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Europe


EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, RANKED FROM WORST TO FIRST

By Max DeNike, updated on February 18, 2022
Getty Images

Europe — the land of high culture, high fashion, delicious food and
centuries-spanning history. What’s not to love? 

Well, we asked ourselves this question, and considering how many countries are
in Europe, we decided there are plenty of things not to love. It’s a tough pill
to swallow, but a good deal of Europe’s 44 official countries (as recognized by
the United Nations) have no business being among the Greeces, Spains and Swedens
of the continent. 

Armed with the knowledge that, in fact, not all of Europe is so superior to the
rest of the world, we set out to decide which countries are enviable and which
ones just aren’t. We’re wholly certain many readers will be astonished by our
conclusions. Which is to say, we fully expect many people will vehemently
disagree, especially if they already have strong opinions about the best
European countries to live in and visit.

Here’s our ranking of all 44 countries in Europe, from worst to first. 





44. VATICAN CITY


Getty Images

Capital: Vatican City

Official language: Italian 








EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, RANKED FROM WORST TO FIRST

Some countries are more lovable than others — but which countries in Europe are
the best to live in and visit?


EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, RANKED

Europe — the land of high culture, high fashion, delicious food and
centuries-spanning history. What’s not to love? 

Well, we asked ourselves this question, and considering how many countries are
in Europe, we decided there are plenty of things not to love. It’s a tough pill
to swallow, but a good deal of Europe’s 44 official countries (as recognized by
the United Nations) have no business being among the Greeces, Spains and Swedens
of the continent. 

Armed with the knowledge that, in fact, not all of Europe is so superior to the
rest of the world, we set out to decide which countries are enviable and which
ones just aren’t. We’re wholly certain many readers will be astonished by our
conclusions. Which is to say, we fully expect many people will vehemently
disagree, especially if they already have strong opinions about the best
European countries to live in and visit.

Here’s our ranking of all 44 countries in Europe, from worst to first. 


44. VATICAN CITY

Capital: Vatican City

Official language: Italian 


SIZE OF VATICAN CITY

Area: 109 acres

Population: 618 


HOW IT COMPARES

Even if you’re a true believer, why would you visit this city-state? It’s so
crowded that the only things you’ll actually “see” are the sweaty bodies of the
10 million others who were let through the gates at the exact same time, all
with camera phones at the ready. 

Sights like the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica are incredibly
impressive, sure, but as “The Chicago Tribune” accurately put it, “Overtourism
[is] gripping the great treasures of humanity."


WHERE IS VATICAN CITY?


43. RUSSIA

Capital: Moscow

Official language: Russian


SIZE OF RUSSIA

Area: 6.6 million square miles

Population: 146.7 million 


HOW IT COMPARES

Check out this photo of a shirtless Putin riding a horse, and there will be no
mystery as to what Russia is today and why it landed in this spot. We fear you,
Vlad, we fear you mightily.  

More seriously, we’ll admit that the European cities of Russia have their charms
— Moscow and St. Petersburg offer much in the way of history and culture — but a
tense political situation and brutal weather make the country a hard sell on the
whole. Plus, as the U.S. Embassy puts it bluntly, “The Russian government
maintains a restrictive and complicated visa regime for foreigners who visit.”
Pass.


WHERE IS RUSSIA?


42. BELARUS

Capital: Minsk

Official languages: Belarusian, Russian


SIZE OF BELARUS

Area: 80,153 square miles

Population: 9.4 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Easily the worst of the former Soviet republics, this place is ruled by a
dictator and photography is forbidden everywhere you’d want to take a picture.
If you’ve had a few drinks you can forget about taking the subway in Minsk —
security is known to keep people who seem at all intoxicated off the trains. Oh,
and Minsk has been named the worst city in all of Europe.

If you value freedom and human rights, go literally anywhere else. 


WHERE IS BELARUS?


41. MONACO

Capital: Monaco

Official language: French


SIZE OF MONACO

Area: 499 acres

Population: 38,300


HOW IT COMPARES

This European city-state is small to the point of absurdity — at 499 acres, it’s
roughly the size of New York City’s Central Park. And yet, despite its
micro-size, it manages to have a ton of ungodly-rich people living here, with 32
percent of the population made up of millionaires.

