Luxembourg City

Luxembourg City spans its own dramatic gorge like a capital showing off: viaduct bridges leap between an upper town of ministries and a lower town — the Grund — of slate roofs and abbey walls along the river, while the Bock casemates honeycomb the cliff between them, seventeen kilometers of fortress tunnels carved into rock. Europe's second-smallest capital banks fortunes and keeps its transport free.

The sensible traveller walks the Chemin de la Corniche — 'Europe's most beautiful balcony', and for once the plaque undersells —, descends into the Grund by the free glass elevator, and tunnels through the casemates where cannon windows frame the valley. Up top: the palace guard's small ceremony, the Place d'Armes cafés, and the philharmonie's white columns on Kirchberg among the EU towers.

The Guide's honesty: all buses, trams and trains in the entire country cost nothing — the day trip to Vianden's castle rides free —; lunch menus tame the banking prices: eat your big meal at noon; and the city empties on weekends when the commuters go home — which is precisely when the Grund's terraces are at their kindest.