Free Things to Do in Europe

Call it what you will, the piazza, platz, plaza or place, these are special places for informal gathering, especially on summer evenings. Your little foray into "experiential travel" should start in a public square teeming with locals.

In Italy you can promenade to the piazza by joining in the Italian stroll called a Passiagiatta.

In Spain, the Plaza Mayor (the large, main plaza) in Salamanca is so clean that students plop down in the center and play chess, while all around them folks stroll, musicians play, and waiters cross the cobbles balancing plates of Jamon Iberico. Don't miss it.

Europe's grand Cathedrals took a little while for me to get used to. As huge, concentrated pockets of local wealth, cathedrals provided many of Europe's best artists with commissions and fame.

Along ancient pilgrimage routes, stories told through stone carvings became the touchstones of Europe's illiterate peasants, and some of the work inside and outside these churches is extraordinary. Look for Romanesque churches from the 11th through 13th centuries, when rich pilgrims, fearing they wouldn't get to heaven any faster than a camel passes through the eye of a needle, tried to garner God's favor by using their wealth to building inns and hospitals for the poor.

Many of Europe's larger cities have covered markets with an amazing array of fresh produce accessible to everyone. Port cities like Cagliary, Sardinia have covered fish markets that rival the kind of fancy city aquariums you find in the US, except that everything is pretty much dead and therefore easy to look at and photograph.

Every large city in Europe has a system of public gardens you can visit for free. In some places, the botanical gardens are under control of Universities who don't charge, but sometimes they do. You'll have to check.

A good Summer morning in Europe can be spent at the local open-air market, where you can stock up on supplies and hang with the locals, followed by a picnic in the park.

For pocket change you can visit some of our favorite European Gardens.

In addition to its many trails in National and Regional parks, Europe has many more trails to allow you to get between villages than the US does, most of them well marked. For a taste, see our Walking in France article. Other historic places to walk free that I like are Rome's Appian Way and the other walks of our Great Walks of Europe article.

Just strolling around Venice will get you in touch with some of the wonders of one of Italy's great maritime republics. Another of those republics, Pisa, can also be seen on a budget by taking the route described in our Insider's Guide to Pisa.

I'm not a beach person, but many people enjoy a day of sea, sand and sunburn.

While there are a surprising number of private beaches in Europe where you'll pay for your lounge chair and two meters of raked sand, you won't have trouble finding beaches of all sizes on the Med, including the ones where you don't have to wear anything at all: Nude Beaches of Europe.

Dune lovers won't want to miss a visit the the Dune du Pilat near Arcachon (France), the largest in Europe.

Don't forget the lakes! Europe has many find resorts along the shores of its lakes, and lakeside promenades are not only free to enjoy, but offer some great dining as well. A lakeside picnic is a great budget travel option. See some of our favorite European Lakes.