This post was originally published on A Globe Well Travelled in 2014. The content has been revised and updated with fresh information.
My favourite travel memories usually aren’t the ones where I’ve visited crowded tourist attractions.
It’s the moments where I’ve stumbled across something unusual or discovered a place that most travellers don’t even realise exists that end up being the most memorable stops on a trip.
Everyone knows to visit famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Astronomical Clock in Prague, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin or the Colosseum in Rome. But Europe is full of strange, quirky and fascinating places that many tourists completely overlook.
If you’re looking to get off the well-trodden tourist trail, here are my top 12 hidden gems in Europe that most travellers don’t know about.
Quick summary:
Looking for unusual places to visit in Europe? From a castle built into a cliff in Slovenia to a tunnel beneath Hamburg and mysterious gardens in Portugal, this guide highlights 12 fascinating hidden gems across Europe that adventurous travellers shouldn’t miss.
Recommended tours & tickets:
🍻 Budapest: Ruin Bars Tour – Visit iconic ruin pubs with street food and drink tastings included.
🎟️ Quinta da Regaleira Entry Ticket – Explore Sintra’s mysterious gardens, tunnels and the famous Initiation Well.
🏰 Predjama Castle & Postojna Cave Tour – Day trip from Ljubljana visiting Slovenia’s cave castle and underground caverns.
⚛️ Brussels Atomium Entry Ticket – Visit the iconic futuristic structure with exhibitions and panoramic city views
🦴 Kutná Hora Bone Chapel Day Trip – Visit the eerie Sedlec Ossuary and historic silver town from Prague.
🚇 Stockholm Subway Art Tour – Guided tour of Stockholm’s most impressive metro stations and underground artworks.
🎨 East Side Gallery Walking Tour – Guided walk exploring Berlin Wall murals and Cold War history.
12 unusual and underrated attractions across Europe:
1. Ruin Pubs (Budapest, Hungary)
You absolutely cannot head to Hungary without visiting a few of Budapest’s ruin pubs! What are ruin pubs, you ask? Well, if you head into the Jewish Quarter, you’ll find a collection of once derelict warehouses and factories that have been transformed into happening bars.
These quirky bars have become some of the most popular nightlife spots in Budapest. They are often decorated with upcycled furniture and wacky decorations that you’d probably find in a scrap yard or buried deep in a box of junk at an antique store.
🍻 If you’d like to experience Budapest’s famous ruin bars with a local guide, you can join a tour through the Jewish Quarter that includes street art, street food and drink tastings.
2. Solheimasandur Plane Wreck (Iceland)
In 1973, a US Navy DC-3 plane crashed on the black sand plains along Iceland’s south coast. Thankfully everyone on board survived, but the wreckage was left behind — and today it’s become one of the country’s most unusual photo spots.
Getting to Sólheimasandur can be tricky. There’s no obvious signage from the main road, but you’ll usually notice a small parking area with a few cars pulled over. From there it takes about 40 minutes to walk across the black sand plain to reach the wreckage.
The walk itself is fairly monotonous, but once you arrive it’s worth it. The skeletal remains of the aircraft sitting alone in the middle of the stark volcanic landscape create a really eerie scene — and you can climb right inside the fuselage for some great photos.
If you’re not keen on the long walk, there’s also a shuttle bus that runs from the parking area to the plane wreck, which makes visiting a lot easier.
3. Quinta da Regaleira (Sintra, Portugal)
Just a short walk from the centre of Sintra sits one of the most fascinating estates in Portugal: Quinta da Regaleira. I’d heard the gardens were beautiful before my visit — but I wasn’t expecting them to be quite so impressive.
While the palace itself is interesting enough, the real magic of Regaleira is in the sprawling gardens. Hidden caves, secret grottoes and underground tunnels wind through the grounds, and wandering the pathways almost feels like a “choose your own adventure.” Every time you follow a staircase or duck through a tunnel, you end up somewhere completely unexpected.
The most famous feature here is the Initiation Well, a deep stone tower that spirals down into the earth via a narrow staircase. Walking down into the well is a pretty cool experience in itself, but the best part is that tunnels at the bottom connect to other hidden corners of the gardens. It’s a wonderfully strange place to explore and easily one of the most unique sights in Sintra.
🎟️ If you’d like to explore the tunnels and the famous Initiation Well yourself, you can book your Quinta da Regaleira entry tickets here.
4. Predjama Castle (Predjama, Slovenia)
About an hour’s drive from Ljubljana sits one of the most unusual castles I’ve ever visited: Predjama Castle. I’ve seen plenty of castles around Europe, so my expectations weren’t particularly high — but this one is completely different. The entire medieval fortress is built directly into the mouth of a cave in a towering limestone cliff.
From the outside, the castle almost looks like it’s been wedged into the rock face. Once inside, it becomes clear just how cleverly the building was designed to work with the natural cave system behind it.
The visit is done with an audio guide, which was surprisingly good and perfectly timed to make the tour last about an hour. Along the way we learned about the hidden escape routes through the caves behind the castle and how the residents used the cave system to access fresh running water during sieges. It’s easily one of the most unique castles in Europe and definitely worth adding to any Slovenia road trip!
