Latvia

Latvia sits in the middle of the three Baltic states, both geographically and in personality. It doesn't have Estonia's tech-startup swagger or Lithuania's basketball obsession, but it has something both neighbors envy: Riga. The Latvian capital is home to the largest collection of Art Nouveau architecture in the world - over 800 buildings with elaborate facades of mythological figures, writhing flowers, and screaming faces. It's like someone turned an entire city into an illustrated fairy tale.

Outside Riga, Latvia is spectacularly green and quiet. Nearly half the country is covered in forest, the coast along the Gulf of Riga has wide sandy beaches backed by pine dunes, and the Gauja River Valley is sometimes called Latvia's Switzerland (which is generous but the scenery is genuinely lovely). Latvians have one of the world's strongest folk singing traditions - the Latvian Song Festival brings 40,000 singers together every five years. They're also serious about basketball, ice hockey, and a fermented bread drink called kvass that tastes better than it sounds.