The 14 best city breaks in Europe for 2025

Considered by many to be the cultural heart of the Netherlands, Rotterdam is quickly becoming a tourist destination that rivals nearby Amsterdam. Case and point: FENIX, a new museum housed in a historic harbour warehouse, opens in 2025. It will be the world’s first museum to guide visitors on a tour of the world and the impact of migration through art. Follow a visit with foodie delights at the Fenix Food Factory or the centrally located Markthal. On a sunny day, explore the canals on HotTug, the world’s first jacuzzi boat, or explore the city’s renowned eclectic architecture by foot. 

Stay here: A harbour city in a country filled with canals deserves fitting accommodation, so opt for a stay in this glamorous boat-turned-hotel.  

📍The best things to do in Rotterdam

Lifting the city onto the pantheon of must-visit urban destinations alongside New York, Barcelona and Lisbon, the arrival of a Time Out Market in Budapest in the spring of 2025 dovetails with the city’s recently achieved status as a host of major festivals – Sziget, Kolorádó and Balaton Sound, to name a few – and gourmet capital with seven Michelin-starred restaurants. Throw in zinging nightlife, stunning architecture and relaxing spas, and you have every reason to visit – even revisit – Europe’s most beautiful metropolis.

Stay here: Themed around music, the Aria Hotel makes the most of its downtown location by dedicating key areas to a rooftop cocktail bar, a luxury spa and an in-house cinema.

📍 The best things to do in Budapest
🎨 Budapest’s best museums
🏰 How to spend a perfect weekend in Budapest

Ireland’s second most populous city has a reputation as the ‘rebel’ – the cooler, more chilled younger sibling to jam-packed Dublin – and it’s set to be having quite a moment in 2025. Why? Well, Cork’s creative scene of art and live music has been one of the biggest draws to the city for decades, but this year there’s set to be a brand-new festival: Cork Fringe! From May 9-11, a series of lesser-discovered and underrated art forms (traditional Irish theatre, music, comedy) will fill a whole host of venues all over the city. Go for a wander and see what you find before heading to The Mutton Lane (widely considered one of Ireland’s best pubs) for a pint.

Stay here: Cork is a walkable place, but staying slap-bang in the city centre never hurt anyone did it? This lovely Airbnb is a five-minute stroll from the Shandon Bells, a hop across the River Lee to the Crawford Art Gallery, and has plenty of Cork’s fabulous places to eat and drink virtually on its doorstep.

📍The best things to do in Cork

Girona is steeped in history – it was a major filming location for Game of Thrones thanks to its well-preserved medieval architecture – but it’s keeping up with the times, too. In recent years, it’s become a hotspot for cycling (a major travel trend for 2025), with professionals and amateurs alike flocking to the city. True foodies will know all about chefs and brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca, whose three Michelin-starred restaurant El Celler de Can Roca has earned a reputation for exceptional cooking – and exceptionally long waitlists. Thankfully, the trio recently opened Vii, an affordable tapas spot with a focus on Catalan classic dishes and natural wines, where tables are much easier to come by (when I visited, we booked less than a week in advance and were delighted by both the food and final bill). 

Stay here: BYPILLOW The Bloom is just 400m from the city’s main train and bus stations and a short walk from the old town. For €17 per day, you can reserve a private parking space in the area, allowing you to drive out to the many local medieval villages (Peratallada was a favourite on our trip) or beaches along the Costa Brava.

📍The best things to do in Girona

Welcome to the most offbeat weekender destination in the Nordics. Ranked by GDS as the world’s most sustainable city, Helsinki is a bunch of unexpected experiences tied together with sustainability and fun at their core. Unexpected #1: the airport has a thrift shop. Number 2: the city library, Oodi, is absolutely worth a visit. Number 3: Finns love karaoke. Who knew? Then you’ve got design classics like Alvar Aalto’s celebrated Finlandia Hall, which reopens after a long renovation at the start of 2025, HAM, Helsinki Art Museum with a huge Tove Jansson Moomin exhibition until April, designer saunas, avant-garde fashion and awesome food. 

