The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
10 great European cities that work their magic in winter
From Seville to Helsinki, these cultural hotspots shine brightest in the colder months, says Chris Leadbeater
Perhaps it is the pleasing sensation of sunlight on bare skin, but we are effectively programmed to think of summer as the best time for travel. It is not just that the hottest months coincide with the crucial window of the main school holidays, so that we learn the habit from a young age, but also the fact that bright evenings are hard-wired into our psyche. There is a reason why so many hit songs over the years – Summer Nights, Summer Of 69, Boys Of Summer – have the S-word in their titles.
And yet. And yet… there is a school of thought which says that the much-loved period between June and September is not automatically the ideal moment for a break. Some destinations simply look and feel more glorious, not in the dazzle of August, but when the mercury slips downwards.
Cities especially. A busy metropolis can be hell in July; train carriages turned to sweat-boxes, tarmac sticky under foot. Yet winter can make some of our key capitals much more intriguing, beckoning iVenice without the queues: in December, visitor numbers more than halve compared to the August peak visitors into museums, galleries and churches.
Nor do they need to rely on Christmas and its build-up to provide a merry glow. Simply, the ambience of a winter city-break can be so much more seductive, via the adage that, if the weather outside is frightful, you are perfectly entitled to spend the afternoon cosied up in an inviting bar.
Moreover, some cities, quite specifically, defy all standard holidaymaking logic and work better once winter has stomped into the house.
Such as the selection here. These 10 dots on the European map have plenty to offer in August. But thanks to spectacular festivals and the absence of crowds, each of them may well be a superior proposition for travel between January and March…
SEVILLE When to go December-March
So warm is the weather in the Andalusian capital that winter only really passes through as a token gesture. You can expect temperatures of about 20C in March, and nothing substantially colder over the festive period. Indeed, there is an argument that Seville feels far more pleasant at the start of the year, having extricated itself from the mid-30s heatwave that holds it in its grip from June to September. Go in February instead, and the spectacular Setas de Sevilla – the latticework of giant wooden “mushrooms” that towers over Plaza de la Encarnación (setasdesevilla.com) – becomes an art installation from which you can appreciate the cityscape, rather than a big parasol beneath which to shelter.
Must-see
The Alcazar (alcazarsevilla.org), the royal palace which remains the city’s most stylish reminder of Moorish rule. That the cooling effects of its marble walls and tinkling fountains are much less important in “the winter” does not lessen their elegance.
How to do it
Kirker Holidays (020 7593 2288; kirkerholidays.com) offers three-night stays at the four-star Casa 1800 hotel, from £738pp including flights and transfers.
BERLIN When to go December-February
If you are old enough to remember the Wall through the heart of it, Berlin always feels like a winter city – the divided epicentre of the Cold War whose weather fell into step with its geopolitical situation. Logic dictates that the German capital does indeed have a summer, when the Tiergarten is abloom opposite the Reichstag – but somehow, Berlin calls out more persuasively in those months when you need to pull your coat tight around you, trudging through streets where barbed wire once ran; where Bowie drew inspiration.
Of course, a long weekend in the city doesn’t have to be an exercise in retro-gloom. The Hamburger Bahnhof museum (smb.museum) makes excellent use of Berlin’s oldest surviving rail terminus (a neo-classical relic of 1847) to show bright slabs of modern art.
Must-see
Tempelhof (thf-berlin.de), the former Berlin airport which is celebrating its centenary in 2023, 15 years after its final flight took off. It is now largely an urban park.
How to do it
A three-night stay at the four-star Crowne Plaza Berlin on Potsdamer Platz, including flights from Luton on January 19, costs from £298pp via Tui (020 34512688; tui.co.uk).
THESSALONIKI When to go January-March
The wildfires and fortysomething temperatures of last July may already have made you reconsider whether the Greek summer is now a suitable window for a holiday. If so, the country’s second city could grab your attention. Whereas Athens looks its best in warm weather, the Parthenon shimmering in the heat haze on its Acropolis rock, Thessaloniki is a more complex character. Its major landmarks – the sturdy slab of Ottoman masonry that is the White Tower; the Roman Forum snoozing on Filippou Street – are little jewels for travellers intent on exploring rather than obvious baubles for Instagram ubiquity; the bars of its trendy warehouse district Ladadika make for evenings indoors, as much as outside.
In other words, Thessaloniki is an ideal candidate for an off-season break. Even in winter, you will find people promenading through Aristotelous Square, and along the waterfront.
Must-see
Kapani Market (kapani.gr), the food hub where, amid hanging meats and vats of olives, you realise that you are in the real Greece, rather than one of its holiday resorts.
