Denmark's largest island is so much more than simply the home of the country's dynamic capital, Copenhagen. Zealand also offers a delightful array of holiday homes and villas, pleasing harbors and sandy beaches, fringed by forests where castles lurk. Major destinations include the UNESCO-designated, Dutch Renaissance-style Kronborg Castle in Helsingor and the Viking attractions, cathedral and music festival of Roskilde. To the south bobs a flotilla of beautiful and relatively untouched islands.

The easternmost town on the island of Fyn or Funen anchors the much traveled Storebaelt Bridge at its western point. This 700-year-old town is often overlooked for neighboring Odense, just 21 miles west. It's worth spending a few hours exploring the 1540 Old Torvet market square, once the site of 16th-century royal games, the ancient 1170 Nyborg Castle, venerable houses and the oldest open air theater in the country, Voldspil Nyborg. The theater hosts musicals and operettas on on the castle ramparts.

A cultural hub where elegant mosques and traditional bazaars dot the palm-lined boulevards and ancient Greek ruins look down from the hilltops, Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir, has plenty to offer cruise visitors en route to nearby Ephesus.