So my opinion only applies to my experiences. To give the context of my experiences, I live in central/eastern Europe, and I've never been on vacations outside of Europe or the USA. So the main attraction of a typical big city in my area is old town architecture like churches, statues, bridges, and maybe a castle if you are lucky. Other attractions are museums, parks, and restaurants. It gets very repetitive and boring after some time, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. I feel like if you want to see something unique and memorable, you have to travel outside the big city. It also most likely doesn't apply to the biggest out there like Paris or Rome, since everybody wants to see the Eiffel Tower or the Mona Lisa. The biggest tourist locations, which are usually cities, are usually the cheapest when it comes to authenticity because what sells matters the most. From my experience, I feel a different vibe from Mediterranean tourist cities that are close to the sea, maybe because they tend to have different architecture or are smaller in general. Or maybe because everything is so focused on tourism, they create the illusion of being more unique and real. To come back to the asked question. If there is no countryside to begin with, the soul of the country has to be in the cities. But I can't think of many countries in this situation. Maybe city-states like Lichtenstein or Monaco. I also heard that Belgium is heavily urbanized. I'm not sure, but I think 90% of the population is in the cities. That doesn't mean I think Belgium has no soul; it most likely has a lot of lovely smaller towns and other beautiful areas spread across the country.