Belgium

Belgium gets underestimated, which suits everyone who knows better. Bruges is the fairytale: canals, step-gabled houses and swans arranging themselves photogenically under medieval bridges. Ghent delivers the same beauty with fewer crowds and a livelier pulse. Brussels hides one of Europe's great food scenes behind its bureaucratic reputation, from Art Nouveau brasseries to a Grand Place that makes first-timers stop mid-sentence. And then the holy trinity: beer brewed by actual monks, chocolate treated as high craft, and frites double-fried the way heaven intended. Distances are tiny, trains are quick, and you can base yourself in one canal-side hotel and day-trip the whole country. Belgium is the easiest indulgent long weekend in Europe, and it stretches happily into a full week without ever once feeling thin.