Westminster Abbey, the Eiffel Tower, the Sistine Chapel — these are the reasons you go to Europe. They’re also the reason millions of other tourists go. Nothing kills a sightseeing buzz like being shoulder to shoulder with mobs of other visitors. At popular sights, it can help to arrive early or go late. This is especially true at places popular with cruise excursions and big-bus tour groups. At eight in the morning, a scenic walk atop the city walls of Dubrovnik, Croatia, is cool and easy, with

Few cities can match the over-the-top romance and Old World charm...and tourist crowds of Prague. But this fun, historic city is popular for good reason: It’s the only Central European capital to escape the bombing of the last century’s wars, and it’s one of the Continent’s best-preserved cities. A good way to introduce yourself to the city, its layered past, and its resilient people is with a walk across town, starting on lively, urban Wenceslas Square, weaving through the atmospheric Old Town,