All Destinations

A 200-person village 250 km north of the Arctic Circle that has become Europe's most reliable Northern Lights base — a microclimate produced by the Lapporten U-shaped valley keeps a hole in the cloud cover even when the rest of Swedish Lapland is socked in, giving Abisko roughly 200 clear nights a year. The Aurora Sky Station gondola climbs 900 m up Mount Nuolja for cloud-free aurora viewing from November through March. In summer the village is the southern trailhead of the Kungsleden, Sweden's classic 440 km long-distance hike, with the midnight sun above the horizon from late May to mid-July.

The first national park east of the Mississippi (1916) — 47,000 acres across Mount Desert Island, the Schoodic Peninsula, and Isle au Haut. Cadillac Mountain at 1,530 ft is the first place in the continental US to see sunrise October through early March. Rockefeller's 45 miles of carriage roads exclude cars; the 27-mile Park Loop Road connects Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Cliffs, and Jordan Pond. The Beehive and Precipice ladder trails are some of the most dramatic hikes in the eastern US.

Arches sits on 76,000 acres of red Entrada and Navajo Sandstone north of Moab in eastern Utah, holding more than 2,000 documented natural stone arches — the densest concentration on the planet. Delicate Arch (the Utah license-plate arch) is the iconic 3-mile sunset hike, while Landscape Arch on the Devil's Garden Trail spans 306 feet, one of the longest natural arches on Earth. The Windows section delivers four major arches in one short loop. Timed-entry vehicle reservations are required April through October via recreation.gov. Moab is the gateway town and pairs naturally with a Canyonlands NP day trip.

The Atlas Mountains run 2,500 km across northwest Africa, with the High Atlas of Morocco as the trekking heart and Toubkal (4,167m) the highest peak in North Africa. Imlil village, 1.5 hours from Marrakech, is the standard launch pad — a cluster of stone Berber villages strung along walnut groves, where mule trails climb into snow-capped peaks and tagine homestays end most days. Aït Ben Haddou, the UNESCO red-clay ksar 3 hours south on the desert edge, doubled for ancient Egypt and Westeros in Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Game of Thrones, and anchors the southern road circuit out of the range.

An archaeological zone covering 26 square kilometres on the dry Irrawaddy plain — at its 11th-13th century peak, the kingdom of Pagan built more than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries here, and around 2,200 still stand. UNESCO-listed in 2019 (decades after Angkor and Borogudur) following revised restoration policy. The signature Bagan experience is sunrise from the temple plain as hot-air balloons drift over thousands of brick stupas — flights operate October-April only and book months ahead. Note: following the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar travel involves serious safety, ethical, and practical considerations including travel advisories, banking sanctions (no international cards work), and ongoing civil conflict elsewhere in the country.

Banff National Park is the Canadian Rockies at their finest — turquoise lakes (Lake Louise, Moraine Lake), towering peaks, glaciers, and abundant wildlife. The charming town of Banff sits right inside the park, and the Icefields Parkway connecting to Jasper is one of the world's most scenic drives. World-class skiing in winter, incredible hiking in summer.

Bryce Canyon is the hoodoo amphitheater of southern Utah — not actually a canyon but a series of natural amphitheaters carved into the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, packed with the densest concentration of hoodoos (eroded sandstone spires) on Earth. The rim sits at 8,000 to 9,000 feet, which makes it noticeably cooler than nearby Zion (4 hours from Las Vegas, 1.5 hours from Zion). The classic combination is a sunrise stop at Inspiration or Sunrise Point followed by descending into the amphitheater on the Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail. An International Dark Sky Park, the night skies here are extraordinary.

UNESCO 1994 ancient montane forest (25,000+ years continuous) — home to roughly half the world's mountain gorillas (~450 of ~1,000 total). Gorilla trekking permits in Uganda cost $800 per person (vs Rwanda $1,500, DRC $400); book 6–12 months ahead. Four sectors — Buhoma, Ruhija, Rushaga, Nkuringo — with variable trek difficulty from 1 hr to 8 hr. 350+ bird species including Albertine Rift endemics. Access via Entebbe → charter to Kihihi, or 8–10 hr drive on rough roads. Best June–August + December–February.

