Top Underrated European Cities for Elegant Sustainable Travel

By David Porter

You have surely been in front of the Eiffel Tower. Perhaps throwing a coin in the Trevi fountain. There’s nothing wrong with those towns – they’re iconic for a reason.

But have you ever experienced a city that doesn’t need to prove itself? That just hums along quietly. One that doesn’t crash your Instagram but lingers with you long after you’ve left.

These cities have no ads. But they shouldn’t have to. They are already offering the kind of travel we say we want, more thoughtful, less fast & brutish, more human and quietly & gently kind to earth.

Let’s discuss a few of them.

1. Ljubljana

In Ljubljana, you won’t see billboards advertising sustainability. You’ll simply feel how easy it is to breathe. One fifth of the area of the city is preserved nature, and the car-free center of town has been a quiet reality, not a fad - but a conscious choice to make space for people, not cars.

Stroll past the Triple Bridge in the early morning and witness the vendors preparing for the day in the outdoor market, baskets of foraged mushrooms and honey harvested from hives just outside of town. The entire place is powered by a deep belief in a philosophy of tourism that leaves things better than it found them.

Since 2018, Ljubljana has participated in the Global Destination Sustainability Index, increasing its score through green mobility, waste reduction, and community-focused planning.

Spend a night or two in a Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism certified guesthouse and you’ll find the difference in your dinner each evening, hear it in the silence of the streets, and take it home with you.

2. Graz

Graz does not do sustainability. It experiences it. In 2025, it is a finalist for the European Green Capital award – and it shows. This city does not want to do this with flashy campaigns but instead plans to double the number of cyclists instead through shaded bike lanes, secure parking, and public trust by this year.

You will find drinking water fountains on almost every block, family-run hotels that compost their food scraps, and restaurants like Mangolds Eco-Lifestyle, where the menu is based on the harvest. Even soup gets a look in: Bo Suppe produces daily soup bowls made exclusively from local sources, because care can be delicious.

Graz is a city that reminds us how to live slowly, but not unfashionably. The fact that it incorporates Renaissance warmth and sensibility with green innovation isn’t paradoxical. Consider it a promise.

3. Maastricht

Maastricht is the southernmost city of the Netherlands and is as slow as a river; steady, reflective, and in no rush whatsoever. No neon signs, no crowds fighting for photo ops. Nothing but limestone facades, candlelit wine bars, and bookshops where the owner might “hand you a novel just because it reminded me of you”.

Whereas Amsterdam suffers from overtourism, Maastricht has eco-tours that guide you through vineyards, limestone caves and artisans who still hand-make pottery. Public transport is efficient, but the majority of visitors do so on foot because it is all quite close, and meant to be strolled, lingered over, and intimate with.

This is a city where success is measured not by the foot traffic of tourists, but by the capacity to keep the city’s soul intact.

4. Vilnius

Quiet work in this sense has led to Vilnius being the European Green Capital in 2025.

The city is not just greening itself; it is fundamentally reinventing how it wants to be urban. More than just aesthetics, this is a community concerned with 100% renewable energy, eco-art projects and clean-ups led by students.

Stroll through the Užupis “independent republic” bohemian district and you’ll see cafes that use compostable packaging not to be cool, but for the right reason to do this. Older buildings are being retrofitted with solar panels; linens are sourced from flax farms in Lithuania.

Vilnius is evidence that sustainability doesn't have to feel like deprivation. But this is all about alignment, history with progress, visitors with residents, beauty with responsibility.

5. Riga

Riga could get by on its Art Nouveau architecture. But it opts for depth. Past the decorative fronts, though, there is a city with Bastejkalns Park and Kronvalda Park with locals picnicking under the old oaks in Alberta iela.

Green accommodations like Neiburgs Hotel mix historical pizzazz with modern efficiency, or as they put it, reclaimed wood, low-flow showers, local Latvian dairy and rye breakfast.

In the converted zeppelin hangars that serve as the Central Market, farmers come into the city to sell berries and herbs and smoked fish from their villages. It is an invitation. And within that invitation, you experience a travel experience that is authentic, grounded, and unique.

Final Thoughts

These are cities that don’t require your approval. They’re not holding their breath for your five-star review. But they invite you in – not as a consumer, but as a guest.

And maybe, the real luxury isn’t the marble lobbies and the Michelin stars but rather knowing that your presence is as it should be, for the right reasons.