All Destinations

A UNESCO-listed valley in Cuba's tobacco-growing Pinar del Río province, three hours west of Havana, where flat-topped limestone mogotes rise like sleeping giants over fields of red earth. Days here run on country time. Horseback rides slip between rows of curing tobacco at family vegas, classic Plymouths and Buicks ferry travellers along Calle Salvador Cisneros, and farmers like the Robaina dynasty open their drying barns for free hand-rolled cigar tastings. Cueva del Indio threads an underground river through limestone, the giant Mural de la Prehistoria covers a cliff face, and casa particular homestays put guests at the family table for fresh-pressed sugarcane juice and yuca con mojo.

Jordan's Mars-like desert of towering sandstone cliffs, natural rock bridges, and Bedouin camps under some of the clearest night skies on Earth. Lawrence of Arabia's playground.

12,000 square kilometres of classic 1001 Nights desert east of Muscat, officially renamed the Sharqiya Sands but still known to most travellers as Wahiba after the Bedouin tribe whose herds still roam the dunes. Red-orange ridges line up in parallel north-south combs that reach 100 metres at their peak, broken by hardpan flats where camel caravans crossed for centuries. Most visitors arrive overland from the capital, stopping en route at Wadi Bani Khalid for an oasis swim before checking into a Bedouin-style desert camp for sunset 4WD dune-bashing, sandboarding and a stargazing dinner under skies free of light pollution. Peak season runs October to March; summer routinely tops 50°C.

Queenstown's quieter alpine cousin — a lake town wrapped in the Southern Alps where the population (10,000-ish) doubles in summer for hiking and triples in winter for ski. The lone willow growing out of Lake Wanaka (the Wanaka Tree) is New Zealand's most photographed tree. Roy's Peak, Cardrona, and Mt Aspiring National Park are all within 20 minutes. Fewer bachelor parties, no bungee touts, more board shorts and trail runners.

A city rebuilt from 85% destruction — Warsaw's Old Town was reconstructed brick-by-brick from 18th-century Bellotto paintings, earning a UNESCO inscription for the act of reconstruction itself. POLIN Museum of Polish Jews (European Museum of the Year), the Warsaw Rising Museum, Łazienki Park's free Sunday Chopin concerts, the Palace of Culture and Science (Stalin's polarising "gift"), and the Neon Museum's communist-era glow: the most historically layered capital in Central Europe.

The nation's capital delivers a staggering amount of world-class culture for free — 20+ Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery, every major memorial on the Mall. Beyond the monuments, Georgetown's cobblestones, U Street's jazz history, and Eastern Market's weekend bustle give DC a neighborhood depth many visitors miss.

New Zealand's compact, creative capital punches well above its weight with world-class Te Papa museum, a thriving craft beer and coffee scene, colorful wooden houses, and stunning harbor setting. Often called the "coolest little capital in the world."

North America's flagship ski destination — a purpose-built resort village 125 km north of Vancouver via the Sea-to-Sky Highway, set at the foot of two side-by-side mountains. Whistler (2,182 m) and Blackcomb (2,436 m) hold 200+ marked runs across 8,171 acres, joined by the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola whose 3.024 km unsupported span is the longest of any cable car on earth. Blackcomb's 1,609 m vertical drop is the largest at any North American resort. The Village core is fully pedestrian — no cars allowed. Co-host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Summer flips to lift-served downhill biking at the largest bike park in North America.

A 74-island archipelago in the Coral Sea off central Queensland — protected within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (UNESCO) and the Whitsunday Islands National Park, with most islands uninhabited. Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island runs 7 km of 98% pure silica sand — so fine and white that it stays cool underfoot in 35°C summer sun, and repeatedly voted one of the world's top beaches. Hill Inlet's tide-shifting cream-and-turquoise sand patterns are the iconic Whitsundays photograph; Heart Reef (visible only by helicopter or seaplane) is the heart-shaped coral formation in the outer Great Barrier Reef. Add multi-day sailing trips through the Whitsunday Passage's reliable trade winds, snorkelling at Hardy Reef pontoon, and Hamilton Island's resort scene with One Tree Hill sunsets — Australia's most photogenic tropical archipelago.

China's ancient capital at the eastern end of the Silk Road — the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang (8,000+ soldiers, discovered 1974) is humanity's greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. The Ming Dynasty City Walls (1370) form a 13.7km complete circuit you can cycle atop. Xi'an's Muslim Quarter has maintained a 1,300-year-old Hui community whose street food — roujiamo (Chinese burger), biangbiang noodles — is among China's best.

Myanmar's largest city dazzles with the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, faded colonial grandeur, vibrant street food, and a pace of life that feels decades removed from neighboring capitals.

