Non-crowded, flat cities in Europe?

If you want non-crowded cities Bruges is really not the best place to go to. But the first city that comes to mind for a flat and non-crowded experience is Copenhagen.

Where does the cruise begin, and how close do you want/need to be?

Thank you all. First, we've already spent considerable time in Copenhagen are looking for something even a little more quiet.

Our cruise departs from Southampton. As for being close to there, it doesn't really matter. We're fine spending a day flying to London and taking the shuttle bus to the port.

I haven't been to Ghent at all and my last time in Brussels was in the early 80's, so I can't comment on them.

We rented an apartment in Bruges in early April, 2013. We were there for a week. It was not crowded at all during that time. We're also "slow" travelers and we found plenty to see and do there besides the usually listed tourist places. I was surprised by the canals and thoroughly enjoyed a boat tour on them.

I have knee problems, too, so I understand the concern. I resisted cortisone shots for years, but finally gave in for a trip in 2012. Now I don't go to Europe without them.

Bruges has an area with windmills on a small hill. The Halve Maan brewery tour has lots of stairs. The museums often have a few stairs to negotiate, but most had handrails and elevators. Getting into and out of the tour boat was a bit challenging.

The rest of our walking was flat, flat, flat, but there are cobblestones, making the walking rough.

My first thought was The Netherlands. We spent two wonderful weeks in beautiful Leiden and did easy day trips by train to many other towns, cities.
I have been to Brussels and Bruges but much prefer The Netherlands.
Totally different, but the town of Bevagna in Umbria is flat. A handicapped friend had asked us to be on the look out for flat towns for him to stay.

Even more quiet than Copenhagen, then Bruges is really not for you. Since it is one of the four charming towns that Americans are aware of (a bit exaggerated, but there is some truth to it) it sees quite a lot of tourists. Although September isn't really high season.

Groningen (NL), Aachen (D) or Lille (F) are three other suggestion that are all within pretty easy reach of Southampton, especially Lille that has direct trains to London. Or you could look at smaller Danish towns, like Odense, Århus or Ålborg. Or maybe Lund across the border in Sweden, small charming and flat university town with good train connections if you want to do daytrips. Helsingborg a bit further north is nice, but maybe a bit too hilly (There is a large ridge going through the town). Or if we are talking Swedish university towns, Uppsala, home to Sweden's oldest university (founded in 1477) and the largest cathedral in the Nordics, as well as a lot of Viking history. And well connected for day trips. It is built on an esker though so while it in general is pretty flat there are some hills (but there are buses that can help you get up the hill). I'd love to recommend Visby but unfortunately it is not even close to flat. (This became a very Swedish list but it was a tricky question.)

My first thought was The Netherlands.

The Netherlands was my first thought as well, then I thought about non-crowded and my second thought was Denmark.

Hamburg is flat

Here are some ideas that you could look into. A smaller town, pretty flat with a great mixture of Christian, Jewish and Arabic influence is Mazara del Vallo on the southwestern tip of Sicily. Very near the extensive ruins at Selinunte. At Selinunte they have small trams that can take you from one area to the next. Siracusa and Ortygia in Sicily is mostly flat. Lots to see and do there but could be busier than you like. Most of Sicily is hilly. Palermo is flat and tons to see and do but it is a major city. Elsewhere is Italy, I enjoyed Ferrara. It is flat. Has a pretty central plaza and market and a castle all within easy walking distance. Maybe Padua? I remember that town as flat. Have you been to Garmisch/Partenkirchen in Germany? I know you are surrounded by mountains but the town(s) are relatively flat and the scenery is beautiful. Also daytrips to Oberammergau or Mittenwald are easy to do. Again, both towns are flat while surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery. Even Innsbruck, Austria can be done as a daytrip from Gamisch by train. We did that. It was also walkable and flat.

A very tranquil pretty place that is easily walkable and fairly flat in Ireland is Kinsale. Or look into Killarney or Kenmare and that would place you close to Ring of Kerry that you could do with a day tour. I remember that the town of Killarney itself was flat but the neighboring park does have its hills. Ghent, Bruges and Brussels are relatively flat.

Brussels is much hillier than you would expect. Kerbs/curbs are much higher than you'd expect too.

An interesting thing about Bruges is that we ended up there on THE busiest day of the year (Ascension Day: UNESCO-recognized "Procession of the Blood") and managed just fine, both on that day and the 3 following days. The central Markt and Burg were cluttered with throngs of visitors but we found plenty of breathing room away from those two squares. They were also blessedly free of tourist hordes early in the morning and in the evening. The best museums were not overcrowded at all, and it's a very easy day trip to Ghent from there by train. If you have time for a third location, I'd look at Antwerp versus Brussels.

Yes, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp were all relatively flat and easily walked, although you might want a taxi lift from train station to your hotel. Central Bruges and Ghent were pretty compact; Antwerp was larger, and Brussels larger than that.