This ensures plenty of outrageous behavior from trust-fund kids who seem to
think the rules don’t apply to them, plus over-the-top events like the Monaco
Yacht Show that are essentially inaccessible to anyone who’s not fabulously
loaded. 

That’s fine — the uber-rich can have their gold-plated toilet seats and 2
kilometers of French Riviera. We’ll go somewhere we can actually afford to have
a good time in.


WHERE IS MONACO?


40. UNITED KINGDOM

Capital: London

Official language: English


SIZE OF UNITED KINGDOM

Area: 93,628 square miles

Population: 67.9 million


HOW IT COMPARES

What’s wrong with the U.K., you’re wondering? Well, where do we even begin? 

We actually wonder why anyone would want to visit this place, let alone live
there. The food is drab, and the weather is worse. They serve beer at room temp.
The museums are free, but they stole the art from cultures with far superior
artists. Oh, and a certain current political situation has the country in a
state of complete and utter disarray. 

There’s much for history-buffs to love — we have to give it that — but that’s
true in tons of European countries that also have a lot more good stuff going
on.


WHERE IS THE UNITED KINGDOM?


39. MOLDOVA

Capital: Chisinau

Official language: Romanian


SIZE OF MOLDOVA

Area: 13,068 square miles

Population: 2.7 million


HOW IT COMPARES

We feel sorry for Moldova, as it’s easily Europe’s most forgotten country. With
fewer than 150,000 annual visitors, it’s one of the least-visited nations in the
world. Its people are also among the least happy on Earth, in part because the
country hasn’t recovered well from Soviet rule (have any of us really?).

Moldova is something of a living time capsule of that period, in fact. Which, if
you're into that — you do you.


WHERE IS MOLDOVA?


38. LIECHTENSTEIN

Capital: Vaduz

Official language: German


SIZE OF LIECHTENSTEIN

Area: 62 square miles

Population: 38,557


HOW IT COMPARES

This landlocked microstate between Austria and Switzerland is the birthplace of
the greatest pop artist of all time, Roy Lichtenstein. Actually that’s not true
at all — their names aren’t even spelled the same.

Nothing noteworthy has ever happened in Liechtenstein, a country
routinelydescribed as straight-up “boring,” which is why you’ll forget it as
fast as you read this. 


WHERE IS LIECHTENSTEIN?


37. SAN MARINO

Capital: San Marino

Official language: Italian


SIZE OF SAN MARINO

Area: 23.6 square miles

Population: 33,344


HOW IT COMPARES

If you thought San Marino was a small Southern California city with luxe real
estate where it’s always sunny, you were spot on. But there’s another San
Marino, too: this European country landlocked by Italy that’s half the size of
San Francisco.

Its greatest claim to fame is that it has more cars than people, largely due to
its tax-haven status. Also, it’s super-old — around since 301 AD, it’s the
oldest republic on Earth. 

 Other than that...well, there’s not much to say.


WHERE IS SAN MARINO?


36. NORTH MACEDONIA

Capital: Skopje

Official languages: Macedonian, Albanian


SIZE OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Area: 9,928 square miles

Population: 2 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Yugoslavia left a bunch of countries in its path of destruction in the 1990s,
when it was broken up during a period of extreme political upheaval. And perhaps
no nation is worse off now than North Macedonia, which you’ve never heard of and
will never visit. Among many lingering issues, corruption is an enduring issue
here and it’s one of the most polluted countries in Europe. 

That said, the nation is working hard to improve — it’s even in talks to join
the EU — so maybe one day in the distant future it will land on some bucket
lists? Hey, stranger things have happened.


WHERE IS NORTH MACEDONIA?


35. ICELAND

Capital: Reykjavik

Official language: Icelandic


SIZE OF ICELAND

Area: 39,682 square miles

Population: 364,260


HOW IT COMPARES

We get it, Iceland, you’re pretty. You have strange geographical anomalies,
weird lights appear in your skies at various times of the year, your residents
are friendly to a fault and your hotels are made of ice. 

