“The Vermeer exhibition is definitively sold out. It is not possible to buy tickets via e-mail or by phone,” says the announcement on the Rijksmuseum website. If you failed to get a ticket for this blockbuster exhibition, don’t despair, however, as there are plenty of cities in Europe to experience world-class culture, very often for very little and sometimes for free. In Antwerp, for example, you can see four altar pieces by Peter Paul Rubens in the gothic cathedral. In St Bavo’s cathedral in Ghent, there is the sublime 15th-century polyptych altarpiece the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. In Vilnius, you can go to the opera for €10. And in Berlin, there’s a free lunchtime concert every Wednesday lunchtime in the foyer of the Berlin Philharmonic. So, we’d like to hear about your favourite cultural discoveries on a shoestring in Europe.

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• This article was amended on 10 May 2023. The free lunchtime concerts in the foyer of the Berlin Philharmonic take place on Wednesday, not Tuesday as an earlier version said.