My three tests of a great small city are as follows: they should be walkable, likeable and have plenty of culture (WLC). Not too grand; a bit offbeat if possible; proud and independent, but not so much they become boring.
I’m aware that I am leaving out the two most populous countries in the world in the list below. China: I struggle to put “small” and “Chinese city” in the same sentence. India? I just can’t. Time and time again I’ve been there expecting a human-sized city experience — Shimla? Pondicherry? Jodhpur? — only to find a sprawling megalopolis that could comfortably absorb the West Midlands.
I think “small city” and I inevitably think “Europe”. And we must begin in the country that does small cities better than anyone else. And that would be . . . Germany.
Main photo: Marazion in Cornwall (Alamy)
1. Freiburg, Germany (pop 230,000)
Germany as a unified state is a modern concept. For many centuries, its landmass had more princes, dukes, chancellors and potentates than types of sausage, and those local rulers all required their own pocket-sized capital.
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My favourite is the sunny, studenty, super-green city of Freiburg (properly, Freiburg im Breisgau), also an important spot for Black Forest gateau. But you could pick from dozens and dozens.
2. Salzburg, Austria (pop 151,000)
Over the border, Salzburg scores well on WLC and with Mozart, you can make that a C squared. Add a third C: cake. It is hard to explain why, but a great small city should always be a great place to eat cake; try the Nussschnecke.
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3. Ljubljana, Slovenia (pop 285,000)
Ljubljana would probably be voted capital of the small cities if we put it to a global referendum. It is cute, historic, green, gabled, peaceful and foodie. Go in summer to cycle along the river and climb up to the castle, perched on a 375m hill east of the Old Town.
4. Tromso, Norway (pop 77,000)
Scandinavia? You’re spoilt. Even the big cities here feel like small cities. Try a tri-civic tour of Norway’s west coast (not that it has an east one): wooden Stavanger, art deco Alesund and colourful Bergen.
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Best of all, head north, cross into the Arctic Circle and over some very long bridges onto the island of Tromsoya. The place where Roald Amundsen set out for the North Pole still has an edgy, frontier atmosphere. In summer everyone gets drunk on daylight, and in winter it’s packed with northern lights tourists wearing head torches.
5. La Rochelle, France (pop 74,000)
I have always had a soft spot for La Rochelle, a pretty but largely unglamorous fishing port on the Atlantic coast. If it’s glamour you want, cross the bridge to the Île de Ré — it’s like one big upscale boutique.
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6. Malaga, Spain (pop 591,000)
I shall choose Malaga over Cordoba, Seville and Granada. Constrained by the mountains and the Med, it is used by most visitors as a hopping-off point for the Costa del Sol or the white villages, but it shouldn’t be — it’s finally capitalised on its Picasso connection to become a boutique destination with real cultural clout.
7. Pisa, Italy (pop 99,000)
Pisa is perhaps a quixotic choice for a land that has Padua, Trieste and Ancona — and that’s just the less famous small cities. This is a city that’s much more than a building that tilts 3.99 degrees from the vertical. The tower and its neighbouring cathedral and baptistry are sublime buildings. Overtourism is a distant memory and this is a wonderful time to wander the old town on either side of the Arno.
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8. Napier, New Zealand (pop 56,000)
The New World small city is a slightly different proposition — natural setting may be as big a factor as the culture thing. But Napier in New Zealand has both: North Island beauty and lots of art deco architecture.
9. Hobart, Australia (pop 240,000)
Adelaide is often described as a big country town. Unlike the overbearing cities to its east, it’s fantastically easy to get to proper bush, outback and winelands. Perth has a lot more WLC than you might expect from its glitzy, yacht-filled, mining-dosh reputation. But in population and dominating-their-states terms, both are huge. So, we must hand the accolade to the Tasmanian capital, which has gone from a slightly neglected, borderline weird outpost to a proper regional centre of arts, food and exploration.
10. Scottsdale, US (pop 244,000)
Upscale Scottsdale is a city in its own right, albeit grafted onto the uncontrolled sprawl that is Phoenix, Arizona. It has Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter retreat and school, and good local wine, amazingly.
See the best places to visit in America in 2022
11. Trinidad, Cuba (pop 73,000)
Trinidad (yes, the name is confusing) is a nicely preserved colonial, coastal town on a hillside in the middle of Cuba. It’s a relief after the hustle of Havana, with cobbled streets, candy-coloured houses and a brilliant music scene.
12. Ito, Japan (pop 72,000)
Asia has problems with walkability and containing a city once it’s got going. I love the scruffy, arty, foody southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. Then I looked up the population: 857,000. You can’t have a small city that has as many people as Fiji.
I have a soft spot for Ito, once a weekend escape for the Tokyo smart set of the 1920s. It’s also where William Adams, the hero of James Clavell’s Shogun and Giles Milton’s Samurai William, had his shipyard and estate.
13. Berwick-upon-Tweed, England (pop 13,000)
Let me put the flat cap of my local town into the ring. Berwick-upon-Tweed has a turbulent history, some cracking bridges and a pressing need of the civic upgrade city status is designed to bring.
It might even become a city-state in time, which might stop the Scottish and English fighting over it for the 138th time, a prospect we’d be wise not to discount these days.
Hadrian’s Wall, Roman Britain & Borders Full-Day Tour
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