But a lot of your cool features come with major downsides. Sure, the Northern
Lights are amazing, but they’re extremely elusive, and the trade-off is
near-total darkness for months on end. Your unique natural beauty has made you
extremely over-touristed, which in turn is making you less beautiful. And it
turns out sleeping in an ice hotel, while awesome for Insta shots, is in no way
comfortable. Because, well, it involves sleeping on ice.

Also, we just think the whole layover offer is so pathetic and wastes time we’d
rather be spending in the less icy parts of Europe.


WHERE IS ICELAND?


34. MONTENEGRO

Capital: Podgorica

Official languages: Montenegrin, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian, Croatian


SIZE OF MONTENEGRO

Area: 5,333 square miles

Population: 631,219


HOW IT COMPARES

The coolest part about this small Balkan country is how weirdly tall everyone is
— the average height is more than 6 feet.

Otherwise, Montenegro is mostly known for its extremely aggressive drivers, who
have rightfully been described as “insane.” 

Also, according to TripAdvisor, the country’s architecture “is not, in the main
of an imaginative or attractive style.” Translation: It’s pretty ugly. 


WHERE IS MONTENEGRO?


33. ANDORRA

Capital: Andorra la Vella

Official language: Catalan


SIZE OF ANDORRA

Area: 180.55 square miles

Population: 77,543


HOW IT COMPARES

Skiing and duty-free shopping are your only reasons for existence.

We could just go to Oregon for that, where there are better beer and legal
cannabis. 


WHERE IS ANDORRA?


32. LUXEMBOURG

Capital: Luxembourg City

Official language: Luxembourgish, French, German


SIZE OF LUXEMBOURG

Area: 998.6 square miles

Population: 613,894


HOW IT COMPARES

We’re really tired of the European microstate. These places all seem to exist
because of some long-standing feud that literally no one who presently lives
there understands or cares about at all. 

The one thing you’ve got going for you, Luxembourg, is that one of your official
languages is Luxembourgish, which sounds like you’re only partly committed to
it. And since only half your population speaks it, that’s pretty appropriate. 


WHERE IS LUXEMBOURG?


31. MALTA

Capital: Valletta

Official languages: Maltese, English


SIZE OF MALTA

Area: 122 square miles

Population: 493,559


HOW IT COMPARES

It’s small and full of history. It’s got a little bit of Italian flavor and some
influence from Northern Africa. It’s a Mediterranean archipelago. What could
possibly go wrong? A lot, it turns out. 

The small islands that comprise Malta are overcrowded with tourists and
residents. The beaches, the destination's main draw, are particularly swarmed
with crowds. And worst of all, the food is generic and chain-heavy. 

Next.


WHERE IS MALTA?


30. SLOVENIA

Capital: Ljubljana

Official language: Slovene


SIZE OF SLOVENIA

Area: 7,827 square miles

Population: 2.09 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Slovenia is one of Europe’s greenest countries and that’s about it. There’s
nothing particularly noteworthy about this former Yugoslav republic except that
it’s near cooler countries — its neighbors are Austria, Italy, Croatia and
Hungary, which must give it an incredible chip on its shoulder. 

If you’re the type who vacations for the sleep, this is your destination.
There’s so little to do here that you can sleep for days without feeling guilty
or missing anything. 


WHERE IS SLOVENIA?


29. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Capital: Sarajevo

Official Languages: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian


SIZE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Area: 19,741 square miles

Population: 3.5 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Another one of Tito’s children from socialist Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
could be higher on this list. It survived the last major war of the 20th century
and has come a long way since then. The people are warm, the food is rich and
decadent, the wilds are super-wild, it’s dirt-cheap to travel here. Plus the
cities are vibrant and unafraid of their conflict-filled past. 

The problem is how incredibly difficult it is to get around, thanks to a dearth
of major highways and poor road conditions. Better brush up on those
donkey-caravan-passing skills. 


WHERE IS BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA?


