There are places where a car is dead weight — the city moves on foot, the tram drops you right at the attractions, and the only problem is choosing which café on the next lane to sit at. I've gathered ten such destinations, reachable without transfers across half the world and without paying a fortune for car hire.
Why a car-free holiday isn't a compromise
Car hire in Europe has stopped being cheap. In the summer season — exactly when most people travel — a week's rental of a compact car in popular destinations costs from €180 to as much as €400 once you add the obligatory insurance, often forced on you by the rental desk when you pick up the vehicle. On top of that comes fuel: at an average consumption of 7 litres per 100 km and a Western European petrol price of €1.60–1.90 a litre, a week of active driving is another €67–110. In some cities — Rome, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik — there are also limited-traffic zones, paid parking at €7–11 an hour and fines that can wreck a holiday budget more effectively than an unplanned dinner in a tourist restaurant.
Meanwhile, in cities built with people in mind rather than cars, public transport runs more smoothly than most drivers would care to admit. The Madrid metro comes every two minutes at peak. Lisbon's trams reach places a taxi would get stuck in traffic trying to find. Venice's water buses run around the clock. This is not a downgrade — it is simply a different way of getting around, which in many cases is faster, cheaper and far less stressful than hunting for a parking space on the narrow lanes of an old town.
There's one more argument that is rarely stated outright: a car isolates you. When you drive from point A to point B, you skip everything in between. Exploring on foot forces serendipity — you turn down a side lane because something caught your eye, you sit in a café because your legs gave out, you talk to locals because you're asking for directions. It is exactly these unplanned moments that make up the memories people recall for years.
This kind of trip works best for couples after a city atmosphere, for solo travellers who value flexibility without commitments, and for groups of friends set on intensive sightseeing. Families with small children and a lot of luggage have different needs — but I'll write about that honestly at the end. For now I'm focusing on those for whom going car-free is a conscious choice, not a constraint.
An extra side effect: without a car you naturally pick accommodation closer to the centre, which in turn shortens the journey to the attractions, removes the need to plan returns before the car park closes, and lets you go out for dinner in the evening without calculating whether you can walk back. This isn't a travel style for everyone — but for the right person in the right place it works better than anything else.
Lisbon
How to get around Lisbon
Lisbon is one of the few European cities where public transport has its own character — literally. The number 28 tram is not just a means of transport but an attraction in its own right: an old yellow carriage climbs through Alfama, passing churches, viewpoints and laundry strung between tenements. Tourists take photos with the tram instead of riding it — which is their loss, because the ride costs €3 and replaces an hour of walking uphill.
Lisbon's public transport system is run by Carris — trams, buses and the municipal lifts (yes, the lifts are part of public transport) — plus the metro, which covers most of the touristically important points. The most convenient solution for visitors is the Viva Viagem card, which you can top up as a 24-hour ticket for €6.50 or load with a bundle of rides. The card costs €0.50 to buy and works on all means of transport, including the suburban trains to Sintra and Cascais.
Part of the city you explore on foot alone — not because it's the done thing, but because there's no other way. Alfama, Lisbon's oldest district, is a maze of narrow lanes on a steep hill where a bus physically can't go. The same goes for Mouraria and the upper parts of Chiado. Lisbon is a city of seven hills and each one rewards you with a view from a miradouro — a viewpoint where locals sit with a beer and tourists with a camera. The best known are Miradouro da Graça and Miradouro de Santa Catarina, but every hill has its own spot.
The Belém district, home to the Belém Tower and the Jerónimos Monastery, lies a few kilometres from the centre. Tram 15E takes you there directly from Praça do Comércio in about 25 minutes. Along the way it passes the Tagus waterfront — you can get off earlier and walk part of the route along the river. Baixa, the city's commercial centre, is flat and ideal for strolling: wide streets, shops, cafés and mosaico português underfoot.
If you want to head out of town, suburban trains from Cais do Sodré station run to Cascais every 20 minutes, the ride takes 40 minutes and costs €2.25. Sintra is reachable from Rossio station — 40 minutes, €2.25. Both directions are covered by the Viva Viagem card, so you don't need to buy separate tickets.
When to go and what it costs
Lisbon works all year round, but the optimal window is May, June and September. In July and August temperatures regularly top 35°C, the city bursts at the seams with tourists, and accommodation prices rise by 40–60% compared with spring. September brings relief: the crowds shrink, temperatures are pleasant (25–28°C), and prices begin to fall.
Flights to Lisbon are run mainly by Ryanair from many European cities and by TAP Air Portugal from major hubs. In a promotion you can catch a return ticket for €67–110; at peak season prices can jump to €180–267. The flight time from central Europe is around 3 hours 15 minutes.
| Category | Cost (approximate) |
|---|---|
| Flight (return) | €67–267 |
| Accommodation (per person, night) | €33–78 (3★ hotel) |
| Food per day (per person) | €18–33 |
| Public transport ticket (24h) | approx. €6.50 |
| Entry to the Jerónimos Monastery | approx. €12 |
Food in Lisbon is surprisingly affordable for a Western European capital. Lunch in a local tasquinha — a small eatery with no English menu — costs €10–14 with wine. The prato do dia, the dish of the day, often comes in under €10 and usually includes soup, a main course and dessert. The most expensive are the restaurants by Praça do Comércio and around Bairro Alto — there you'll pay twice as much for a similar meal. A pastel de nata at the famous Pastéis de Belém costs €1.50 a piece and tastes better than any pastry you've tried elsewhere under that name.
Carry-on only: pack light for a walkable city
Venice
Venice is the only city on this list that needs no explanation for why it works without a car. Cars simply don't exist here — the last mainland car park ends at Piazzale Roma, and from that point on you move only on foot or by water. This isn't a choice of travel style, it is the architecture of reality. A city spread across 118 islands linked by 400 bridges has run on its own rules for over a thousand years and has no intention of changing them.
