Scotland

Honed by long competition with its English neighbours, buoyant Scotland has survived encroachment, brass-monkey weather and invasion by stand-up comedians. Its people are feisty, opinionated and fiercely loyal. The countryside is a wild, beautiful tumble of raw mountain peaks and deep glassy lakes.

There's a plethora of tartan 'n' bagpipe beaten tracks across this land, but even in well-thumbed tourist hubs like Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Isle of Skye it's easy to veer off into one-of-a-kind adventures, usually involving extroverted locals. The brutal climate adds an edge to the whole experience.

Scotland is a place where you can watch golden eagles soar over the rocky peaks of the Cuillin and play golf on some of the world's most hallowed courses. The landscape heaves a heavy sigh of the past: a moor that was once a battlefield, a beach where Vikings hauled their boats ashore, a cave where Bonnie Prince Charlie once sheltered. Like a fine single malt, Scotland is a connoisseur's delight - it reveals its true depth and complex flavours only to those who savour it slowly.