While I’m not the biggest cathedral enthusiast when I travel, I will admit that they are some of the coolest buildings that you’ll ever lay your eyes on. Their architectural style is a symbol of the time period and the location in which they were built, and it seems a common theme that when architects are commissioned to begin working on a cathedral, they cook up one of the coolest buildings ever constructed.

Since these cathedrals symbolize western religion, and the most beautiful cathedrals are the oldest ones, the best place to find these is Europe. So, here’s a list of the best cathedrals I’ve found during my travels throughout the continent.

Cologne Cathedral – Cologne, Germany

Starting strong. The Cologne Cathedral is the single most beautiful building I’ve ever laid my eyes on, with the most incredible gothic architecture and astounding scale that you could possibly imagine. If you’re walking out of the Cologne Hauptbahnhof it will be the first thing you see, as if it’s an enormous ancient greeting to all travelers to showcase the history of the city. You really have to see it to believe it.

As I studied in Cologne for three weeks, I walked past the cathedral as often as possible and by the time I had to leave I still hadn’t seen enough of it.

La Sagrada Familia – Barcelona, Spain

La Sagrada Familia is perhaps the most famous cathedral in the world, standing tall right in the center of Barcelona. The cathedral blends numerous architectural styles that it’s adopted throughout its long construction, and it still isn’t finished after 150 years of building it. They’re saying it’ll be finished sometime in the 2030s, but then again, I’m sure they’ve been saying it’ll be done soon since they started working on it. Sound familiar?

St. Patrick’s Cathedral – Dublin, Ireland

This one was a beautiful medieval cathedral that I stumbled upon as I was wandering around Dublin, and there’s a sort of relative simplicity and peacefulness to it that makes this cathedral so alluring. It’s not as tall as the other cathedrals on this list, but it’s surrounded by a beautiful and very well-maintained park that gives the cathedral grounds a more peaceful and tranquil air than these other cathedrals that are mostly in the middle of busy cities and usually flocked by noisy tourists.

Strasbourg Cathedral – Strasbourg, France

This one can get kind of confusing since they call it the cathedral of Notre-Dame – Strasbourg but the more famous Notre-Dame cathedral is of course in Paris. I haven’t been to that one yet, otherwise I’m sure it would be on this list, but for now we talk about the Strasbourg Cathedral in the border town of Strasbourg, France.

The Strasbourg Cathedral is an incredible work of gothic architecture, and the level of detail in the cathedral’s appearance is truly amazing. The cathedral is over a thousand years old, and it’s been perfectly preserved through the years.

St. Stephens Cathedral – Vienna, Austria

Like St. Patrick’s Cathedral, this turned out to be yet another incredible cathedral that I just happened to stumble upon. While the entire building is breathtaking, the roof is the main eyecatcher with its vibrant zigzagging design. It’s right in the middle of what seemed to be Vienna’s shopping district, and you’ll never expect to turn a corner and suddenly this massive thousand-year-old cathedral is towering over you. It’s pretty surreal.

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