Romania

Romania is the Europe that most people haven't seen yet. Drive into Transylvania and you find medieval Saxon towns, hilltop fortresses and villages where horse carts still share the road. Go north and you meet monasteries whose outer walls are covered in bright frescoes. Climb into the Carpathians and the Transfagarasan winds up above the clouds. Head east and the Danube spreads into a vast delta of reeds and pelicans. Add a big, contradictory capital, lively university cities and some of the best-value travel in the EU, and you have a country that keeps surprising you.

Talking points

• Transylvania is real: walled Saxon towns, fortified churches and castles, with far less hype than Dracula suggests.
• The painted monasteries of Bucovina have frescoes on the outside walls, in colours that still glow.
• The Danube Delta is one of Europe's great wetlands for birds.
• The Carpathians offer mountain roads, forests and plenty of wildlife, including brown bears.
• Bucharest mixes belle epoque buildings with huge communist-era projects.