Greece

Greece, the cradle of Western civilisation, pairs an ancient heritage like no other — the Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia — with the luminous beauty of its archipelagos. Beyond Athens and the mainland, thousands of islands unfold across an unreal turquoise Aegean Sea, from the white-and-blue Cyclades to the lush, green Ionian isles. Whitewashed hill villages, hidden coves, sun-baked tavernas and a Mediterranean way of life make Greece one of Europe's most spellbinding destinations — and one of the most rewarding to slow down in.

This is a country where mythology is geography. Stand on the Acropolis at dawn and you can trace the city of Athena spilling down towards the Saronic Gulf; sail into Santorini's caldera and you feel the Minoan world still breathing beneath the cliffs. Yet Greece is no museum: it is alive with tsipouro toasts in mountain villages, all-night panigyria on tiny islands, and a generosity rooted in philotimo, the untranslatable Greek sense of honour and welcome. First-time visitors weave Athens with one or two Cyclades, while returning travellers fall for the wilder corners — the Peloponnese, the Dodecanese, Crete's silent mountains. Whether you come for ruins, beaches or moussaka, Greece somehow delivers all three — and a few sunsets you will not forget.