Prague.

Kafka brooded here, paratroopers made history here, and the beer is cheaper than the water. Prague stacks a castle on a hill, hides tunnels under its cobblestones, and somehow makes a thousand years feel like one very good night out.

Prague layers a thousand years of drama into one walkable city — Gothic spires above, medieval tunnels below, and the Vltava winding through the middle. Cruise the river past Charles Bridge, follow Kafka through Old Town, or go deeper with WWII history tours tracing Operation Anthropoid. By night, the city's legendary pubs take over, from beer-hall crawls to the fortress heights of Vyšehrad. Day trips add castles, knights, and rafting in the Czech countryside — and in December, Europe's best Christmas markets.