28. SWITZERLAND

Capital: Bern (de facto capital)

Official languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh


SIZE OF SWITZERLAND

Area: 15,940 square miles

Population: 8.57 million


HOW IT COMPARES

If we were comparing European countries to jobs, the land of chocolate and
snowsports would be the CPA. It’s well-educated and wealthy, just kind of
boring.

There’s nothing wrong with it — not in the least — but the food and nightlife
scenes aren’t particularly thrilling, especially compared to other European
countries. And the cleanliness and tidiness the country is known for can also
make it feel a little sterile.

We like accountants as much as the next person. We just don't want to party with
them, you know?


WHERE IS SWITZERLAND?


27. UKRAINE

Capital: Kiev

Official language: Ukrainian


SIZE OF UKRAINE

Area: 233,062 square miles

Population: 42 million


HOW IT COMPARES

How the heck did Ukraine end up here? Pretty much only because of its hatred for
Russia, which is admirable under any circumstances.

Otherwise, this place is about as depressing as you’d imagine for a former
Soviet republic — and one where the greatest nuclear disaster in history took
place.


WHERE IS UKRAINE?


26. FINLAND

Capital: Helsinki

Official languages: Finnish, Swedish


SIZE OF FINLAND

Area: 130,666 square miles

Population: 5.5 million


HOW IT COMPARES

When we think of Nordic countries we are always surprised to remember that
Finland exists. 

In the pro column: It’s the happiest place on Earth. 

In the con column: It’s way up there, which means it’s dark and cold. And it’s
entertainment is, um, questionable — wife carrying, swamp soccer and mosquito
hunting are all popular.


WHERE IS FINLAND?


25. BULGARIA

Capital: Sofia

Official language: Bulgarian


SIZE OF BULGARIA

Area: 42,855 square miles

Population: 7 million


HOW IT COMPARES

In Bulgaria, you nod your head when you mean no and shake it for yes. But other
than this confusing quirk, it’s a great place with a deep history. 

The Cyrillic alphabet was invented here; its yogurt contains a special bacteria
that only exists in Bulgaria; UNESCO says the country’s official calendar is the
most accurate in the world; and they revere an old blind lady named Vanga who
predicts the future. Cool!


WHERE IS BULGARIA?


24. NORWAY

Capital: Oslo

Official languages: Norwegian, Sami


SIZE OF NORWAY

Area: 148,729 square miles

Population: 5.37 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Norway is fairly middling when it comes to Europe. The food is sometimes
questionable (they eat sheep heads and cure fish with lye) and most of the year
it’s freezing and dark.

But they did invent the cheese slicer and also have more reindeer than anyone
would ever need, so there’s that.


WHERE IS NORWAY?


23. ALBANIA

Capital: Tirana

Official language: Albanian


SIZE OF ALBANIA

Area: 11,100 square miles

Population: 2.85 million


HOW IT COMPARES

We largely forgot Albania existed until about 5 minutes ago. No offense, it’s
just a really small country surrounded by more interesting countries. And no one
has ever said, “Gee, I really wish we’d visited Albania this time.” 

The country touts a fairly dramatic Adriatic coastline, gorgeous mountains and a
bunch of cool old castles. But the most interesting thing about Albania is that,
totally randomly, it has some of the best internet service in Europe. Who knew?


WHERE IS ALBANIA?


22. SLOVAKIA

Capital: Bratislava

Official language: Slovak


SIZE OF SLOVAKIA

Area: 18,933 square miles

Population: 5.45 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Not to be confused with souvlaki, the delicious Greek barbecue dish, Slovakia is
somewhere in Europe, we’re sure of it. 

Just kidding, this country is actually pretty interesting, thanks in large part
to its abundance of caves and castles. Fun fact: It has more castles per person
than anywhere else in the world.


WHERE IS SLOVAKIA?


21. ROMANIA

Capital: Bucharest

Official language: Romanian


SIZE OF ROMANIA

Area: 18,933 square miles

Population: 5.45 million


HOW IT COMPARES

This country is like the cool goth kid of Europe. It’s proudly defiant, with a
completely different language and alphabet than all those other Slavic nations.
And much of its identity is wrapped around a guy named Vlad the Impaler (the
original Dracula).

