Bydgoszcz, Poland

Surrounded by industrial and retail sprawl, first impressions of Bydgoszcz aren't good, but persist and you'll find the city has a charming heart, bisected by a fast-flowing river, adorned with the full range of architectural styles on offer in Poland and undergoing extensive renovations. Throw in the student-fuelled nightlife and cultural scene and you've got a good reason to hop over from Toruń, just 45km to the east, or to linger for a day or two. Originally developed around a fortified medieval settlement strategically located on the River Brda, close to its confluence with the Wisa, Bydgoszcz only really took off at the end of the eighteenth century when, as the Prussian town of Bromberg, it became the hub of an important waterway system due to the construction of a canal linking the Wisa to the Odra. During World War II, the city suffered particularly badly at the hands of the Nazis: mass executions of civilians followed its fall, and by the end of the war more than fifty thousand people – a quarter of the population – had been murdered, with many of the rest deported to labour and concentration camps.