🏰 If you’re staying in Ljubljana, the easiest way to visit is by booking a Predjama Castle & Postojna Cave day tour.
5. The 199 Steps to Whitby Abbey (Whitby, England)
One of the most iconic things to do in the seaside town of Whitby is climbing the famous 199 Steps that connect the harbour with the clifftop above. The long stone staircase winds its way up the hill from the old town and leads directly to Whitby Abbey.
When we stopped here during our England road trip, the climb was easily my favourite part of visiting Whitby. The steps are a bit of a workout, but the views back over the harbour and red-roofed houses get better the higher you go.
At the top you’ll find the ruins of Whitby Abbey perched on the headland overlooking the North Sea. The dramatic setting helped inspire Bram Stoker while writing Dracula, and once you reach the top it’s easy to see why — the whole place has a wonderfully eerie atmosphere.
6. The Atomium (Brussels, Belgium)
The museum itself isn’t all that interesting, but the Brussels Atomium was awesome purely because the structure is so damn weird.
Constructed for the 1958 world fair, the Atomium stands a little way out of the city but is easily accessible by train. Once inside, there are numerous exhibitions in 5 of the spheres, connected by stairs or escalators that travel through the long cylinders between them.
⚛️ If you’re planning to go inside and explore the exhibitions, it’s a good idea to book your Atomium entry tickets in advance.
7. Sedlec Ossuary Bone Chapel (Kutna Hora, Czechia)
What if I told you that there is a chapel in Czechia that is decorated with the bones of 40,000 plague victims? Yep, it actually exists. You can take a day trip to Kutna Hora from Prague to visit Sedlec Ossuary — a weird and wacky attraction in the Czech countryside.
It’s a strange feeling walking into this chapel of bones and knowing that there are so many skeletons in there, seemingly watching your every move. The bones are arranged to create strange decorations in the basement of the chapel.
🦴 If you’d like to visit the Sedlec Ossuary bone chapel, it’s easy to join a Kutná Hora day trip from Prague.
8. Strahov Monastery (Prague, Czechia)
Many of our favourite places are often beer-related, but this place puts a twist on your average Czech Pils as it the recipe was originally made by monks, and is served in a monastery.
Strahov Monastery is perched on the hill behind Prague Castle and has a fabulous view of the city. The building itself is super pretty and guided tours are available if that tickles your fancy. The on-site restaurant is where you’ll find the local brews served, which is positioned right at the top of a breathtaking walk back down the hill.
9. Stockholm Metro Stations (Stockholm, Sweden)
The Stockholm subway has been called the ‘world’s longest art exhibit’ as it stretches for 110km. Over 90 of the city’s 100 subway stations are decorated, with installations from over 150 artists.
I did a self guided tour of Stockholm’s subway stations and was super impressed with the incredible ways in which each station was adorned. The impressive Rådhuset station (pictured above) was my fave from our makeshift tour – the red rock juxtaposed with the modern escalators gave the whole place a surreal look. It felt like we were wandering through a futuristic cave.
🚇 If you’d like to see the most impressive stations and learn more about the artwork, joining a guided Stockholm metro art tour is a great way to explore the system.
10. East Side Gallery (Berlin, Germany)
Parts of the Berlin Wall still stand, and this particular section has been used for artistic expression. The East Side Gallery is positioned along the bank of the river between Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum Bridge) and Ostbahnhof station, and stretches for 1.3km (0.8 miles) making it the longest open air gallery in the world.
The artworks on the East Side Gallery portray the feelings of fright, uproar, and relief that Berlin’s inhabitants experienced during these terrifying moments in the city’s history. It’s a truly interesting place to spend an hour or two exploring.
🎨 If you’d like to learn more about the murals and the history behind the Berlin Wall, you can join a guided tour of East Side Gallery.
11. Old Elbe Tunnel (Hamburg, Germany)
One of our favourite discoveries in Hamburg was the historic Old Elbe Tunnel, which runs underneath the Elbe River. When it opened in 1911, the tunnel was built so dockworkers could easily reach the busy port on the opposite side of the river.
The entrance is pretty cool in itself. On street level there are several enormous vintage elevators — big enough to carry cars — which take visitors down to the tunnel level. Once underground, you can walk the full length of the tiled tunnel to the other side of the river.
When we visited, we strolled all the way through hoping to see the view back toward Hamburg’s skyline from the far side. Unfortunately it was so foggy that day we couldn’t see much at all! Even so, walking through the tunnel was a really fun experience and it ended up being one of my favourite quirky attractions in the city.
12. The Kelpies (Falkirk, Scotland)
Because I’m a bit obsessed with public art, we made a stop at The Kelpies during our Scotland road trip. These enormous horse-head sculptures sit in Helix Park, about a 45-minute drive from Edinburgh, and they’re seriously impressive in person.
Installed in 2013, the sculptures stand about 30 metres tall and represent kelpies — mythical shape-shifting water spirits from Scottish folklore. From a distance they’re striking enough, but the real wow moment comes when you walk right up underneath them.
Standing at the base of the sculptures really puts their size into perspective. The intricate steel framework and curved shapes are incredibly detailed, and it’s the kind of artwork where you can easily spend a while just wandering around and looking up at it from different angles.
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