Honestly, we’re into it.


WHERE IS ROMANIA?


20. SERBIA

Capital: Belgrade

Official language: Serbian


SIZE OF SERBIA

Area: 34,116 square miles

Population: 6.96 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Many will scoff at this ranking, saying Serbia isn’t even located in Europe
(it’s some vast tundra of middle Russia, right?) Oh, poor uncultured soul. If
not for its abysmal nationalist politics and icy relations with neighbors, we’d
rank Serbia much higher for one reason: rakija (rah-key-uh). It’s a plum spirit
and the national beverage, and everyone has a family member who makes it. 

Make friends with a Serb and drink to your health.


WHERE IS SERBIA?


19. LITHUANIA

Capital: Vilnius

Official language: Lithuanian


SIZE OF LITHUANIA

Area: 25,200 square miles

Population: 2.79 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Kudos to Lithuania for telling the Soviets to shove it back in 1990 and starting
the breakup of that union. It’s also believed that Lithuanian culture survived
the Iron Curtain thanks to secret home schools and smuggled history texts, which
makes its people sound really awesome.

We also like the country's surprisingly good basketball team and are
super-jealous of its world’s-fastest-internet status.

 


WHERE IS LITHUANIA?


18. LATVIA

Capital: Riga

Official language: Latvia


SIZE OF LATVIA

Area: 24,938 square miles

Population: 1.92 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Admit it: George Costanza’s failed attempt to convert to Latvian Orthodox is
your only experience with this former Soviet republic. 

But while this Baltic state might not show up on anyone’s radar it’s home to
some really interesting stuff. Its forests and generally unspoiled lands are
unmatched in Europe, with stunning beaches to boot. And it hosts a weeklong Song
and Dance Festival once every five years that’s truly epic.


WHERE IS LATVIA?


17. ESTONIA

Capital: Tallinn

Official language: Estonian


SIZE OF ESTONIA

Area: 17,462 square miles

Population: 1.33 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Estonia is the third and last of the Baltic states, which are much more worthy
of Western tourism dollars than any Francophile or Anglophile will ever admit.
No longer under the grip of the Soviet Union, Estonia has become a surprisingly
compelling place to visit, with lots of medieval history, an exciting city in
the form of Tallinn and one of the world’s most beautiful national parks,
Lehamaa. 

Also, it was the first country in the world to allow online voting in elections
and has some of the world’s most mysterious meteorite craters. That has to count
for something.


WHERE IS ESTONIA?


16. CZECHIA

Capital: Prague

Official language: Czech


SIZE OF CZECHIA

Area: 30,450 square miles

Population: 10.65 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Don’t call it Czechoslovakia, don’t put ice in your pilsner and certainly don’t
refer to the region it’s in as Eastern Europe. It’s Central Europe, and you’ll
get yelled at for arguing otherwise. 

Make like every 20-something backpacker and head to Prague, then chill out and
grab a pint along with that 15-link sausage sampler in this thoroughly
satisfying European nation.


WHERE IS THE CZECHIA?


15. FRANCE

Capital: Paris

Official language: French


FRANCE

Area: 247,368 square miles

Population: 67 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Mon dieu, man, what gives? How did France end up as only the 15th best European
nation? Sacre bleu! 

Let’s all just take some breaths and think about this. France has everything and
always will, which is terribly frustrating. And they know this and so they
deserve to be put in their place whenever possible. When asked to choose the
most arrogant people in Europe, French people chose...themselves. That should
tell you something. 

Sure, the food is perfection, the art scene is out of control and there’s enough
history to fill several volumes of textbooks. But can’t the French be more
humble about it!?


WHERE IS FRANCE?


14. IRELAND

Capital: Dublin

Official languages: English, Irish, Ulster Scots


SIZE OF IRELAND

Area: 32,595 square miles (entire island)

Population: 6.6 million (4.8 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.8 million
in Northern Ireland)


HOW IT COMPARES

Lush landscapes? Check. Incredible dairy products? Check. Guinness for days?
Check. An aversion to the UK? Check. 

