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The best European cities for food and drink
Not one Italian entry made the top seven – and number one will definitely surprise you
Sampling the local delicacies is an integral part of any great city break
From a tapas crawl in Andalusia to quaffing full-bodied reds in southwest France, these seven escapes are a treat for your tastebuds.
Each destination was not only rated among the best city breaks in Europe, but readers awarded them the full five stars for food and drink.
Read on to discover the continent’s top getaways for foodies.
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Krakow, Poland
You’ll work up an appetite exploring Poland’s second city and the cobbled streets of its elegant Unesco-listed old town: luckily a hearty snack is never far away.
Pretzel stalls compete for your attention on Europe’s largest market square, alongside the Renaissance arches of Cloth Hall and St Mary’s Basilica’s Gothic steeples.
Venture on to the myriad of side streets to where locals devour mustard-covered sausages and huge bowls of sour beetroot soup.
Pierogi are a must – Polish dumplings traditionally filled with potato, cheese and onion, and topped with sour cream.
Krakow food is meaty, filling and, best of all, cheap (the city clinched four stars for value for money), which is perfect if you want to line your stomach in preparation for another local specialty, vodka.
Check with booking.com to compare and find accommodation deals in Krakow.
Valencia, Spain
Sandy beaches, a charming historic quarter and the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia has it all, plus great food. Snack your way around its Art Nouveau food market or people watch from a coveted stool at Central Bar; local superchef Ricard Camarena’s most humble eatery.
And don’t leave the city without sampling paella as Valencia is its birthplace. If you’re a purist, snub the seafood versions – the authentic recipe contains rabbit and chicken, coloured with saffron and cooked over an open flame.
Another lesser-known local staple is horchata, a sweet drink made from tiger nuts. Take a marble-top table at historic Horchateria de Santa Catalina to sample it, with a sugar-glazed fartón (an elongated fluffy bread) on the side.
Book with a company you can trust: these are the best and worst city break holiday providers.
Funchal, Madeira
The terraced vineyards climb the island’s hillsides, producing the word-famous fortified wine. In fact, Madeira’s fertile volcanic soils and warm climate means that you can grow just about everything, from broad beans to passion fruit.
Find it all at the Art Deco Mercado dos Lavradores, the old town’s famous farmers’ market. The fish market is just next door, displaying huge hunks of tuna and eel-like espada (scabbard fish). The delicate white fish is a lot tastier than it looks, usually deep fried and served with banana.
Find a cosy seafood taberna on Santa Maria to enjoy it, admiring the vibrant street art along the way. Bolo do caco, circular Madeiran flatbread cooked on a flat basalt stone slab and served with garlic butter, is a delicious accompaniment.
Seville, Spain
The second Spanish city to make our round-up, Seville is all about the tapas. Get elbow-to-elbow with the locals on the winding whitewashed streets of Santa Cruz or Arenal to experience at its best.
A tapeo (tapas bar crawl) will allow you to sample a number of Andalusian specialities, including jamón Ibérico de Bellota, with its distinctive nutty flavour, and Moorish espinacas con garbanzos (spinach and chickpeas) with cumin.
Pair your tapa of choice with a crisp manzanilla as sherry region Jerez is just a stone’s throw away. No doubt a frenzied flamenco performance, with its gutsy guitar, will break out on the cobbled streets beside you to complete the experience.
Barcelona, Spain
It’s a Spanish entry again, but you’ll find an entirely different flavour of cuisine in Catalonia. Barcelona may be a fast-paced city, but everything slows down at lunchtime for a leisurely, three-course menú del dia.
After a morning of dodging the crowds on Las Ramblas and exploring the Gothic quarter’s tangle of narrow passageways, you’ll no doubt be hungry.
Salted cod is a specialty, along with arròs negre – a rice dish flavoured and coloured with squid ink and best served with a dollop of homemade aioli.
Fideua is another classic that is similar to a seafood paella, but with noodles instead of rice. Wash it all down with a glass of cava, Catalonia’s answer to champagne.
Bordeaux, France
This region’s famous full-bodied reds are an obvious draw. Learn more about its origins at the Cité du Vin museum, with its interactive displays covering 2,000 years of local winemaking. Your ticket also includes a free glass in the rooftop bar.
You can also sup them in kitschy cafés in the gilded old-world centre. Clear your head with a walk along the riverfront esplanade, which is one of the prettiest walks in Europe. But did you know the port city’s food offering is just as good as its wine?
The free-range and grass-fed cows from Bazas (around 37 miles from Bordeaux) are renowned for their tenderness and flavour. Finish off with a canelé, flavoured with vanilla and rum. They're baked in fluted copper moulds to give them their distinctive dark caramelised crust.
Bruges, Belgium
Pottering beneath the spires and beside the picturesque canals is an activity in itself in this fairytale Belgian city. Eating and drinking is another.
Trappist beer (brewed by Belgian monks) and freshly cooked waffles (topped with thick whipped cream) are obvious favourites, for good reason. Chocolate is another; you’ll find every shape and flavour combination imaginable – Belgium is particularly famous for its soft, creamy-centred pralines.
Bruges has a chocolate museum, but it’s much more fun to sample the real deal. Stock up on sweet treats at the headily fragrant Spegalaere, a neighbourhood chocolatier where almost everything is made on site.
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