If you know me, or read a few of my recent blogposts, you know that I love traveling. And whenever I come across somebody that says they don’t need a vacation somewhere, I am baffled. Maybe it’s me, but I don’t understand how anybody doesn’t feel the itch to explore new places. Fortunately for my sanity, I don’t meet people who don’t like to travel very often. Of course, there are a million different places on our beautiful planet to visit. But for me, it doesn’t have to be super far away. For example, I don’t feel the need to travel to Thailand, Australia or the US. In my humble opinion, Europe has it all: the beaches, the mountains, the snow. And of course, being European, it is much easier to go from one country to another. No need for visas etc. Naturally, I have visited a number of beautiful European countries. And today, I am sharing with you the 7 most amazing European travel destinations I have been to!
1. Capri, Italy
First in the list of the 7 most amazing European travel destinations is Capri, Italy. We went there in July 2021. To get to Capri, you have to fly into Naples and then take a ferry over to the island. Be warned: they are speed ferries, and get shaken around by the waves quite a bit. Including myself, I think at least 10 people got seasick. So most of the ride, I was standing on the railing by the back of the ferry, keeping my eyes fixed on the horizon. And I think the crew were having a blast laughing at all the poorly tourists.
Once you make it to Capri, you are rewarded with a spectacular view:
The first thing we did in Capri was get a pizza (what else). Then we took a funicolare up into town, which I would highly recommend doing. 1) it doesn’t go as fast as the ferries, so no danger being poorly again, and 2) you get to enjoy all the views.
If you go to Capri, make sure to stop by Gelateria Buonocore (check them out here). They are famous for their ice cream and they also freshly bake the waffle cones, right in front of you. If you go up by funicular, you pass by their store on your way into town anyway. Be prepared to wait in line for a little though (always a sign something’s GOOD!).
2. Ibiza, Spain
#2 on the list of the 7 most amazing European travel destinations for me is Ibiza, Spain. I have already written about our recent trip there here, so I won’t go into much detail again. But of course, having had such a fantastic time there, I couldn’t not put it into this post as well.
Ibiza is an island that has got it all: beaches to relax, amazing stores for shopping, eccentric nightlife, as well as a beautiful coastline for hiking. The latter was definitely my favorite thing to do on our whole trip. Along the coastline, there are a lot of different Calas (bays). Some are easily accessible, some you have to climb down to get to. All of them are beautiful, the water is shallow and fairly warm (depending on the season, of course).
3. Formentera, Spain
Formentera is an island right next to Ibiza. To get there, you have to take a ferry from Ibiza. Because of my experience on the ferry to Capri, I was a little nervous to get on it, but the ride was much smoother, so no seasickness luckily. Once you arrive to the harbor of Formentera, I would recommend to rent a bike or scooter. Because to get to the most beautiful beach of the island, also dubbed Caribbean of Europe, you have to go to Platja des Illetes, around 4,5 kilometers from the harbor. It’s an easy and beautiful ride, right by the waterline, with a few restaurants lining the track. Plus, it becomes very evident, why it is called the Caribbean of Europe: white beaches and crystal clear, bright blue water. And yachts. A lot of yachts.
If you want to know more about our time in Formentera, check out this blogpost.
4. Paris, France
Paris, France, #4 on my list of the 7 most amazing European travel destinations, was the last trip I took. And I dedicated a whole blogpost to it (read here). But just like Ibiza, it would have been a huge mistake to not include it in this article.
Paris, and especially the district of Montmartre, are just perfect to get lost in. There’s so much attention to detail when it comes to the decorations of the shops, cafés and restaurants. And because we went in November, everything was already decorated for Christmas, which made it that much more romantic. It isn’t called the City of Love for nothing.
And just like Ibiza, Paris is such a versatile city. You get the shopping, the river, the food & all of the museums one could ever ask for. The most famous of which of course being the Louvre. And the most amazing thing: if you’re European and under the age of 26, you get into all of them FOR FREE.
5. Les Calanques de Marseille, France
This one was a no-brainer. Les Calanques de Marseille in France are easily one of the 7 most amazing European travel destinations for me. And once again, I have already written about them here. I think it’s clear by now how much I enjoy being out in nature, or hiking by the coast. And this one was especially nice, because we had the best weather, there weren’t a lot of tourists, and we got to challenge ourselves with some pretty steep climbs.
There are a lot of different routes to chose from. A few of them are fairly easy, there even were families with young children there. Others are a lot more challenging, which means less people there. Regardless of your fitness level, be careful which route you take: we walked into a dead end for about an hour and had to walk all the way back. And we didn’t have any water left. It was over 30 °C. We barely made it out alive.
6. Lake Tegern, Germany
In June last year, I did a spectacular hike with a few friends. We started at Schliersee (Bavaria), and hiked pretty much all day through the most breathtaking mountains and woods. Since I am originally from northern Germany, which is rather flat land, I would definitely call them mountains. My friends being from Bavaria however might disagree. Regardless, we all had such a wonderful times, admiring all the views and rewarding ourselves for a hike well done with a dip in Lake Tegern. Even though it was around 30 °C, the lake itself was pretty cold. Or refreshing. Depends which way you look at it.
Another great way to reward yourself halfway through: lunch at one of the mountain stations. If I were you, I would go for Kaiserschmarrn. Because that’s what I did. And it was so yummy!
7. Cabo da Roca, Portugal
Last but certainly not least on my list of the 7 most amazing European travel destinations is Cabo da Roca, Portugal. I have already touched on it in my post “The 8 Best Things we did in Lisbon” (read here). And in that post, I also said how happy I felt wandering around the cliffs. And because of that, it had to be mentioned in this post again.
If you go to Lisbon, do yourself a favor and schedule a day trip to Cabo da Roca as well. It’s super easy to get to, both via car or train/bus. I tried to capture the magic of this place in the pictures above, but it is so much more unbelievable in real life. I could go on and on about how mesmerizing this place was to me, but I recommend you go there and find out for yourself! Just make sure you wear hiking appropriate footwear and pack enough snacks/water, as there’s only one restaurant by the bus station.
Those are the 7 most amazing European travel destinations I have been to thus far. Obviously, I am constantly working on adding to the list. So if you have any other recommendations, let me know in the comments! And if you want to follow me on my adventures, follow me on Instagram.
Lots of Love,
Lena
Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored.