Spring is the ideal time to go on a city trip. The cities are not yet as crowded with tourists as in high season, and the temperature is often pleasant to spend a day wandering the city. Read our tips for the 8 most fun city trip destinations in Europe in spring below.
Tip: We have also written extensive articles about some of these destinations where we explain the activities in more detail. At the bottom of each city you will find the link to the article.
Content of this blog:
1. Rome
La Bella Roma in Italy. This ancient Roman city is a great destination for a city trip. Wander the narrow streets, visit the impressive Colosseum and eat the most delicious pizzas and pastas. In the evening, you can dine outside for a long time with a good glass of wine under the heaters. Rome is perfect to visit in 3 days. Book a bike tour with Baja Bikes on the first day to get an immediate feel for the city. You’ll cycle past Rome’s highlights and unexpected hidden spots in 3 hours. Visit the following days including the Vatican and the Trevi Fountain. The finest hotel to stay is A Peace Of Rome, located near the Vatican and a subway station. Read all of our tips for Rome here. Enjoy your city trip to Rome in the spring!
2. Lisbon
The Portuguese capital has much to offer for your city break in the spring, besides Portugal is a wonderful vacation country. Take a ride to the old district of Alfama on the famous streetcar 28 and listen to the famous Fado music right here. When you’re hungry, you’ll find the famous Pastéis de Belém all over Lisbon. These sweet pastries made of crispy puff pastry, cream, cinnamon and powdered sugar must have been tasted during your Lisbon city trip. You can taste the original pastries at the bakery in the quaint Belém neighborhood. Again, book a bike tour with Baja Bikes where you will cycle downhill from the high Parque Eduardo VII and eventually end up in Belém (where you can get those delicious Pastéis as a reward). Be sure to go on a city trip to Lisbon in the spring. The best apartment to stay in is the Top Alfama. It is in the middle of the cozy Alfama neighborhood and even has a nice little balcony. Read all of our tips for Lisbon here.
3. Riga
Riga is a city not often visited on a city trip. Still, Latvia’s capital is a fantastic destination, especially in spring! Riga is cheap, offers many cultural activities and is even located by the beach. Riga’s Old Town is a beautiful part to walk through. Here you can also see much of the different countries that have influenced Latvia over the years, including Russia, Sweden, Poland and Germany. The food in Riga is very good, there is always cooking with fresh vegetables so that every season there is something different on the menu. The Boutique Hotel is a nice place in the old town. If you prefer to go for an apartment, the Dream Boutique is a great apartment!
4. London
London is generally a rainy city but in the spring, London often has beautiful days. This makes it an ideal destination for your spring city break. From the Netherlands, you can fly to one of London’s four airports in as little as an hour or you can easily take the train, well, sustainable!
Watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace and admire the Thames from Tower Bridge. Also visit the nice neighborhoods of Covent Garden and Soho where you can eat delicious food and walk through cozy streets. Next, head to one of the largest department stores in the world: Harrods! Here you can get lost for hours among the luxury goods, food and everything else you can think of. Then take another long walk in the vast Hyde Park and shop till you drop in the many shopping streets around Piccadilly Circus. You can also travel very easily on the London Underground, making it easy and quick to get to the city’s many highlights. The two best hotels in London are the Double Room with Private Balcony and Central London Rooms.
5. Prague
The capital of the Czech Republic is a popular city trip destination in spring. Prague’s Old Town is packed with real history monuments, buildings and houses. The Jewish Quarter was not destroyed in the war for the sad reason that Hitler, after he would have eliminated all the Jews, wanted to retreat here to turn it into a museum. This museum came to be, but fortunately with a very different purpose. All the belongings of Jewish residents who were deported to concentration camps were stored here. The museum now serves as an education about the war, what happened and a reminder that it happened only a short time ago.
Furthermore, in the Jewish Quarter, you can also visit the municipal library to see an extraordinary vortex of books. This is an endless tunnel of books which makes for a beautiful picture.
In between eating a Trdelnik is recommended. It is made by twisting dough around a tube and frying or deep-frying it. This is then rolled through the sugar and cinnamon and then filled with ice cream. This way you have a delicious sweet treat. Visit Prague during your spring city break for pleasant temperatures without too many other tourists. The finest hotels to stay at are Allure Hotel Prague and Questenberg Hotel.
6. Paris
Paris, the city of love. Everyone must have been here at least once in their life. Enjoy French baguettes and the best white wine or champagne on the terrace. Visit the Eiffel Tower, of course, but don’t forget the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées. You can also do a great bike tour with Baja Bikes in Paris. The Dutch guide tells all about the city’s history. Even after 3 times in Paris, we have not run out of this wonderful city.
If you have longer time, it is also nice to combine your city break Paris with a visit to Disney. Our nicest hotels in Paris are Graphik Montparnasse and Hôtel de La Mare.
7. Krakow
Krakow is a beautiful city in Poland. Because it is a 1.5-hour drive from Auschwitz, you can see the violent history in some places. In the Jewish Quarter, learn more about this at the old synagogue. Furthermore, the Jewish Quarter is a very nice place to walk through: beautiful buildings with lots of flowers and plants and cute cafes.
Just outside of Krakow is Wieliczka. This is a 700-year-old underground salt mine covering an area of 300 kilometers! During the 2-hour tour, you’ll get to hear how things used to be here and see the bizarre systems.
All in all, Krakow is a very nice city trip destination in the spring: it is cheap, there are many activities to do and it is not overrun with tourists in the spring. The very best apartments in Krakow are The Bridge Suites and H11 Aparthotel.
8. Utrecht
Spring means that the weather is also getting nicer at our place in the Netherlands. Therefore, you don’t have to go all the way abroad: discover fun Utrecht! With fewer foreign tourists, Utrecht feels a lot more cozy than Rotterdam, Amsterdam or The Hague. Still, there are plenty of fun things to do. For example, climb the 495 steps of the Dom Tower while a guide tells all about its history or go canoeing through the canals. End your evening at the Oudegracht where you can first have a delicious dinner and then drinks at the Rum Club. Read all of our tips for Utrecht here. A fine hotel located right in the center is Hotel Beijers. Stayokay also comes highly recommended: located on the Neude near all the nice terraces.
