9 nights Atlantic Europe from Southampton (London)

Cruises from Southampton are part of a storied maritime heritage. Famous ships have sailed from Southampton port and, before commercial air travel, it was the gateway to the world with Hollywood celebrities like Bette Davis and Elizabeth Taylor passing through to board a Southampton cruise. In its atmospheric Old Town, 12th-century churches, cobbled streets, and timber-framed houses like the impressive Tudor House & Garden sit side-by-side, surrounded by one of the most complete Medieval city walls in the UK where the Bargate – the ancient entrance – still stands intact. There are bustling marina-side bars, shiny shopping districts and a vibrant cultural quarter where the Mayflower Theatre puts on West End musicals and the SeaCity Museum catalogues Southampton’s seafaring past. Some of England’s most impressive landmarks are an easy drive away, including the Neolithic wonder Stonehenge, the picturesque spa city Bath or Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern and Tower Bridge in the bustling ca…

Brest is a port town in the Brittany region on the west coast of France. Your MSC cruise will take you on the discovery of a place full of charm, history and culture, set in a natural inlet whose beauty will leave you breathless. There are many things to be seen in Brest, including the Tanguy Tower which houses historical findings from the city dating from ancient times to the period of World Wars. Another institution worth visiting is the National Maritime Museum located inside Château de Brest containing a real submarine. To start your tour of Brest, you can walk along Rue de Siam, a lively commercial district. The look of the road is severe, in full 1950s style. Both here and the entire district found between Pont deRecouvrance and the Town Hall is filled with large multi-story residential buildings, symmetrically arranged on a perfectly straight axis. Pont de Recouvrance, which dominates the docks and military port, was built in 1954 with a vertical lifting device. For a long time…

Strung out over a series of hills facing the glistening waters of the broad estuary of the Tejo, Lisbon is one of Europe’s most handsome cities. Although its modern suburbs are ungainly, the historic centre is relatively compact and easy to explore in just a day when your MSC cruise takes you to the Lisbon. The oldest part of the city, the warren of streets that make up the Alfama, sits below the spectacularly sited Moorish Castelo de São Jorge, its ruined walls facing another hill, the Bairro Alto or upper town, famed for its bars, restaurants and vibrant nightlife. The valley between these hills makes up the Baixa., or lower town. The tall, imposing buildings that make up the Baixa (Lower Town) house some of Lisbon’s most interesting shops and cafés. A shore excursion on your MSC Mediterranean cruise can be the opportunity to reach via a narrow walkway the impressive Torre de Belém (Tower of Belém), an iconic symbol of Lisbon. It typifies M anueline style that was prominent during t…

Settled on the Strait of Gibraltar, Tangier, an MSC Mediterranean Cruises destination, is an energetic and multicultural port. This magical Moroccan city is distinguished by its whitewashed Medina, maze of evocative alleys, bustling squares, and fascinating people. Glimpse the Dar el Makhzen palace, the Church of Saint Andrew, Jardins de la Mendoubia park, and the famous Bab Al Fahs gate. Further afield, visit natural wonders including the surreal Caves of Hercules.

The elegant central zone of Málaga – a stop-off on your MSC cruise of the Mediterranean – is largely pedestrianized with the focal point, marble-paved Calle Marqués de Larios, lined with fashionable stores, its most elegant thoroughfare. Plaza de la Constitución, Málaga’s main square, hosts a monumental fountain flanked by slender palms and the terraces of numerous cafés and restaurants. Málaga centre has a number of interesting churches and museums, not to mention the birthplace of Picasso and the Museo Picasso Málaga, housing an important collection of works by Málaga’s most famous son. Perched on the hill above the town are the formidable citadels of the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro, magnificent vestiges of the seven centuries that the Moors held sway here. Málaga is also renowned for its fish and seafood, which can be sampled at tapas bars and restaurants throughout the city, as well as at the old fishing villages of El Palo and Pedregalejo, now absorbed into the suburbs, where there’s…

Cádiz is among the oldest settlements in Spain and one of the country’s principal ports. On an MSC Mediterranean cruise excursion, you can visit its old town, built on a peninsula-island, and remaining much as it must have looked in those days, with grand, open squares, sailors’ alleyways and high, turreted houses. Literally crumbling from the effect of the sea air on its soft limestone, it has a tremendous atmosphere – while slightly seedy, definitely in decline, it is nevertheless full of mystique. The Museo de Cádiz, the province’s most important, overlooks the leafy Plaza de Mina and incorporates the archaeological museum on the ground floor with many important finds and artefacts from the city’s lengthy history. Almost irresistible, even if you don’t normally go for High Baroque, is the attraction of the huge and seriously crumbling eighteenth-century Catedral Nueva. Cádiz is one of Spain’s top holiday cruise destinations for its cathedral, too, decorated entirely in stone, with…

Cruises from Southampton are part of a storied maritime heritage. Famous ships have sailed from Southampton port and, before commercial air travel, it was the gateway to the world with Hollywood celebrities like Bette Davis and Elizabeth Taylor passing through to board a Southampton cruise. In its atmospheric Old Town, 12th-century churches, cobbled streets, and timber-framed houses like the impressive Tudor House & Garden sit side-by-side, surrounded by one of the most complete Medieval city walls in the UK where the Bargate – the ancient entrance – still stands intact. There are bustling marina-side bars, shiny shopping districts and a vibrant cultural quarter where the Mayflower Theatre puts on West End musicals and the SeaCity Museum catalogues Southampton’s seafaring past. Some of England’s most impressive landmarks are an easy drive away, including the Neolithic wonder Stonehenge, the picturesque spa city Bath or Buckingham Palace, Tate Modern and Tower Bridge in the bustling ca…