Venice

Romantic, magnificent and mind-boggling, Venice was the richest and most powerful city in Europe for several centuries and now attracts around 20 million tourists a year. Built on a lagoon and designed with canals rather than roads, expect to travel by boat or on foot.

Unmissable highlights in The Floating City include the Doge’s Palace in all of its Venetian Gothic glory, St Mark’s Basilica and its gilded Byzantine interior, which is a testament to Venice’s erstwhile power and influence and a gondola ride down the Grand Canal, the city’s most prominent waterway that’s populated with jaw-dropping palazzos.