to find it? The enormous floral treble clef set into the lawn in-front of him is a dead giveaway.
Read more: Feel Mozart’s legacy in Vienna
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