The Balkans

Slovenian Tuscany, terraced vineyards & orange wine cellars

Alpine resort, Lake Jasna & the Planica ski flying cradle

Alpine lake, cliffside castle & church on the island

Wild Alpine glacial lake, Church of St John & Mount Vogel

A river, a castle & Europe's most walkable capital

World's oldest vine, Drava riverbanks & the Pohorje hills

Venetian Gothic alleys, Tartini Square & Adriatic sea salt

Underground electric train, olm salamanders & Predjama Castle

Slovenia's oldest recorded town, hilltop castle & Kurent carnival

UNESCO subterranean canyon, Cerkvenik Bridge & the roaring Reka

Emerald river rapids, Vršič Pass & the First World War trails

High mountain plateau, spruce-shingle huts & Trnič cheese

White limestone quarries, golden pebble horn & alpine heights

Limestone ramparts, Adriatic light & island escapes

Venetian piazzas, lavender hills & Pakleni island lagoons

Medieval ramparts, oak truffle forests & bohemian art colonies

Venetian ramparts, Grk vineyards & Adriatic oyster beds

Habsburg villas, coastal promenades & wild island crags

Limestone sea-canyons, world-class climbing & coastal peaks

Sixteen terraced travertine lakes, thundering cascades & beech forests

Venetian fishing harbour, pastel alleys & pine-fringed bays

Renaissance stone cathedral, sea fortresses & cascading waterfalls

Roman palace living, Venetian stone & Dalmatian island hub

Remote island solitude, naval secrets & glowing sea caves

Sea organ melodies, Roman stones & the lunar Kornati islands

Austro-Hungarian avenues, vibrant café life & quirky museums

Leafy parks on the emerald Vrbas, Roman Kastel fortress & reconstructed Ferhadija mosque

Mystical 16th-century Dervish Tekke, Europe's mightiest karst spring & clifftop medieval fortress

Royal medieval citadel, dramatic urban Pliva Waterfall & historic Austro-Hungarian watermills

Stara Ćuprija stone bridge, secret Tito's Nuclear Bunker & gateway to Neretva white-water rafting

Semicircular travertine amphitheatre, roaring 25-metre cascades & emerald swimming lagoon on the Trebižat

Bosnia's highest stone village, 800-metre Rakitnica Canyon & ancient pastoral sheep-farming traditions

Stari Most stone arch, turquoise Neretva canyon & Ottoman cobbled lanes of Kujundžiluk

Stone amphitheatre citadel, medieval Sahat Kula clock tower & pomegranate orchards on the Neretva

Where East meets West: Ottoman Baščaršija, Austro-Hungarian boulevards & resilient Olympic valley

Perućica primeval rainforest, Mount Maglić summit & the modernist Battle of the Sutjeska monument

City of Viziers, medieval fortress citadel & the painted floral Šarena Džamija

Mediterranean sunlight, 16th-century Arslanagić Bridge & ancient wine cellars on the Trebišnjica

Emerald karst river canyon, thundering Štrbački Buk waterfalls & white-water rafting in Una National Park

Where the Sava meets the Danube: historic citadel, vibrant Dorćol streets & storied kafana nights

Towers on the Danube: monumental Golubac Fortress & the colossal Iron Gates gorge

Serbia's ski mountain: a high sunny plateau, endemic flowers & the country's tallest waterfall

Birthplace of Constantine: imperial Roman mosaics, Ottoman citadel & southern kafana soul

Ottoman bazaar town ringed by the founding monasteries of medieval Serbia

Gibraltar on the Danube: Petrovaradin Fortress, Habsburg pastel squares & Vojvodina culture

Vojvodina's greenest town: nettle-tree avenues, a baroque county hall & Konjović's colour

Baroque wine capital, historic Serbian Patriarchate & the serene monasteries of Fruška Gora

White marble churches, coronation monasteries & a cliff fortress in the Ibar valley

Fairy-tale Hungarian Secession architecture, Zsolnay ceramics & tranquil Lake Palić

Emerald canyon river, ancient Pančić spruce forests & dizzying cliffside viewpoints

