Indie//Holidays >> destinations

After some years’ work, beautiful Amsterdam has found its old self – quirky, creative and open-minded. Amsterdam’s gorgeous looks have not changed. The time you spend admiring the old merchants’ villas, the Jordaan’s charming streets or the luxurious Vondelpark are as magical now as they have ever been. This city is a delight to visit any time of year, Amsterdam never stops being fun.

The splendid Acropolis, crowned by the symbolic Parthenon temple, rises above Athens, watching the extending modern metropolis transform. This city is today a wealthier, more sophisticated cosmopolitan city, where new restaurants, shops and revamped hotels continue to open. It is the oldest city in Europe, yet in a state of transition.

Barcelona is an energetic city where people work hard and play even harder. A mecca for architecture admires, food lovers and party people, it is a center of joy for all the senses. Here life beats, like a child's heart the night before christmas, through the streets of this compact city. It also seems to be always changing in Barcelona, its skyline constantly altering as neglected neighborhoods come in for their beauty therapy.

With a history that has shaped Europe’s destiny in an unimagined dramatic way- for both good and ill - this city today is an electrifying force in Germany, European and world affairs, wielding great influence in the domains of science, technology, commerce, architecture and the arts. The 'new world order' has a well-tuned, extremely important outpost here.

Today the Danish capital is blossoming more than ever. There is a spring in its step created from a mixture of some daring recent architecture, continued prosperity and a growing confidence in Copenhagen's own charms. Somehow, the world started to realize how great this historic city of canals, cobbled squares and copper spires is before the locals did.

Dublin is not as voluptuous as other European capitals, the architecture is a bit of a jumble and it seems everybody has something to complain about. Locals can be brutally unsentimental about "their" Dublin, but their hate/love relationship is born out of a genuine attachement of a place that radiates personality like no other capital in Europe, where charisma is the most important characteristic.

Edinburgh is one of Europe's most beautiful cities, hidden across a line of rocky hills overlooking the sea. It is a town intimately twined with its landscape, with buildings and monuments rested peaks and overshadowed by cliffs - as Robert L. Stevenson said, 'a dream in masonry and living rock'.

Stretched across steep hillsides that overlook the Tagus River and the Atlantic Sea, this city provides all the delights you would expect of Portugal’s capital, at same time you will only have to deal with half the fuss of other European capitals. Gothic cathedrals, majestic monasteries and quaint museums are all to be found in the colorful cityscape, but the real joys of discovery lie in wandering the lovely narrow backstreets of Lisbon.

Does not matter if your interest is the history, art, fashion, music, food or nightlife that attracts you to London, it is impossible to believe you will go back home unsatisfied. Of course, this city is so big as to be almost overwhelming if it's the first time you travelling to London. The impressive main sights alone can take a week to see, but with distractions in the form of all the extraordinary shopping, pubbing and clubbing to be had, you'll always need more time than you can ever have.

Fenced by a ‘fjord’ and miled of forests, Norway’s capital is a simple city with an eclectic architectural mix of old, new and just plain 1960s that is hard to dislike. Just small enough to make it possible exploring on foot, the city boasts some of the best museums, a lively nightlife and plenty of outdoor activities for the energetic traveller.

This city probably has more world known monuments than any other city. This leads that first-time visitors tend to arrive in Paris with all sorts of expectations: of grand vistas, of intellectuals discussing weighty matters in cafes, of romance along the river Seine, of wild clubbing experiences, of impolite parisans who will only speak French.

Prague has been known for centuries as "Golden Prague" - a glittering jewel of art and architecture huddling at the heart of Europe. Home to emperors and kings, artists and astronomers, this enchanting city has worked its indistinct magic on generations of visitors, and provide inspiration to musicians and writers from Mozart to Dvorak and Kafka to Klima.

No other city in the World comes close Rome. It may not be anymore the capital of the world, but this city is an epic, bubbling-over metropole harbouring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be addicted. This city has a glorious monumentality that it wears without esteem. Its architectural heirlooms are surrounded by cars and Vespas as if they were no more than traffic islands.

Sweden’s capital is one of the most stunning major cities in europe, a apparition of saffron- and terracotta-coloured buildings glowing between blue water and bluer skies all summer, or covered with snow and dotted with lights in winter. It's also an exciting, modern city, famous for producing elegant designs, edgy fashion and amazing nightclubs.

This city is one of Europe’s most dynamic places. The Museums Quartier accommodates some of the world’s most provocative contemporary art behind an unmistakeable basalt façade. Nearby, restaurants full with imbibers enjoying the pleasures of wine and food, while across the yard a café pulsates with beats. It is a reminder that, Vienna, the city of Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler and Schönberg is also the city of Falco, who immortalised its urban textures in songs.

Today's Zurich might still be home to the world's biggest stock exchange and remain Switzerland's financial engine, but it is also surprisingly dynamic and in vogue. Situated on a picturesque river and lake whose water you can drink, easy to get around and a stranger to the troubled lifestyle that determines bigger cities, this prosperous, fashion-conscious place, Zurich, enjoys the finest things in life.