Riverside Villages

Dürnstein's ruined hilltop castle once held Richard the Lionheart prisoner in 1192, on his return from the Third Crusade.

Rattenberg in Tyrol, Austria's smallest city by area, is a medieval glass-engraving town pressed between the Inn River and a cliff-top castle ruin.

Built directly into a limestone cliff above the Dordogne river, La Roque-Gageac once held nearly four times its current population as a working river port.

Najac stretches along a narrow ridge above a bend in the Aveyron river, with a 13th-century castle anchoring one end.

Besalú in Girona, former capital of the County of Besalú, is defined by its 12th-century Romanesque bridge over the Fluvià and a rare restored medieval mikveh.

Frías holds the formal, centuries-old title of Spain's smallest city, granted by King Juan II in 1435.

Liérganes sits on the Miera river beneath a row of grand 'indiano' mansions, built by villagers who returned wealthy from the Americas.

Weißenkirchen in der Wachau is a Danube wine village in Austria's UNESCO-listed Wachau Cultural Landscape, known for its fortified church and cable ferry.

Spitz an der Donau is an Austrian wine village in the UNESCO-listed Wachau valley, overlooked by the Tausendeimerberg vineyard and Hinterhaus ruin.