Which country is the most underrated?

Is this a guessing game?
Slovenia?

Wait a minute. Bratislava is closer to Vienna than Ljubljana is to Zagreb. Slovakia.

Without answering the quiz, although it's probably the answer: Slovakia.
I love all the old, untouristy mining towns in Slovakia, and the mix of Slovakian, Hungarian and German culture. The Spis is a very interesting region, and the Tatra is very beautiful. The country is very underrated.
Having said that... I think many countries are underrated on this forum. The Czech Republic is much more than just Prague and Cesky Krumlov, Austria is more than just Salzburg and Vienna, Hungary is more than just Budapest etc.

Malta is perhaps not the most underrated, but probably the most ignored.

My vote for the most underrated countries in Europe would go to:

1 st place - Slovenia, 2nd place - Iceland and 3rd place - Poland.

Thank you all for participating in my quiz. I appreciate all answers. It's very interesting for me to see all these different opinions. I asked: Which country is the most underrated? I mean out of the countries on this Travel Forum:
@ Sam: you got it right, it's Slovakia. On this Travel Forum it got only 2 topics, altogether 5 posts. Why it does not deserve so little attention I posted under Slovakia.
@Keith: correct answer.
@Martin: correct answer.
@Chani: I agree that Malta is heavily underrated even by Rick Steves, did not make it to this Travel Forum.
@George: Slovenia got 7 topics, 28 posts. It's a very beautiful country, maybe it deserves even more but it's not underrated like Slovakia which got only 2 topics and 5 posts. Poland got 11 topics, 46 posts, I don't think that that's underrated. Overrated: Hungary - got 19 topics, 119 posts, well this would be harder to dispute; overrated Slovakia: well, with only 2 topics and 5 posts that does not look like overrated to me.
@Diane: Slovenia and Poland got enough topics and posts not to be underrated more than Slovakia. See above. Iceland is certainly underrated even by Rick Steves, did not make it to this Travel Forum.

What I enjoy most about this forum as opposed to some of the others is that the audience is more mature and understands that interests differ and they can express that without delving into the sort of immature negativity that turns a lot of forums into battle grounds. Well don Ilja. I enjoyed it.

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I noticed your attempt to boost the Slovakia forum didn't pay off too well. What would be interesting is trying to identify the tourists that come to the forum. The ones I don't believe would be interested in a place like Slovakia would be the first or second timer who still need to tick off the major boxes before the spread out. I understand that. Then we might have a good many timid travelers, possibly older less mobile, etc. We just discovered that there is a chance we might make it to Kosice next week. All depends on how the work schedule pans out.

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Ilja, thank you again for the good posts and do ma a favor..... give me a swift kick in the a$$ when I begin to get dragged into non sense.

Best.

@James: "I noticed your attempt to boost the Slovakia forum didn't pay off too well." Actually it only confirmed my suspicion that Slovakia is the most underrated country on this Travel Forum. Why? Hard to say. Maybe most American tourists prefer big cities and Slovakia does not have any. Hmm, but that would be Slovenia, too. Or maybe they don't advertise themselves enough. At least I did little advertisement for them under Slovakia.

What about Finland? No one writes about it. Estonia? Latvia? Lithuania? Greenland? Andorra? Moldova? Albania?

I've been to Moldova, it's ignored for good reason.

Finland's one of those places that despite not really having any knock-out attractions, I found myself really liking. I can't quite pin-point exactly why, maybe it was the low-key atmosphere of the place, maybe the fact that it's so sparsely populated, perhaps because it's so clean.

I would have to agree maybe Finland but only because I spent 3 weeks there 18 years ago staying with friends. So I did have personal guides who drove me around. We stayed iin Turku, ferried through the archipeligo to Aland almost to Sweden, camping on some of the islands along the way. So many people bicycling and camping taking the ferries. Also took the train to the lake country and camped there in a cabin with my sons trying the local specialty food kalakukko (fish bread!). Quite a beautiful place though we were there at the summer solstice and the constant daylight made it difficult to sleep sometimes, especially when camping.

@ Ms.Jo: I agree, all these countries you mentioned are underrated. Finland, Estonia and Albania have been on my list for a long time. One day it will happen. But still; most underrated country on this Forum is Slovakia. It's close to 4 big tourists magnets, it's cheap, it's visually very beautiful and on this Forum it got only 2 topics and 8 posts, Finland got 5 topics and 17 posts, Estonia 6 topics and 18 posts and Latvia, Lithuania, Greenland, Andorra, Moldova, Albania are so underrated that they even did not make it to this Rick Steves Forum so they could not be assessed.

Slovenia and Poland.

"Maybe most American tourists prefer big cities"

Ilja, that's an interesting observation. Maybe not so much amongst this group, but it seems true for the less informed, and maybe the newbies here. We've all seen the post from "1st time to Europe", where they say they are going to London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Berlin - in 10 days.

