The Six Best Neighborhoods in Europe
The one thing they have in common is a lively Bohemian spirit
Europe invented the concept of a great neighborhood. They did it out of need, not because they were thinking of terms like “walkability” and “mixed use development,” which is the lens through which many neighborhoods are concieved and built today. They created these neighborhoods because they needed easy access to life’s necessities — without having to walk far. They wanted to be able to walk to the shoe repair shop, the grocer, the butcher, the fishmonger, and the hardware store. There were no cars when these neighorhoods came about, so driving out to stock up at Costco wasn’t an option. And since the streets in these old neighborhoods were largely designed for people walking, there aren’t many wide boulevards or inhumane six-lane expressways cutting through and ruining them.
From the simple necessity of having livable, walkable neighborhoods, Europe is left with an embarrassment of riches — and a lot of excellent local barrios. I’ve lived in a few of them, and let me tell you — it’s a real pleasure to have everything you need within a ten minute walk, and to have human scaled public places that were largely designed before the invention of the automobile.
Here are my picks for Europe’s six best neighborhoods, listed in pretty much random order:
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Neukölln — Berlin
This low key scruffy district in the southern part of Berlin is world renowned for graffiti, which covers nearly every street and building surface, hipsters, and a disused airport called Templehof that was used in the Berlin Airlift and is now a giant park, runways and terminal still intact. The district’s other large park, the Hasenheide — or hare meadow because Frederich the Great used to hunt them here — is now well known for impromptu and unregulated raves that often go until morning. The district in general has small blocks lined with restaurants, bars, and cafés, and in general, it has 5–6 story housing stock, and most are walk ups. The neighborhood has many trees, so it’s shady in the summer, but it also has some of those strange uniquely tattered Berlin blocks — blocks that still look like they’ve never been rebuilt after World War 2 bombing raids — although I suspect it’s just an aesthetic now.
Podil — Ки́їв (Kyiv)
This up and coming art- and design-centric neighborhood is wedged between the Dnieper River and the sky blue St. Andrew’s church capped hill that separates it from the true city center. This geographical divide gives the neighborhood its own unique charm in Kyiv — largely free of the massive wedding cake government buildings and massive Orthodox churches of the rest of the capital. It’s more low key and local, and there are quite a few excellent cafés, coffee shops, restaurants, and clothing stores owned and staffed by young and aspiring Kyivites. A rickety old tram clangs around the neighborhood and there’s also a major metro station at Kontraktova Ploscha, so it’s easy to get all around the city from here. You can’t miss eating at Hummu Sapiens, an excellent and friendly Israeli restaurant in the district that serves kosher Jewish cuisine. And Zhavten Cinéma is one of the best independent movie houses in the capital — and they serve beer. If you come to Kyiv for a holiday, stay in this neighborhood to get a real sense of the city and its warm and welcoming inhabitants. Don’t take it personally that Ukrainians don’t smile a lot — it’s just not part of their culture to smile at strangers.
Malasaña — Madrid
Bursting with life, Malasaña is a happening, student-friendly area, with streets filled with coffee shops, bakeries, and vintage clothing stores. The Plaza del 2 de Mayo, a historic square lined with lively bars and weekend market stalls, is a popular meeting spot. At night, dance and rock bars host live bands and DJs, and the Conde Duque cultural center shows art and open-air movies in its 18th-century halls and courtyards. This neighborhood, to me, is the heart and soul of contemporary Madrid. It’s got an amazing mix of old man bars with florescent lights and nickel bar tops, along with new concepts — there’s one bar — the Passenger — that looks like the inside of a train, with the view changing outside the train windows. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out how effortlessly stylish this barrio is — everyone looks great — and there is surely a higher than average number of very good looking people spending their time here.
Le Marais — Paris
The Marsh — which is the neighborhood’s direct translation into English — combines two worlds: a lively party scene with heaving cafés and young beautiful Parisians enjoying life alongside a permissive LGBTQ scene, juxtaposed with the staid sophistication as being the former in-town neighborhood home of the French nobility when they weren’t at Versailles. In fact, the royal palace still stands, surrounding the formal and symmetrically designed Place de Vosges, where locals picnic on sunny days. Le Marais has already gentrified — and it’s still great and vibrant and alive — so there’s no risk of losing this beautiful and functional neighborhood, which has all the every day shops you need to have a full and functional life here without ever leaving the neighborhood — and many don’t. The Marais treasures café life above all — and you’ll see people literally spending the majority of their lives on café terraces. Not a bad way to spend time if you ask me.
Bairro Alto — Lisbõa
Small in scale, but huge in personality, this steep and hilly section of Portugal’s capital city is probably the most authentic district remaining in the historic urban core of Lisbon. The district gets its scruffy and ramshackle good looks from being quickly rebuilt after being almost completely destroyed in 1755 by a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The neighborhood is crammed full of old man bars and cafés, but there are also new takes on the traditional tascas that elevate Portuguese food to international standards. In these places, you’ll hear a mix of Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, and probably a couple other languages, too. Lisbon is having a moment right now — it’s extremely popular with international tourists and expats for its relatively cheap cost of living, but all this attention is adding to the pressure on Lisbon’s historical core to gentrify, risking the ragtag Bohemian beauty that gives it its charm.
Trastevere — Roma
It used to be a locals-only kind of place. Tourists wouldn’t go here, but it’s been discovered, alas, and more popular than ever. Combining the ancient — the first synagoge in Rome — and the modern — artists and hipsters prefer to hang out in this district, the neighborhood has become a playground of expats and Romans who like its intimate scale and friendly osterias lining narrow cobblestoned lanes and fountain adorned piazzas. Even though tourists come here, this is a very local neighborhood and if you find yourself for a month or two some time, you’ll likely know the butcher, the fruit seller, and the barista well by the end of the trip. Italians ask questions. They want to know things about you. It’s one of their greatest qualities. Oh, and the food in this neighborhood is excellent — some of the best in the world, I’d say.