Ireland is a beautiful place inhabited by strong accents, super-friendly locals
and a distinct flair for a good time. Stereotyped to death, it still manages to
evoke charm and mystique that few other European nations can ever hope for. 

And congrats on finally besting France at anything (i.e., this important list).


WHERE IS IRELAND?


13. BELGIUM

Capital: Brussels

Official languages: Dutch, French, German


SIZE OF BELGIUM

Area: 11,849 square miles

Population: 11.5 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Like France, but with better chocolate and beer. Like Germany, but with better
chocolate and beer. Like the Netherlands, but with better chocolate and beer.
Like anywhere, but with better — oh, you get the idea. 

The Belgian fries here also destroy whatever pomme frites you’ll find in la
République.


WHERE IS BELGIUM?


12. AUSTRIA

Capital: Vienna

Official language: German


SIZE OF AUSTRIA

Area: 32,386 square miles

Population: 8.9 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Austria has everything Western Europe has going for it — palaces, world-class
museums, unparalleled natural beauty — without all the crowds. It’s also a
music-lover’s dream, with a rich classical-music history (Schubert,  Haydn and
Schoenberg are all from here) and exciting contemporary live-music scene.  

And what about those tiny sausages from Vienna? How could you not like those,
you heathen!


WHERE IS AUSTRIA?


11. CROATIA

Capital: Zagreb

Official language: Croatian


SIZE OF CROATIA

Area: 21,851 square miles

Population: 4.1 million


HOW IT COMPARES

The darling of the former Yugoslavia, Croatia boasts incredible natural beauty
and some of the most interesting food and drink in all of Europe. (Try the black
risotto. Trust us.) It also has by far the most beautiful stretch of Adriatic
coast and well over 1,000 islands to roam around. 

And yes, “Game of Thrones” filmed a lot of scenes along its Dalmatian coast. But
considering the travesty that was the final season, that fact holds less appeal
than it once did.


WHERE IS CROATIA?


10. GERMANY

Capital: Berlin

Official language: German


SIZE OF GERMANY

Area: 137,847 square miles

Population: 83 million


HOW IT COMPARES

There are many things that make Germany great, from its boots of beer to its
divine cuisine (Pretzels! Spätzle! So many sausages!) to its distinctive mix of
fraught history and progressive present. 

But all that pales in comparison to its really big words. 

We’re big fans of Germany mostly because of its language and the many awesome
singular words that describe something more complex. Everyone knows
schadenfreude and wanderlust, but how about kummerspeck and backpfeifengesicht?
Respectively, they mean the weight gained from emotional stress and the need to
slap someone in the face who definitely has it coming. 

The German language is the best language, basically.


WHERE IS GERMANY?


9. HUNGARY

Capital: Budapest

Official language: Hungarian


SIZE OF HUNGARY

Area: 35,920 square miles

Population: 9.77 million


HOW IT COMPARES

You definitely need an appetite when you travel in Hungary, as it easily has the
most underrated food scene in all of Europe. It might not be as refined as
French food or as creative as Spanish cuisine, but it checks off all the boxes
when it comes to simple and flavorful, starting with perfectly satisfying
cheeses and breads.

Add to that a wine industry that’s also massively overlooked and enough
urban-rural interplay to satisfy everyone, and we’ll pretend those centuries of
autocracy were just a phase. 


WHERE IS HUNGARY?


8. ITALY

Capital: Rome

Official language: Italian


SIZE OF ITALY

Area: 116,350 square miles

Population: 60.3 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Italy has its quirks — half a million exorcisms take place there annually, wine
flows freely from fountains in town squares and locals drink an unseemly amount
of caffeine every day.

Then again, it has the best wine and food in the world and some of the oldest,
most interesting cities you’ll ever see, from arts-hub Florence to history-mecca
Rome to fashion-forward Milan. 

So really, it doesn’t matter how weird Italy can be. We’ll still never want to
leave.


WHERE IS ITALY?


7. SWEDEN

Capital: Stockholm

Official language: Swedish


SIZE OF SWEDEN

Area: 173,860 square miles

Population: 10.3 million


HOW IT COMPARES

They put blonde hair dye in the water here and only eat cured fish, so how could
it rank so high? 

