The Balkans stretch from Croatia‘s Adriatic coast to Bulgaria‘s booming Black Sea resorts, and include cities from hip and brooding Belgrade to creative, chic Thessaloniki. The tourist infrastructure in the region is famously uneven, with Greece and Croatia among the easiest to navigate, and Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia among the most difficult.

For a number of reasons, tourism is exploding in the region. From the increasing popularity of the Montenegrin coast and Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid (pictured above) to waves of second home real estate sweeping Croatia and Bulgaria, there seems to be no stopping the tourist euro in the Balkans.

Here’s a Balkan region roll call: Albania; Bosnia-Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM); Greece; Montenegro; Romania; Serbia; Slovenia; and Turkey.

Surrounded on three sides and with low-cost routes winging to destinations all over the region—the Balkan region has become the place to go for city breaks and affordable extended holidays. And given the European Union’s commitment to enlarge to eventually include the entire region, it is also a good bet that long-term stability is in the region’s future.