Understanding the full range of natural climate variability is a fundamental basis for palaeoclimate reconstruction and for estimating the magnitude of the anthropogenic influence on global change. Earth’s climate varies on many different time scales, and the magnitude and timing of temperature fluctuations has varied substantially between regions. Earth’s orbital changes are responsible for the past glacial-interglacial cycles, but the global climate has also constantly fluctuated throughout the present interglacial (the Holocene). This review presents current understanding of the recent glacial-interglacial cycles in the Eurasian region. In addition, general characteristics of the Holocene climate fluctuations in Northern Europe are introduced, focusing on two different aspects. The first is longer-term (millennial) cooling and warming trends and the magnitude of the variability at regional scales, whereas the second is a review of the evidence for shorter-term climate oscillations, such as the 8.2 ka cooling event in Northern Europe during the Holocene. Special attention is paid to historically documented decadal or centennial climate episodes, namely the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age, which have been reported from numerous palaeoproxy records globally, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.