The basic means of public transport is the vaporetto — a water bus run by ACTV. Line 1 runs the length of the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to the Lido, stopping at every stop — it is the most beautiful public-transport route in Europe and costs the same as the rest: €9.50 for a single ride. Yes, that's a lot. So if you plan to use the vaporetto more than twice a day, time-based tickets are far more economical: 24 hours is €25, 48 hours €35, 72 hours €45. For a week-long stay it's worth doing the maths, because water-transport costs can surprise you.
Most sightseeing, however, happens on foot alone. St Mark's Square, Rialto, the Arsenal, Campo Santa Margherita — you walk between these points because it's simply faster than waiting for a vaporetto. Venice is surprisingly small: from Piazzale Roma to St Mark's Square it's about 25–30 minutes on foot via the Scalzi and Rialto bridges. The problem is that there is so much to see along the way that the walk rarely takes less than two hours.
Pitfalls to watch out for
Venice has been grappling with overtourism for years and has started to regulate it financially. Since 2024 the city has introduced an access fee for day visitors to the historic centre, applied on selected days during the season; it runs at around €5, rising to roughly €10 for last-minute visitors who don't register in advance. The fee doesn't apply to those staying overnight in the city — they pay anyway, because the tourist tax is already included in the hotel bill. Before your trip it's worth checking the current rules on the city's website, because the system has been modified several times and the days and amounts change each year.
Food on St Mark's Square is a separate financial category. A coffee at an outdoor table at Caffè Florian or Quadri costs €8–12 — and a charge for the live music is added even if you didn't ask for it. This isn't a billing error, it's deliberate policy. Two lanes away an espresso costs €1.20–1.50 at the bar, which is the standard Italian price. The rule is simple: the closer to St Mark's Square and the Grand Canal, the more expensive — and that relationship holds very consistently.
The crowds in July and August reach a level hard to describe without resorting to words not catalogued in any travel dictionary. Through the narrow calli by Rialto you walk shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of people, and entering St Mark's Basilica requires advance booking or hours of queuing. September and October are far better — the city catches its breath, accommodation prices fall, and the light at that time of year is such that you understand why Venice drew painters for centuries. November brings the risk of acqua alta — the flooding that submerges the lower-lying parts of the city, including the area around St Mark's Square. It doesn't necessarily disqualify a trip, because the sight of the flooded square has its own surreal beauty, but you have to pack wellington boots.
Your daily budget in Venice depends mainly on where you sleep. Accommodation in the historic centre is among the most expensive in Italy — a three-star hotel is €89–155 a night in season. A cheaper alternative is staying in Mestre on the mainland, from where the train or bus reaches Venice in 10–15 minutes for a few euros. Many travellers choose this option deliberately and don't regard it as a compromise — in Mestre prices are two to three times lower, and it's closer to the centre than many a Venetian hotel on the edge of the islands.
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a city that looks best from a distance — literally. The view of the Old Town ringed by medieval walls, lapped by an Adriatic in a colour that paint manufacturers have been trying in vain to reproduce for years, is one of those images that stay in the memory for a long time. Up close Dubrovnik makes an impression too, though of a different kind — in July and August the crowds on the Stradun, the Old Town's main promenade, reach a density comparable to a metro corridor at rush hour.
The Old Town is a pedestrian-only zone — driving in is physically impossible, because the narrow city gates won't let anything bigger than a pram through. This isn't a top-down decision by the city authorities to ban traffic, it's simply a matter of geometry: the lanes are a metre and a half wide, and stone steps every few dozen metres rule out any vehicle. Everything you want to see — the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Rector's Palace, the Minčeta Tower and of course the city walls — is within a short walk.
Beyond the Old Town, getting around without a car takes a little planning, but the network of local buses run by Libertas is surprisingly efficient. Line 6 links the centre with the airport — the ride takes about 30 minutes and costs around €4, which, against airport taxi prices of €56–78, makes a real difference. (Croatia has used the euro since 2023, so the old kuna fares you may see online are out of date.) The buses run regularly and reach most of the beaches around the city, including the popular Banje Beach right by the Old Town.
To the islands of the Croatian Adriatic — Lokrum, the Elaphiti Islands — ferries and water taxis run from the jetty by the Old Port. Lokrum is a 15-minute crossing and total calm relative to the city bustle: the island is a nature reserve with no cars, no hotels, nothing beyond forest, peacocks and the ruins of a monastery. The Elaphiti Islands — Koločep, Lopud, Šipan — are larger and have their own villages, where life runs at a pace utterly out of step with the 21st century. On Lopud there are no cars at all.
What's worth seeing around Dubrovnik without hiring a car:
- Dubrovnik city walls — a full circuit takes around 2 hours, tickets cost about €35, the views of the city and sea are unbeatable in the morning or evening
- Lokrum island — the ferry runs every 30 minutes from the Old Port, a return ticket is about €15, you can spend half a day on the island
- Srđ hill — a cable car for about €25 return or an hour's walk on foot; the view of the Old Town from above is worth the effort
- Elaphiti Islands — ferry from Dubrovnik, tickets about €11–18 depending on the island, perfect for a full-day trip
- Banje Beach — 10 minutes on foot from the Ploče Gate, the closest beach to the Old Town
Seasonality matters more in Dubrovnik than in most European cities. July and August are the peak of the crowds — the city takes in over ten thousand tourists a day, a large share of them disembarking from cruise ships moored in the port. The Stradun at midday then looks like the checkout queue in a hypermarket on Christmas Eve. September is better in every respect: the sea is still warm (24–25°C), the crowds are clearly smaller, accommodation prices lower by 20–30%. October brings the risk of rain, but the city at that time has a completely different character — quieter and more authentic.