Cappadocia is an otherworldly landscape of fairy chimneys, cave churches, and underground cities carved into volcanic rock. The sunrise hot air balloon flights over the valleys are bucket-list worthy, the cave hotels are unique, and the hiking through Rose Valley and Love Valley is spectacular. One of Turkey's most unforgettable destinations.

Ireland's most-visited natural attraction — 14 km of vertical sandstone sea cliffs on the County Clare coast, rising to 214 m at Knockardakin and dropping straight into the Atlantic. O'Brien's Tower (1835) marks the highest viewpoint; the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience charges €10 admission for the central platform and exhibition. The 20 km Cliff Walk runs from Hag's Head south of the visitor centre north to Doolin, with no fences along most of its length. Galway is 1 hr 30 by bus (€15 return); Doolin village is the closest base, 6 km north.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,949 feet, formed when 12,000-foot Mount Mazama collapsed roughly 7,700 years ago and the caldera filled with snowmelt. The water has no inlets or outlets and produces a near-impossible indigo blue that has stopped photographers for a century. The 33-mile Rim Drive circles the caldera (closed November to May for snow), Wizard Island rises from the western shore as a perfect cinder cone, and Cleetwood Cove Trail is the only legal route to the water — a 700-foot descent and a tougher climb back. The park sits 4 hours from Portland or 1.5 hours from Medford (MFR), peaks July-September, and is a designated International Dark Sky Park.

Home to Denali (20,310 ft / 6,190m), tallest peak in North America — visible from only ~30% of visits due to cloud cover (the "30 Percent Club"). A 92-mile Park Road is the sole access, with private vehicles restricted past Mile 15 and park camper + tour buses handling visitors. Important: the 2021 Pretty Rocks landslide has closed the road beyond Mile 43, so Eielson + Wonder Lake remain inaccessible in 2026. Wildlife Big 5: grizzly, caribou, moose, wolves, Dall sheep. Anchorage (ANC) 4hr south, Fairbanks (FAI) 2hr north; Alaska Railroad Denali Star stops in the park. Aurora visible from late August.

A UNESCO World Heritage mountain range in northeastern Italy with dramatic limestone peaks, alpine meadows, world-class skiing, and via ferrata climbing routes through the clouds.

The 'Dragon Mountain' is a 1,000 km basalt escarpment along the Lesotho border — the tallest range in southern Africa, with Thabana Ntlenyana on the Lesotho side topping out at 3,482 m. The UNESCO Maloti-Drakensberg Park protects the highest reaches plus 600+ San rock-art sites, the largest concentration of rock paintings in Africa, and Tugela Falls (948 m, second-tallest in the world) plunges off the Amphitheatre cliff in the Royal Natal section. Hiking, horseback riding, zip-lining and trout streams cluster around mountain lodges roughly four hours from both Johannesburg and Durban.

Northern Montana's crown — a million acres of jagged peaks, ice-blue lakes, and dwindling glaciers (26 left, down from 150 in 1850). The Going-to-the-Sun Road across Logan Pass is one of the world's great drives, open only late June through mid-October. Grizzlies are serious here — bear spray isn't optional. Amtrak's Empire Builder actually stops at the park, a rarity for U.S. national parks.

The Gobi is one of the world's last great empty wildernesses — 1.3 million km of arid steppe, rocky outcrops, and gravel pans straddling southern Mongolia and northern China, ranked the fifth-largest desert on Earth. Only about 5 percent is true sand sea, but the dunes that do exist are spectacular: Khongoryn Els (the Singing Sands) climbs to 200 metres along 100 kilometres of the Gurvan Saikhan range. The Mongolian Gobi delivers three flagship sights — the Singing Sands, ice-filled Yolyn Am canyon, and the rust-coloured Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs where Roy Chapman Andrews unearthed the first dinosaur eggs in 1923. Bactrian camels, ger-camp nights under a black sky, and 4WD steppe drives define the trip.

