When it comes to travelling around Europe there are various transport modes you can take.
One easy and quicker option is travelling by train thanks to its great rail network.
But now a new survey conducted by Which? has looked at European cities which are less than half a day’s travel from the UK.
The consumer champion asked over 1,000 members to rate their experiences of European city destinations reachable from the UK by rail, with qualifying destinations every seven hours or less from London.
Respondents marked the locations out of five stars in seven criteria including food and drink, accommodation, cultural sights and attractions, and value for money, and an overall city score was then calculated based on overall satisfaction and likeliness to recommend.
So, if you’re looking to get away without the hassle of catching a flight, then we may have found the right place for you. Bruges in Belgium topped the charts with an impressive score of 85 percent, beating larger cities including Paris and Amsterdam.
A three-and-a-half-hour journey from London St Pancras, Bruges is just a short hop from the English capital but feels a world away.
Respondents got to take in Bruges’ canals and medieval cobbled streets, but it was its “magical” and “enchanting” atmosphere that set it apart from the rest.
With its enticing chocolate shops and quaint cafes, the city scored four stars for food and drink.
It also received four stars for its cultural sights and attractions, accommodation, value for money and ease of getting around, with multiple respondents noting the city was compact and easily walkable.
Taking a close second place with 84 percent was Bordeaux in France, which takes around six hours to reach from London.
Famed for its wine, the city was just one of two in the survey (alongside Lyon, 71 percent) to receive a five-star rating for food and drink, with multiple respondents singling out its “superb restaurants” which “cater to all tastes and pockets”.
The city also received five stars for ease of getting around, with visitors noting the city was easy to explore on foot or by public transport, owing to its efficient tram network.
It received four stars for its cultural sights and attractions, including the popular wine museum and cultural centre, La Cité du Vin, where visitors can enjoy a host of activities from an interactive exhibition on the history of wine-making, to wine-tasting sessions.
Tied in third place with a score of 82 percent were the Dutch capital Amsterdam and the historic French city of Avignon.
Renowned for its warren of waterways lined with distinctive canal houses, Amsterdam has a journey time of just four hours from London St Pancras.
Respondents awarded the city five stars for cultural sights and attractions, including the Rijksmuseum, home to some of the world’s most celebrated artworks, and the Anne Frank House, which offers a sombre reflection on life during the Holocaust.
The city received four stars for ease of getting around, and three stars for value for money, food and drink and accommodation.
A six-hour journey from London, historic Avignon also received five stars for its cultural sights and attractions, which includes the famous Popes’ Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site described as “an essential visit” by respondents.
The palace now offers a fascinating insight into a unique period in European history, when from 1309 to 1379 the French city became the home of the papacy.
The city also received a four-star rating for value for money and for ease of getting around, and three stars for accommodation and lack of crowds.
Approximately three and a half hours from London, Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second city, completed the top five with a score of 81 percent.
Described as “an underrated post-war gem” by one respondent, much of the original city was lost to bombing in World War II.
But it was rebuilt as a modern city boasting architectural sights including the famous De Rotterdam, comprised of three linked towers, the iconic food market Markthal Rotterdam and the mirror-clad Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen museum.
Ghent in Belgium was close behind with a city score of 80 percent, while the French capital Paris tied with Strasbourg in seventh place with a score of 79 percent.
At the other end of the table, Geneva, Switzerland received the lowest city score of 60 percent. The city takes approximately six and a half hours to reach by rail from London.
Though it was awarded four stars for ease of getting around, and three stars for food and drink and lack of crowds, it received just one star for value for money, the only city on the table to do so.
Multiple respondents noted that the city was expensive, and while it was described as both “beautiful” and “clean”, some visitors concluded that it was quiet and “dull” in contrast to some other destinations.
Rory Boland, editor at Which? Travel said: “You can reach some of Europe’s most spectacular cities by train from the UK in about the same time it would take to fly, and often for less money too.
“It’s easy to discount Eurostar if you don’t live in London, but with cities as far afield as Birmingham, Cardiff and Portsmouth only two hours from the capital, the train can still be quicker than the plane to many European destinations – it’s certainly more enjoyable and far better for the environment.”
