https://travelmagazine.org Travel Magazine en https://travelmagazine.org/antwerp-grote-markt-brabo/ In the middle of Antwerp's main square a bronze hero stands on a pile of rocks and throws a severed hand. Water pours from the wrist. Tourists climb the rocks for photos. That's the Brabo Fountain, and it tells you, in one gesture, the story Antwerp likes to tell about its own name. squares Belgium Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/antwerp-grote-markt-brabo/ https://travelmagazine.org/baku-flame-towers-night/ Baku calls itself the Land of Fire, after the gas seeps that have burned on the Absheron Peninsula since antiquity. In 2012 the city built its own fire on the skyline: three curved glass towers on the hill above the old town, shaped like flames, finished that year and opened in 2013. The tallest stands 182 metres. night architecture Azerbaijan Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/baku-flame-towers-night/ https://travelmagazine.org/bologna-porticoes/ You can cross most of central Bologna in the rain without an umbrella. The city is lined with porticoes, covered arcades along the front of its buildings, about 62 kilometres of them in all. They're so much part of the place that UNESCO listed them as a World Heritage Site in 2021. architecture old towns night Italy Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/bologna-porticoes/ https://travelmagazine.org/bordeaux-miroir-deau/ The Miroir d'Eau is two centimetres of water on a granite slab. That's all it is. And on a still evening at blue hour it turns the Place de la Bourse upside down and puts it at your feet, which is why half of Bordeaux seems to be standing in it barefoot. squares night Bordeaux France Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/bordeaux-miroir-deau/ https://travelmagazine.org/bruges-burg-square/ Most day-trippers to Bruges spend their time in the Markt, the big square under the belfry. The Burg is two minutes away and better. It's smaller, it's older, and it's where Bruges was actually governed for six hundred years. squares overtourism day trips Belgium Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/bruges-burg-square/ https://travelmagazine.org/charles-bridge-prague-best-time/ Everyone walks Charles Bridge. Fewer people look at it. The bridge is far better seen from the river than from on top of it, where you spend most of the crossing dodging selfie sticks, portrait painters and tour groups stopped dead under a statue. bridges viewpoints Prague Czech Republic Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/charles-bridge-prague-best-time/ https://travelmagazine.org/koh-nang-yuan-fees-viewpoint/ Koh Nang Yuan is three small islands joined by sandbars, off the northwest tip of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. From the viewpoint on top you see all three at once, the white sand spits curving between them and water on both sides in two shades of blue. It's one of the most photographed views in Thailand, and it's a short boat ride from where you'll probably be staying. islands beaches Thailand Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/koh-nang-yuan-fees-viewpoint/ https://travelmagazine.org/met-cloisters-new-york/ At the northern tip of Manhattan, in a wooded park above the Hudson, there's a medieval monastery that was never a monastery. The Met Cloisters is the Metropolitan Museum's branch for the art and architecture of medieval Europe, and it's built partly out of the real thing: cloisters, chapels and doorways taken stone by stone from French and Spanish abbeys and set into a new building in the 1930s. museums New York USA Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/met-cloisters-new-york/ https://travelmagazine.org/mont-saint-michel-parking-shuttle-crowds/ Mont-Saint-Michel had about 2.8 million visitors in 2025, and on a summer afternoon it feels like all of them came at once. The abbey on the rock is one of the great sights of Europe. The single narrow street that climbs to it is one of its great bottlenecks. overtourism day trips churches France Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/mont-saint-michel-parking-shuttle-crowds/ https://travelmagazine.org/pastel-de-nata-lisbon/ Lisbon sells custard tarts on every corner, and most of them are fine. A few are extraordinary. The gap between the two is bigger than the price suggests, and you can usually see it through the glass before you order. food and drink Lisbon Portugal Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/pastel-de-nata-lisbon/ https://travelmagazine.org/pena-palace-sintra-tickets/ Pena Palace looks like a child drew it. Yellow towers, red walls, a Moorish gate next to a Manueline window next to a crenellated rampart, all piled on a granite peak above Sintra. It was built in the 19th century as a romantic fantasy for Portugal's royal family, and it still works on everyone who climbs up to it. castles and palaces day trips Lisbon Portugal Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/pena-palace-sintra-tickets/ https://travelmagazine.org/porto-dom-luis-bridge-view/ You can't see Porto properly from Porto. The old town climbs a steep bank above the Douro, and from inside it you get stairways, tiled facades and laundry. To see the whole thing you have to cross the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, climb a little, and turn around. bridges viewpoints Porto Portugal Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/porto-dom-luis-bridge-view/ https://travelmagazine.org/royal-palace-madrid-free-entry/ The Royal Palace of Madrid is the largest royal palace in Western Europe, with 3,418 rooms. The king doesn't live there. He uses it for state ceremonies and banquets, and the rest of the time it's open to anyone with a ticket, or without one if you time it right. castles and palaces Madrid Spain Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/royal-palace-madrid-free-entry/ https://travelmagazine.org/sagrada-familia-tower-of-jesus/ For most of its life the Sagrada Família was the building that would never be finished. In 2026 it got close enough to change the joke. On 20 February a cross was lifted onto the central Tower of Jesus Christ, bringing the basilica to its full height of 172.5 metres and making it the tallest church in the world. churches architecture Barcelona Spain Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/sagrada-familia-tower-of-jesus/ https://travelmagazine.org/salamanca-plaza-mayor-night/ Salamanca is built of a sandstone the locals call piedra de Villamayor, after the quarry village nearby. In daylight it's a warm cream. As the sun goes down it turns gold, and once the floodlights come on in the Plaza Mayor the whole square glows like the inside of a lantern. squares old towns night Spain Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/salamanca-plaza-mayor-night/ https://travelmagazine.org/taormina-infiorata/ Most of Taormina's visitors come for the view: the Greek theatre on the cliff, Etna smoking behind it, the sea far below. Come on the right weekend in early summer and the best thing in town is on the pavement. festivals Sicily Italy Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/taormina-infiorata/ https://travelmagazine.org/venice-in-winter/ Venice in June is a queue with canals. Venice in January is a city. Same bridges, same palazzi, a fraction of the people, and a low winter sun that does things to the water you never see in summer. off season Venice Italy Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/venice-in-winter/ https://travelmagazine.org/vienna-coffee-house-etiquette/ A Viennese coffee house sells coffee the way a library sells chairs. You pay for the drink. What you're really getting is the table, for as long as you want it, with newspapers on wooden holders, a glass of water that keeps getting refilled and a waiter who won't bring the bill until you ask. cafés food and drink Vienna Austria Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/vienna-coffee-house-etiquette/ https://travelmagazine.org/wawel-hill-krakow-tickets/ Wawel Hill is where Poland crowned and buried its kings for centuries, and it still feels like the country's front room. A castle, a cathedral, a courtyard of Renaissance arcades and a cave with a fire-breathing dragon, all on one limestone hill above the Vistula, ten minutes' walk from the Main Square. castles and palaces churches Poland Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/wawel-hill-krakow-tickets/ https://travelmagazine.org/wroclaw-dwarves/ Walk through Wrocław looking at the cathedrals and the gabled houses and you'll miss half the city. The other half is about knee height. Small bronze dwarves sit on doorsteps, climb lamp posts, sleep on benches, push wheelbarrows and hang off railings. Nobody agrees on exactly how many there are now. Estimates run from about 700 to more than 1,000, and new ones keep appearing. street art old towns Poland Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://travelmagazine.org/wroclaw-dwarves/