The oldest country in the world is this microstate tucked inside Italy

You can easily visit all three of San Marino’s towers from the city centre, which are connected by a pedestrian path with panoramic views of the country. The interiors of only Guaida and Cesta are open to the public, but you can still take photographs of Montale’s exterior. As for museums, San Marino is in no short supply, befitting a country that has lived for nearly two thousand years: check out the Galleria Nazionale San Marino (exhibiting contemporary art from the 1950s onward), the Museum of Ancient Arms (weapons and armour through the ages), and the Stamp and Coin Museum (self-explanatory).

Narrow medieval alleyways in San MarinoGetty Images

What to eat in San Marino

San Marino’s food scene might initially seem familiar because of its deep ties to Italy. In addition to its small wine and cheese industries, San Marino is well-represented on the Italian plate – quite literally. Two of its signature desserts, the Torta Tre Monti and the Torta Titano, are hazelnut, chocolate, and cream cakes inspired by their namesakes, the three towers of San Marino and Monte Titano, respectively. That said, much of San Marino’s cooking is strongly influenced by the cuisine of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna; the Sammarinese piada, a filled flatbread dish, greatly resembles the Italian piadina. (On menus in San Marino, you’ll alternately see piada and piadina – or the plural piade and piadine.)

As for where to eat, many of the best restaurants in San Marino offer not only the local cuisine, but sweeping views of the surrounding landscape too. Ristorante Spingarda overlooks the western side of San Marino, where the land just rolls endlessly into the horizon. The restaurant prides itself on a zero-kilometer approach to its cuisine, using only products like wheat, milk, and wine from San Marino or the lands that border it. For a good time, Guaita will keep you entertained well into the night; their extensive piadine menu is the perfect pairing with its music and DJs. But if you’re in and out of San Marino, the piadine at takeout joint Strapizzati comes hot, fresh, and fast. And on your way back to Rimini, be sure to stop by Antica Enoteca Giulianelli in Dogana, right on the border with Italy, where you can pick up wine and other grocer goods, including a Torta Tre Monti to take home.

Where to stay in San Marino

Most tourists just hop in and out when seeing San Marino, making the days in town busy and lively. But if you book a hotel for even just a night, you can really maximise your sightseeing when you don’t have to rush elsewhere: Go hard with the hikes to the towers of Monte Titano, scaling the hilly city, and have as much Sammarinese food as you can get – then crash right where you are at the end of the evening. The City of San Marino has many options, like the Hotel Titano, right behind Piazza della Libertà. There’s also the Grand Hotel San Marino down the road, where it has a restaurant L’Arengo, open for lunch and dinner, with fantastic offerings of Sammarinese wines.

On top of the comfort a hotel stay offers, walking through San Marino on a quiet night is a real treat. When the sun has set and all is quiet, when most of the visitors have returned to Rimini, Bologna, or even Florence, stroll through those stone streets and take in that delightful stillness in this old city, this ancient and proud nation. It’s as close as you might get to time travelling in the oldest country in the world.

This article was first published on Condé Nast Traveler.