Durnstein Cruises, Austria

Durnstein is a serious contender for Austria’s prettiest town. It’s set down roots by a scenic bend of the Danube, in the vineyard-blanketed Wachau Valley. A blue-and-white bell tower’s the first thing you’ll spot on the horizon. It belongs to a 15th-century Augustinian monastery, now the local church. But that’s about as high as the buildings rise around here. The architecture’s as quaint as it gets – picture pale-yellow houses with window boxes, shutters and wrought-iron balconies. In among the houses, you’ll find cafés serving up apricot strudel and chilled glasses of Riesling – both are produced in the surrounding valleys. A half-an-hour hike out of town, meanwhile, brings you to a crumbling Medieval castle, where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in 1192.