City guides for visitors

Which ticket, which day trip, which neighbourhood.

City guides for visitors, checked against the operators' own pages: what to book before you go, and what to leave until you get there.

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A tall Christmas tree and the nativity scene in St Peter's Square, with the obelisk and the basilica's facade behind

Events

Rome at Christmas: Markets, Mass and Closures

The Vatican Museums shut on 8, 25 and 26 December 2026 and close at 15:00 on the 24th and 31st; the Colosseum shuts on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Tickets for the Pope's Christmas Masses are free. The closures day by day, the Piazza Navona fair and how to plan a December visit round them.

  • Christmas
  • Events
  • When to go
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White market chalets and an ice rink on the paved parvis of La Défense, between glass office towers under a clear blue sky

Events

Paris Christmas Markets 2026: Dates and Where

The Notre-Dame market runs from 26 November to 27 December and La Défense's 300 chalets from 12 November to 31 December 2026. The markets with dates announced, the Christmas lights tours, the châteaux that dress up for Christmas, and what closes on 25 December.

  • Christmas
  • Events
  • Markets
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Wooden nativity-scene stalls of the Fira de Santa Llúcia on Avinguda de la Catedral, with shoppers, a caganer figure on a stall roof and a blue winter sky

Events

Barcelona Christmas Market: Dates, Lights, What's Open

Barcelona's Christmas market is the Fira de Santa Llúcia in front of the cathedral, which ran daily from 28 November to 23 December in 2025. The market, the lights, New Year's Eve, the Three Kings parade on 5 January, and which sights close on Christmas Day.

  • Christmas
  • Events
  • Markets
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Looking up a spiral staircase in the Vatican Museums to an octagonal glass skylight

Tickets

Vatican Museums Tickets: Official, Tour or Sold Out

The Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel cost €25 booked on the official site, which is the only official online seller. They are closed on Sundays except the last Sunday of the month. The official ticket, the resales that cost more, and the guided tours that include entry, checked 30 September 2026.

  • Tickets
  • Museums
  • Vatican
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Two rows of tall cypress trees lining a gravel drive across ploughed fields in the Val d'Orcia

Day trip

Tuscany Day Trip from Rome: Montepulciano and Pienza

There is no quick train from Rome to Tuscany's hill towns: Montepulciano is 3¼ hours by Intercity and bus, and Trenitalia sells no journey from Rome to Pienza. The coach tours from Rome to Montepulciano, Pienza and the Val d'Orcia, with lunch at a vineyard, compared on price and route, and how to reach Montepulciano without a tour. Checked 30 September 2026.

  • Day trips
  • Tuscany
  • Wine
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The main dining room of Bouillon Chartier, with tables laid in pink cloths, bentwood chairs, globe chandeliers, a wooden gallery and a glazed roof

Food and drink

Where to Eat in Paris: Bistros, Bakeries and Dinners

Bistros, bouillons, bakeries and special dinners in Paris, ranked by how many independent English and French sources name each place, with its address, what to order and the one thing to know before you go.

  • Food
  • Restaurants
  • Bistros
  • Bakeries
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About City Break Geek

We do the research so you can spend more time having fun.

Prices, opening hours and ticket rules come from the operators' own pages, and every guide shows when it was last updated. Where a guide recommends places, it counts how many independent sources name each one, in English and in the local language, rather than giving our opinion.

Links marked "ad" earn us a commission when you book; recommendations are never paid for. More about how the guides are made.