Tours and activities
Cycling the Åland archipelago
Eckerö
Åland is flat and quiet, with more than 6,500 islands and skerries, and ideal for cycling.
Tours and activities
Tours and activities
Caldea Spa, Andorra la Vella
les Escaldes, Escaldes-Engordany
Southern Europe's largest thermal spa, a huge glass spire in the centre of Escaldes-Engordany, with indoor and outdoor lagoons of thermal water, Jacu…
Tours and activities
Antarctic Peninsula cruise
Expedition cruises from Ushuaia cross the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula, landing by Zodiac among penguin colonies, glaciers and icebergs, …
Tours and activities
Mendoza wine region
Mendoza
Argentina's main wine region, at the foot of the Andes, famous for Malbec.
Tours and activities
Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
The southernmost city in the world, at the end of the road in Tierra del Fuego.
Tours and activities
Great Barrier Reef from Cairns
Cairns, Queensland
The world's largest coral reef system, a UNESCO site, stretching 2,300 km.
Tours and activities
Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles
Timboon, Victoria
A 243 km coastal road in Victoria built by returned WWI soldiers, past surf beaches, rainforest and koalas, to the limestone stacks of the Twelve Apo…
Tours and activities
Ningaloo Reef whale sharks
Exmouth, Western Australia
A fringing reef close to shore, a UNESCO site, where from March to July you can swim with whale sharks, and humpback whales and manta rays at other t…
Tours and activities
Sydney Harbour Bridge and BridgeClimb
The Rocks, New South Wales
The 'Coathanger', a steel arch bridge opened in 1932.
Tours and activities
Barossa Valley
Tanunda, South Australia
One of Australia's oldest wine regions, settled by German Lutherans, famous for Shiraz, with cellar doors, bakeries and the Maggie Beer farm shop.
Tours and activities
Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Heiligenblut, Carinthia
A spectacular toll road over the Alps, 48 km with 36 hairpin bends, climbing to 2,504 m, built in the 1930s.
Tours and activities
Canal boat tour, Bruges
Brugge, West Flanders
A half-hour boat trip along the canals is the classic way to see Bruges, gliding under low stone bridges past medieval houses, hidden gardens and the…
Tours and activities
Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave
Belmopan, Cayo
A Maya ceremonial cave where you swim, wade and climb deep inside to chambers with pottery and the calcified skeletons of sacrificial victims, includ…
Tours and activities
Great Blue Hole, Belize
Belize
A giant circular marine sinkhole, 300 m across and 125 m deep, in the Lighthouse Reef atoll, part of the Belize Barrier Reef UNESCO site.
Tours and activities
Bonaire National Marine Park
Bonaire
The whole coastline of Bonaire is a marine park, with some of the best shore diving in the world: yellow stones mark dive sites along the road.
Tours and activities
Bonito
Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul
A small town known for ecotourism, with crystal-clear rivers where you float among fish, the Gruta do Lago Azul blue cave lake, and the Abismo Anhuma…
Tours and activities
Kampong Phluk stilt village, Tonlé Sap
Siem Reap
A boat trip from Siem Reap to the villages on Tonlé Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake, is a fascinating contrast to the temples of Angkor.
Tours and activities
Cabot Trail, Cape Breton
Nova Scotia
A 298 km loop road around northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, with ocean cliffs, Acadian and…
Tours and activities
Icefields Parkway
Alberta
A 232 km road through the Rockies between Lake Louise and Jasper, past more than 100 glaciers, turquoise lakes such as Peyto and Bow, and waterfalls.
Tours and activities
Rideau Canal Skateway, Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
In winter the Rideau Canal through the middle of Ottawa freezes into the Rideau Canal Skateway, 7.8 km of ice from the National Arts Centre, next to …
Tours and activities
Algonquin Provincial Park
Ontario
A huge park of forests, lakes and rivers in Ontario, ideal for canoe trips, with more than 2,000 km of canoe routes.
Tours and activities
Whistler
Whistler, British Columbia
One of North America's largest ski resorts, two mountains linked by the Peak 2 Peak gondola.
Tours and activities
Stingray City, Grand Cayman
East End, Grand Cayman
A shallow sandbar in North Sound where dozens of southern stingrays gather and glide around visitors standing in waist-deep water.
Tours and activities
Pucón and Villarrica Volcano
Pucón, La Araucanía
A lakeside adventure town beneath the snow-capped, active Villarrica volcano.