Dubrovnik is an expensive destination by Croatian standards — that has to be said plainly. A three-star hotel near the Old Town in August is €133–200 a night. Cheaper options can be found in the Lapad district, from where it's a 15–20 minute bus ride to the centre. Eating in restaurants on the Stradun is expensive — dinner for two easily comes to €67–89. A few streets away, in eateries without a view of the walls, you'll pay half.
Roll, don't drag: wheeled bags for trams and cobbles
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is a city built around canals, not roads — and it shows in every aspect of how it works. The centre is compact, most attractions lie within 3–4 km of the central station, and the public transport network runs so smoothly that a car here would be not so much redundant as actively in the way. The city has for years consistently restricted car traffic in the centre, narrowing roadways and widening cycle paths — the upshot is that you drive more slowly through Amsterdam than you cycle, and parking in the centre costs €7.50–9 an hour.
The bicycle in Amsterdam is more than a means of transport — it is part of the culture and at the same time the most practical way of getting around the city. An estimated 900,000 bicycles ride the streets of Amsterdam, more than the number of residents. The cycling infrastructure is developed to the limit: dedicated lanes, their own traffic lights, multi-storey bike parks by the station. Hiring a bike costs from €10–15 a day and is for most tourists the most convenient way to explore the city. The only thing you have to learn — and fast — is that pedestrians don't have priority on cycle paths, which Dutch cyclists enforce in all seriousness.
Public transport runs in parallel and includes trams, the metro, buses and ferries across the IJ — the river separating the centre from the Noord district. The ferries are free and run around the clock, which makes Noord one of the more interesting accommodation options: quieter, cheaper, and a 5-minute ride to the centre. A public-transport ticket can be bought as an OV-chipkaart or used as single tickets — a 24-hour pass costs €9, a 72-hour one €21. Trams on lines 2, 11 and 12 cover most of the touristically important points in the centre.
Districts worth exploring on foot are above all the Jordaan — a former working-class neighbourhood, today full of independent galleries, small cafés and some of the prettiest tenements in the city. De Pijp with the Albert Cuyp market is in turn the most multicultural slice of Amsterdam, where you can eat Surinamese roti, Moroccan pastilla and Dutch stroopwafel within a hundred metres. The centre with the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House is fully walkable — it's at most a 20–25 minute walk between these points.
Amsterdam is more expensive than Lisbon — and noticeably so. The difference is visible above all in accommodation and food, though public transport costs about the same in both cities.
| Category | Amsterdam | Lisbon |
|---|---|---|
| 3★ hotel (night, 1 person) | €78–133 | €33–78 |
| Restaurant lunch (1 person) | €18–31 | €9–16 |
| Coffee in a café | €3–5 | €2–3 |
| Transport ticket 24h | approx. €9 | approx. €6.50 |
| Bike hire (day) | €10–14 | n/a |
Flights to Amsterdam are among the best-connected directions in Europe. KLM and LOT Polish Airlines run connections from central Europe, and Ryanair flies from numerous regional cities. The flight time is under 2 hours, and tickets in a promotion can be caught for €56–100 return. From Schiphol airport you reach the centre by train in 17 minutes for €5.40 — one of the most efficient airport transfers in Europe.
It's also worth knowing that Amsterdam at peak season — June, July, August — is crowded to the limit, especially around the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank House. For the latter, booking online in advance is practically obligatory — without it you'll queue for hours or not get in at all. April and May are far better in this respect, and if you happen to hit tulip season and a visit to Keukenhof — the flower park accessible by bus from central Amsterdam — the trip takes on an extra dimension.
Madrid
The metro and suburban rail
The Madrid metro is one of the largest and most efficient metro systems in Europe — 13 lines, over 300 stations and trains running every 2–4 minutes at peak hours. For a tourist that means one thing: practically every point worth visiting in the city lies within a short walk of a metro station. A single ticket in Zone A, which covers the whole centre and most attractions, costs €1.50–2 depending on the number of zones. The most convenient option for visitors is the Tarjeta de 10 viajes — a 10-ride ticket for €12.20, which can be shared among several people. A 3-day tourist card costs €18.40 and includes unlimited rides on the metro, bus and suburban rail in Zone A.
The Cercanías suburban railway opens Madrid up to day trips that in many cities would require a car. Toledo is reachable by AVE train in just 33 minutes for €13–16 one way — one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and worthy of an article of its own. Segovia, with its 1st-century aqueduct and the Alcázar castle, lies 30 minutes from Madrid by high-speed rail, the ticket costing €10–14. El Escorial and Aranjuez are reachable by Cercanías trains for a few euros. All of this without a car, without a GPS, without the stress of parking in the narrow lanes of historic centres. If this is your first independent trip abroad, our take on choosing between Italy or Spain for a first trip abroad is a useful companion read.
From Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport you reach the centre on metro line 8 in about 25 minutes for €5 — there's a supplement on top of the standard ticket price for the airport journey, but it's still many times cheaper than a taxi (€30–35 fixed tariff). Flights are run by Ryanair, Wizz Air, Iberia and LOT from various European hubs. The flight time from central Europe is around 3 hours, and tickets in a promotion start from €56–89 return.
What to see without leaving the centre
Madrid has one quality appreciated only by those who have spent more than a weekend here: it is a city for walking. Not in the touristic sense — it's not that the attractions lie close together, though that's true. It's that walking around Madrid is itself a pleasure. Wide boulevards, the shade of trees on the Paseo del Prado, informal bars with terraces open from morning — the city encourages you to slow down in a way that's hard to explain and easy to feel.