Stay here: Playful and colourful Hobo Helsinki blends the fun and friendliness of an upmarket hostel with the luxury of a boutique hotel, and it’s right in the centre of town with easy public transport links.

📍 The best things to do in Helsinki

With its handsome buildings furnished in azulejo tiles, quaint book shops and old-school cinemas, Porto is pretty much the world's most perfect place for a stroll. When you’re not drinking in views of the Douro Valley, you’ll certainly be drinking something here – maybe a wine at a riverside port house, or a port-tonic at one of the many glorious rooftop bars. In 2024, Portugal’s second Time Out Market opened in the historic São Bento Station, offering a buzzy new space to sample the city’s tastiest food and drink offerings.

Stay here: This wine-inspired hotel clings to the edge of the Douro River and boasts one of the best waterside restaurants in the city.

📍 Porto’s very best things to do
🏖️ The best beaches near Porto
🐟 The best restaurants in Porto

Packed with whimsical architecture and steeped in fascinating history: what more could you want from a European city break? Tbilisi, situated at the heart of the historic Silk Road trading route, is one of the world’s oldest capitals – making it the perfect destination for a dose of culture. Medieval churches? It’s got ‘em. A factory turned into a shopping and eating hot spot? Absolutely. Incredibly delicious local wine? Top us up. Both BA and EasyJet are launching new direct routes to Tbilisi in the spring, so getting to the Georgian capital will be easier, and more affordable, than ever.

Stay here: Stamba Hotel, in a former Soviet-era publishing house, is worth the splurge – if just for the brass bathtubs and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. 

📍 The best things to do in Tbilisi 

Milan might be the gateway to Lake Como, but there’s more reason than ever to extend your stay in Italy’s glam fashion capital. In December, the classical masterpiece-packed Brera Gallery gained a sister institution, the Brera Modern, part of a new multi-site arts complex. The site is the newest addition to a neighbourhood known for its modish boutiques, upscale bars spilling onto the pavement and trattorie serving the iconic saffron-scented risotto alla Milanese. Haute-couture devotees can get their fix in the Quadrilatero della Moda, Milan’s premier fashion quarter, and its Via Monte Napoleone, the world’s most expensive shopping street. Pause your spending splurge at the Piazza del Quadrilatero, a shop and bar-lined courtyard now open to visitors after 500 years. End the day in the hipster Ticinese quarter with a spritz and finger food at the perenially crowded aperitivo spots lining the Navigli canals. 

Stay here: Join the glam set at Hotel Manzoni, right in the heart of the city’s fashion district.

📍 The best things to do in Milan
🍝 Milan’s best restaurants
🛍️ Where to go shopping in Milan

Ever more flight routes into ever-growing Krakow airport provide a good excuse to explore Poland's cultural capital in 2025. There are mainstay draws here, from the UNESCO-listed Old Town, where you'll wander cobbled streets under the Gothic gaze of St Mary's Basilica, to the fantastical artistry of the Wieliczka Salt Mine – 178 miles of subterranean tunnels that culminate with an entire cathedral carved from salt rock. But the real pull has to be the patchwork of areas that each have their own vibe. There's Kazimierz, with its dive bars and rockabilly clubs. Then there's up-and-coming Zabłocie, named one of Time Out’s coolest neighbourhoods in 2024, a post-industrial enclave of modern art galleries, wine-tasting rooms, and food halls that serve everything from bao buns to artisan burgers.

Where to stay: Scandi-chic PURO Kazimierz has a retro edge to its rooms, plus an underground spa and an onsite bakery smelling of cinnamon and strong coffee.

