My favourite place in Europe: 17 travel writers on the country that feels like home

Grand old Viennese coffee houses, blazing Algarve sunsets, steamboats in Stockholm, schnapps in Slovenia … and a dozen more reasons why we love Europe

At noon, steamboat S/S Stockholm pushes away from Boulevard Strandvägen; its elegant art nouveau buildings, piped like cake icing, are the very definition of understated beauty. Our destination is Vaxholm, one of around 30,000 islands, skerries and islets in Stockholm’s archipelago. The city itself spans 14 islands, each with its own flair, like floating 3D puzzle pieces separated by waterways.

As S/S Stockholm begins her journey, the lush island of Djurgården comes into view. The masts of my favourite museum, the Vasamuseet – final resting place of a 17th-century warship – shoot high above the treeline. I hear gut-wrenching screams coming from amusement park Gröna Lund as we sail past. Thick forests, open parks and flower gardens are interlaced with biking routes and walking paths. Our proximity to nature and water organically creates work-life balance and slows me down to be fully present.