The Prado Museum is one of the three most important art museums in the world and lies in the heart of the city, on the aforementioned Paseo del Prado. Entry costs €15, but every Monday to Friday from 18:00 to 20:00 and on Saturdays and Sundays from 17:00 to 19:00 admission is free — the queues are long then, but it's worth coming early and taking your place. Within a few hundred metres of the Prado stand the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofía Art Centre with Picasso's Guernica. Three world-class museums within a half-hour walk — an argument that on its own is enough to justify the trip.
Parque del Retiro is over 120 hectares of greenery in the very centre of the city, with a lake where you can hire a rowing boat, palm houses, rose gardens and dozens of sculptures. At the weekend half of Madrid is here — families, runners, street musicians, groups of friends with blankets spread on the grass. It is one of those places that show a city can be public space in the fullest sense of the word. Entry is free.
The area around Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol is the tourist centre of Madrid, but just a few blocks away begins La Latina — one of the oldest districts in the city, where the famous El Rastro market is held on Sundays. Hundreds of stalls with second-hand clothes, antiques, books and assorted objects whose purpose can't always be determined — the market spreads across several streets and draws tourists and locals hunting for bargains alike. After the market the surrounding bars fill with people ordering vermut and tapas — this rhythm of a Sunday morning in La Latina is the quintessence of the Madrid way of life.
Gran Vía, the main shopping artery, makes the biggest impression after dark, when neon and the illuminations of early-20th-century tenements create a backdrop straight out of another era. The Malasaña district north of Gran Vía is in turn the kingdom of independent cafés, vintage shops and bars where Madrileños of every age sit late into the night. You walk between these points effortlessly — Madrid is flat in the centre to a degree that, after Lisbon's hills, can be a surprise.
Prague
Prague is a city that catches travellers by surprise — even those who have been here several times come back feeling they didn't manage to see everything. The centre is exceptionally compact: between Prague Castle on Hradčany and the Old Town on the other side of the Vltava it's under 2 km, and between the main tourist points you walk in a quarter of an hour. This is a city made for exploring on foot — cobbled lanes, hidden courtyards, Habsburg-era shopping passages you can explore for hours without feeling you're missing anything.
Public transport in Prague is run by DPP and includes the metro (3 lines: A, B, C), trams and buses. The tram network is exceptionally dense and covers districts the metro doesn't reach — including Vinohrady, Žižkov and the Vltava embankment. Night trams run around the clock, which removes the problem of getting home late at night in a city famous for its nightlife. A 24-hour ticket costs 120 CZK, about €5 — one of the cheapest day passes among European capitals. A 3-day ticket is 330 CZK (about €13). Tickets can be bought from machines at metro stations, at kiosks or via the PID Lítačka app.
Prague's centre is so compact that in practice most tourists spend whole days walking only, using transport just to get from a hotel in a more distant district. The Old Town with the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square, Malá Strana below the castle and Josefov — the former Jewish district — are linked by the Charles Bridge, which is itself one of the city's most important attractions. On the bridge at sunrise it's empty and calm; at ten in the morning it looks like a metro corridor.
Prague is one of the cheapest destinations on this list, which, given the quality of what's on offer, makes it exceptionally attractive. Lunch in a good restaurant in the Old Town costs €9–16 per person, a beer in a pub — €1–2. A three-star hotel in the centre is €44–78 a night in season; off-season prices fall to €29–44. That makes Prague one of the few Central European destinations where a week-long trip for two doesn't require a special budget.
Connections from central Europe are exceptionally varied — this is one of those directions where the plane isn't always the best choice:
- Coach (FlixBus, RegioJet) from major central European cities — journey time 3.5–8 hours depending on distance, prices from €7–27 one way
- Train via the regional network — journey time around 7 hours from farther cities, prices from €18–40 one way depending on class and how far ahead you book
- Plane (LOT Polish Airlines and other full-service carriers) — flight time about 1 hour 10 minutes, prices from €44–111 return; from regional airports on Ryanair similarly
- Car — around 3 hours of motorway, but then we lose the whole point of this article
For those coming from nearer the border — by coach or train — ground transport is a real alternative to the plane, especially once you add the time to get to the airport, check-in and the transfer from Prague airport to the centre. Václav Havel Airport lies 17 km from the centre and has no direct metro connection — the bus journey takes 30–40 minutes. On a short weekend the time difference between a plane and a fast coach can be negligible.
Prague is a year-round city, though each season has a different character. May and June are optimal — the city turns green, the crowds haven't yet reached their summer peak, and temperatures allow all-day walks without overheating. December with the Christmas markets on the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square is one of the most beautiful images in Central European tourism — crowded, yes, but in a completely different way from August. July and August are the most expensive and most crowded, though the city functions smoothly anyway — you just have to book earlier and avoid the area around the Charles Bridge in the middle of the day.
Cabin-sized hard cases for short city breaks
Santorini
Santorini is a place most people recognise before they even know they want to go there — white houses with blue domes over the edge of a volcanic caldera are one of the most reproduced images in the history of tourism. Reality matches the photographs, which happens more rarely than you might think. Oia, Fira and Imerovigli look exactly like Instagram — except that Instagram doesn't convey the scale, the smell of the sea and the feeling of standing on the edge of a crater filled with water of a colour found in no palette.
The island has an area of just 76 km² and is narrow — in places no more than 2–3 km wide. In a place like this a car is not so much redundant as actively life-complicating. The main road running along the island's ridge through Fira and Oia is permanently jammed in season, parking in Oia is a fiction, and the narrow lanes of Oia and Fira themselves are pedestrian-only — the quad bikes and scooters tourists rent en masse ride up to the edge of the districts, and from there you have to walk anyway. Hiring a car on Santorini in July is a recipe for frustration and wasted money. With stepped lanes and a strict carry-on mindset the rule of the day, it's worth brushing up on the cabin-luggage dimension and weight traps before you pack.
