Brno, Czech Republic

BRNO (Brünn) "welcomes the visitor with new constructions", as one Communist-era tourist brochure euphemistically put it. In fact, the high-rise paneláky that surround the Moravian capital play a major part in discouraging travellers from stopping here. But as the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, with a population of 400,000, a couple of really good museums and art galleries, a handful of other sights and a fair bit of nightlife, it's worth a day or two. For the most part, though, the city receives few foreign visitors outside the annual trade fairs, which has its advantages: tourists are welcomed here with genuine interest, and the pace of life is endearingly (some might say infuriatingly) provincial compared with that of Prague.