Make it your resolution to travel somewhere new this year – whether it’s to see the beautiful Belle Époque buildings of Bucharest or to enjoy the café culture of Sofia. We’ve picked out some of the cheapest flights in February so you can sample some of Europe’s best cities.
1. Doncaster to Sofia, Bulgaria from £18* return
Sofia sports numerous notable attractions – such as the distinctive domes of the 53-metre-high St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (entry free, open daily 7am to 6pm) – but the real draw of this city is its vibrant café culture and nightlife. The Antrakt café doubles as a gallery showcasing alternative artists, so you can appreciate Bulgarian art while sipping your coffee, and there are plenty of buzzing pavement cafés on the pedestrianized Vitosha Boulevard. Sofia is very much a party city, too: the clubs stay open well into the early hours, often as late as 6am, and the drinks are super cheap. Check out our guide to find out more things to do in the city, including where to see priest grafitti.
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2. London to Copenhagen, Denmark from £20* return
No trip to Copenhagen would be complete without a visit to the famous Carlsberg brewery (Monday to Sunday 10am–5pm; €13.42), which is dubbed by the company as ‘The Copenhagen ExBEERience’ (those wags). Naturally the price includes a free drink, and the brewery hosts a mightily impressive bottle collection as well as reams of text to read on brewing history. A nice touch is that you can circulate the exhibits with a beer in hand – a policy that perhaps should be brought in at all museums. And don’t worry if you think Copenhagen is too expensive – there are plenty of ways to see the city on a budget
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3. Manchester to Hamburg, Germany from £23* return
Hamburg’s most popular attraction by far is the stunning Miniatur Wunderland (entry €13, check website for opening hours), a sort of model railway set that has mutated and sprawled out of control. It features more than 13 kilometres of track and 900 trains weaving through central Europe and America, including a 6-metre-high representation of the Alps. But the airport is where it gets seriously impressive: you can watch planes taking off and landing, while the terminal buzzes with activity. Elsewhere, smoke pours from buildings as fire engines arrive, while police cars pull over drivers for speeding – something is happening in this tiny world wherever you look. Oh, and did you know that Hamburg is a haven for Yuccies?
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4. London to Milan, Italy from £26* return
The beautiful white-marble cathedral in Milan – the Duomo – is undoubtedly the city's highlight. The building dates back to the fourteenth century, but construction took an astonishing six centuries: it was only officially finished in 1965. That's not surprising if you consider its size: at 160 metres long, this huge edifice is the fifth largest church in the world and the second largest in Italy (the largest is of course St Peter's in Vatican City at an impressive 220 metres). The cathedral is open daily between 8am and 7pm, and a 'Duomo Pass' costs €15. To see some of the city's best sights, including Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, check out our local's guide to Milan.
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5. Birmingham to Palma, Mallorca from £26* return
The Arab Baths in Palma (open 9.30am–6pm all year round, small entry fee) offer a tranquil diversion and a reminder of the Palma’s forgotten past. The tenth-century baths were discovered by accident in the twentieth century, and they are all that remain of Medina Mayurqa, the Arab city that stood on the site before the construction of Palma. But the Arabs weren’t the first occupiers by any means – it seems the pillars of the baths were salvaged from Roman ruins. For more inspiring places to visit in Palma, including its famous cathedral with interior by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, check out this guide.
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6. Glasgow to Brussels, Belgium from £26* return
The chips in Brussels are phenomenal. Not only that, they’re everywhere – frietkots selling paper cones of chips simply litter the city (Maison Antoine is a particularly good one). Aside from chips, Brussels is probably most famous for being the heart of the European Union, and the Parliamentarium (9am–6pm, free) does an amazing job of turning the potentially coma-inducing topic of EU law-making into an actually quite interesting afternoon out, thanks to all sorts of flashy lights and 3D models. Take a look at this guide for more ideas on what to see and do, including where to go in search of Tintin.
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7. Newcastle to Warsaw, Poland from £26* return
Warsaw was heavily bombed during the Second World War, and the Old Town was systematically blown up by the German army in reprisal for the Warsaw Uprising by the Polish resistance in 1944. After hostilities ceased, the medieval buildings of the Old Town were carefully reconstructed using the original bricks wherever possible, and today there is no clue that the entire area was once a heap of rubble. One boon of the reconstruction was that the new houses were linked to a district heating system rather than having individual boilers, which means that the city has far less pollution than Krakow. But an efficient heating system isn’t the only thing Warsaw has going for it: it does a mean line in Communist-era milk bars, too.
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8. London to Marseille, France from £30* return
Marseille is the perfect place for culture boffs, as it boasts a vibrant street art scene along with cutting-edge museums and galleries – not least the mysterious black cube that is the Museum of the Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean (open daily (except Tuesdays) 11am to 7pm, entry €9.50). When your long day of gallery hopping is done, head to the old port for an apero or two while you watch the sun set – Bar de la Marine (15 Quai de Rive Neuve) is the perfect place for a pastis. For more things to see in Marseille, from an enormous golden statue of the Virgin Mary to exotic markets, check out our guide.
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9. Glasgow to Bucharest, Romania from £31* return
Thanks to its tree-lined boulevards, Belle Époque buildings and reputation for the high life, Bucharest has earned the nickname ‘Little Paris’. After a walk in the beautiful old town, discover Hanul lui Manuc (open 8am to 11.30pm), one of Europe’s few remaining caravanserais. Built two centuries ago by Emanuel Manuc, an Armenian and one of the richest and most influential merchants of his time, it provided lodging and shelter for the caravans on their trade routes. Today it hosts events and is filled with restaurants, some Romanian – the perfect place to try a traditional mint lemonade. And there’s always Bucharest’s most notorious building, the colossal Palace of the Parliament, former home of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, and one of our top ten picks for the city.
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10. London to Madrid, Spain from £40* return
The Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family – although you won’t find them there unless there’s a ceremony taking place. They actually live in Zarzuela Palace on the edge of Madrid in a building that’s a ‘mere’ 3,150 square metres in size – practically a shoebox compared to the enormous 135,000 square metre Royal Palace. In fact, the Royal Palace is the largest palace in Europe by floor area: Buckingham Palace is only around half the size at 77,000 square metres. The palace is open every day from 10am to 6pm, and entry costs €11. Now, for more ideas on what to see and do in Madrid, take some advice from a local.
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