Local KTEL buses run regularly between the island's main villages. The central hub is Fira — from here run connections to Oia (about 30 minutes, €1.80), Akrotiri with its prehistoric archaeological site (25 minutes, €1.80), Perissa and Kamari — the black-sand beaches on the east coast (20–25 minutes, €1.80). The bus runs every 30–60 minutes depending on the route and time of day. The timetable is available online and — importantly — in season the buses run on schedule, because they serve locals too, not just tourists.
The most beautiful route on the island requires no transport at all: the walking trail from Fira to Oia along the edge of the caldera is about 10 km and takes 3–4 hours. The views the whole way are absurd in their beauty — on the left the volcanic caldera filled with the Aegean Sea, on the right the island's interior dropping towards the east coast. The trail is well marked and requires no fitness preparation beyond sense about timing — in summer you set out at dawn or late afternoon, because at midday the temperature on the open, shadeless route tops 35°C.
Reaching Santorini from central Europe requires one connection or a charter flight. Ryanair and Wizz Air don't run direct flights to the island — the standard option is a connection via Athens or London Gatwick. A connection via Athens (Aegean Airlines, then Olympic Air or Sky Express to Santorini) takes 4–5 hours in total including the layover. The cost of such a connection return is €155–311 depending on season and how far ahead you book.
An alternative is charter flights organised by major tour operators (such as TUI), which in summer fly directly from many European cities. A charter usually involves buying a hotel package, but given accommodation prices on Santorini that isn't always a drawback. Santorini is an expensive destination, no two ways about it: a hotel with a caldera view in Oia in August costs €333–889 a night. Cheaper options can be found in Fira, Firostefani or on the east side of the island in Kamari and Perissa — there prices start from €67–111 a night and you can reach everywhere by bus from there.
The optimal time for Santorini is May, June or September. July and August are the peak of the season in every possible sense — the crowds in Oia at sunset reach sizes that turn the romantic spectacle into a collective shoving match with a phone held overhead. In September you watch the sunset in the company of a few dozen people instead of a few thousand, temperatures are still high (26–28°C), and the sea is warm. That's reason enough to shift your holiday by a month.
Hands-free in the crowds: protective backpacks & cabin cases
Rome
Why a car in Rome doesn't pay
Rome is a city that actively discourages drivers — and does it effectively. The ZTL, or Zona a Traffico Limitato, is a network of limited-traffic zones covering practically the whole historic centre. Cameras record number plates at every entry, and the fine for unauthorised entry is €80–160 — and it would arrive by post at the rental company's address months after you got home, when you'd long forgotten the whole affair. Rental firms routinely pass the driver's details to the authorities, so avoiding the penalty is practically impossible. On top of that comes parking: in central Rome paid car parks cost €3–5 an hour, and on-street spaces are de facto unavailable to tourists unfamiliar with the local rules and unofficial arrangements.
Italian road traffic in Rome runs by its own laws, hard to describe without using the word "chaos" — though Romans would probably prefer to say "improvisation". Scooters come in from every side, pedestrian crossings are treated as a suggestion, and right-of-way rules at roundabouts seem to follow the character of individual drivers more than any traffic code. For someone who doesn't drive in Italian cities regularly, driving in Rome is a source of stress that can effectively ruin a holiday. A car in Rome is one of those cases where giving it up isn't a compromise — it's a relief.
It's also worth knowing that almost everything worth seeing in Rome lies in the historic centre covered by the ZTL or in its immediate vicinity. The Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Vatican — you walk between these points or take the metro and bus. A car doesn't just fail to help you reach these places, it actively gets in the way.
How to organise a stay without a car
The Rome metro has only two main lines — A and B — which cross at Termini station. That's fewer than in Madrid or Paris, but enough for a tourist: line A serves the Vatican (Ottaviano station), the Spanish Steps (Spagna) and Piazza del Popolo (Flaminio), line B stops at the Colosseum (Colosseo). The Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona lie beyond the metro's reach, but from Spagna or Barberini stations it's a 10–15 minute walk — and it's a walk through some of the most beautiful streets in Europe, so it's hard to treat it as an inconvenience.
City buses cover all the rest and in theory are a great complement to the metro. In practice the traffic jams make a bus in central Rome a means of transport with unpredictable journey times — you can travel two blocks in twenty minutes. Trams are more predictable and serve districts outside the strict centre: Trastevere, Prati, the area around Villa Borghese. A public-transport ticket costs €1.50 and is valid for 100 minutes on all means of transport except a second metro ride. A 24-hour ticket costs €7, a 48-hour one €12.50, a 72-hour one €18.
Rome is a city where exploring on foot makes sense in itself — not as a necessity but as a pleasure. A walk from Termini through Piazza della Repubblica to the Trevi Fountain, from there to the Pantheon, through Piazza Navona to Campo de' Fiori and on to Trastevere takes a whole day and leads through successive layers of a city that has existed continuously for over two and a half thousand years. Every few dozen metres something appears that in another city would be the main attraction — here it's just another fountain, another church, another ruin built into a modern tenement.
Flights to Rome are frequent and relatively cheap. Ryanair flies to Ciampino airport from many European cities — the transfer from Ciampino to the centre by Terravision or SIT Bus takes 40–50 minutes and costs €6–7. LOT Polish Airlines and ITA Airways fly to Fiumicino from major hubs — from there you reach the centre by the Leonardo Express train in 32 minutes for €14, or by a cheaper regional train for €8 with a change at Trastevere or Ostiense. Promotional air tickets start from €56–100 return; at peak season prices rise to €133–222.
