Hidden Europe

Regioni e cittadine europee dimenticate dal turismo di massa: borghi medievali, valli remote e capitali secondarie da scoprire lontano dalla folla.

Trakai, Lithuania's red island castle on Lake Galvė: grand duchy history, Karaite culture and enchanting lake landscapes just outside Vilnius.

Cēsis, Latvia's Little Switzerland: a ruined medieval castle, the Gauja National Park, a historic brewery and timber villages in Baltic woodland.

Ystad, on Sweden's southern coast, blends medieval half-timbered houses, white sand beaches, and the brooding atmosphere of Henning Mankell's novels.

Conques guards a perfect Romanesque abbey and the treasure of Sainte-Foy among the hills of the Aveyron, far from the tourist crowds.

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie commands the Lot from a vertiginous cliff: artisan workshops, medieval houses and silence in the heart of the Quercy.

Cordes-sur-Ciel is a Gothic bastide that seems to float above the Tarn mists: a perfect alternative to Rocamadour, steeped in medieval craft.

Collonges-la-Rouge is built entirely in red sandstone — a blazing borgo set against the green countryside of the Corrèze.

Salers is a lava-stone borgo deep in the Auvergne volcanoes: medieval towers, mountain-pasture cheese and an ancient silence.

Pérouges is a walled medieval borgo thirty minutes from Lyon: polished cobblestones, watchtowers and the celebrated butter galette.