How to do it
A three-night stay at the four-star Imperial Palace, including flights from Gatwick on January 18, costs from £299pp, with Last Minute (020 3386 8411; lastminute.com).
HELSINKI When to go January-March
The Finnish capital is a place of seasonal extremes. Not of heat, but of light. In June and July – when, on each side of the solstice, the sun is high in the Northern Hemisphere sky – the day barely bothers to end. During December and January, it practically never starts.
And yet Helsinki summons all its powers of seduction to be at its most appealing amid the six or so hours of “sunshine” on offer in the depths of winter. If snow has fallen, the streets take on a reflective quality that somehow amplifies the meagre amount of natural light; the process boosted by the twinkle of man-made illumination. The effect is particularly striking on the main harbour, which has had something of a makeover in the last decade. Those who feel brave can absorb the whole scene from the hot saunas and cold shocks of the Allas Sea Pool complex (allasseapool.fi); those who think that sounds like utter madness can take in the same view from the adjacent Sky Wheel (skywheel.fi).
Must-see
Helsinki’s glorious Lutheran cathedral, the Tuomiokirkko (helsingintuomiokirkko.fi), which gleams mightily above the main Senaatintori square.
How to do it
Regent Holidays (0117 453 7223; regent-holidays.co.uk) offers a four-day Helsinki Winter City Break from £695pp including flights and transfers.
OSLO When to go January-March
Norway’s gorgeous capital, pinned to the northern end of the Oslofjord, has something that truly sets it apart as a winter city – a ski resort so close to the centre that you can reach it via the tube network. Oslo Winter Park (oslo.skimore.no) perches towards the top of both the Tryvannshoyden mountain and Metro Line 1, a 35-minute ride up to the penultimate stop, Voksenkollen. While the ski area is not enormous (some 21 pistes and eight lifts), such easy accessibility means that you can spend a morning or afternoon on the slopes (lift passes are £36 per day), and be back in town in time for dinner in one of the restaurants in cool Grunerlokka (such as the fine Asian cuisine of Sudost; sudost.no).
Must-see
Make time for the city as well as the snow. Oslo revels in world-class art – not least at the Munch Museum (munchmuseet.no), dedicated to the titular Edvard, and his masterpiece The Scream (among other works). The Ekebergpark (ekebergparken.com) is another joy, with a raft of sculptures celebrating the female form (by the likes of Dali, Rodin and Sarah Lucas) on a hill above the fjords.
How to do it
A three-night stay at accommodation landmark the five-star Grand Hotel, flying from Heathrow on February 1, costs from £425 per person, booked through Love Holidays (01234 230 440; loveholidays.com). i Clock this: if snow has fallen, the streets of Helsinki ‘take on a reflective quality that amplifies the light’
g Seville society: even in winter, the weather is mild enough for a ride on a horse-drawn carriage
VENICE When to go January-March
No-one would suggest that Italy’s formidable lady of the lagoon does not look beautiful in the summer – the sun dancing on the inlaid gold on the facade of St Mark’s Basilica; that wider Adriatic setting a deep and convincing blue. But my, La Serenissima is busy during that period. Five million tourists pay a visit each year, the majority in high season.
Visitors spend a total 1.3million nights in the city every month between June and October. Make your pilgrimage later, though, and the picture alters – the 1.4m overnight stays of August more than halving to the 610,000 of December. True, Venice is colder, but you won’t need to queue to enter its foremost church. And in the shadows in its passageways, it resembles what it always was: less a Renaissance theme park, more a medieval miracle.
Must-see
La Fenice, Venice’s noble opera house, which kicked off its 2023-2024 season last weekend. A fortnight of performances of Rossini blockbuster The Barber of Seville starts on the evening of January 26. Tickets are still available from £85 (teatrolafenice.it).
How to do it
A four-night dash to the five-star Ca’ Sagredo hotel, including flights from Gatwick on January 26, costs from £834pp through Citalia (01293 765 055; citalia.com).
VIENNA When to go January-March
The Austrian capital has long taken the admirable stance that the rituals of Christmas do not have to be restricted to the solitary month of December. However, unlike the average British supermarket, it does not extend the season by draping itself in tinsel the moment October ticks around on the calendar. Instead, it injects a welcome blast of festive sparkle into the time when it is needed the most – the first three gloomy chapters of the new year.