Rome is a year-round city, but April, May and October are by far the best months to visit. Temperatures in the 18–24°C range allow all-day walks without overheating, the crowds are smaller than in summer, and the light at those times of year is such that you understand why it drew painters and poets for centuries. August in Rome has its own peculiar atmosphere — the city partly empties as Romans head to the sea, some restaurants are closed, but the tourist crowds are the biggest of the year and temperatures regularly top 38°C. The Colosseum at an August midday is an experience closer to survival than sightseeing.
Kyoto
Kyoto is a city that requires a certain shift in thinking — not because it's logistically difficult, but because it works by a different logic than European capitals. Japan as a whole is probably the best-connected country in the world for public transport, and Kyoto — the former imperial capital with 17 UNESCO sites and over 1,600 temples — is a fully fledged part of that system. A car in Kyoto is not only unnecessary but would be an active hindrance: the city is crowded, parking expensive, and many temple complexes lie in zones where car traffic is restricted or entirely eliminated.
The main means of transport for tourists is the Kyoto City Bus network, which serves practically all the tourist attractions. The system is simple to use: a flat fare of 230 yen (about €1.40) per ride regardless of distance, tickets bought on alighting or via an app. The most convenient option is a daily ICOCA card or a Kyoto City Bus One-Day Pass for 700 yen (about €4) — unlimited rides on all city buses for the whole day. For comparison: a taxi from the centre to Arashiyama costs 2,000–3,000 yen (about €12–18) one way.
The Kyoto metro has two lines — Karasuma and Tozai — which serve the city centre and a few key points, but don't reach many popular attractions on the outskirts. They are complemented by private railway lines: Hankyu and Keihan link Kyoto with Osaka (about 30 minutes, 400–500 yen), Kintetsu serves the direction to Nara (about 45 minutes, 720 yen). Both cities are perfect for a day trip and require no logistics beyond buying a ticket.
| Means of transport | Route / range | Price | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|
| City bus (single) | All attractions in the city | 230 yen (approx. €1.40) | depends on route |
| City bus (day pass) | Unlimited rides | 700 yen (approx. €4) | — |
| Metro (single) | Centre + selected points | 220–360 yen (€1.40–2.20) | depends on route |
| Hankyu/Keihan rail | Kyoto – Osaka | 400–500 yen (approx. €2.50–3) | approx. 30 minutes |
| Kintetsu rail | Kyoto – Nara | 720 yen (approx. €4) | approx. 45 minutes |
| Taxi (example route) | Centre – Arashiyama | 2,000–3,000 yen (€12–18) | approx. 30 minutes |
Kyoto is a city where exploring on foot takes on a completely different dimension than in Europe. The Philosopher's Path — Tetsugaku-no-michi — is a several-kilometre trail along a canal between the Nanzen-ji and Ginkaku-ji temples, lined with cherry trees that in spring form a tunnel of blossom. The Gion district with its wooden machiya and cobbled lanes is the most recognisable slice of the city — here the chance of spotting a maiko, a geisha apprentice, is greatest, though in recent years the city has introduced restrictions on tourists photographing in private alleys. The Fushimi Inari temple complex, with thousands of orange torii laid out over a hillside, can be visited at any hour — at dawn it's almost empty, at midday full of tour groups.
Reaching Kyoto from Europe requires planning. There are no direct flights — the standard route is a connection via Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London Heathrow or Dubai to Osaka Kansai or Tokyo Narita/Haneda, from where you reach Kyoto by Shinkansen. The total journey time is 14–18 hours depending on the route and layove
r time. Return air tickets cost from €560 to €1,110 depending on season and how far ahead you book — the best prices appear with 3–5 months' notice.
Japan isn't a cheap destination in terms of flight and accommodation, but daily costs can pleasantly surprise you. Lunch in an ordinary ramen or tempura restaurant costs 800–1,500 yen (about €5–9), a bento in a convenience store like 7-Eleven or Lawson — 500–800 yen (€3–5). A night in a traditional ryokan with breakfast and dinner is 15,000–30,000 yen per person (€89–178), but an ordinary three-star hotel or clean hostel is 4,000–8,000 yen (€24–49). The optimal time to visit is March and April — the cherry-blossom season — or November, when the city blazes with the colours of autumn leaves. Both periods are besieged, but in a way that fits the character of the city rather than destroying it.
For longer trips: lightweight large travel cases
Valletta (Malta)
Valletta is the smallest capital in the European Union — it occupies just 0.8 km² and sits on a peninsula surrounded on three sides by the harbour and bays. It is a city you can walk lengthways in 20 minutes and across in 10, and yet you need at least two days to see everything worth seeing. The density of historical layers per square metre is exceptional even by European standards — the Knights of the Order of Malta, Arab influences, British colonial heritage and Baroque architecture overlay one another in a way that impresses even people who were never historians.
Valletta is a pedestrian-only zone for tourists — cars enter only for residents and deliveries, and the city's main artery, Republic Street, is a promenade running the whole length of the peninsula from the City Gate to Fort St Elmo. Most of the attractions cluster along Republic Street: St John's Co-Cathedral with paintings by Caravaggio, the Grandmaster's Palace, the Archaeological Museum. The parallel lanes drop steeply towards the sea — a characteristic feature of Valletta that locals call the hill streets — and hide smaller churches, cafés and shops that look as though they haven't changed in decades.
Bus transport on Malta is in the hands of Malta Public Transport and covers the whole island — from Valletta you can reach practically anywhere without a car. The central bus hub is right by the City Gate, which makes Valletta a natural base for the whole of Malta. A single ticket costs €1.50 in the summer season and €2 off-season, but the Explore card is decidedly better value — a 7-day pass for €21 covers unlimited rides on all buses on Malta and Gozo. With active island exploring the card pays for itself within a few days.
