Five alternatives to Europe's well-trodden tourist cities

If you would prefer not to queue or compete for vantage points, Europe’s top cities all have a wealth of attractions that fly under the radar. Ronan O’Connell finds five of the best alternatives to the continent’s tourist magnets.

During the pandemic downtime, Greek authorities renovated and upgraded tourism infrastructure at the country’s most visited attraction, the Acropolis. Concrete walkways, wheelchair lifts, golf buggies and even braille signage were recently added to improve access to this 2500-year-old hilltop citadel that looms above Athens. Those changes mean this previously crowded site can now accommodate more tourists than ever.

Meanwhile, a gorgeous Greek island with grand Roman ruins just as old as the Acropolis, not to mention ancient monasteries, endless pristine beaches, and quaint fishing towns, attracts far fewer visitors. And this place, Aegina Island, is just a 40-minute ferry ride off the coast of Athens.

Hire a car and, in the space of a day, you can see all the key sites of Aegina, which is 11km long and 12km wide. You will pass pistachio farms, secluded bays, pretty villages and extraordinary pieces of architecture, such as Agios Nektarios and the Temple of Aphaia.

The former is a relatively new structure – a magnificent hillside monastery topped by towers and a dome which dates to the early 1900s. The latter is 2500 years old. Similar in appearance to the Parthenon, one of the key structures of the Acropolis, the Temple of Aphaia is not just attractive and remarkably old. It also owns a lofty perch which provides views across the island and the waters of the Saronic Gulf all the way back to Athens.

Suffocating crowds are a frequent complaint of visitors to Venice, yet they are easily avoided by venturing beyond its tourist hub of St Mark’s Square. The streets surrounding St Mark’s are so dense with attractions and laden with stunning architecture that many visitors do not stray far.

Which is why, despite being just 800m to the east, Arsenal Square is comparatively serene. This pretty piazza overlooks Venice's ancient Arsenal, a sprawling, 900-year-old shipyard and armoury. In its heyday, the Arsenal accommodated 2000 workers. They built not just military and commercial vessels, but also weapons for the Venetian army, which was headquartered here back when Venice was a wealthy and independent city-state.

These days this attractive and well-preserved complex is the venue for Venice’s Biennale – a huge exhibition of cinema, music, dance, architecture, theatre and visual arts. The 2022 Venice Biennale is on from now until November 27.

It is easy to understand why visitors flock to Westminster Abbey. This royal church is giant, terrifically ornate and located in a tourist-soaked area of London, near Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and St James’s Park. While that abbey is undeniably splendid and fascinating with 1000 years of history, I prefer a London church that possesses a similarly engaging backstory yet receives a fraction of the tourists.

Constructed by a crew of shadowy knights, Temple Church helped inspire one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of all time. , which in 2006 raked in US$760 million at the box office, used the unique and spectacular interior of this church as one of its key settings.

Enormous and intricate stained-glass windows decorate this round building, which was erected more than 800 years ago by the Knights Templar, a Catholic fighting unit who bonded via mysterious and unusual rituals. Visitors to this church can admire handmade effigies of these ancient warriors.

Lines snaked down the street last October when I visited The Louvre, perhaps the world’s most famous museum. While that stellar attraction is worth the wait, if you are pressed for time there is no need to queue at an equally remarkable museum on the opposite side of Paris’ River Seine.

When many tourists approach the Eiffel Tower, they pass this lesser-known museum that is literally cloaked in Australian Aboriginal artworks, including one of the world's largest Indigenous paintings. Measuring an extraordinary 700m2, this painting by Dayiwul Lirlmim covers the rooftop of the Quai Branly Museum, which also has Australian Aboriginal murals on its facade, ceilings and walls.

This museum houses a giant collection of art and artefacts from Africa, Asia, Oceania and South and Central America, all within a stunning, avant-garde building.

One of the most unusual buildings in Europe, the colossal La Sagrada Familia is a quirkily designed church that looks like it has been torn out of a children’s fantasy book. It is the most famous work of Antoni Gaudi, the Catalan “starchitect” whose cartoonish creations have become some of Barcelona’s key attractions.

Instead of joining the hordes pouring into La Sagrada Familia, explore the far-lesser known Casa Vicens, Gaudi's first architectural project. This breathtaking mansion showcases Gaudi's trademark off-kilter style. Layer upon layer of design vies for your attention both inside and outside Casa Vicens, which is lathered in bright colours, intricate mosaics and complex stucco and stonework.

Gaudi designed this in 1885 for a wealthy financier, using the modernism style of architecture for which Barcelona is now so renowned. These days Casa Vicens is a museum to Gaudi’s genius, and also houses a bookshop and cafe in its lush garden.