Slovakia

Cheerful Bratislava is a capital free from congestion and commercialism. Straddling the Danube, the city has a split personality; the Habsburg Baroque of the Old Quarter sits uneasily beside the totalitarian architecture of the Soviet suburbs, typified by Namestie Slobody, the monumental square, which bizarrely boasts the world's largest post office.

The city's attractions range from the sublime - the Slovak Philharmonic, to the hearty - a feast of sausages at one of the many beer halls.

Likewise, Slovakia itself has two extremes. The western plains are punctuated by giant steel mills, while the harsh, bleak peaks of the Tatras range that dominate the east, are a magnet for climbers and a barrier to modernisation.

The neighbouring Czech Republic has a more established tourism industry, but here there is much to be discovered from traditional folk festivals and fairy tale castles, to mint-blue ice caves and snowboarding pistes.

Hiking and skiing is big in mountainous Slovakia. Trains link the timbered resorts in the foothills of startling mountains, and rumble along precipitous tracks to Banska Bystrica, with its pastel palette of mansions and glimmering copper domes.

Slovakians eat and drink well and if you intend to follow suit you might be advised to join the unhealthy wealthy in the mineral waters and mud baths of the medieval towns and spas of the Eastern Spis.