Portugal

Portugal is a nation that once stood at the very edge of the known world and pushed beyond it — sending tiny caravels from the Tagus estuary to Brazil, India, Japan and sub-Saharan Africa, and building the first truly global trade empire in the process. That Atlantic vocation still shapes the country's character today: a natural openness towards the wider world, a bittersweet melancholy the Portuguese call saudade that crystallises in the fado tradition, and a warmth towards foreign visitors that stands out even in famously hospitable southern Europe.

Western Europe's westernmost nation, wedged between Spain and the Atlantic, Portugal unrolls 832 kilometres of coastline past the wild coves of the Algarve, the surf beaches of the Vicentine Coast, the dunes of Comporta and the sea cliffs of the Setúbal peninsula. Inland, landscapes shift dramatically: white Lisbon on its seven hills, crossed by the legendary yellow Tram 28; granite and azulejo-tiled Porto overlooking the Douro; the UNESCO-listed vine terraces of the Douro Valley; and the vast plains of the Alentejo, scattered with cork oaks, white villages and prehistoric megaliths.

Portugal delivers everything a great European destination promises — cultural density, characterful gastronomy, varied landscapes, a kind climate — at costs that run 25-35% below France, Spain or Italy. A country where life is good, the pastel de nata is warm at seven in the morning, and the sun sets over the Atlantic with a generosity no other country on the continent can match.