Because of its global contributions to those little things called prosperity,
equality, science and technology and health, that’s why. 

Locals know how to treat strangers well, they actually give parents time off to
raise their kids, and if the economy isn’t humming along, the government will
pay you to leave your job and relax for a while. 

Actually, forget visiting Sweden. Can we move here instead?


WHERE IS SWEDEN?


6. NETHERLANDS

Capital: Amsterdam

Official language: Dutch


SIZE OF NETHERLANDS

Area: 16,164 square miles

Population: 17.4 million


HOW IT COMPARES

You must be doing something right when your country is known for its wooden
shoes, mild cheeses, legal cannabis and insanely large flower industry. Bikes
rule over cars. Dutch people are direct, tolerant and generally friendly. The
cities are organized and clean, and the standard of living is as high as the
tourists in Amsterdam’s red-light district.  

What’s not to love?


WHERE IS THE NETHERLANDS?


5. POLAND

Capital: Warsaw

Official language: Polish


SIZE OF POLAND

Area: 120,733 square miles

Population: 38.39 million


HOW IT COMPARES

We’re eagerly anticipating the reactions to this one. Yes, Poland is the fifth
best country in Europe. Why?

First of all, Poland is likely responsible for the bagel — a food so perfect
that God must be Polish. It also has natural beauty, incredible cities,
interesting food and tons of history, good and bad. Plus it's much more
affordable to travel there than, say, all of Western Europe. 

And it’s on no one’s radar. Shine on, Poland.


WHERE IS POLAND?


4. SPAIN

Capital: Madrid

Official language: Spanish


SIZE OF SPAIN

Area: 195,360 square miles

Population: 47 million


HOW IT COMPARES

The siesta is real and you best not mess with it. In Spain, don’t expect to find
a morning bun and coffee unless the morning starts at 1 p.m. What you will find
is some of the best cuisine in the world, wines that are too delicious and
affordable to be real, and a populace that just wants to party, sleep, party and
sleep some more. 

There are pretty beaches and fascinating cities, and a ham that takes three
years to make from a pig breed that only exists here. Yes, please. 


WHERE IS SPAIN?


3. GREECE

Capital: Athens

Official language: Greek


SIZE OF GREECE

Area: 50,949 square miles

Population: 10.77 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Where would Western Civilization be without Greece? The sentinel of the
Mediterranean gave us democracy, the Olympics, sunny days, the Greek Salad, the
oldest written language still around and, according to Hollywood, big fat
weddings. 

Aside from all those statues with the blank eyeballs, this place is magical.


WHERE IS GREECE?


2. PORTUGAL

Capital: Lisbon

Official language: Portuguese


SIZE OF PORTUGAL

Area: 35,603 square miles

Population: 10.28 million


HOW IT COMPARES

Portugal has everything people love about Western Europe — food, drink, scenery,
sunny beaches, history, memorable cities — in a smaller, cheaper and more
accessible package. You’ll never find the tourist crowds of France, Spain and
Italy, and none of the smug locals either. 

It’s also the third-most-peaceful country in the world, according to the Global
Peace Index. And none of its neighbors are remotely close. 

Still, there's one European country that bests even it...


WHERE IS PORTUGAL?


1. DENMARK

Capital: Copenhagen

Official language: Danish


SIZE OF DENMARK

Area: 16,577 square miles

Population: 5.8 million


HOW IT COMPARES

When it comes to the essentials in life, no one does it better than the Danes.
They might not have the museums of France, the cuisine of Italy, the beaches of
Spain and Portugal, or the wine of Croatia, but the overall quality of life in
this Scandinavian country is tops in the world. 

It starts with incredible and affordable health care, housing and transit. But
there’s so much more. Jobs are plentiful, education is accessible, pollution and
crime barely exist, and people spend very little time feeling sad and depressed
about the future. 

Danes even have a word called “janteloven” that basically means, we’re all equal
and important and deserve each other’s respect. This makes it an awesome place
to live in, an awesome place for all to visit, and the best country in Europe.

And that's just a fact.


WHERE IS DENMARK?