Entrenched river meanders, a griffon vulture colony & the high cold Pešter plateau

Pine highland meadows, a narrow-gauge railway that loops on itself & smoked ham from Mačkat

Ancient Illyrian walled citadel, cliffside Mogren beaches & pulsating Adriatic nightlife

Royal capital of Montenegro, Biljarda palace & high-mountain gateway to Mount Lovćen

Glacial Black Lake, limestone peaks of Bobotov Kuk & wild Dinaric highlands

City of Fortress Towers, lush botanical gardens & the sunlit gateway to Boka Bay

Primeval temperate rainforest, glacial lake reflection & Bjelasica mountain katuns

Fjord-like Boka Bay, medieval Venetian city walls & clifftop San Giovanni fortress

Southern Europe's largest lake, water lily carpets, Dalmatian pelicans & Crmnica wines

Baroque captain palaces, twin fjord islets & Our Lady of the Rocks sanctuary

A red-pebble bay, a Venetian sea fort & the quietest stretch of the Budva riviera

Modern capital on six rivers, monumental Resurrection cathedral & Europe's largest single vineyard

Fortified fifteenth-century stone island, pink sand tombolo & royal olive groves of Miločer

Europe's deepest river canyon, arched Đurđevića Tara bridge & world-class white water rafting

Pirate citadel, 13km sandy Velika Plaža & bohemian delta huts of Ada Bojana

Banded marble, Gothic doorways & the largest surviving fresco programme of its century

A bazaar burned and rebuilt, a 16th-century mosque & a tanners' bridge over the Erenik

Five domes in striped brick: the high point of late Byzantine church building

A mining city split by a river, and one of the great monuments of Yugoslav modernism

A silver town that was one of the richest places in the Balkans, now an empty hill

A gorge road into the Accursed Mountains, and the four-church monastery at its mouth

Europe's youngest capital: a 1461 mosque, a famously strange library & very good coffee

A river town of mosques, a 14th-century painted church & the most mixed city in Kosovo

A long border range of high pasture, deep snow & the cheese the whole region eats

Pine forest, a quiet lake & a highland corner the rest of the country drives past

The city of consuls, a Roman city's mosaics & the oldest national park in the country

A mining town inside an extinct volcano, built around stone towers and arched bridges

The country's highest town: 1903 in stone and concrete, Aromanian houses & paragliding air

A dammed limestone gorge half an hour from the capital, with caves, kayaks & a 14th-century church

A drowned church in a mountain lake, the country's finest wood carving & the Korab ridge

One of Europe's oldest lakes, a cliff church & a town of Byzantine frescoes

A town under a hill of granite boulders, with a medieval fort and a monastery that attracts lightning

Ottoman bazaar, a river of monuments & a city rebuilt twice in one century

A Roman city on the Vardar, the country's biggest wine region & a lake with a monastery on it

Town of a Thousand Windows, hilltop living citadel & UNESCO Ottoman timbered quarters

Emperor Trajan's grand Roman amphitheatre, Byzantine coastal walls & sandy Adriatic beaches

City of Stone, monumental fortress castle & fortified Ottoman tower-mansions

Dramatic Ionian coastlines, hilltop castle ruins & secluded pebble canyon coves

Paris of Albania, National Museum of Medieval Art & renovated Ottoman bazaar terraces

Skanderbeg's mountain citadel, cobblestone artisan bazaar & panoramic Bektashi teqes

Turquoise Ionian archipelagos, white sand coves & fresh Lake Butrint mussel farms

Europe's first Wild River National Park, Bënjë thermal sulphur baths & walnut gliko preserves

UNESCO sanctuary of ancient Butrint, sunset castle views & lively Ionian harbourfront

Legendary Illyrian Rozafa fortress, cycling along Lake Shkodra & Marubi photographic archive

Alpine stone lock-in towers, limestone gorges & dramatic hiking in the Accursed Mountains

Pastel Ottoman relics, cold war subterranean bunkers & pulsating Blloku terraces

Glacial river valley, jagged karst peaks & traditional high-altitude shepherd katuns

Birthplace of Albanian independence, sheltered bay waters & pine-fringed Narta lagoon

