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Travel & Experiences

Top 10 underrated destinations of Europe

Never mind Stonehenge. Avebury, about 20 miles north, is one of the best — and eeriest — Neolithic monuments in Europe, made of multiple concentric stone circles set in and around a medieval village that grew up later. The surrounding Wiltshire downs are fine too, especially from up top on the old Ridgeway Path. Info: 011-44-1672-539250, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury/.

Never mind Stonehenge. Avebury, about 20 miles north, is one of the best — and eeriest — Neolithic monuments in Europe, made of multiple concentric stone circles set in and around a medieval village that grew up later. The surrounding Wiltshire downs are fine too, especially from up top on the old Ridgeway Path.

Info: 011-44-1672-539250, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury/.

  (Matt Cardy / Getty Images)

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Headed for Europe? See the great capitals and famous museums, of course. But then take the unbeaten path.

-- Susan Spano, Special to the Los Angeles Times

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Brussels

You could say gray, buttoned-up Brussels is an underdog when compared with slicker European capitals such as Paris and London. But for the sake of its North Sea oysters, mussels and little baby shrimp known as gris; wide and welcoming Grand Place; stunning Art Nouveau architecture; the Belgian Comic Strip Center and — most of all — its resplendent new René Magritte Museum, don’t miss it. Then, too, there’s Belgian beer. Info: http://www.visitbelgium.com.  (Yves Logghe / Associated Press)

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark

A blissfully placed museum of modern masters (post-1945) on the Danish island of Zealand, looking across Oresund Sound to Sweden, with Hamlet’s Elsinore Castle, Fredensborg Slot (summer home of Danish royals), beaches, cliffs and Rungstedlund (author Isak Dinesen’s country manor) all nearby. Info: http://www.louisiana.dk, http://www.visitdenmark.com.  (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

Connoisseurs of French architecture rank the abbey church of Vézelay, dedicated to Mary Magdalene, right up there with Chartres Cathedral, chiefly because of its soaring Romanesque nave and endearing 12th century Last Judgment carved around the inner entrance. The hilltop village around the church has fine views of Burgundy wine country. Info: http://www.vezelaytourisme.com/sommaire_ang.htm.

Connoisseurs of French architecture rank the abbey church of Vézelay, dedicated to Mary Magdalene, right up there with Chartres Cathedral, chiefly because of its soaring Romanesque nave and endearing 12th century Last Judgment carved around the inner entrance. The hilltop village around the church has fine views of Burgundy wine country. Info: http://www.vezelaytourisme.com/sommaire_ang.htm.   (Susan Spano / For The Times)

Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

Created by the contemporary furniture company Vitra, this extraordinary museum in Weil am Rhein (actually a suburb of Basel, Switzerland) displays works of design from American Shaker to Viennese Art Nouveau. Best of all, the museum campus includes such singular buildings as an early Frank Gehry, a Zaha Hadid fire station, Buckminster Fuller dome and Jean Prouvé gas station. Info: 011-49-7621-7023200, http://www.design-museum.de.  (Andreas Frossard / Associated Press)

Dresden, Germany

Rebuilt and risen from the ashes of massive Allied bombing in the waning days of World War II, Dresden is one of Germany’s most elegant Baroque towns with a landmark, white-domed Frauenkirche, Semper Opera, Zwinger Palace and Brühl’s Terrace above the River Elbe. Info: http://www.cometogermany.com.  (Matthias Hiekel / EPA)

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