I think a lot of people do appreciate the likes of India, Germany, Indonesia, etc. But at least from an American's perspective, the country I was most surprised by when visiting was:

Austria.

No, not the land down under. It's a rich European country:

Why is it so underrated? Well first let's establish its bona fides. Being sort of a borderland between Italian and Germanic peoples, it has incredible cities:

(the capital Wien, or Vienna in English)

(Salzburg, home of Mozart)

(Innsbruck, a city by the mountains that every ski town from Vail to Stowe to Tahoe tries to copy)

It has an incredibly beautiful countryside. Remember, it's right next to Bavaria, many people's favorite part of Germany, so you've got rolling hills, dramatic mountains, and, oh yeah, medieval castles:

The cuisine is pretty good too, being at a crossroads between Italy, Germany, and central Europe. Everyone's heard of Wiener Schnitzel (vienna's breaded-cutlet dish), which is fine and all, but branch out a bit. I didn't have a bad meal there.

But most of all, what Americans (and some Europeans!) forget about Austria is that a hundred years ago, it was a great Imperial capital of Europe, on par with London, Paris, Rome... and then the political fortunes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire faded. So most everything that people love about, say, Paris, goes just as well for Austria. I'll spare you the pictures and just say:

• Incredible museums and art galleries. Started for the same reason the Louvre or the British Museum got started, with the same patronage and a similar empire to gather things from.
• Classical music everywhere. I'm a classical music fan, and many of the greatest composers in history did their best work in Vienna. Instead of street performers playing rock or doing dance shows, they're playing Mozart. Classy!
• Palaces. The most famous, Schonbrunn, is right on the metro Vienna subway system.
• ...A subway system which, by the way, is very safe and clean, even if it does have one station named "Rathaus". Likewise for the regional rail systems.
• And some of the best ski resorts on earth. It borders Switzerland and has plenty of the Alps to choose from, but it's a (slightly) less snobby place with friendlier people.

So there's this great country, affordable by western European standards, that has everything we all appreciate about the great European centers of commerce and history... and yet, nobody really thinks about it when considering travel to Europe. They might go only a few hours' train ride away, to Prague or Budapest or Munich, but never really think about Austria. That's underrated!