Just coming back from Madrid, it was really nice. Wide pedestrian streets, beautiful buildings, nice terraces and amazing food.
I guess being Belgian I always have some negativity towards capital city (Brussels gave its name to the phenomenon of lack of urban planning leading to ugliness, bruxellisation), but this made me reconsider this.
So, dear Europeans, what is your favorite capital?
Big fan of Copenhagen! I love how walkable everything is, and temperatures are usually just fine. The bike infrastructure is stellar as well.
+1 for Copenhagen, Stockholm is nice as well, Berlin, why not.
I lived in Berlin for almost 4 years and it lost all of the appeal during that time.
It’s hip and cool to visit, but if you actually live there and have to take the subway to work at 7 when all the drunk clubbers are just getting home, reeking of weed, booze, vomit, and piss, it’s not so fun anymore. Plus it’s really really dirty in most somewhat central locations.
Stockholm on the other hand is awesome, fully agree. Might as well throw Oslo and Helsinki into the mix. And Reykjavik for good measure. I really love the Nordics.
Pro tip: Riga is like a cheap cousin of Stockholm. Just as nice at a quarter of the price.
Copenhagen for win for sure, it’s got Tivoli Gardens which are so much fun! I also really enjoyed Stockholm but it’s so clean and quiet I felt like I should take my shoes off before going Outside
Amsterdam. Because of the cycling infrastructure.
I live in Paris, I have been to London, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Athens and Rome.
My two favourites are Berlin and Rome. Berlin because of the energy and just plain coolness, Rome because where else can you find so much amazing art and architecture within 10 or 20 minutes of each other, walking distance? And the food is amazing, of course.
Second in line are Amsterdam, Athens and London, all of them great, but London I found was really expensive. Athens is a bit behind Rome, but a truly lovely place to explore. Amsterdam is also lovely, accessible and very very beautiful.
Brussels is OK, I guess, but mainly for the people who I thought were very kind. Some places in Brussels are ok, but it’s not as nice as Amsterdam for example.
Next in line for me are Madrid and Lisbon, I love Spain already and I can recommend places like Granada and Sevilla, which are totally amazing.
Probably andorra de la vella. It doesnt feel like a capital(which is a positive for me) and the nature arround there is extremely nice. If its actual capital city like places then I pick copenhagen, stockholm or berlin.