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10 destinations
Ottoman old towns, emerald rivers and mountain scenery, still one of Europe's best-value trips.
Lake Ohrid's old churches and a laid-back capital, among the cheapest and least crowded trips in Europe.
Carpathian castles, painted monasteries and Transylvanian towns, with some of Europe's best road-trip roads.
Rebuilt medieval old towns, sobering WWII history and excellent trains, at very reasonable prices.
Grand thermal baths and Danube views in Budapest, easily paired with Vienna and Bratislava.
Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
Three compact, walkable medieval capitals connected by an easy bus corridor, still overlooked by most travellers.
Fairy-tale Prague, excellent beer culture and some of the best train connections in Europe.
Everything from Gaudí's Barcelona to Andalusian palaces and Mediterranean beaches, in one large, varied country.
Ancient ruins, whitewashed islands and some of Europe's best food, at the cost of serious summer crowds.
Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and the Alps — extraordinary depth, extraordinary crowds and prices to match.
46 itineraries
Sarajevo's layered history followed by Mostar and the Herzegovina countryside, reachable by bus or car.
Sofia's Roman ruins in the metro station, Plovdiv's ancient theatre, and Veliko Tarnovo's fortress built into a river canyon.
A loop from Tirana through Ottoman old towns to the Riviera coastline and back, best with a rental car.
Transylvanian Saxon towns and Carpathian mountain roads, built around a rental car.
Prague's fairy-tale old town, the storybook riverside village of Český Krumlov, and student-city Brno to finish.
Three medieval old towns connected by an easy bus corridor — a low-crowd alternative to Western Europe.
Istanbul's mosques and bazaars, a Cappadocia balloon sunrise, and Pamukkale's white terraces, by flight and coach.
Lima's food scene, the Sacred Valley's ruins, and Machu Picchu by train — with acclimatisation days built in.
The rebuilt capital, medieval Kraków and Auschwitz-Birkenau, gnome-covered Wrocław, and the Baltic port of Gdańsk.
Marrakech's souks, a Sahara desert camp, and the imperial cities and blue-washed Chefchaouen, by private driver.
India's classic first-timer route — Delhi's Mughal monuments, the Taj Mahal at dawn in Agra, and Jaipur's pink-hued forts.
Three capitals, three countries, entirely by train — no rental car needed at any point.
Ancient Athens, the Peloponnese's castles and coastline, and the monasteries of Meteora — no islands required.
Two of the Adriatic's most dramatic, least crowded coastlines combined into one cross-border road trip.
Hanoi's Old Quarter, an overnight cruise through Ha Long Bay, lantern-lit Hoi An and the fast pace of Ho Chi Minh City, end to end by domestic flight.
Croatia's coastline and Plitvice Lakes combined with a day trip into Bosnia's Mostar for contrast and value.
The Pyramids of Giza, temples of Luxor, and a Nile cruise south to Aswan — Egypt's essential ancient-history route.
Cardiff's castle and waterfront, then north to Snowdonia's mountains and Conwy's medieval walled town.
Three small, easy-to-love countries linked entirely by train — canals, medieval squares, and a compact capital.
Lisbon's hills and trams, the fairy-tale palaces of Sintra, port-wine Porto, and Algarve beaches to close.
Colombo's brief city stop, Kandy's hill-country temples and tea estates, and Galle's Dutch colonial fort on the south coast.
Amman's old citadel, the rose-red city of Petra, a night in the Wadi Rum desert, and the Red Sea coast to finish.
Bratislava's compact old town, hiking beneath the jagged High Tatras peaks, and the colourful Baroque centre of Košice.
Valletta's fortress walls and Baroque churches, the silent walled city of Mdina, and a ferry day trip to Gozo's slower pace.
Bogotá's altitude and street art, Medellín's spring-like climate and cable cars, and Cartagena's colourful colonial old town on the Caribbean coast.
Edinburgh's old town, a scenic drive to the Highlands, Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye, finishing in Glasgow.
Amsterdam's canal ring, laid-back Utrecht, and Rotterdam's bold modern architecture with a Hague day trip.
Portugal's coastal cities and Spain's Andalusian south, linked by train and one short flight.
Italy's classic first-timer route — ancient Rome, Renaissance Florence, a Bologna food stop and canal-side Venice, all by high-speed train.
Mexico City's museums and street food, Oaxaca's markets and mezcal, then Mayan ruins and Caribbean beaches on the Riviera Maya.
Seoul's palaces and K-culture energy, Busan's beaches and fish markets, and volcanic Jeju Island to close.
Jerusalem's Old City, floating in the Dead Sea, and the beach-and-nightlife energy of Tel Aviv, with a Haifa detour.
Nicosia's divided old town, beach time in Larnaca and Limassol, and Paphos's mosaics and mythology on the west coast.
Kathmandu's temples, a lodge-to-lodge trek to Poon Hill's Himalayan sunrise views, and a jungle safari in Chitwan.
London's icons bookended by a day trip to Roman Bath and a rail hop to medieval York.
Berlin's Cold War history through baroque Dresden and Bavarian Munich to romantic Heidelberg and the Cologne Cathedral.
Stockholm's island-spread old town, a day trip to Uppsala's university and cathedral, then west by train to Gothenburg's canals and archipelago.
Dublin's pub culture, Galway's bohemian west coast, the Ring of Kerry from Killarney, and Cork's food scene to finish.
Tokyo's density, Kyoto's temples, and Hiroshima's history, connected entirely by Shinkansen bullet train.
Madrid's museums into Andalusia's Moorish palaces, a Costa del Sol stop in Málaga, then Gaudí's Barcelona to finish.
Copenhagen's design and cycling culture, Aarhus's arts scene, and Hans Christian Andersen's hometown of Odense.
From Paris's grand boulevards through Lyon's food scene to the Mediterranean glamour of Nice and Marseille, all by TGV.
Vienna's imperial palaces, Salzburg's Mozart heritage, the postcard lake town of Hallstatt, and alpine Innsbruck to finish.
The Great Wall and Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, Guilin's karst rivers, and Shanghai's skyline to finish.
Singapore's futuristic gardens and hawker food, then north overland through Malacca's colonial old town to Kuala Lumpur and George Town's street art and heritage.
Toronto's skyline and a Niagara Falls day trip, then east by train to Montreal's bilingual charm and the cobblestone streets of Old Quebec.