Queen Marie's seaside palace, exotic cliff gardens & sheer red Kaliakra headlands

UNESCO marble peaks, premier ski resort & traditional stone mehana taverns

Monumental red sandstone towers, Roman Kaleto fortress & Magura prehistoric cave

Valley of the Thracian Kings, fragrant Damask roses & UNESCO painted tomb

Living open-air museum, painted Revival mansions & cradle of the April Uprising

Bulgaria's smallest town, golden sand pyramids & deep cave wine cellars

UNESCO Black Sea peninsula, ancient Mesembria & medieval Byzantine brick churches

Europe's oldest living city, intact Roman theatre & colorful National Revival mansions

Mythic homeland of Orpheus, deep karst gorges & stone village folklore

UNESCO spiritual fortress, vivid biblical frescoes & ancient Hrelyo's tower

Glacial alpine tarns, panoramic ridge trails & high Rila cirques

Gold-domed Neo-Byzantine cathedral, Roman Serdica ruins & Mount Vitosha backdrop

Ancient Apollonia, wooden cliffside houses & idyllic sandy coves

Sea Capital, world's oldest gold treasure & vast seaside Sea Garden

City of the Tsars, monumental Tsarevets fortress & dramatic Yantra river gorge

Vauban star fortress, Roman Apulum & cradle of modern Romanian unification

Subterranean ice caves, karst gorges & Moți woodcraft highlands

Carpathian clifftop fortress, Saxon customs pass & Queen Marie's royal retreat

Transylvanian Gothic spire, Saxon ramparts & Mount Tâmpa cable car

Monumental palaces, Belle Époque boulevards & leafy garden bistros

UNESCO painted monasteries, Voroneț blue & forested Moldavian hills

Transylvanian youth capital, Gothic church & bohemian arts scene

Black Sea Art Nouveau casino, Roman mosaics & coastal promenades

Epic Gothic-Renaissance fortress, towering drawbridge & Knight's Hall of John Hunyadi

UNESCO wetland labyrinth, white pelican colonies & Lipovan fishing hamlets

Soaring wooden churches, monumental carved gates & the Merry Cemetery

Art Nouveau jewel, Black Eagle arcade & thermal spa springs

Rooftop eyes, Saxon guild bastions & the Bridge of Lies

UNESCO citadel, guild watchtowers & the Scholars' Covered Stairs

Royal Alpine palace, Bucegi cable car & Prahova mountain retreats

Habsburg Baroque squares, Art Nouveau palaces & spark of the 1989 Revolution

High Carpathian switchbacks, glacial Bâlea Lake & alpine ridge trails

The Acropolis, rooftop evenings & tavernas that run late

The mastic island: fortified villages, Byzantine mosaics & quiet coves

A Venetian old town, green hills & Ionian coves

Minoan palaces, deep limestone gorges & rich culinary traditions across Greece's largest island

The sacred naval of the ancient world nestled high among the limestone cliffs of Mount Parnassus

Ouzo, olive groves, a petrified forest & Sappho's island

Tower villages, olive groves & the wild middle finger of the Peloponnese

Gravity-defying Byzantine monasteries perched upon sheer prehistoric sandstone pillars

Sculpted lunar volcanic coastlines, sea-cave hideouts & rainbow-coloured fishing syrmata

A medieval stone citadel town sculpted into a sheer limestone rock rising straight from the Aegean Sea

Venetian sea fortresses, marble-paved neoclassical piazzas & the romantic first capital of modern Greece

The greenest Cycladic island: colossal ancient marble gateways, mountain villages & golden sand dunes

Where the Olympic Games began, in a valley of pines

The mountain of the centaurs: stone villages, beech woods & two seas

Monumental medieval walled citadels, Knights Hospitaller palaces & sun-drenched Dodecanese beaches

Dramatic volcanic caldera cliffs, whitewashed villages & iconic Aegean sunsets

Vibrant seafront promenades, early Byzantine treasures & Greece's premier culinary capital

Monumental limestone canyons, arched Ottoman stone bridges & fortified slate-roofed alpine villages