discover

EUROPE

LISA DUNFORD, OLIVER BERRYBRETT ATKINSON, ALEXIS AVERBUCK, JAMES BAINBRIDGE, NEAL BEDFORD, GEERT COLE, DAVID ELSE, STEVE FALLON,

DUNCAN GARWOOD, LEANNE LOGAN, VESNA MARIC, VIRGINIA MAXWELL, CRAIG MCLACHLAN, TIM RICHARDS, CAROLINE SIEG,

DAMIEN SIMONIS, RYAN VER BERKMOES, MARA VORHEES, NICOLA WILLIAMS, NEIL WILSON

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DISCOVER EUROPE

Britain & Ireland (p59) Ancient history and mod-ern culture.

France (p165) A country filled with food, wine and joie de vivre.

Spain (p235) Flamenco, beaches, cathedrals and Modernista monuments.

Italy (p301) Artistic beauty in the museums, towns and hills nationwide.

The Netherlands & Bel -gium (p369) A quirky mix of art, business and pleasure.

Germany, Austria & Switzerland (p421) Big cit-ies and bigger mountains.

Czech Republic, Slovakia & Hungary (p531) Old towns with old-world feel.

Croatia (p607) Endless coastline dotted with medieval stone towns.

Greece (p649) Archaeo-logical sites and breath-taking beaches.

Turkey (p699) Markets and minarets mix with Med i ter-ra nean resort towns.

Europe in Focus (p745) Handy information to help you on your way.

Europe’s Top 25 Ex pe ri-ences (p13) The best bits of a great continent.

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CONTENTS

THIS IS EUROPE 10

EUROPE’S TOP 25 EXPERIENCES 13

EUROPE’S TOP ITINERARIES 31

PLANNING YOUR TRIP 43

BRITAIN & IRELAND 59HIGHLIGHTS 62THE BEST… 66THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 67GET INSPIRED 69ITINERARIES 70DISCOVER BRITAIN & IRELAND 72BRITAIN 72LONDON 72AROUND LONDON 97

SOUTHEAST ENGLAND 98SOUTHWEST ENGLAND 103CENTRAL ENGLAND 109EASTERN ENGLAND 113NORTHEAST ENGLAND 116NORTHWEST ENGLAND 122SOUTH & WEST WALES 126MID- & NORTH WALES 129SOUTHERN & CENTRAL SCOTLAND 129WESTERN & NORTHERN SCOTLAND 140IRELAND 142DUBLIN 142AROUND DUBLIN 149SOUTHWEST IRELAND 150THE WEST COAST 153NORTHERN IRELAND 156DIRECTORY 156TRANSPORT 160

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FRANCE 165HIGHLIGHTS 168THE BEST… 172THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 173GET INSPIRED 175ITINERARIES 176DISCOVER FRANCE 178PARIS 178AROUND PARIS 202BRITTANY & NORMANDY 204LOIRE VALLEY 208ATLANTIC COAST 213LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON 214PROVENCE 217CÔTE D’AZUR & MONACO 223DIRECTORY 229TRANSPORT 232

SPAIN 235HIGHLIGHTS 238THE BEST… 242THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 243GET INSPIRED 245ITINERARIES 246DISCOVER SPAIN 248MADRID 248AROUND MADRID 261CASTILLA Y LEÓN 262CASTILLA-LA MANCHA 265CATALONIA 266BASQUE COUNTRY 280CANTABRIA, ASTURIAS & GALICIA 283VALENCIA & MURCIA 284ANDALUCÍA 287DIRECTORY 295TRANSPORT 298

ITALY 301HIGHLIGHTS 304THE BEST… 308THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 309

GET INSPIRED 311ITINERARIES 312DISCOVER ITALY 314ROME 314NORTHERN ITALY 337THE DOLOMITES 352TUSCANY 352SOUTHERN ITALY 360DIRECTORY 363TRANSPORT 366

THE NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM 369HIGHLIGHTS 372THE BEST… 376THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 377GET INSPIRED 379ITINERARIES 380DISCOVER THE NETHERLANDS & BELGIUM 382THE NETHERLANDS 382AMSTERDAM 382AALSMEER 391RANDSTAD 392BELGIUM 401BRUSSELS 401FLANDERS 408DIRECTORY 415TRANSPORT 418

GERMANY, AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND 421HIGHLIGHTS 426THE BEST… 430THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 431GET INSPIRED 433ITINERARIES 434DISCOVER GERMANY, AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND 436GERMANY 436BERLIN 436DRESDEN 447

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THURINGIA 449BAVARIA 451BLACK FOREST 465FREIBURG 466FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN 467HAMBURG 469AUSTRIA 472VIENNA 472DANUBE VALLEY 484SALZBURG 485AROUND SALZBURG 490SALZKAMMERGUT 490TIROL 492SWITZERLAND 497GENEVA 497LAKE GENEVA REGION 503VALAIS 505BERN 506CENTRAL SWITZERLAND & BERNESE OBERLAND 510ZÜRICH 516GRAUBÜNDEN 522DIRECTORY 524TRANSPORT 528

CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA & HUNGARY 531HIGHLIGHTS 536THE BEST… 540THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 541GET INSPIRED 543ITINERARIES 544DISCOVER CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA & HUNGARY 546CZECH REPUBLIC 546PRAGUE 546AROUND PRAGUE 562BOHEMIA 563MORAVIA 569SLOVAKIA 571BRATISLAVA 571AROUND BRATISLAVA 577

EAST SLOVAKIA 577HUNGARY 584BUDAPEST 584THE DANUBE BEND 595SOUTH HUNGARY 597NORTHEAST HUNGARY 601DIRECTORY 603TRANSPORT 605

CROATIA 607HIGHLIGHTS 610THE BEST… 614THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 615GET INSPIRED 617ITINERARIES 618DISCOVER CROATIA 620ZAGREB 620ISTRIA 626DALMATIA 628DIRECTORY 646TRANSPORT 647

GREECE 649HIGHLIGHTS 652THE BEST… 656THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 657GET INSPIRED 659ITINERARIES 660DISCOVER GREECE 662ATHENS 662PIRAEUS 672THE PELOPONNESE 673CENTRAL GREECE 674NORTHERN GREECE 677CYCLADES 678CRETE 683DODECANESE 688AEGEAN ISLANDS 690IONIAN ISLANDS 692DIRECTORY 694TRANSPORT 695

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TURKEY 699HIGHLIGHTS 702THE BEST… 706THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 707GET INSPIRED 709ITINERARIES 710DISCOVER TURKEY 712İSTANBUL 712AROUND İSTANBUL 723AEGEAN COAST 723MEDITERRANEAN COAST 728CENTRAL ANATOLIA 732CAPPADOCIA (KAPADOKYA) 735MT NEMRUT NATIONAL PARK 739DIRECTORY 739TRANSPORT 742

EUROPE IN FOCUS 745ACCOMMODATION 746ARCHITECTURE 751

FAMILY TRAVEL 755FOOD & DRINK 757HISTORY 764SPORTS & ACTIVITIES 771SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL 776VISUAL ARTS 778

DIRECTORY & TRANSPORT 781DIRECTORY 782TRANSPORT 791

LANGUAGE 797

BEHIND THE SCENES 799

INDEX 804

MAP LEGEND 816

p699TURKEY

p649GREECE

p301ITALY

p531HUNGARY

SLOVAKIA &CZECH REPUBLIC,

p421SWITZERLAND

AUSTRIA &GERMANY,

p369& BELGIUM

THE NETHERLANDS

p607CROATIA

SPAINp235

p165FRANCE

p59IRELAND

BRITAIN &

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SEA

BiscayBay of

Golfe deLion

TYRRHENIAN

Irish Sea

English Channel

S E A

N O R T H

Strait of Gibraltar

A D

R I A T I C

M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A

O C E A N

A T L A N T I C

N O R W E G I A NS E A

Split

Cagliari

Palma

Ajaccio

Palermo

Nice

Cork

Le Havre

St Nazaire

San Sebastián

Vigo Gijón

León

La Coruña

Pamplona

Bayonne

Salamanca

Alicante

Almería

Córdoba

Granada

Badajoz

Toledo

Cádiz

BrestQuimper

Rennes

Caen

La Rochelle

Limoges

FerrandClermont-

Avignon

Dijon

Genoa

Pisa

Rheims

ToursBlois

Portsmouth

OxfordSwansea

Galway

KillarneyRosslare

Derry

Aberdeen

Dundee

Inverness

Oban

Lübeck

Freiburg

Florence

Sassari

Santander

YorkMiddlesborough

Hamburg

DüsseldorfHanover

Den Haag

Manchester

Belfast

Glasgow

upon-TyneNewcastle-

Liverpool

Marseille

Munich

Zürich

Bordeaux Lyon

BilbaoToulouse

Frankfurt

Milan

StrasbourgNantes

Geneva

Stuttgart

Venice

Turin

Málaga

Seville

Murcia

Valencia

Barcelona

Zaragoza

Naples

Catania

Taranto

Stralsund

Salzburg

ÀeskýKrumlov

Leipzig

Dresden

Cardiff

Edinburgh

London

Dublin

Amsterdam

Brussels

Paris

Bern

Madrid Rome

Prague

Berlin

Zagreb

Vienna

P y r e n e e s

A l p s(4807m)Mt Blanc

50°N

42°N

34°N

0°8°W58°N

BalearicIslands

Islands

IbizaMenorca

Hebrides

Corsica

Sardinia

Elba

Mallorca

Channel

ManIsle of

IslandsShetland

IslandsOrkney

Frisian Islands

Outer

Pantelleria

PelagieIsole

Faroe Islands(DEN)

