Denmark

The Faroe Islands may have just found their way on to Google Street View and be an easy flight from Edinburgh or Copenhagen but the reason why the 18 islands of this archipelago - part of the Kingdom of Denmark and equidistant between Norway, Iceland and Scotland - remain on must-visit lists is their emptiness. You can travel for hours among their 540 square miles of rocky, windswept, treeless landscape and not see a soul. What you will see are dramatic mountains, wave-battered cliffs, delightful fjords and waterfalls - some unexpectedly floodlit - and gazillions of sheep. So far, so very Instagrammable.

Best for Drama Vienna, Austria
The Austrian capital always oozes elegance, but in December, Vienna takes itself a little less seriously and gets its party clobber on.  They city’s prettiest squares transform into markets dotted with chalet-style stalls, while garlands of bulbs and ribbons are strung along the city’s streets.   And every year, giant chandeliers light the route to St. Stephens Catheral.