Talin, Estonia is absolutely beautiful. A hidden gem that no one talks about.
I'm an ignorant American, so when I looked at the map I kinda figured Estonia would have some really strong Eastern European vibes, but I was shocked how Nordic/Scandinavian it was. Incredible infrastructure, extremely walkable, fascinating history as a major Baltic Sea trade route, tons of old medieval architecture...
And the people were so friendly! The language is beautiful, the education system is top notch, they have a great national parks system, they've pumped out a ton of tech startups, they're vehemently anti-Soviet (I love that they celebrate their Independence from Russia beginning in 1920 and consider the Soviet years an occupation). The topography and flora is really beautiful. Silent forests covered in pine needles, bogs, lakes, rivers and a gorgeous coastline.
It's just the coolest place and I wish more people visited.
Edit: Oh, and Pub Kompressor serves the best damn pancakes/crepes I've ever had.
If you think about it, latitude wise they're closer to the Nordic countries. Estonia (and Latvia and Lithuania) have quite close ties to the Nordic countries both in terms of history and politics. Culturally, there's also some overlap in terms of food and way of life.
Thank you for mentioning Estonia though! Makes my heart happy.
Over the years I have visited the usual suspects as a tourist and sometimes for work: Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid, Zurich, Berlin etc and some other cities in the same countries.
Mulling over it, I think Paris remains a place I always love to revisit. It's not exactly warm and inviting from a people perspective, but the architecture, food, and general feeling of being there makes up for it. I am a history buff so Rome comes in second for me. People-wise I found Barcelona to be most friendly, though I have not been there in a decade now.
What I love most about European cities is that they are all so walk-able, which is in stark contrast to US cities (which I therefore rarely visit as a tourist, only go for work).
It's cliché, but Amsterdam. Been there twice and I need to go back.
All I want to do is walk and bike around, eat, drink, and then chill in my row house before doing it all again the next day...
I've lobbied for years to get transferred there. Still trying.
How was the food, I was told that was not dutches' strong strong suit.
Amsterdam is cosmopolitan, you can get food from everywhere.
Ghent, Belgium
I did a 6 week study abroad trip to Prague in 2009 in college, and it was the best experience of my life. One of the things I like is how the city is organized into districts (Prague 2, Prague 8, etc), and so as a visiting student I could judge how far something was when someone said "that's in Prague 9".
Also, obviously the beer. I distinctly remember being stunned by the fact that beer is quite literally cheaper than water. Here in America, water is like the free thing that you order when you don't want to spend money. But when I was in Prague, water was not free, it was the nice stuff that came in Perrier bottles and was poured into a bespoke glass. Whereas beer was absurdly cheap. When I was there you could get it for the equivalent of less than 1USD for a pint. It's probably more now.
Not to mention all of the beautiful buildings. Prague is one of the few large European cities that managed to get out of WW1/WW2 virtually unscathed, and has a ton of very old buildings. Vysehrad Castle is excellent and is not as known about as Prague Castle. I highly recommend it.
Visited Prague during the Christmas season about 10 years ago, and I've never been anywhere I wanted to go back to more.
I've always said Prague is the city that scratches all your travel itches.
Since 2015 lots of smaller craft brewerys, pub micro brewerys... poped up in Czech Republic. Beer culture is slowly shifting that way.
So when you get here don't drink some mainstream beer (Pilsner, Staropramen...) find something better.
Did an adhoc eurotrip from east to west. Porto in Portugal was fantastic. Colourful city and people. It spans a river edged with cliffs. As the sun sets a dense fog rolls down the river from the sea and blankets the place. When the city lights turn on through the fog, it looks magical.
Paris honestly has never struck me as the nicest city, but it's really big and it really feels like there's an unlimited amount of stuff to do there so I wouldn't mind going back.
I also found Avignon to be really nice and very pretty (at least in the historic centre which I didn't really end up leaving since I was only there a short time).
Strasbourg was also quite nice and I actually thought about studying there for university (obviously my main reason for considering it was related to the university and programme, but my impression of the city was definitely a factor).
Haven't really been too many places outside of France, but I was in Utrecht for a few hours (which idk if even really counts as 'travelling to' and it definitely felt like someplace I'd like to return to and it felt a bit more chill compared to Amsterdam which seemed a bit more chaotic.
Modena, very walkable, cool architecture, and so much delicious and cheap food!
Paris, because I got so sick (not sure if food poisoning or what) that I couldn't even go up the Eiffel Tower
Another vote for Prague
Munich, Germany. I absolutely loved the city square.
My problem is I like sunny destinations during the summer so much that there's never much left in the budget for city breaks. Maybe in the future!
The ones that comes to mind right away is Nice and Prague!
Both have nice old parts, the former has great food and winde and the latter great and cheap beer.
Amsterdam. I've been many times. Yes for the smoke but mainly for the ambience, architecture and museums.
Paris. I lived there for a year and would love to go back, explore some of the areas I didn't get to visit and revisit those I did. Oh. And eat the best pizza ever from Pizza le Coq on Rue Travwrsiere
Stramberk, Czech Republic. I went on a day trip there from Ostrava. It's a small mountain village that feels exactly like I expect a European village to feel.
Belgrade was absolutely lovely. The food was outstanding. The city was clean, the people were, to a man, so delightful. It was cheap, too. A four-course meal would literally cost me maybe 30 Euro.
I really like good food. Sadly most of the European cities I've traveled to have ranged from "meh" to "fine" for the cuisine. The only exception was Paris. Everything I ate there, even just random quick meals without researching the restaurant, was absolutely mind blowing. I'd love to go back.
Longyearbyen in Svalbard. I've been to Svalbard once, and I'd love to go back one day. Incredible place, Aldrin's "magnificent desolation" quote sprang to mind.
It'd be great to get to go on a longer trip, eg. cross country skiing, but it'd be incredibly expensive since you have to essentially have an armed guide because of polar bears: every group outside the city ("city") is required to have someone with a rifle. Could in theory apply for a permit of my own but I'd need to get one back home too first and also buy a rifle.
I'd love to visit Svalbard, or another remote northern locaiton, too. Is Svalbard the one with the abandoned Russian coal mining settlement?
