Bordeaux

Bordeaux spent most of the 20th century as La Belle Endormie — the sleeping beauty — a grand wine port that had gone quiet and grimy behind soot-black facades. Then, around 2000, the city sandblasted itself awake. Under the honey-colored limestone was one of the largest 18th-century urban ensembles in Europe, and cleaning it revealed a whole city glowing like the inside of a wine glass. UNESCO listed the entire center, the trams came back, the quays turned into riverfront promenades, and the reflecting pool in front of the Place de la Bourse became the most photographed square meter in France.

What makes it a great group trip isn't just the looks. Bordeaux is small enough to walk, flat enough to bike, and sits at the center of the most famous wine country on earth — Saint-Émilion, the Médoc, and Sauternes are all a short train or drive away, and so is the Atlantic, with oysters at Cap Ferret and Europe's tallest sand dune. It's a city that rewards a long lunch and a slow evening: a plate of oysters and a glass of white at the market, the stone going gold at dusk, and a dinner in Saint-Pierre that nobody wants to end.