France

France is the most visited country on earth, and it isn't a fluke. Paris alone justifies the flight, but the country gets better the further you go: Burgundy and Bordeaux for wine, the Alps for skiing and hiking, Provence for light and food, and a Mediterranean and Atlantic coast that feel like two different countries. Avoid August, when the French themselves flee to the coast and prices climb.

The TGV changes how you plan: Paris to Bordeaux or Avignon in a few hours, so a single week can honestly cover the capital plus one region done properly. In Paris, skip the checklist sprint — pick a few arrondissements, eat the bakery breakfast, book one serious dinner. Then go regional: a Burgundy village on market morning, a Provence hill town, a cable car out of Chamonix. Lodging and restaurants take the money; trains and museums are fair value.

Paris will test you: hotel prices are high, the Louvre is a scrum around the Mona Lisa, and service runs brisk if you don't open with a bonjour. The Riviera in July and August is overpriced and gridlocked, and much of the country genuinely closes in August. If you want effortless friendliness and low costs, France isn't that trip. It is, however, the most reliable great-food, great-art trip in the world — and it never runs out of regions.