One of the planet's most familiar landscapes still lands the first time you walk up to Mather Point. The canyon is 277 miles long, a mile deep, and took the Colorado River roughly six million years to carve. South Rim (open year-round, 90% of visitors) is where most trips happen; North Rim is 10% of the traffic and closed half the year. The rule on Bright Angel: down is optional, up is mandatory.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system on Earth — visible from space and home to an incredible diversity of marine life. Snorkeling and diving among the coral gardens, manta rays, and sea turtles is unforgettable. Cairns and Airlie Beach are the main gateway towns, and the Whitsunday Islands offer stunning white sand beaches alongside the reef.

The most-visited national park in the U.S. — 13 million visitors a year, more than double #2 — and still free to enter (parking tag since 2023). 522,000 acres of Appalachian rainforest straddle the TN/NC line, with more tree species than all of Europe, 1,500+ black bears, and the world's only predictable synchronous firefly display in June. Cades Cove at dawn is the wildlife jackpot; the kitsch in Gatlinburg is its own experience.

Hạ Long Bay is the postcard image of northern Vietnam — roughly 1,600 jungle-topped limestone karst islands rising sheer out of jade-green water across 1,553 km² of the Gulf of Tonkin. UNESCO listed it in 1994 (and again in 2000 for geology) and it became one of the New 7 Natural Wonders in 2012. Most visitors arrive on overnight junk-boat cruises out of Tuần Châu or Hạ Long City, threading between karsts to caves like Sửng Sốt and Thiên Cung, kayaking into hidden lagoons, and climbing the 427 steps up Ti Tốp Island for the iconic aerial view. The neighbouring Lan Hạ Bay (south of Cát Bà Island) has fewer boats and arguably better swimming.

The fourth-longest fjord in the world at 179km — the Queen of the Fjords — softer and more agricultural than Sognefjord or Geirangerfjord, with apple and pear orchards on the slopes and Norway's only DOP cider. Trolltunga, the rock tongue jutting 700m above Lake Ringedalsvatnet, is the headline hike (10–12 hours round-trip from Skjeggedal, safe mid-June to mid-September). Vøringsfossen thunders 182m near Eidfjord. Europe's largest mountain plateau, Hardangervidda, is just beyond.

A 35km fjord in the Sunnmøre Alps — one of Norway's most spectacular fjords and somehow still one of its least visited. No cruise ships call. The mountains rise nearly sheer from the water to 1,500m peaks: Slogen, Kolåstinden, Saksa. In April–May this is arguably the world's best summit-to-sea ski touring; in summer the Sagafjord ferry still links Sæbø, Urke and Øye, where historic Hotel Union Øye hosted Kaiser Wilhelm II. If you want the fjords without the crowds of Geiranger, this is it.

Anhui province's UNESCO granite range — 1,860m peaks rising from the yunhai sea-of-clouds layer that gave centuries of Chinese poets and ink painters their template for what a mountain should look like. Two cable cars (Yungu on the east, Taiping on the west) lift visitors past the four classic features (oddly-shaped pines, grotesque rocks, sea of clouds, hot springs) onto a plateau of summit hotels at Beihai, Xihai and Baiyun. Most visitors stay one or two nights for sunrise. Five hours from Shanghai by G-train.

One of the New 7 Natural Wonders — 275 individual cascades stretched 2.7km along the Argentina-Brazil border, dwarfing Niagara. The Argentine side's Devil's Throat catwalk puts you above the roaring central plunge; the Brazilian side delivers the panoramic postcard. Subtropical rainforest with toucans, coatis, and capuchin monkeys. Puerto Iguazú is the Argentine base; Foz do Iguaçu sits across the bridge.