7 EU spots make it on TIME’s greatest places list

Far-flung or familiar, the prestigious publication has offered inspiration for new trips this summer

In honour of a rejuvenated summer, the prestigious TIME magazine has consulted contributors and reported from all around the world to compile a list of the World’s 50 Greatest Places. It’s a good way to help avid travellers get acquainted (or reacquainted) with some of the gems this planet offers.

Seven of them are located on the territory of the European Union, so we thought it is quite well-timed to present them now. After all, with ever-surging prices and energy shortages, most people might be apprehensive to venture far. Luckily, there are great places close to home, too.

Seven TIME wonders in Europe

Valencia is the World Design Capital 2022 and it’s easy to see how the city has earned that title with its new showcase, lighter-than-air pavilion, the Agora València in Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and the new addition to the famous City of Arts and Sciences complex – Caixa Forum. The latter now shows ancient Egyptian artefacts on loan from the British Museum.

Valencia is already imagining the future. Source: Visit Valencia

The Spanish city is a Mediterranean place that has set its sights on innovation and the future and doesn’t rely only on the easy seductive powers of sun, sea and sand to draw in visitors.

Speaking of thematic capital, we can’t overlook Kaunas, in Lithuania. That city is busy being the European Capital of Culture and enjoying it, even if the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not too far away, has dimmed the mood a bit.

Crisis is also an opportunity, though, and the organizers were quick to add spotlights that comment on current events. Such is the CulturEUkraine initiative, which provides space, in the ex-Post Office, for Ukrainian artists and entrepreneurs to do their best and create – be it works of art or just places that work.

The Old town in Kaunas

Going back South – have you ever heard of Calabria? Yes, Italy is big enough to have off-the-beaten spots. In fact, Calabria is a whole region in il Mezzogiorno (‘midday’), as Southern Italy is known. You might know it as the toe of the Italian boot.

Forming a peninsula, the sea is never too far away there, and neither are the mountains. In fact, where one ends often is where the other begins. The publishers advise taking it all in by doing the Kalabria Coast-to-Coast trail hike. Apart from offering mind-boggling sceneries, it gives you the chance to sample the local, and surprisingly spicy, cuisine.

In Calabria, the mountain dips its toes in the sea

If that’s too hot for you, why not head close to the Arctic Circle. Or at least close to it by visiting Skellefteå. There you can marvel at the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper. However, the entire town is excited about the eco-transition and nowhere else is it as evident as there, where organic materials rule. Also, it boasts heated sidewalks in winter. But to experience that, you might have to wait a few months.

 In Skellefteå wood is the past and the future. Source: Sara Kulturhus Facebook

We’ll keep on zig-zagging, so back to the beautiful South and the region of Alentejo. Locals know it as the breadbasket of Portugal. You probably don’t know it all – but you should. Yes, there are no beaches around but there is plenty of good food, charming locals, and that iconic landscape – cork oak forests. Plus, there are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the towns of Elvas and Evora. There’s also bullfighting there – and the good news is, unlike the other side of the border, the animals here get to live.

Old World charm awaits in Alentejo

For our next destination, we stay in Portugal, but we leave the continent. How is that possible? Easy. By taking a place to the island of Madeira lying in the Atlantic Ocean, due west of the African coast. Here, too, mountains and ocean meet in this autonomous region. The weather is almost always balmy and you can visit the protected laurisilva forests, a pretty unique biosystem in this corner of the world. And don’t forget to see what the sunrise looks like from the island’s highest point – Pico Ruivo.

Fairytale houses in the forests of Madeira

The list did not forget the heart of Europe, either. That’s where the Dolni Morava mountain resort on the Czech-Polish border comes to dazzle. It really is a place for adrenaline seekers. What with Europe’s second-longest roller coaster, or the Sky Walk, a curved wooden walkway and a 100-m-long slide that descends as a spiral.

The Sky Walk in Dolni Morava

The cherry on the cake must be Sky Bridge 721, however. It’s the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge, and the number refers to its length in metres. Probably not for the faint-hearted!