Looking for something a little different for your next trip? Want to go beyond the usual hotspots? In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Karan Agarwal, director of Cox and Kings, shared a list of places in Europe that deliver a decent dose of culture but also have the requisite food, fun, and photo opportunities. Also read | Europe and its rich cultural heritage: A travel guide for tourists
Some travellers map every step. Others prefer to follow instinct. According to Karan, Europe allows for both. He says, “Its landscapes change as easily as moods: gothic towers in Prague, whitewashed villages in Portugal, the quiet hush of an Icelandic fjord. And no matter who you are or what your pace is, the continent never asks you to change — it simply meets you where you are.”
Here are the cities and experiences to add to your bucket list:
1. If you’re travelling light — on luggage and budget
Karan suggests: “Eastern Europe is quietly spectacular. Cities like Budapest and Prague offer postcard views, deep history, and warm plates of goulash — all without needing to count every euro.”
● Group journeys across Prague, Vienna, and Budapest start around ₹1.25 lakh per person for 7 nights, he says.
2. If your family needs a pause — and a storybook setting
He adds, “Switzerland and Austria are almost too cinematic to be real. Glacier trains, mountaintop castles, chocolate-making workshops — the kind of trip that turns into dinner-table stories for years.”
● Seven-night family journeys start from ₹2.5 lakh per person, designed for multi-generational ease, Karan says.
3. If it’s a love story — new, old, or somewhere in-between
He says, “In Italy, romance isn’t orchestrated. It happens over a glass of wine in a quiet piazza, in the stolen silence between ruins and rooftops, in a place that feels both ancient and entirely your own.”
● Private 6-night escapes through Venice, Florence, and Rome begin at ₹1.8 lakh per person, Karan adds.
4. If you believe indulgence should be effortless
Karan says, “France and Monaco are all about elegant restraint — a river cruise instead of a cab ride, a private art tour that ends with champagne. It’s not about more. It’s about better.”
● Luxury journeys begin at ₹4.5 lakh per person, built around time, taste, and space, he says.
5. If you travel to feel small in the best way
Karan adds, “In Iceland and Norway, the scale of nature rearranges your sense of time. You don’t just visit a glacier — you remember how long it’s been there. You don’t chase the Northern Lights — they reveal themselves, if they want to.”
● Adventures from ₹3 lakh per person, led by local guides and calibrated for curiosity, he says.
6. If you seek rhythm, soul, and something slow-burning
He adds, “Spain and Portugal are not loud. They’re rich. In a quiet fado performance, you feel them in the clink of cutlery during tapas in the gold light that hits a tiled alley just so.”
● 7-night cultural journeys begin at ₹1.7 lakh per person, with local-led experiences stitched in, Karan concludes.
