Which cities in Europe have the most interesting geography/topography?

30 comments

  1. Main two I can think of are Naples and Istanbul. I presume also Alpine cities like Innsbruck and some Swiss ones. Edit: also forgot, Porto!

    Some others that come to mind:
    – Barcelona
    – Budapest
    – Rome
    – Athens

  2. Istanbul was already mentioned, but San Marino on Mt Titano is also pretty interesting I think

  4. Luxembourg City, with its steep cliff in the middle of the city and elevators to go up and down. And the view is spectacular!

  5. Biased because I live there, but Edinburgh. The skyline is dominated by a castle in top of an extinct volcano, overlooking a park made of a drained loch, and there’s another random mountain in the city centre, and all the old town streets and buildings are built on top of each other in layers.

  6. Glasgow, with its American-style grid system slapped randomly on a hilly surface … makes for some impossible inclines and weird intersections where everything is at an angle, except the view from above.

  7. No one mentioned Monte Carlo yet? It’s so densely packed that there’s several levels to the little city, with elevators going up and down.

  8. Venice obviously. Stockholm also consists of several different interconnected islands.

    Grenoble is built within the intersection of three separate valleys: one going to the North-West, one going to the North-East and one going directly South. It has quite a funky-looking urban sprawl as a result.

  9. I find Finnish cities really fascinating in this regard.

    Tampere is built on an isthmus between two lakes, which is what provided the electricity to power it’s textile manufactories – hence the nickname of Finnish Manchester. Pretty cool place.

    Kuopio is smackbang in the centre of the Finnish Lakelands. Very beautiful and unique area.

    Oulu is crazy far north considering how big it is, relatively speaking. Also seems to be growing quite rapidly. Haven’t been there. Just wished the flights from Helsinki weren’t so damn expensive.

    Other countries:

    Budapest’s location allows for it’s inner city thermal spas, which is quite unique. I believe Stuttgart is a distant second in this regard.

    Bergen was built between seven mountains, though apparently no one can agree which mountains these are.

    Vienna has huge urban vineyards. I believe the only European capital that produces wine on a significant level. Yes we have some small vineyards in Prague, but they aren’t commercial in the same way.

  10. Edinburgh – it goes from mountains & Munro’s to sea level. The castle is on a random big extinct rock in the middle of the city centre, but just a short walk from canals or the sea. You go up down up down up down whenever you visit Edinburgh. Visiting Edinburgh is *exhausting*.

  11. i really loved Granada with this. having the Alhambra on a higher point and with some good weather also the Sierra Nevada ( and surrounding mountains ) in the distance. lovely city

  12. Biased – wouldnt say the most but Bratislava def has interesting geography.
    City is on the Danube, with part of it being on the other side of it.
    Only capital in the world that directly borders 2 countries (Austria, Hungary)
    Surrounded by hills on the north/west , plains on south and east.

    Pretty interesting

  13. Genoa is incredibly fascinating. A long, narrow and densely urbanised strip of land stretching for 30 kms between the sea and the Appennines, along a winding coast alternating gulfs, bays, promontories and several valley outlets.

    Since Genoa used to be one of the top business cities back in the Economic Miracle times and its population was booming like crazy, urbanists and planners had to find creative solutions to fit the needed infrastructures and buildings inside the area, to the point of literally cramming houses, railways and highways on top of each other ([example](https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4225331,8.9763063,3a,90y,10.93h,111.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6mhCmy4_umCQDjHBYU9SLA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)). This in turn means that, given heavy storms are basically a monthly occurrence in the area, the city is sadly highly susceptible to flash floods with alarming frequency. On the other hand, it’s super easy to get breathtaking views of the city from atop the hills like [here at Righi](https://i0.wp.com/www.kleckner.it/stephen/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_2773.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1).

  14. The first one that came to mind was Ronda, Spain. Haven’t been there, only seen pictures.

  15. Marseille…. Basically rocks and water in a beautiful combination (especially Les calanques)

  17. Matera in central southern Italy is insane. There are churches built inside literal rocks and the old city is built in two valleys and partly inside grottoes (the *sassi*). It stops abruptly next to a ravine. It’s just spectacular and the most incredible place I’ve ever seen.

  18. I mean Istanbul is on two continents and has 3 different climates. And water from the Black Sea flows from the surface to the Sea of Marmara while water from Sea of Marmara flows from the seafloor. There are Islands. So theres that.

  19. Stockholm, mainly for it’s many almost nested islands, and small cliffs next to the rivers. Just an amazing place to walk through.

    And if we have to find something in the Netherlands… with it considering being quite flat.
    Almere and Lelystad are quite interesting. They have very little elevation, basically being completely flat. But the main idea is that these cities didn’t even exist 50 years ago.
    And 60 years ago the land these cities were built upon don’t even exist.
    It’s the same reason that makes Urk (And I can’t believe I ever say something nice about that town) interesting. As that town used to be an island with it’s closest city being 20+ kilometers away.

  20. out of the cities i’ve been, Edinburgh and Luxembourg city stand out. Innsbruck as well, feels like a disproportionately large city nestled within the mountains

  21. Porto. Hilly and dramatic. Hard to walk but ver photogenic. It allows things like the double deck bridge happen.

    Edit:
    Also Toledo, Cuenca…
    I have to point my city as well, Vigo. Not the prettiest but the estuary, the islands and hills are really something.

  22. Really biased on this, but Funchal.. you have amazing views everywhere since it is pretty much a huge slope surrounded by mountains, and watching it from the sea is something else.

  23. Imho Venice and Edinburgh. Both are very different from all the rest I saw so far. Then, I would say Amsterdam.

  25. No one has mentioned It yet, but Cadiz has a pretty unique topography. A peninsula shooting into the Atlantic, in a bay so Deep sperm whales frequently enter.

    Toledo IS very much like luxembourg. Bot are spectacular examples of: **hey, there’s a canyon…*why don’t we make a city here?***

  28. I wouldn’t say it’s top but it is worth noting that Berlin is flat. Completely flat. Visitors will be puzzled, then, by the enormous hills dispersed around the city parks. Where did they come from if Berlin is actually flat? It’s WW2 debris. Literal mountains of it. Boggles the mind.

  29. – Kiev: has forest islands in the middle of the river that crosses the city!
    – Salzburg: hills with castles & forests everywhere
    – Edinburgh: layered buildings built on the sides of a hill leading to an epic castle.
    – Positano: built onto the side of a hill on the Italian coast

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