Flights to Malta are among the cheapest connections to warm countries available from European airports. Ryanair runs routes from many cities — in a promotion a return ticket costs €33–67, at standard prices €67–133. The flight time is around 2 hours 45 minutes. From the airport to Valletta it's about 30 minutes on the X4 bus for the standard ticket price — no surcharges, no special transfers.
What's worth seeing on Malta without hiring a car:
- St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta — one of the most important Baroque churches in Europe, with two Caravaggio paintings inside; entry €15, online booking recommended at peak season
- Mdina — a medieval fortress town in the centre of the island, known as the Silent City; about 45 minutes by bus from Valletta, the town itself is pedestrian-only
- The Blue Lagoon on Comino — a small island between Malta and Gozo, reachable by boat from Čirkewwa (about 1 hour by bus from Valletta); crowded in July and August, far quieter in September
- Gozo — the archipelago's second-largest island, quieter and less touristy than Malta; the ferry from Čirkewwa takes 25 minutes and costs €4.65 return, with local buses on the island
- The megalithic temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra — older than Stonehenge and the pyramids, about 1 hour by bus from Valletta; entry €10
- Marsaxlokk — a traditional fishing village in the south of the island with colourful luzzu boats; about 45 minutes by bus from Valletta, the Sunday fish market is one of the most interesting markets in the Mediterranean
Malta works as a destination all year round, but each season has a different character. May, June and October are optimal: temperatures between 22 and 28°C, a sea fit for swimming from June, moderate crowds. July and August are hot (32–35°C), crowded and more expensive — the island then takes in a disproportionate number of tourists for its size. Winter on Malta is mild by European standards — 15–18°C during the day — and increasingly popular with people seeking sun without summer crowds. Rainy days happen but rarely drag on for weeks.
Malta is also the only English-speaking country in the eurozone with direct flights from much of Europe, which for many travellers is a practical advantage hard to overstate. The absence of a language barrier when using public transport, reading timetables and asking for directions makes the island exceptionally friendly for those planning a car-free trip for the first time.
A practical guide — how to prepare
Apps that replace a driver
The biggest barrier before a car-free trip is psychological, not logistical. Most people who give up car hire for the first time admit on return that their fears were out of proportion to reality. The key is proper preparation — and in 2026 that mainly means installing the right apps before departure, not hunting for them on roaming in a foreign city.
Google Maps is the starting point most travellers already have but few use fully. The public-transport mode shows exact connections with departure times, line numbers and transfer instructions — it works in practically every city on this list, including Kyoto and Valletta. Before your trip it's worth downloading an offline map of the chosen city, which removes the problem of coverage in the metro or in old districts with a weak signal.
Apps worth installing before any car-free trip:
- Citymapper — works in most European cities, shows public transport in real time including delays and closed stations; especially useful in London, Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome
- Moovit — a good alternative to Citymapper, covers more cities off the beaten track, works in smaller European towns too; handy in Dublin, Valletta and Croatian cities
- Omio — a search engine for inter-city connections: trains, buses, ferries and flights in one place, with the option to buy tickets directly in the app; indispensable for planning day trips from Madrid to Toledo or from Kyoto to Osaka
- Trainline — specialises in rail tickets in Europe, aggregating offers from many carriers; especially useful in Italy (Trenitalia, Italo) and Spain (Renfe)
- Rome2rio — shows all the possible ways of getting from point A to point B anywhere in the world, including estimated costs; good at the planning stage when you don't yet know what the options are
A separate category is local apps that work better than global solutions in specific cities. In Prague it's PID Lítačka for buying public-transport tickets, in Japan — Suica or ICOCA as digital payment cards on transport, in Lisbon — the Carris app for tracking trams in real time. It's worth checking before departure whether your destination city has its own transport app — it's often more accurate and faster than the global alternatives.
Luggage and logistics
Travelling without a car changes your approach to packing in a way many people don't anticipate before their first such trip. A car lets you throw everything in the boot and not think about it — public transport forces selection. Not because you can't take a big suitcase, but because a big suitcase on metro stairs, on Dubrovnik's cobbled lanes or in Lisbon's steep Alfama alleys turns sightseeing into an endurance exercise. Choosing the right bag in the first place helps, which is why it pays to think through hard or soft luggage before you book.
Carry-on as your only luggage is a solution that, for trips of up to 7–10 days, is entirely realistic with the right packing. A backpack or cabin bag that fits in the overhead locker removes the checked-baggage queue, cuts time at the airport by 30–45 minutes each way and saves €22–67 in baggage fees on low-cost carriers. With Ryanair and Wizz Air, where checked baggage costs as much as half the ticket, that's no detail — and it's worth knowing in advance whether you're entitled to two carry-on bags so you can plan what fits where.
A few rules that work in practice: clothes made of quick-drying fabrics can be washed in the hotel and dried overnight, which removes the need to pack a separate set for each day. Most hotel chains have hairdryers in the rooms, so you don't need to pack your own. Chargers and cables are a category in which people pack too much — one universal USB hub with a European plug will handle all your devices. Shoes take up the most room and weigh the most — a comfortable pair for walking and one lighter pair for the evening are enough for most city trips.
The question of accommodation in the context of a car-free holiday is often overlooked, yet it has great practical importance. Staying close to the centre costs more, but removes the daily commutes that on public transport can take 40–60 minutes each way. On a week-long stay that's an extra 7–10 hours spent on a bus or metro instead of sightseeing. In most cities on this list the price difference between a hotel in the centre and one on the outskirts is €22–44 a night — on a short trip it's often worth paying the extra and reclaiming that time.
