Rome

Rome is not visited: it is walked. From the Colosseum to the Roman Forum and from the Pantheon to the Trevi Fountain, the Eternal City strings together wonders at every step, and you only need to turn a corner to stumble upon a baroque square, an Egyptian obelisk or a church with a Caravaggio inside. The Vatican gathers the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's rooms and St Peter's Basilica, whose dome offers the best panorama of the city.

But Rome is also the life of its neighbourhoods: Trastevere and its ivy-clad alleys, where trattorias serve carbonara and cacio e pepe the traditional way, the Campo de' Fiori market in the morning and an aperitivo in Monti at sunset. At little more than two and a half hours' flight from Madrid, it is the classic getaway par excellence: history, art and the world's best pasta in a single trip.