La Ràpita is a town of plates, promenades, and plunges into the deep, blue Mediterranean. At its edge lies the Ebro Delta, where vast rice fields shimmer in the sun, salt flats stretch to the sea, and flocks of flamingos turn the lagoons pink. Rice from these paddies fills steaming paellas, often paired with the prized tuna landed in local waters. The town’s story is written in chapters: Moorish origins, a medieval monastic community, and Bourbon-era redesigns that influenced squares, churches, and viewpoints, leaving one of the most distinctive corners of Catalonia.

Located on Germany’s Baltic shore at the mouth of the Trave River, this seaside resort town feels charmingly nostalgic with rows of striped wicker beach chairs, wide sands, and a breezy promenade lined with ice cream stalls and cafés. Maritime history is close at hand; the Passat, a four-masted barque from 1911, is moored as a floating museum. Travemünde also serves as a gateway to Lübeck, just 30 minutes inland, whose red-brick Gothic gables and spires earned UNESCO World Heritage status.

This former European Capital of Culture’s waterfront entices with art galleries and a buzzing food market, while a short stroll inland brings you to cobbled streets, half-timbered houses, and cottages draped in bright hollyhocks. Pause for a plate of smørrebrød topped with herring or shrimp, then bite into a still-warm, crisp and buttery Danish pastry. Walk through ARoS’s rainbow-colored skywalk or explore Den Gamle By, where costumed residents go about 18th-century routines as if the present never arrived.

Life in La Rochelle overflows with energy as fishing boats unload their catch and cafés fill with the clatter of plates piled high with the area’s famed oysters and mussels. Order up your own plate and soak in the scene with a glass of pineau. Above it all rise the 14th-century Saint-Nicolas and Chain Towers, reminders of a city that once withstood the great siege of 1627. Climb the 147 steps of the 15th-century Lantern Tower for sweeping views over the city’s limestone roofs and the Atlantic beyond.