It's also worth remembering multi-ride cards, which in most cities are far cheaper than single tickets bought at every entry. In Rome a 72-hour ticket costs €18 against a single-ticket price of €1.50 — with four rides a day the card pays off by the second day. In Amsterdam a 72-hour pass for €21 against a single-ticket price of €3.20 pays off at seven rides. Before each trip it's worth doing a simple calculation and choosing the right ticket type on the spot — machines at stations and airports usually offer the full range.
Who a car-free holiday isn't a good idea for
An honest answer to this question matters more than another list of reasons to give up the car. Not every destination and not every life situation fits the model described in this article — and it's better to know that before booking than to find out on the spot.
Families with small children are the first category for whom going car-free can turn a holiday into a logistical nightmare. A pram and the metro is a combination that in theory is possible — in practice it means hunting for lifts at every station (often out of order or occupied), carrying the pram up stairs at rush hour and planning every journey with a margin for the unexpected. Lisbon, with its hilly topography and old trams, is especially demanding in this respect. Amsterdam, with its flat terrain and broad infrastructure, copes better, as does Madrid with its extensive metro fitted with lifts at most stations. But the general rule is simple: the younger the child and the more equipment, the greater the value of a car as a mobile base.
Big suitcases are the second variable that tips the balance against public transport. Metro stairs, cobbled lanes, narrow tram doors — this is an environment made for backpacks, not for 70-litre wheeled luggage. You can work around it by choosing accommodation with direct bus access or near stations, but it takes planning that not everyone enjoys. Luggage storage available at the main stations in every big city lets you leave suitcases for the duration of sightseeing for €5–10 a piece per day — a solution that partly removes the problem but doesn't eliminate it when moving daily between hotels.
Destinations that require a car are a separate category not worth ignoring. If your trip is aimed at Tuscan villages scattered across hills with no bus connections, the Croatian Dalmatia beyond the Dubrovnik–Split route, mountainous Slovenia with Triglav and the Soča valley, Iceland's Route 1 ring road or the Scottish Highlands — a car is not an option, it's a necessity. Public transport in these places either doesn't exist or runs once a day at a time that fits no reasonable sightseeing plan. Trying to visit Sant'Antimo near Montalcino or Kotor without a car is possible, but takes such an outlay of time and juggling of connections that it stops being worth the effort for most travellers.
Before any trip it's worth asking yourself three concrete questions that will settle the dilemma in five minutes. First: do the main attractions I want to see lie in the city centre or are they accessible by public transport? Second: will my luggage fit in a backpack or cabin bag, or am I ready to leave it in one place and move around lighter? Third: am I travelling with people whose mobility or needs require more flexibility than public transport can provide? If the answer to the first question is "yes" and to the other two "no problem" — a car-free trip will be not only possible, but probably better than the alternative with a car.
It's also worth checking in practice before making the final decision. Google Maps in public-transport mode lets you plan a specific route between two points in your destination city and check how long it will take, what it will cost and how many transfers it requires. If the result looks reasonable — it is. If planning the route from the airport to the hotel takes three transfers and an hour and a half, that's a signal that either it's worth changing the hotel, or rethinking the transport strategy, or after all considering car hire for at least part of the trip.
Summary — 10 places, one rule
All the cities on this list share one common quality: they were built before the car became the centre of spatial planning. Their streets, squares and districts arose with a person moving on their own two feet in mind — and that's exactly why they work so well without a car. It's no accident that the most beautiful and most-remembered slices of European cities are usually pedestrian zones or places where car traffic is minimal.
Each of these ten places offers something different and meets different needs. Lisbon is a city for those who want a European atmosphere at a reasonable price with a note of melancholy written into the architecture and music. Venice is one of a kind and worth visiting despite the crowds — but it demands a good sense of timing. Dubrovnik rewards those who come outside the peak season and are ready to pay more than in other Croatian destinations. Amsterdam is expensive, but runs like a well-oiled machine and rarely disappoints. Madrid combines world-class culture with the everyday life of a city that genuinely pulses — not for show for tourists, but for itself. Prague remains one of the best value-for-money ratios in Central Europe and is reachable from central Europe in a way that makes it a real option even for a long weekend. Santorini is expensive and crowded at the peak, but at the right time delivers views no other destination can replace. Rome is overwhelming in the best possible sense — history is literally underfoot and it's hard to leave the city without feeling the world is older and more complicated than it seemed. Kyoto requires the longest journey and the biggest budget, but offers a cultural experience with no equivalent in any European city. Valletta is the smallest and often overlooked, while being one of the most historically dense capitals in the world, reachable for a pittance from European airports.
| City | For whom | Daily cost (1 person) | Connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | Couples, solo, budget | €44–78 | Direct flight, ~3h 15min |
| Venice | Couples, short trips | €67–111 | Direct flight, ~1h 45min |
| Dubrovnik | Couples, Adriatic lovers | €78–122 | Direct flight, ~2h |
| Amsterdam | Groups, culture lovers | €89–144 | Direct flight, ~2h |
| Madrid | Culture, food lovers | €56–89 | Direct flight, ~3h |
| Prague | Everyone, long weekend | €33–62 | Flight, coach, train |
| Santorini | Couples, photographers | €89–155 | Connection via Athens |
| Rome | Everyone, history lovers especially | €62–100 | Direct flight, ~2h 30min |
| Kyoto | Experienced travellers | €78–133 | Connection, ~14–18h |
| Valletta | History lovers, the calm | €40–67 | Direct flight, ~2h 45min |
One rule that ties all these trips together is simpler than it seems: the less you plan around a car, the more you plan around the place. Instead of wondering where to park, you think about where to eat. Instead of calculating the route from the car park to the attraction, you walk out of the hotel and simply go. This shift is subtle, but it changes the character of the whole trip — from a logistical project into something that more closely resembles travel in the original sense of the word.
