Tranquebar, South India, India

A little known European enclave on the Coromandel coast is the former Danish colony of Tranquebar (a corruption of its original Tamil name, Tarangambadi) which was founded in the 1620s as a ‘factory’ for trading pepper and cloth. Aside from a crumbling fort and a couple of Lutheran churches, the only surviving reminder of this forgotten era is a beautifully restored heritage hotel called the Bungalow on the Beach, located, as its name suggests, a stone’s throw from the churning surf of the Bay of Bengal.

You can sleep in simply furnished, high-ceilinged rooms inside the main Danish residence, or in an adjacent Tamil house. Either way, you’re assured of plenty of old-world atmosphere, and should the waves just beyond the walls be too rough for a dip, there’s a delightful garden pool surrounded by a sun deck.