Sicily

Rhine

Loire

Rhô

ne

Seine

Tajo

Douro

Po

PORTUGAL

DENMARK

NORWAY

ICELAND

LIBYA

MOROCCO

ALGERIA

TUNISIA

ANDORRA

MALTA

SWEDEN

SLOVENIA

NorthernIreland

BRITAINWales England

Scotland

IRELAND

GERMANY

SPAIN

FRANCE

NETHERLANDS

SWITZERLAND

BELGIUM

AUSTRIA

ITALY

CROATIA

CZECHREPUBLIC

Pubs by the pint-load in a city that’ssynonymous with black beer and

great literature

DUBLIN p142

Britain’s world-in-a-city capital,a vivacious hub of cultural

goings-on

LONDON p72

Refined, romantic, sexy andstreet smart, the French capital

exudes savoir faire

PARIS p178

Gaudí’s surreal architectureblows the mind in this

buzzing modern metropolis

BARCELONA p267

Four hundred bridges and 150canals serve as routes around

this atmospheric town

VENICE p341

Nightclubs, bars and ever-changingexhibits reflect the Zeitgeist in

this modern chameleon

BERLIN p436

Europe’s most spectacular mountainrange demands the attention of

any serious skier, climber or hiker

SWISS ALPS p505 Bavaria

Provence

S

O

D

M

H

H

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o

a

N

A

A

C

AzovSea of

IONIANSEA

SEAAEGEAN

Sea of Crete

Gulf of Finland

BothniaGulf of

B A L T I CS E A

CASPIANSEA

S E A

M E D I T E R R A N E A N

S E A

B L A C KS E A

Ku¢adas¹

Diyarbak¹r

ºstanbul

ºzmir

Ka¢

Košice

Antalya

Hania

Kalamata Rhodes

Trabzon

Zonguldak

Szeged

Ostrava¤diar

Bari

Dubrovnik

Patra

Larisa

Delphi

Sivas

Samsun

Kayseri

Van

Erzurum

BursaThessaloniki

Adana

Piraeus

Iraklio

BratislavaBudapest

Athens

Ankara

M o u n t a i n s

C a r p a t h i a n

Crimea

Crete

CycladesIslands

IslandsIonian

Corfu Lesvos

Santorini

Evia

DodecaneseIslands

Dnipro

Dnestr

Tigris

Pripet

Danube

KOSOVO

NORTHCYPRUS

REPUBLICOF CYPRUS

AZER-BAIJAN

SAUDIARABIA

MONTENEGRO

EGYPTLIBYA

POLAND

BOSNIA &HERCEGOVINA

ROMANIA

MOLDOVA

BULGARIA

RUSSIA

MACEDONIA

LEBANON

Israel& the Palestinian

TerritoriesJORDAN

SYRIAIRAQ

IRAN

GEORGIA

ARMENIA

KAZAKHSTAN

ALBANIA

SERBIA

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

Kaliningrad(Russia)

ESTONIA

BELARUS

UKRAINE

FINLAND

HUNGARY

TURKEYGREECE

SLOVAKIA

Both museumlike and modern,the ancient city still centres

on the Parthenon today

ATHENS p662

East meets West in this vast,teeming city – a roiling cauldron

of harbourside activity

İSTANBUL p712

Medieval stone towns, pebblybeaches and streetside cafes,

all wrapped in golden sunlight

DALMATIAN ISLANDS p634

A Gothic wonderland of old-town architecture straight

out of a fairy tale

PRAGUE p546

A Hungarian horse show and excellentbirdwatching on the Hungarian

puszta (great plain)

KISKUNSÁGI NEMZETI PARK p600

Cappadocia

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The Parthenon, Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Grand Bazaar – Europe is indeed filled with iconic sights. But it’s also about celebrating in a piazza, hiking the wild coastlines and eating in a neighbourhood taverna. Here the layers of experience run as deep as the continent’s history.

Tourist hordes may be the only invaders now, but for millennia conquerors came and went, leaving their legacy: pre-classical-culture stonework and statuary; Roman ruins scattered from England to the Aegean; and Ottoman minarets and mosques as far north as Hungary. Seeking out these treasures could take a lifetime, but there are also medieval walled cities, Gothic cathedrals, Renaissance town squares and baroque monuments to explore.

So many great thinkers, artists, musicians and writers hail from Europe that it is rightly called the cradle of Western civilisation. Plato, da Vinci, Descartes; Michelangelo, Monet, Van Gogh; Bach, Beethoven, Mozart; Shakespeare, Sartre, Kafka…the list goes

THIS IS EUROPE

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on. Their works, influence and more can be experienced at the incredible museums, ornate concert halls and bustling theatres across the continent.

Arrive in one of the urban centres, however, and you’ll know that Europe isn’t all about the past. Pulsing nightlife, trendy eateries and postmodern monuments are part of city life. And there’s plenty of sun to soak up in pebbly coves and on sugar-sand beaches. Though each country retains its distinct flavour, 13 of the 16 nations represented in this book are members of the EU. Age-old racial and religious differences do still cause tensions, but with relaxed (or nonexist-ent) border controls and 10 of these countries using the euro, there’s no better time to beat it to Europe. The proliferation of low-cost carriers and high-speed trains means you can cover more territory in less time. So come, sift through Europe’s many layers – for your first time or your fifth. But throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, because we bet you’ll be back.

‘each country retains its distinct flavour’

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