The karst landscape on China's 20-yuan note — limestone peaks rising from emerald paddies along the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo town. The four-hour bamboo-raft drift between Yangdi and Xingping is the most photographed river journey in China. Moon Hill (a hollowed-out limestone arch) and the Yulong River's quieter rafts are the village base; the Impression Sanjie Liu (a Zhang Yimou-directed open-air light show with 600 performers on the river) plays nightly. Bicycle the Ten-Mile Gallery for the village rice fields. Subtropical — best March–May and September–November.

Yellowstone was the world's first national park (1872) and still one of its strangest — 2.2 million acres sitting on a supervolcano, home to half the planet's geysers, the continent's largest free-roaming bison herd, and the wolves of Lamar Valley. The Grand Loop Road connects Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in a weeklong figure-eight.

The Pink City of Armenia glows with volcanic tuff buildings, Mount Ararat views, world-class brandy, and a café culture that rivals European capitals — all at a fraction of the cost.

Java's cultural heart — home to Borobudur and Prambanan temples, thriving batik tradition, and Javanese arts. One of Southeast Asia's best-value destinations with incredible food and warm hospitality.

York is England's medieval time capsule — a walled city in North Yorkshire where Roman ramparts, Viking street names, and a Gothic minster the size of a small mountain coexist inside a 3.4 km loop you can walk in two hours. York Minster is the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe; the Shambles (15th-century overhanging timber-frame butchers' lane) was J.K. Rowling's reference for Diagon Alley; the Jorvik Viking Centre sits over the actual 10th-century Viking dig at Coppergate. It's a 2-hour direct LNER train from London King's Cross and the most visited UK city outside London.

Yosemite Valley is seven miles of polished granite — El Capitan's 3,000-foot wall, Half Dome's hood above it, and three of the tallest waterfalls in North America — all visible from Tunnel View in one shot. Most visitors never leave the Valley; the high country at Tuolumne Meadows and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias reward the detour, and a Merced Amtrak + YARTS bus is a real budget route from San Francisco.

A walled peninsula on Croatia's central Dalmatian coast, halfway between Split and Pula, where Roman ruins meet 21st-century sound art. The Sea Organ — Nikola Bašić's wave-powered installation of 35 underwater pipes built in 2005 — moans and chords with every passing swell along the western promenade, while the adjacent Greeting to the Sun lights up at dusk from 300 sun-charged glass plates set into the quay. Inland sits the 9th-century rotunda of St Donatus on the Roman Forum. Zadar is also the practical gateway to Kornati Islands National Park and Plitvice Lakes, both an easy day trip away.

Croatia's inland capital — overlooked by visitors who fly straight to Split or Dubrovnik, but the city Croatians themselves rate above the coastal scrum. Medieval Upper Town (Gornji Grad) sits on the hill: cobbled lanes, the colourful tile roof of St. Mark's, the Stone Gate chapel where Zagrebčani still light candles. Below, the 19th-century Lower Town (Donji Grad) holds Austro-Hungarian boulevards, museums (including the world's only Museum of Broken Relationships), and Tkalčićeva — the densest café-and-bar strip in Croatia. Add the award-winning Advent Christmas market (best in Europe three years running) and you get the surprise of a Habsburg-era capital at half the price of Vienna.

Zanzibar is an Indian Ocean paradise with a rich cultural tapestry — Stone Town's labyrinthine alleys blend Arab, Persian, Indian, and African influences, while the east coast beaches offer powdery white sand and turquoise waters. The spice island lives up to its name with aromatic plantations, and the seafood is extraordinary.

Car-free Alpine village of 5,800 residents pinned beneath the 4,478 m Matterhorn — the most photographed mountain in Switzerland and arguably the world. The 1898 Gornergrat cog railway climbs to 3,089 m for the classic frontal Matterhorn view, and the Klein Matterhorn cable car tops out at 3,883 m, the highest cable-car station in Europe. Only electric taxis are allowed in town; everyone arrives by train through Visp. Year-round skiing on the Theodul Glacier and 400 km of summer hiking trails make this Switzerland's signature mountain resort.

The otherworldly sandstone pillar forests that inspired Avatar's Pandora. Glass skywalks, the world's longest cable car, and mist-shrouded peaks create a surreal landscape.

Zion is a slot canyon national park — the Virgin River carved red-and-white Navajo Sandstone walls up to 2,000 feet above the valley floor. It's the third most-visited U.S. park (4.5 million a year), which is why the Zion Canyon shuttle is mandatory April–November. Angels Landing's chained ridge requires a permit lottery and has killed hikers; the Narrows is a wade-up-river slot that closes on flash-flood days.

Switzerland's largest city — banking capital, Lake Zürich anchor, and (consistently) one of the world's two or three highest-quality-of-life cities. Altstadt's medieval lanes climb to the twin towers of the Grossmünster (where Zwingli launched the Swiss Reformation in 1519); Bahnhofstrasse runs from the Hauptbahnhof to the lake; the Kunsthaus holds Switzerland's finest art collection. The Uetliberg's panorama trail and the lake's swim baths (Frauenbad, Männerbad, Seebad Enge) are the locals' summer rituals. Expensive — but the trains run on the dot.