Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesLyonLyon sits where the Rhône and the Saône meet, with Roman ruins on one hill and old silk workshops on another.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurNiceNice is the main city of the French Riviera, with a long pebble beach on a deep blue bay and hills rising behind it.
Île-de-FranceParisParis is a city of wide boulevards, river quays and small neighbourhoods with their own markets and cafés.
State of BerlinBerlinBerlin is a large, green capital where recent history is everywhere you look, from the line of the Wall to the restored domes of Museum Island.
HamburgHamburgHamburg is Germany's great port city on the river Elbe, full of canals, bridges and red-brick warehouses, with a lake in its centre.
BavariaMunichMunich is the capital of Bavaria, a wealthy and orderly city with the Alps on the horizon.
TuscanyFlorenceFlorence is a compact city on the Arno where the Renaissance began.
LombardyMilanMilan is Italy's city of business, fashion and design, more modern than Rome or Florence.
LazioRomeRome is a city where ancient ruins, Renaissance churches and everyday street life share the same streets.
VenetoVeniceVenice is a city of canals and islands in a lagoon, with no cars and no roads.
North HollandAmsterdamAmsterdam is a city of canals, narrow brick houses and bicycles, with a compact centre you can explore on foot.
South HollandRotterdamRotterdam lost its old centre in 1940 and rebuilt it as a testing ground for modern architecture.
South HollandThe HagueThe Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and of international courts, yet it feels calm and green.
UtrechtUtrechtUtrecht is a university city in the middle of the country, under half an hour by train from Amsterdam.
CataloniaBarcelonaBarcelona is a Mediterranean port city with a medieval old town, wide 19th-century avenues and city beaches.
MadridMadridMadrid is a lively capital on a high plateau, where people eat late and the squares fill up in the evening.
AndalusiaSevilleSeville is the warm, unhurried capital of Andalusia, on the Guadalquivir river.
ValenciaValenciaValencia is a Mediterranean city with an old town, long sandy beaches and the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences.
ScotlandEdinburghScotland's capital is built over old volcanic hills, with a castle on a rock above a medieval Old Town and a graceful Georgian New Town.
EnglandLondonLondon is a big, varied capital on the Thames, where royal palaces and medieval churches stand next to glass towers.
EnglandManchesterManchester grew into the world's first industrial city, and its red-brick mills and warehouses now hold bars, galleries and flats.