7 Canal Cities in Europe That Aren't Called Venice

A city crisscrossed by canals - Venice is simply fascinating! And it's overrun with tourists. Where you can find many canals but fewer tourists, the travel bettercities.net reveals.

A little tip in advance: Pay attention to how many of them have 'Venice of the...' as a nickname.

Annecy is located near the French-Swiss border, slightly south of Grenoble, at the mouth of Lake Annecy. Water is not only found by the lakeshore in this city. The Old Town, bordered by the river Le Thiou flowing into the lake, is crisscrossed by canals.

Where the rivers Scheldt and Leie converge in Belgium, you'll find Ghent, a city with 260,000 residents located slightly south of Bruges and Antwerp. In the city center, tourists can see not only canals but also many medieval buildings. The best part: You can easily explore it by foot as the city center is pedestrian-friendly.

Never heard of Empuriabrava? The place is located on the Mediterranean coast in the northeastern part of Spain. If you look at the city on Google Maps, you'll immediately notice that it's crisscrossed by a network of canals leading to a major canal that opens into the sea.

Most houses have direct access to the water and ship docks, of which there are a whopping 5,000 in this town of 7,800 people...

Boats instead of cars - that's what you'll find in Giethoorn, in the Netherlands. This place in the northwest of the country is almost car-free. Waterways, pedestrian paths, and bike trails dominate the area. To the south, it borders the Weerribben-Wieden National Park, a wetland landscape.

Aveiro is a lagoon city in the northwest of Portugal. From the Ria de Aveiro lagoon, three canals stretch into the city south of Porto. Because of these canals, Aveiro is also known as the Venice of Portugal. Colorfully decorated gondolas sail through these canals.

Of course, Germany also has a well-known canal city, namely Hamburg. Bamberg, in the northern part of Bavaria, is a bit more tranquil. The city is located at the junction of the Regnitz and Main rivers. Bamberg's center is known as the Island City or Little Venice.

The city located far in the northwest of Russia, near the borders of Finland and Estonia, lies on the Gulf of Finland. The Neva River branches into several small canals in Saint Petersburg, which then lead into the sea. The city comprises 42 small islands connected by about 340 bridges.