I sometimes think a lot of Americans view Europe as a few major cities - London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome - surrounded by uninhabited desert.

Myself, other than business trips where the company sent me to London, Brussels, Paris, Marseilles, Düsseldorf, Zürich, Hamburg, I've only spent a few days (or hours) on my own time in Köln, Mainz, Munich, Nürnberg, Salzburg, Prague, and Dresden, but most of my time (~85%) has been spent outside big cities, in small towns, national parks, scenic areas, walled cities, etc. But I've seen the US the same way. I've stayed in Ski Resorts (both in winter and summer), national parks, etc, but I think only a few times have I planned a vacation to a major city, unless visiting friends and relatives.

I think I'll start a new thread on this topic, do you go to Europe to see big cities or the countryside?

@Bruce: Poland has 17 topics and 73 posts on this Forum, Slovenia 11 topics and 47 posts, Slovakia 2 topics, 8 posts and yet Slovakia is very easy to get to, close to 4 big tourist magnets, good tourist infrastructure, safe, cheap, on Euro, with very beautiful countryside, rich cultural heritage (and the rest I wrote under Slovakia). No other country on this Forum has fewer topics and posts than Slovakia and that tells me that Slovakia is the most underrated country on this Forum.

Lee, start that new thread. It will be interesting to read what people think. When I was first time in Italy we had only 11 days so we divided it this way: Came by train from Vienna to Venice. 3 days there, then Rome three days, Cinque Terra 4 days (hiked through all five towns, swam in the sea including swimming at Guvano beach, ate all these Italian seafood) and Milan 1 day. Milan because we flew from there. Guess what I liked the most. Yes, you got it. Cinque Terra! Then Venice, Rome, Milan.

@ Ilja Have you considered the possibility that Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia are all correctly rated?

Ilja; I agree with you but I think it best that we keep it to ourselves or it will end up being like Italy

Unfortunately, one person's underrated place is 100's backwater. There are lots of places I would like to go before the years creep up on me, but few of them are behind the old Iron Curtain. If I had more funds and time for travel, I would expand my reach.

Another vote for Solvenia - loved it..............in fact loved and was surprised by all of Eastern Europe.

In Europe I would say the most underrated countries visited by North Americans are Poland and Finland.

I resisted urgings to go to Poland in '99 when I had an opportunity to visit Poznan. I turned it down then. Not until the next trip in 2001 did I relent to urgings to go to Warsaw and Krakow. Going there I knew had made a big mistake by not visiting Poznan when I had that favourable chance, definitely salient reasons for going to Poland.

Lovely debate and a lot of opinions. When this new Travel Forum started and a lot of countries got their own window certain countries got a lot of topics and posts and some very few. The countries on this Forum were chosen by R.S. staff (professionals) so let's assume they are worth to visit ( I would add Romania and Bulgaria to the list). I quickly noticed that Slovakia got the lowest amounts of topics and posts out of all countries on this Forum list. I used the number of topics and posts as rating of the country to make it little bit less subjective. To answer Bruce if I think that Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia were correctly rated after checking the ratings I arrived to conclusion that Slovakia was the most underrated. It's not only that she got the least points. She got several times fewer points than the other countries. I traveled extensively in those three countries (and many others) and it remains puzzle to me why Slovakia is so heavily underrated. The only explanation which is crossing my mind is that most contributors have never been there or made up their opinion after visiting just Bratislava.
Roy got the point: "Unfortunately, one person underrated place is 100's backwater," that almost explains it. Also "a lot of places to go ... few of them are behind the old iron curtain." Roy, for those places you don't need more funds. Most of them are about twice cheaper than western Europe and about three times cheaper than Scandinavia and Switzerland.
James thinks I should not reveal the secret about Slovakia or it will be mobbed like certain places revealed by Rick Steves.
I don't think we should be afraid of that. My voice is much much less powerful.

Poland comes to mind - but I haven't been everywhere.

One place I like a lot that is not only underrated but is ignored totally by the Rick Steves crew is Luxembourg. That makes no sense to me, as much of the country is covered with pristine mountains and wilderness areas, picturesque villages and castles. Luxembourg and the immediately surrounding area is among the most historic parts of Western Europe, from the Roman era through the Middle Ages and in World Wars I and II. Fortunately, Fodor's, TripAdvisor and some others give it more attention, but to the Rick Steves crew, it does not exist. By their reckoning, to get from Trier to Bastogne or from Aachen to Verdun or Rheims, you have to cross this empty place on the map.

Valletta, Malta Surrounded by history and beautiful views of the Mediterranean, it's cheap, the people speak English and are very friendly, it's not overran with tourists.

Ilja, Slovakia is sort of like Europe through the transom over the side door. Two years ago while fishing in Slovakia we actually saw …………….. well, we didn’t see any American tourist; other nationalities, yes: Americans no.