This country is much more than the home of Kafka fairytale forests and beautiful mountains are a nice addition to the charming cities that survived both wars and communism and the hearty and filling cuisine is just more reason to stay.
A favourite with Easterners during the Cold War, Hungary today is among the often overlooked gems of Central Europe. Don't make that mistake. An open mind and a curious heart will open the beauty of this country to you.
A pastoral and multi-ethnic country, only considered Balkan due to its cultural ties with Romania.
This beautiful country has a long and brave history spanning thousands of years. With the beautiful Baltic Sea to the north and the Sudetes and Carpathian mountains in the south, Poland is truly a diverse gem.
While it's not entirely Balkan (the region of Transylvania lies in Central Europe), Romania offers a wonderful combination of old and new, mixing dance halls with Dracula.
Often mistaken as simply an appendix of "big brother" Czech Republic, this small ice-hockey crazy nation has made good use of its independence won in 1993 and now offers a unique blend of German, Magyar, Czech and Slovak influences that come together in its capital Bratislava as well as the skiing resorts of Europe's smallest high mountain range, the High Tatra.
Ukraine is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 sq km, making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.
The Åland Islands form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea. They are situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and form an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking region of Finland. The islands collectively constitute the smallest region of Finland, with only 0.49% of its land area, and 0.50% of its population.
The Kingdom of Denmark is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting of the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. Denmark proper is the hegemonial part, where the residual judicial, executive and legislative power rests. According to the Faroese home rule act, the Faroe Islands constitutes a community of people within the kingdom.
The most Nordic of the three Baltic countries, with linguistic connections to Finland, a long coastline, many islands and vast forests