Recommended

There's hardly a more storybook drive in Europe than the one winding from the vineyard slopes of the Mosel down to the foot of the Bavarian Alps. The journey begins in Cochem, where Reichsburg towers over the river like something lifted straight from a Brothers Grimm tale, and that same afternoon you'll stand before Burg Eltz — the castle everyone's seen in photos but few have actually visited, tucked into its own hidden valley as if time forgot it existed. The next day carries you into the Rhine Valley, past the Knights' fortress Marksburg, the only Rhine castle never destroyed in war, and on to the sprawling ruins of Rheinfels in St. Goar, whose tunnels still hint at sieges that never quite succeeded. From the rivers, the route bends south to Heidelberg, where the castle ruin gazes over the Neckar valley and the Prince-Electors once threw legendary parties — these days it's students and wine lovers filling the old lanes instead. Via charming Tübingen, the road climbs into the Swabian hills to Burg Hohenzollern, ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern dynasty, rising from the mist like an illustration from a fantasy novel. The final stretch — with an optional detour to Ulm's towering cathedral — brings you down to Füssen for the moment everyone's been waiting for: Neuschwanstein, King Ludwig II's dream castle that inspired Disney's own fairy-tale towers, followed closely by his childhood home Hohenschwangau and the view from Marienbrücke that'll make your knees wobble for reasons beyond the height. Accommodation throughout is cosy gasthauses and small family-run hotels in wine villages and half-timbered lanes — the kind of places where breakfast is served by the same person who owns the house. Take this route and you won't just see Germany's most photographed castles — you'll feel the history breathing around every bend.

There are few roads in the world that put your heart in your throat and a smile on your face at the same time, quite like the Amalfi Coast's Strada Statale 163 – a narrow ribbon of asphalt clinging to the cliffside while the Mediterranean glitters hundreds of metres below. This journey begins among the frozen ruins of Pompeii, wanders through Sorrento's lemon-scented lanes, then follows the coast to Positano, where pink and ochre houses tumble down the mountainside toward the sea like a box of pastel sweets. You'll have time to simply sit on Marina Grande beach, toes in the sand and an Aperol Spritz in hand, before a day trip to Capri takes you out to the legendary Faraglioni rock stacks and into the turquoise glow of the Blue Grotto. The trip closes in Amalfi town, with its dramatic cathedral staircase, and in Ravello, where the terraces of Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone offer arguably the most breathtaking sea views in all of Italy. Accommodation is chosen with care: charming boutique hotels and family-run B&Bs with sea views, never anonymous chains, so every morning starts with coffee on a balcony overlooking blue water. This is a trip for anyone wanting a little luxury, a slower pace, and to be thoroughly charmed – ideal for couples chasing romance, sunshine, and that indefinable feeling of la dolce vita.