For any 4+ night trip, public transport quality affects how much you actually see. Here's the honest ranking from a traveler's perspective.
Best transport (you barely need taxis)
- Vienna: The U-Bahn covers every neighborhood. Trams fill the gaps. €17.10/week unlimited. Hard to beat.
- Berlin: Combined U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram, bus network is dense. Single ticket transfers across all of them.
- Munich: Smaller than Berlin but the U-Bahn frequency is exceptional.
- Madrid: Cheapest big-city metro in Europe (€1.50-€2 per ride) and 12 lines.
- Stockholm: The metro art alone is worth riding. Reliable, clean, extensive.
- Helsinki: Trams are extensive in central; new metro extension covers Espoo.
- Prague: 3 metro lines plus the densest tram network in Europe.
Good transport with caveats
- London: Tube is dense but slow with transfers. Plan stays around 1-2 lines max.
- Paris: Excellent metro but stations are far apart in some arrondissements.
- Amsterdam: Trams are great. Metro is limited. Bike is the actual answer.
- Lisbon: Metro covers central neighborhoods; trams 28 and 12 are picturesque but tourist-clogged.
Surprisingly hard to get around
- Rome: Only 3 metro lines, two of which serve few sights. Walking and bus is the reality.
- Athens: Metro covers the centre but lots of sights are bus-only.
- Naples: Old metro is unreliable; new metro is beautiful but limited.
- Dublin: No metro. Just buses and the Luas tram, neither covering the airport well.
- Edinburgh: No metro. Buses are fine but tourists still walk most things.
Why it matters for booking
In Vienna or Berlin, almost any neighborhood works because transport saves you. In Rome or Athens, the wrong neighborhood adds 30 min of walking per day. The right base matters more in low-transport cities.