Croatia

The Balkan Peninsula's new megatrail is as much about imbibing culture as it is about bagging peaks. In his first dispatch from the trail, the author embarks on a 1,250-mile journey across six countries.

Welcome to Croatia, the melting pot of hot. Where East meets West, the old is new, the young are worldly-wise, the wilds are pristine, and the 20th-century shadows of war are giving way to a hip and happening 21st-century place to find peace.