For my money, it's a toss-up between France and Italy.

From the Dolomites to the Lake Country to the Ligurian Coast to Tuscany to Campagna to Puglia to Sicily... with Venice, Romes, Florence and Siena in between... there's a great deal of variety and awe-inspiring beauty to be found in Italia.

(The food might be a toss-up, too!)

mr_go, I have to agree with you. I can't decide between France and Italy, with Switzerland a close second.

But Italy doesn't have the Alsatian and Flemish variations. :-)

For sheer beauty I have to say Norway with its majestic fjords, mountains, unspoiled beauty. Its stunningly beautiful.

menachem - foreigners see things thru different eyes - even here in the States - in northern Michigan we have tons of trees and forests -covering most of the land and one guy from Arizona once told me "You are really tree-challenged here" - he said meaning that he could not see for miles on the horizon as in desert-like Arizona - different views of the same thing - I love trees - he thinks they are a blight on the landscape.

"Foreigners see things through different eyes"
"I can't decide between Italy and France"
Surely to answer the question seriously you would have had to have visited all the countries and spent a lot of time there.
I have been to some countries and got entirely the wrong impression because I have chosen the wrong places to visit.
Why would Italy or France be considered more beautiful than Austria or Switzerland? The question would be considered silly if it weren't for all the discussion it creates. Where does Greece feature in this and all the other countries that aren't on the travel lists of Fodor Forum members?

<i>The question would be considered silly if it weren't for all the discussion it creates.</i>


Lol... Fodors Forums in a nutshell!

But Italy doesn't have the Alsatian and Flemish variations.
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Not true some are Catholics.

steve is right on in post above - I should have phrased the query "the most beautiful country you've been in and have travel around in a lot" - I have been in every European country and around most of them several times but I should not have thought others have.(thankfully i had a job requiring me to constantly tour Europe for decades!)

A kind of impromptu question after watching the Tour - phrased wrong.

and what is beauty - a very subjective take.

Yes a silly question but one that spawned some intriguing answers.