In to the top twenty in my ratings. To be honest there is a very thin line between them and a great time is pretty much assured in all of these fine cities.

20 Bucharest

Bucharest scores great points for the huge municipal building (Palace of the Parliament), the worlds second biggest public building after the Pentagon. Ceausescu’s folly is amazing to visit inside and out.

Apart from that there are some lovely churches and neo classical buildings, pleasant parks and fun bar filled pedestrian only zones.

19 Bratislava

This is possibly a harsh ranking. The Slovak capital situated on the Danube is very pleasing on the eye generally with a wonderful old town, impressive castle and an eclectic collection of statues dotted about the place.

I felt I had seen everything I wanted to see in just a few hours. Size isn’t everything of course, but there is a limit to retracing steps. I know a lot of people love the place, I could take it or leave it.

18 Helsinki

A very nice city with distinctive Russian architecture, a buzzing student scene and a waterfront setting. I only went once in ’92 so need a second visit to do the place justice and no doubt boost its ranking.

17 Dublin

Dublin is a very nice looking city divided by the Liffey. Trinity College is a huge highlight for me, the Guinness brewery visit a must and the literary walking tour visiting pubs frequented by Joyce, Wilde & Beahan great fun.

As pleasant as the city is, it doesn’t rate as highly for me as it seems to do for others.

The Irish people are also most welcoming hosts and the pubs pretty special despite exporting a million (largely poor) imitations.

16 Kiev

I had a brilliant time in Ukraine’s capital. The onion domed churches are fantastic, visiting the vast monastery of the caves complex (Pechersk Lavra) is a wonderful few hours very well spent, the Chernobyl Museum fascinating & harrowing and the River Dnieper provides a great backdrop.

The opera house is also one of the best and damned cheap too.