Six European cities that are really worth visiting despite the crowds

Cities in Europe Most People Skip

Everyone usually travels to the same places. For example, Rome, Paris or Barcelona. There is nothing wrong with that. But in summer they are really crowded and high-priced. So there are superior choices. Europe has a lot of smaller cities that are just as good. And getting there is easy - trains, cheap flights, short bus rides. But before any trip, there are practical things to sort. Because all of these daily tasks need data - finding transport, checking maps, looking up a place to eat, reading reviews. eSIM Plus gives you a local plan without swapping SIM cards. So you land somewhere new and you are already online.

Ghent, Belgium 

Most people who visit Belgium visit Brussels or Bruges. Ghent sits between them and most travelers just pass through without stopping. 

Source: 

The old centre has canals, medieval towers and stone bridges. It looks a bit like Bruges but feels different. Bruges is full of tour groups. Ghent has a big university so locals actually live and hang out there. The bars and cafés feel like normal places. And prices are lower. A dinner out costs a lot less than in Bruges.

The beer is very good. The food is solid. And the city is easy to walk around, because everything is close.

From Brussels it’s 40 minutes by train. From Amsterdam it's just under two hours.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Bulgaria doesn’t make it onto most Europe travel lists. But it should.

Plovdiv is really old. Old enough that builders keep finding Roman ruins when they dig. The old town sits across three hills. There is a Roman amphitheatre, old painted houses, street art and small restaurants everywhere. You can walk between all of it easily. And it’s never crowded.

Things are cheap there. Not “reasonable for Europe” cheap. Actually cheap. A good dinner with wine costs what a coffee costs in Switzerland. Flights from London or Vienna are short and not expensive.

Sofia is two hours by bus - worth tacking on if you want another city on the route.

Valletta, Malta

The smallest capital in the EU, and it shows - the whole thing sits on one little peninsula with water cutting around three sides of it.

You can go end to end without a ride in twenty minutes.

Malta was British until 1964, so English is everywhere. No language problems at all. The food is good - mostly fish, fresh and simple. And the old stone streets are nice to walk around.

Skip July and August. Too hot and too busy. March or October is much better. The water is warm and the city is quiet. Flights from Rome, London and Frankfurt run often.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Not many people actually go to Slovenia. Everyone talks about it, and then they book Greece.

Ljubljana has no cars in the old town. A river runs through the center with café terraces on both sides and a castle on the hill above it all. The city is small and nothing feels rushed there.

The food is good and not expensive. You can walk into most places without a plan and eat well.

The bus ride to Lake Bled takes one hour. Mountains, a lake, a small island with a church. It is really beautiful. From Vienna it’s under four hours by train. From Venice about three.

Kotor, Montenegro 

Kotor is a small medieval town inside old stone walls on a bay in Montenegro. Mountains go right down to the water. The old town is at the foot of one of them.

Inside the walls it's stone streets, old churches and cats everywhere. A couple of hours covers it on foot. But the walls go up the mountain behind the town. The walk takes about an hour. The view over the bay from up there is really good.

Around the bay there are small villages along the water, a tiny island, a church you can reach by boat, and a mountain road with big views. A few days is the appropriate amount of time.

Montenegro is not in the EU. Regular SIM can get expensive fast. An eSIM with a regional plan covers Montenegro and nearby countries. No extra steps and no surprise charges. 

Tallinn, Estonia 

Tallinn has one of Europe’s greatest historic towns. The medieval walls and towers from the 14th century are still there. The streets inside are cobbled, narrow and actually old - not rebuilt for tourists.

Small enough to see in a day. Good enough to stay longer.

The rest of the city is modern. Estonia runs almost everything online - transport, tickets, bookings. It all works well and quickly.

Go in summer. In June it barely gets dark. The evenings are long and people stay out late. The whole city feels different from winter.

The average flight time from most European cities is three hours. If you like to see both, there is also a quick ferry from Helsinki.