📍 The best things to do in Krakow

Norway’s capital might be small but it packs a punch for weekend breakers all the same. You’ve got activities, including its stellar sauna boat culture. Dare yourself to sit as long as possible in the hot wooden box and then jump into the freezing cold fjord. Then there’s culture, including Pipilotti Rist’s Nordic Pixel Forest, a light and sound exhibition in Ekeberg Park, and let’s not forget food. National treasure and pioneering Nordic chef Heidi Bjerkan brings her skills to the new Credo café and restaurant at the National Library, making it one of the hottest places to eat in town. 

Stay here: Hobo Oslo is due to open in 2025, continuing the contemporary boutique chain’s spread across the Nordics; until then, the Barcode district’s Clarion Hotel gives you Oslofjord views and a hip local feel in a walkable location just off the buzzing harbourfront.

📍 The best things to do in Oslo

It was all about Marseille this summer, but 2025 could well be the year of Toulouse. It has the best bits of its urban compatriots: Marseille’s cool crowd, Lyon’s food scene, and Paris’s beauty. But this southern city has a charm that’s all its own, with peach-hued buildings and canalside parks, pop-up river beaches in the summer and lively late-night venues (don’t miss the Friday night oyster party at Café des Artistes). It’s Europe’s space and aeronautics capital, with sites like Cité de l'espace offering interactive moon-landing experiences and rocket-building. And 2025 will see the reopening of Musee Des Augustins, one of France’s oldest museums, showcasing fine art from the medieval period to the twentieth century. 

Stay here: Enjoy l’art de vivre at Mama Shelter Toulouse, a quirky design hotel in a former cinema.  

📍The best places to visit in France

Once you’ve spent a couple of days in Vienna, you come to understand that centuries of musical heritage have influenced pretty much everything in this city. On our first morning, we strolled through the gardens of Hofburg Palace and copped some tickets for a candlelit classical music concert for just €20. Or you could delve straight in by booking a tour of Vienna’s splendid Opera House (make sure to nab a slice of the Original Sacher-Torte at Café Sacher Wien afterwards). And 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of ‘waltz king’ Johann Strauss II, the composer behind the city’s anthem ‘The Blue Danube Waltz’. To celebrate, there’ll be a programme of exhibitions, concerts, and even a brand-new museum.

Stay here: Neubau is one of our favourite neighbourhoods in Vienna, and this chic Airbnb is in a great spot to enjoy the 7th district’s bars, cafes and restaurants.

🇦🇹 The best things to do in Vienna
📍 Where to stay in Vienna
🍴 The best restaurants in Vienna

Despite near-total cuts to arts and culture funding, this Midlands city is humming with new energy. Under railway arches and in old factories, the already well-established creative scene in Digbeth continues to boom: take new indie book store Voce Books, part of community space The Warehouse, where Brum’s readers, writers and activists gather for regular readings and talks. Don’t leave without getting to know the buzzy neighbourhoods beyond the city centre – Stirchley, in particular, is the hotspot du jour for some of the city’s most exciting independents (Verbena, Eat Vietnam and Birmingham Brewing Company, to name a few). 

Stay here: From minimalist doubles to the top-floor disco suite, pick your poison at Malmaison, smack bang in the heart of the city.

📍 The best things to do in Birmingham
🍻 Birmingham’s best pubs
🍛 The best Birmingham restaurants

Lights, camera, Tirana. From September 21-27, the Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF) transforms the Albanian capital into a reel-life dream for film buffs. It’s the only Academy Award-qualifying festival in the Balkans; with screenings from all over the world, live music, pop-up parties, and incredible food, Tirana’s Skanderbeg Square transforms into a cinematic playground. Near the action is Bunk’Art 2, an underground bunker-turned-museum, and Tirana Castle, where Byzantine walls now frame artisan shops and cozy cafes. And, of course, a short bus ride from the capital will take you to some of the best beaches this side of the Med. 

Stay here: Bujtina e Gjelit is like stepping into a rustic Albanian villa, with traditional decor, a warm atmosphere and mouth-watering local dishes.

📍 The best places to visit in Albania