small/medium sized international cities?

[dAZ]

We recently got back from a European vacation and I enjoy daydreaming about trips so I'm mentally moving on to the next one....wherever that may be.

We found that we really enjoyed the smaller towns vs the larger towns (Bath vs London) so I'm wondering what smaller sized towns have you visited that you would recommend or would like to check out?

[dutchgirl678]

In the Netherlands, Amsterdam is really getting overrun with tourists. There are many great smaller places to visit such as Haarlem, the Hague / Delft, Hoorn / Enkhuizen, Utrecht. If you venture even a bit further out, you could visit Nijmegen or Groningen. There is beautiful nature too

We have traveled extensively through Europe the last decade or so, so here are some of our favorite places outside the Netherlands::

Heimbach, Monschau (Eiffel region)
Oberammergau, Ettal, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria, south Germany)
Hallstatt, Berchtesgaden, St. Gilgen (Austria/Germany)
Lauterbrunnen (Switzerland)
Fort Augustus, Oban, Inverness, Aviemore, Isle of Skye (Scotland)

[frlcb]

York, England
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tallinn, Estonia
Riga, Latvia
Vilnius, Lithuania
Salamanca, Spain
Brugges, Belgium
Ghent, Belgium
Antwerp, Belgium

[alleinesein]

Zagreb, Croatia
Dresden, Germany
Erfurt, Germany

[scout8]

Here are some that I really liked. . .

Ljubliana, Slovenia
Split, Croatia
Arles, France
Assisi, Italy
Siena, Italy
Sarajevo, Bosnia
Kotor, Montenegro
Ohrid, Macedonia

[GilliC]

My favorite is Tromsø, Norway.

Among smaller cities, I also enjoyed:
Bergen, Norway
Brugge, Belgium
Reykjavik, Iceland
Oxford, England
Utrecht, Netherlands
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Aveiro, Portugal

If you're considering places a bit bigger...
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Aarhus, Denmark
Tallin, Estonia is quite a bit larger (400K population), but it's charming, and the old city center feels smaller.
Montpellier, France is adorable, but I'm not sure there's a lot to do as a tourist within the city (other than walking around). There's a bit more in the surrounding area, but it requires a bit of driving.

[ESF]

St. Emillion, France

[candreco]

I'll vote Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well. It was my favorite stop on our recent trip and I could have spent our whole two weeks there. There's so much in that area we didn't see, I'm dying to go back!

[ribollita]

Riva del garda and Praiano, both in Italy. And Spello.
Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland
Girona in Spain

[majesty318]

Siracusa, Sicily

[Whitecaps]

Cochem, Germany
Ghent, Belgium
Bayeux, France

[wise_rita]

Aug 13, 2018 20:19:24 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Zagreb, Croatia
Dresden, Germany
Erfurt, Germany

I will try Leipzig onto Dresden as it's very close by train.

Both smaller and more manageable than Munich/Berlin, both in the East so incredibly interesting.

Not small by any means (it's the second most populous city in Germany!) but Hamburg often gets overlooked.

Do not overlook Hamburg!

[jaycee]

LIke scout8, I would recommend Assisi, Italy.

[jaycee]

LIke scout8, I would recommend Assisi, Italy

[gardengal]

Krakow
Copenhagen (which is big for Denmark but it feels more medium-sized city to me)
Lucerne, Switzerland
Carcassonne, France (small)

We also had an amazing time in Lyme Regis, UK. Fossil hunting, hiking, exploring the small town, and many day trips around the area.

ETA: Grenada, Spain. The Alhambra is a top life experience for me!