Romantic Gengenbach, located on the western edge of Baden-Wurttemberg’s fabled Black Forest, is a proper Sleeping Beauty town. One of its most striking attractions is the 18th-century town hall, whose 24 windows light up as the world's largest advent calendar come December. You can also hike to the equally chocolate-box towns of Hausach and Schiltach from here, if you can’t get enough of that beguiling Black Forest charm.

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Europe's most stunning small towns