Prague is fully discovered, but the rest of central Europe has cities every bit as beautiful and a fraction as visited. Start here.
Prague has roughly eight million overnight visitors a year and the bridge counters in Mala Strana hit eye-watering numbers in summer. The Habsburg map is full of cities with similar bones and a tenth of the foot traffic. Pick one.
Olomouc, Czech Republic
Two hours east of Prague and almost no foreign tourists, despite holding a UNESCO-listed Holy Trinity column, the second-largest historical square in the country, and a student population that keeps the bars open. The Olomouc cheese (Olomoucké tvarůžky) is an acquired smell.
Wroclaw, Poland
Twelve islands, more than a hundred bridges, a market square ringed by colourful merchants' houses and roughly 350 small bronze dwarf statues hidden in odd corners of the old town. Wroclaw also has the Centennial Hall, an early modernist masterpiece by Max Berg.
Brasov, Romania
In the saddle of the Carpathians under Mount Tampa. The black church (so called for fire damage in 1689) is the largest Gothic building between Vienna and Istanbul, and the medieval lanes around Strada Sforii (one of the narrowest streets in Europe) are still residential.
Sibiu, Romania
Transylvanian Saxon town with eyes painted into its roof windows, three concentric defensive walls and a Christmas market that is, quietly, one of the best in eastern Europe.
Pecs, Hungary
Down near the Croatian border, with the early Christian necropolis (UNESCO listed), the Zsolnay porcelain factory that gave Budapest most of its decorative roof tiles, and a still-standing Ottoman mosque turned into a Catholic church.
Kosice, Slovakia
St Elisabeth Cathedral is the easternmost Gothic cathedral in Europe and a stunner. The town also has the lovely singing fountain in front and an old town long enough to actually walk.
Lviv, Ukraine (when conditions allow)
We are not advising travel to Ukraine during active war. In the longer view, Lviv is one of the most intact Austro-Hungarian cities anywhere, with a coffeehouse culture, an opera house and a Rynok square that has been compared, fairly, to Krakow's. It will be on this list permanently again.
Trieste, Italy
Already on our Venice piece, and equally relevant here. Trieste's Habsburg architecture, Slavic-Italian mix and seaside cafes feel central European more than they feel Italian.
