Slovenia revels in a mountainous beauty, its water features – Lake Bohinj, the incomparably gorgeous Lake Bled – shimmering in the shadow of the Julian Alps (notably Triglav, the nation’s foremost peak, which appears on the flag).

It delivers urban life as well. Maribor and Ljubljana are both big enough to sustain a weekend, but sufficiently compact for leisurely wanderings – the latter as the wholly pretty capital, where the River Ljubljanica ebbs past markets, museums and churches. And Slovenia has coastline. Not much of it, true; just 29 miles. But in the orange-tiled rooftops of Piran, as well as the resort beaches of Portoroz, this discreet sliver of the Adriatic is as alluring as anything offered by immediate neighbors Italy and Croatia.