Of course, Vienna looks like a fairytale – Cinderella, probably – even in summer, such is its melodic chorus line of former royal palaces (the enormous dome-topped Hofburg complex being the best example; sisimuseum-hofburg. at) and gilded coffee salons (try the venerated Cafe Schwarzenberg which dates to 1861; cafe-schwarzenberg.at). But the glass-slippers effect is most discernible on long winter evenings, in the ice rinks that proliferate around the centre.
Must-see
Vienna Ice World (wienereistraum. com), the enormous rink which appears on Rathausplatz – in front of the neoGothic whimsy of Vienna’s City Hall – once Santa has ho-ho-hoed back to the North Pole. In 2024, it will be in situ from January 19 to March 3.
How to do it
Abercrombie & Kent offers a four-night break to Vienna from £2,075pp including flights and transfers (0333 060 2871; abercrombiekent.co.uk).
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE When to go February
You do not have to go as far as Rio de Janeiro or New Orleans to find a winter party in the pre-Lenten tradition. You can also find one on a volcanic rock in the eastern Atlantic.
Rather a big one too. So significant is the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife that the city is twinned with Rio. It borrows plenty from Brazil – sequins, feathers, parades, a lot of dancing – over the course of a week, and is the main reason to swap the resorts in the southwest of the largest Canary Island for its capital in the north-east. The crux of the 2024 fiesta will take place between February 7 and 14 (visittenerife.es) – concluding on Ash Wednesday with a spectacle not usually seen on the Copacabana. The Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) is a Spanish idiosyncrasy that involves the destruction of a fish sculpture – it is normally burned – to announce the formal end of the festivities (although the party restarts at the weekend. There will be further fun on February 17-18).
Must-see
You can’t go to Tenerife and not hit the beach. Playa de las Teresitas, a short hop north of Santa Cruz, is the island’s finest (with the help of a Saharan sand transplant).
How to do it
While hotels can sell out during the carnival, rooms are still available. A fivenight stay at the five-star Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey, including flights from Manchester on February 10, costs from £1,074pp via Expedia (020 3024 8211; expedia.co.uk).
NICE When to go February-March
If it is a minor surprise to hear of Mardi Gras mayhem in the Canary Islands, it may be a greater shock to learn that the ticker-tape also swirls on the Côte D’Azur – where the origins of Carnaval de Nice have been a source of Shrove Tuesday merriment since the year 1294 (though its official form dates from 1872, when it was intended to provide entertainment for the bourgeoisie who were wintering on the Riviera). This twoweek extravaganza also has plenty in common with Ipanema and Louisiana – although, rather unconventionally, the 2024 event is planning to slip on its dancing shoes three days after Ash Wednesday (February 17-March 3; full details at nicecarnaval.com).
Whether it makes Nice a more attractive city in winter probably depends on how much you enjoy a summer-evening stroll along the Promenade des Anglais, but the carnival is proof that there is more to this French hotspot than pricey cocktails and tiny beachwear.
Must-see
The Colline du Chateau. That Nice’s dominant hill no longer has the castle it promises (Louis XIV had it destroyed in 1706) does not diminish the majesty of the view.
How to do it
A four-night stay at the Splendid Hotel and Spa, including flights from Gatwick on February 29, costs from £358 per person with British Airways (0344 4930787; ba.com/holidays).
VALENCIA When to go March
Spain’s third biggest city is hardly an ugly duckling in summer. A calmer, quieter Barcelona, it stands as the focal point of one of the country’s loveliest stretches of shoreline, the Costa del
Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast). Pay it a visit in the hot months, and the sumptuous sand of Playa de la Malvarrosa – which lines the city’s coastal eastern edge – guarantees to meet all your beach requirements.
And yet, the highlight of the Valencian calendar is not some July happy hour, but a wild near-three weeks at the end of winter. A different beast to Mardi Gras, Las Fallas is both a celebration of the coming spring and a farewell to its seasonal predecessor, its roots buried in the medieval habit of carpenters clearing out their workshops as the cold and dark began to dissipate. Yet, where once it was scraps of wood being set alight, the modern logs on the fire are the many elaborate papier-maché sculptures – sometimes of unpopular politicians and overbearing celebrities, but often simply works of art – that decorate the heart of the city for the duration of the festival (March 1-19). These are put to the torch on the chaotic final night; a pyromaniac’s dream where the sky glows orange.
Must-see
The main square, Plaza del Ayuntiamiento, and its mascletà – a daily (2pm, on all 20 days of the festival) barrage of firecrackers and explosives that makes the ears ring.
How to do it
A four-night stay at the morder boutique Petit Palace Plaza de la Reina, including flights from Gatwick on March 16, costs from £929 per person with EasyJet (0330 551 5165; easyjet. com/holidays).