Hidden gems

Stone towers and waterfalls in the Accursed Mountains

A valley village that was unreachable by paved road until a few years ago. Hike the Blue Eye spring, sleep in a family guesthouse, eat food grown ten meters from your table.

A UNESCO Ottoman town carved into a hillside

Slate roofs, a hilltop fortress and cobbled lanes that feel untouched. Day-trip to the real Blue Eye spring and the Drino valley villages.

Riviera beaches without the Saranda crowds

The quiet middle of the Albanian Riviera: Gjipe canyon beach, Livadhi bay and seafood tavernas at half the price of the Greek islands across the water.

A dervish house under a 200m cliff spring

The Buna river bursts fully formed out of a cave wall next to a 600-year-old tekke. Twenty minutes from Mostar, a world away from its crowds.

A 20m waterfall in the middle of town

Bosnian kings were crowned here; today the Pliva falls thunder right below the old town walls. The watermills and lakes upstream are straight off a postcard.

Ottoman bridges and fortress sunsets

Kosovo's prettiest town: a stone bridge, minarets and the Šadrvan quarter's cafés, all watched over by a fortress with the best sunset view in the region.

Medieval towers inside a volcano crater

A tiny mining town built in the crater of an extinct volcano, stitched together by stone bridges and defensive towers. Pair it with the Kuklica stone dolls nearby.

Kayaks, caves and cliff monasteries near Skopje

Half an hour from the capital: emerald water between limestone walls, the Vrelo cave by boat, and medieval monasteries clinging to the cliffs.

202 stone towers the locals call Devil's Town

Earth pyramids with stone caps, red mineral springs and a legend for every tower. One of Europe's strangest landscapes, and almost nobody goes.

River meanders and griffon vultures overhead

The Uvac folds back on itself in huge loops best seen from the Molitva viewpoint, while vultures with 3m wingspans circle above. Boat rides run through the gorge and its ice cave.

A Venetian jewel on Slovenia's 46km of coast

Marble squares, salt-pan heritage and seafood on the promenade. Like Venice's little sister, minus the cruise ships. Climb the bell tower before the day-trippers arrive.

The emerald river of the Julian Alps

Water so turquoise it looks rendered. Raft it, hike the gorges, drive the Vršič pass, then eat trout in Kobarid's award-winning restaurants.

A truffle-scented hilltop above the Istrian mist

Istria's prettiest hill town, ringed by medieval walls above the Mirna valley's truffle forests. Come in autumn when the fog rolls in below the walls.

The far-out island Yugoslavia kept secret

A military no-go zone until 1989, so mass tourism never arrived. Stiniva cove, the Blue Cave on Biševo and konobe serving fish caught that morning.

Bulgaria's medieval capital stacked on a gorge

Houses piled on top of each other above the Yantra river and the huge Tsarevets fortress. Students keep it lively and absurdly affordable.

Stone bridges and the world's deepest gorge

46 stone villages, arched packhorse bridges and the Vikos gorge, deeper relative to its width than the Grand Canyon. Greece with zero beach crowds.