I’ve visited over 100 medieval towns in Europe: these 5 blew my mind

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5 medieval cities that made me fall in love with Europe again

I have visited over 100 medieval towns over the years, if not a much higher number, and At this point I’m rarely impressed.

Cobbled streets? Wonderful for strolling (if you pay close attention). A fortress on a hilltop with a view of gabled roofs? Nice, but seen before. Church squares surrounded by cafes? They’re nice enough, okay, but after a gazillion of them I can’t even be bothered to pull out my phone for photos.

Now, there to have with a few exceptions: cities that, despite my nonchalant attitude towards what has become trivial at this point, still managed to completely change my terminal European brain chemistry.

Maybe it was just the good mood I was in, but this one 5 European gems and their Old World allure completely snuck up on me, making me feel those stomach butterflies I’d been missing for far too long as I drove to a new train station:

Rhodes town, Greece

Forget the Santorinis and Mykonosos of the world: if you’re ever island-hopping around Greece and want to blow your mind, head straight to this timeless port city in the eastern Dodecanese archipelago.

Rhodes, the capital of the island of the same name, is a UNESCO World Heritage-listed medieval town with the kind of varied architecture you can’t easily find in your average whitewashed Cycladic village.

First of all, it is the largest inhabited medieval center in Europewith stone-carved houses, arched passageways and a maze of cobbled streets that seem to go on forever – and the coolest part? It’s all shrouded in ramparts, turrets and huge Indiana Jones-level city gates.

Rhodes Town was fortified in the Middle Ages by the legendary Knights of St. John, many of whom were French. It’s no surprise that the inn-lined Ridderstraat, a ruined Gothic cathedral and a visible Palace of the Grand Master with French influences are some of the main attractions here.

At the same time, just a stone’s throw from a predominantly Western European complex, you’ll find Ottoman-era baths and minarets dotted along the skyline – a result of roughly five centuries of direct Turkish rule – and although the Italians were only here for a short time, from 1912 to 1943, they made sure to leave their mark on the Italianate city buildings of Mandraki Port.

Rhodes Town is a fascinating mix of cultures and the meeting point of several civilizations that shaped the Middle Ages as we know it.

Honfleur, France

Speaking of the devil… Honfleur, a beautiful port city in Normandy, in the north of France, is what I personally like to call the love child of Copenhagen and Amsterdam:

Are Vieux Bassinor Old Port, is lined with well-preserved, slender, mansions built closely togethersome of which date back to the 16th century. Their satisfyingly muted tones reflect beautifully on the water, and the wooden fishing boats and screaming seagulls only add to the atmosphere.

I especially love Honfleur for how unmistakably French it feels: the beret-wearing Instagrammer, who flutters through Paris in a flying princess dress, hasn’t arrived here yet, and the cobbled streets, half-timbered houses and riverside charm are unparalleled.

Honfleur is also the birthplace of Eugène Boudin, so no wonder the entire cityscape resembles an impressionist painting come to life, and in case you didn’t know: those of France eldest wooden church, still standing, from the Hundred Years’ War St. Catherine’s Church, is here.

Of course it is impossible that you come to Honfleur and miss a real visit brasserie have lunch at Huître Brûlée: here you definitely get the freshest oysters in town, and you’ll be surprised how well they pair with a local Calvados spirit.

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

If you are ever in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and its busy Stradun and Game of Thrones walking tours don’t quite live up to the television hype, make it a priority to hop over the border into Bosnia and Herzegovina and explore the much more scenic and perhaps more beautiful Mostar.

An unassuming medieval gem with a fascinating, yet dark, past, it revolves around an elegant stone arch bridge over the emerald Neretva River. This bridge is possibly the most recognizable landmark in all of Bosnia, if not the Balkans, and was originally built by the Ottomans in the 16th century.

Unfortunately, the original was destroyed during the Bosnian war of the 1990s, but this 2004 reconstruction leaves nothing to be desired: they picked the pale limestone from the exact same quarry, and even fragments of the old bridge that lay at the bottom of the river were recovered and processed.

Mostar does a city reborn from the ashesand maybe that’s why it has such a special place in my heart:

As you walk through the otherwise picture-perfect Old Town, paved with uneven cobblestones and filled with Turkish-style bazaars, you might catch a glimpse of bullet holes in the facades of some buildings, and even war machines rusting away in overgrown backyards.

Mostar isn’t just some overly polished, Disney-esque medieval town that welcomes the unknowing tourists to Dubrovnik with a fake history and staged pleasantries: it feels like it has actually been lived ingenuine and largely unaffected by the hassle caused by occasional daytime visitors.

For drone-like views of Mostar’s Old Town and the beautiful Stari Most (the Old Bridge), climb the minaret of the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque, and for those visiting in summer, keep your eyes peeled for the city’s bridge jumpers and their aerial acrobatics.

Meissen, Germany

Half an hour’s drive from Dresden, Meißen (or Meissen) is one of those breathtaking places you drive to, and you just have to park at the roadside viewpoint to take it all in first.

Imagine a monumental, cream-colored castle that towers high above the River Elbewith romantic towers and spiers that only Walt Disney himself could have sketched. Only this is the real thing, and not the concrete and Styrofoam copycat version you see in the parks.

Meißen’s ‘Altstadt’, the labyrinthine old town with narrow cobbled streets flanked by centuries-old buildings, is an absolute joy to stroll, and I’d love to return for another bite of Café Residenz’s marzipan delicacies.

Considering the many beautiful medieval towns that can be found all over Germany, you’re probably wondering why I’m going for this one in particular. Well, unlike most historic German settlements, Meissen was not completely destroyed by the Second World War:

Everything you see, from the half-timbered facades to the stepped gables, and the majestic cathedral, located in the main building of the Albrechtsburg (the city’s castle), is almost exactly as it was in the 15th century. Believe it or not, you don’t see that every day in Germany.

Sighisoara, Romania

Aside from the lack of civil rights, I feel like we now look back on the Middle Ages with some fondness, as an idyllic time of chivalric tales, damsels in distress, and dreamy fortresses atop dizzying cliffs. When you really think about it, but Medieval towns can be a bit… scary.

The pointed spires, paths flanked by leaning houses and eye-shaped dormers that keep a constant eye on you in quiet corners. Add to that the atmospheric morning mist and a resonating church bell, and you get a pretty accurate picture of Sighișoara:

Possibly the creepiest city in Romania, nestled in the borders of mystical Transylvania.

Walking through Sighișoara, I couldn’t help but notice that this is the perfect setting for yet another medieval Hollywood movie: it has the stone bell tower, hidden passageways you never know exactly where they lead, and the dimly lit, lamplit squares at dusk.

Oh, and it might be a good time to mention that Vlad the Impaler, the historic, ruthless ruler who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, comes from… here. Color me shocked.

Needless to say, the city leans heavy throughout vampiric lorewith countless images, horror-themed details and fascination with the macabre, best experienced in Vlad’s own birthplace, now a museum in the heart of the citadel.

Don’t worry. The only thing biting here is a strange, playful black cat.

Vinicius Costa

Vini, our senior head writer at Travel Off Path, has over 60 countries to his name (and is currently weaving stories from Paris!), and a knack for turning off-the-beaten-path experiences into informative stories that will have you packing your bags.