From Krakow to Valencia: What are the best European city breaks right now?

🌎 Travellers ranked these European cities as hot favourites for city breaks, offering rich culture, outstanding food and diverse experiences.

Europe offers some of the most diverse and historically rich city breaks in the world, from idyllic beach spots, to culture getaways and sophisticated capitals. 

Consumer champion Which? conducted a survey across more than 1,676 of its members in April and May this year to find what they thought were the best European city breaks. Travellers needed to have visited a European city for leisure in the last 12 months and have stayed at least one night for their responses to be considered in the survey. 

Destinations were ranked based on seven factors. This includes accommodation, food and drink, shopping, cultural sights, ease of getting around, value for money and lack of crowds. 

A final traveller score was then calculated based on how likely they were to recommend the city and overall satisfaction. 

These were the European cities that came out on top of the ranking. 

✅ Krakow claims top spot as the best city break

Krakow, Poland, took the top spot for the fifth time in the Which? annual survey, which featured almost 40 destinations, with an impressive 92 per cent overall score. 

The city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, was rated the full five out of five stars for accommodation, food and drink and ease of getting around. It was also the only city in the survey rated five stars for value for money. 

It also received four stars for its cultural attractions, which include potential day trips to historical locations such as the Wieliczka Salt Mine, another UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as Schindler’s Factory and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. 

“Beautiful, mainly unspoilt city. Superb food at a fair price. I’ve stayed many times and there are lots of good value hotels. Friendly and pretty safe,” one visitor said in the survey. 

Wander around the medieval Main Market Square (Rynek Główny), or head to the Wawel Royal Castle and Cathedral for a beautiful dose of history. Visit the unique Kazimierz (Jewish Quarter) and tuck into traditional Polish cuisine like zurek, a sour rye soup and obwarzakek krakowski, a braided ring-shaped bread, before enjoying a stroll in Planty Park. 

According to travel search website Kayak, a hotel in Krakow will set you back an average of €99 per night.