ESTONIA

Estonia leans into its ties to Northern Europe, and by betting big on a high-tech future – partly to undo decades of Soviet bureaucracy – the small Baltic state is also among the world’s most digitally advanced nations.

In the 14th century, the capital Tallinn, then called Reval, prospered as a commercial port of the Hanseatic League. Today, the Old Town, with its strikingly well-preserved Gothic architecture and cobbled streets, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After 21st-century tech success, the city has been transformed, evidenced by the upscale boutiques and restaurants in gentrified areas such as Telliskivi Creative City (tethered to photography, art and culture museum Fotografiska) and the Noblessner Seafront Quarter in Tallinn Bay.

Yet more than half of Estonia is also a landscape of forests and wetlands, where bog hiking is a popular activity, particularly through Lahemaa National Park in the north. The country also has 2,222 islands, of which only 22 are permanently inhabited. The largest, Saaremaa, is known for its beaches, spas and late 14th-century castle.