Krakow, Poland

Riga, Latvia.
It is flat. I bet you haven’t been there yet.

I remember Ravenna, Padua, and Vicenza (Italy) as being quite flat. And the previously mentioned Ferrara is in that general area.

How about smaller cities in the Netherlands, places like Utrecht, Gouda and Den Haag?

I thought of Gdansk (Poland) and L'viv (Ukraine), but their core historic areas are quite touristy--as is Krakow's.

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions!

We've spent a week in Krakow last summer (part of our trip w/ Ljubljana).

Riga has really piqued my interest.

Thank you so much. These are all great ideas and give me plenty to explore.

Odense in Denmark. Easy to reach by train from the airport in Copenhagen.

Acraven's suggestion brings Bologna to my mind. It's a rail hub and surprisingly untouristy, making it a good base to visit other "flat" towns, like Ravenna (which is well worth a night or two), Ferrara and Padua. There are other towns that are easy to commute to from Bologna, but not having been to them, I can't say if they are flat.

Hi
I have cycled around both Bruges and Ghent and they are flat but Brussels does have hills although neither steep nor long. They have good public transit so it shouldn’t be a big problem.
The only negative that I see is getting from Ghent to Southampton.
My suggestion to avoid the time, cost and effort would be to visit Salisbury. It is easily reachable from London airports. The city is relatively small and flat with a great Cathedral, Wilton House is in a lovely village a mile or two from town on frequent public transit, Stonehenge and Sarum on a local bus route, and The New Forest is great for a walk or drive.
If you have a car, there are loads of day trips ,ie Avebury Stone Circle, Longleat and Petsworth Estate, and Arundal Castle.
By train a day trip to the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard or Winchester Cathedral would be easy although the moving around some of the ships in the dockyard could be tricky with a bad knee ( but I am 6 foot 4 and was ducking constantly on Nelson’s flagship ). There is more than a day’s worth of things to see and boat rides around the harbour. It is only about 10 minutes from the Portsmouth Harbour train station to the dockyards.
The big plus is that at the end of your visit, you have a 30 minute direct train ride to Southampton and a short taxi ride to the ship.
Hope this is food for thought

I'll second Ravenna. Flat, uncrowded, and just very comfortable. The several ancient churches, and their mosaics, are stunning; San Vitale in particular has to be on any art lover's shortlist. I would imagine other nearby cities along that coast, such as Rimini, will have similarly flat terrain; if so, a nice day trip.

My wife had a bad knee and later had a knee replacement.
She did just fine in a wheelchair, and we took a repositioning cruise to Southampton.
I towed her suitcase and had a backpack carry on for my things.
She wanted to use the chair again because of how well we were treated going to the front of every line. I refused telling it was her time to travel again on foot as her leg's doing well.
She's been back to Europe twice since.
And yes, those with mobility issues can still travel if they use resources in place.

There are many flat cities in Europe. Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Venice, London (pretty much), Dublin, Berlin, Warsaw, Gdansk, St. Petersburg, Odessa, and more.

Can't say those are uncrowded cities. Most European cities have excellent mass transport. Bruges and Ghent are smaller cities that you can do without transport. Climbing to the top of the tower in Bruges would not be a good option for someone with knee problems.

What about Turin? Flat, lots of museums, lots of pedestrians streets and piazzas. Alba is an hour away by train and you could go wine tasting.

We’ve been to Turin over Christmas and again last week. Not touristy like Florence, Venice, or Rome.

Coppenhagen is entirely flat and not crowded (comparatively).

Milan is also flat. Also not that crowded.

Rotterdam (Netherlands), Zaragoza (Spain), Vienna (Austria), Toulouse (France), Brussels (Belgium) could be on your list as well.

I thank you all so much for the wonderful suggestions and, after much consideration, we've decided to spend four nights in Riga (In an AirBnB) and then take a 2-day trip to Estonia (in a hotel) and then fly to Gatwick the night before (hotel) and then take a shuttle to the port and set sail for New York via some of my favorite places in Great Britain and New England!

You might add Lucca, Italy. Not sure about not crowded since Rick recommends it?. It's the only flat town in a region of great hill towns. I usually only recommend it for people who have trouble with hills. Nearby Pisa's field of miracles is flat too.

Dresden. We were just there in Jan/Feb and it was flat as could be and there was nobody there! I kept asking my husband where everybody was. It was wonderful though, as we felt like we had it to ourselves.

Copenhagen is flat too, but when we went in October a few years ago it had more people. Not what I would call crowded at all, but it wasn't empty like Dresden was.

Venice is flat, but the stairs at all the bridges might be an issue, depending on how your partner does with those. I have knee issues and have had several surgeries so far (stalling on replacements), and Venice would be fine for me, FWIW, but everyone is different.

Munich would be easy too. Just avoid Oktoberfest which is mid/late September. We were there before that and left a day or two before it started and so the crowds were not an issue at all.