Europe is the wellspring of Western culture, a living textbook of human history. People think in terms of centuries and millennia here, not decades. Americans may speak of fond memories of the ’60s; Italians just as breezily refer to fond collective memories of il seicento (the 1600s). Europe allows you to dip into history at just about any point.

- Best Greek and Roman Ruins: You can see remnants of the ancient Greek and Roman empires, some 1,500 to 3,000 years old, with halfruined temples at the Acropolis or Ancient Agora in Athens or at Delphi in inland Greece. Or how about the Roman Forum, the ghost town of Ostia Antica, or the ultimate sports arena, the Colosseum — all in or near Rome?

- Best Prehistoric Sites: Prehistoric standouts include sites such as Stonehenge in England, Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santoríni, the passage tomb of Newgrange in Ireland, and the remnants of the earliest settlements of what is now Paris excavated under the square in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral .

- Best Castles: You’ll find castles from the Dark Ages and Middle Ages (from A.D. 500 to 1500) strewn across Europe, such as the Tower of London , with its bloody legends and famed crown jewels; Edinburgh Castle , glowering atop a volcanic hill in the center of the city; and Prague Castle, with its soaring cathedral and half-timbered lane of old alchemists’ shops.

- Best Medieval Neighborhoods: This era also saw the development of major cities, leaving the world with cobblestone medieval quarters such as the Altstadt of Bern, the Staré Mesto in Prague, Trastevere in Rome, and the Barri Gòtic in Barcelona.

- Best Hill Towns: Tiny hill towns and hamlets sprang up between A.D. 500 and 1500, too, including Chartres in France, Innsbruck in Austria, the Tuscan hill towns of Siena and San Gimignano , and Spain’s time capsules of Toledo and Segovia.