Europe Explore Europe Like Never Before!

European High Streets

The high street of any town is always a good place to go in order to get a feel for the place. That’s the centre and the main area for commerce and entertainment, so it’s the place that shows a town or a city at its best. The same is true of course of European high streets, and particularly in the smaller towns and cities this is the place to go if you want to go shopping, get something to eat or enjoy a night out. At the same time they also provide a great starting point when exploring a new European town or city. Ask a local how to get to the  nearest high street and you will have access to all the other streets and roads and usually any major sites or attractions will be located right on the high street.

European high streets are in most European towns, and the majority of the smaller towns and cities will have just one or two high streets of which one will be the ‘main high street’. Where ever you are then in most European countries you will be able to find and access samples of European high streets. However some European high streets have grown so large impressive that they are more famous than the other European high streets and are in fact an attraction in their own right. Perhaps the two most famous of these European high streets are the Champ Elysee and Oxford Street which are incredibly well known and very ‘happening’ places to be.

Starting with the Champ Elysee in Paris, this is arguably the most famous of all European high streets. The thing that makes the most impact first of all is the incredible view, which is achieved by the simple fact that this is one of the longest of all European high streets and is a completely straight line meaning that you can see from one end to the other. This is also one of the few European high streets to also boast a row of incredible sites as well so you can get some culture and some shopping in at once, and from the end you can see the sites lined up perfectly demonstrating the incredible planning that has clearly gone into Paris’ roads. These sites are the Arc de Triumph, the Concorde (a large Obelisk) and the fantastic Louvre museum. Like other European high streets however it also offers incredible shopping centres, arcades and superstores, some of the trendiest looking bars in Europe and all manner of things going on from parades to car expos making it the king of European high streets.

Oxford Street in London comes not far behind however and is  famous apart from anything else for its inclusion on the Monopoly board. On its own though it also features some of the most impressive shopping of all European high streets and has hundreds of up-market department stores and designer shops making it the kind of European equivalent of Rodeo Drive. The only difficulty with Oxford Street, as with many of the better European high streets, is beating the crowds – so make sure you go early or during a week day.