Tours and activities
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Harbin, Heilongjiang
The world's largest ice festival, held every winter in Harbin from early January, with whole palaces, castles and slides built from blocks of ice cut…
Tours and activities
27 Waterfalls of Damajagua
Imbert, Puerto Plata
A series of waterfalls and pools in the hills near Puerto Plata, where you climb up with a guide and then jump and slide down natural rock chutes int…
Tours and activities
Baños
Baños, Tungurahua
An adventure town below the Tungurahua volcano, with hot springs, waterfalls such as the Pailón del Diablo, rafting, and the 'swing at the end of the…
Tours and activities
Nile felucca and cruise, Aswan
Aswan
Sail the Nile at Aswan on a felucca, a traditional wooden sailing boat, past Elephantine Island and the Botanical Garden, at sunset.
Tours and activities
Ras Mohammed and Red Sea diving
Sharm el-Sheikh, South Sinai
A national park at the southern tip of Sinai with some of the best coral reefs in the world, and the famous SS Thistlegorm wreck nearby.
Tours and activities
Ruta de las Flores, El Salvador
Juayúa, Sonsonate
A route of about 36 km through the coffee-growing mountains of western El Salvador, linking colourful colonial villages: Nahuizalco, known for wicker…
Tours and activities
Shark diving at Beqa Lagoon, Fiji
Serua, Central
One of the world's best shark dives, with bull sharks and tiger sharks in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve.
Tours and activities
Rangiroa
Tuamotu-Gambier
One of the largest atolls in the world, in the Tuamotus, famous for diving the Tiputa Pass, where dolphins and sharks ride the currents.
Tours and activities
Kakheti wine region and Sighnaghi
Sighnaghi, Kakheti
Georgia has made wine for 8,000 years, fermenting it in clay qvevri buried in the ground, a UNESCO-listed tradition.
Tours and activities
Middle Rhine Valley and the Lorelei
Bornich, Rhineland-Palatinate
The stretch of the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz is lined with steep vineyards, medieval castles on almost every hilltop, and pretty wine villages…
Tours and activities
Kangerlussuaq and the ice sheet
Qeqqata
A former air base at the head of a long fjord, the starting point for visits to the Greenland ice sheet, where you can walk on the ice at Point 660.
Tours and activities
Roatán and Utila, Bay Islands
Roatán, Bay Islands
Caribbean islands on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef with some of the cheapest diving in the world.
Tours and activities
Star Ferry and Victoria Harbour
Yau Tsim Mong
Green and white ferries that have crossed Victoria Harbour between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1888, one of the world's great short ferry ride…
Tours and activities
Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Budapest
Budapest
One of the largest spa complexes in Europe, in a grand neo-baroque building in the City Park, fed by hot springs.
Tours and activities
Whale watching in Húsavík
Húsavík, Norðurþing
Húsavík, a small fishing town on Skjálfandi Bay, is called the whale-watching capital of Europe.
Tours and activities
Blue Lagoon, Iceland
Grindavík
A geothermal spa of milky-blue warm water in a black lava field on the Reykjanes peninsula, fed by water from a nearby power plant, rich in silica.
Tours and activities
Jet boat through Gullfoss canyon
Bláskógabyggð
A jet boat ride up the glacial Hvítá river into the canyon below Gullfoss, the huge two-tiered waterfall on Iceland's Golden Circle.
Tours and activities
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (toy train)
Darjeeling, West Bengal
A narrow-gauge mountain railway, opened in 1881, that winds up from the plains to Darjeeling on tracks only 2 feet wide, through loops and zigzags, a…
Tours and activities
Kerala Backwaters houseboat, Alappuzha
Alappuzha, Kerala
A network of lagoons, lakes and canals along the Kerala coast, lined with palms, paddy fields and villages.
Tours and activities
Rishikesh
Rishikesh, Uttarakhand
A holy town on the Ganges at the foot of the Himalayas, the 'yoga capital of the world', with ashrams, yoga courses and the evening Ganga Aarti at Tr…
Tours and activities
Bunaken Marine Park
Manado, Sulawesi Utara
A marine park off Manado in North Sulawesi with spectacular coral walls dropping into deep water, turtles and reef fish, one of Indonesia's best divi…
Tours and activities
Doolin ferry to Inis Oírr (Inisheer)
Clare
From Doolin pier, ferries cross to Inis Oírr, the smallest and closest of the Aran Islands, in about 15 to 30 minutes.
Tours and activities
Grand Canal by vaporetto, Venice
Venice
The best way to see Venice's main waterway is from vaporetto line 1, the slow water bus that stops at every landing between Piazzale Roma and the rai…
Tours and activities
Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica
Ocho Rios, Saint Ann
A waterfall that cascades 55 m in terraces down to the beach near Ocho Rios.
Tours and activities
Sapporo Snow Festival
Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Every February, Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, hosts one of the world's great winter festivals, with huge snow and ice sculptures in Odori Park an…
Tours and activities
Aqaba and the Red Sea
Aqaba
Jordan's only coastal town, on the Red Sea, with coral reefs for diving and snorkelling, including a sunken tank and a plane.
Tours and activities
Hell's Gate National Park
Naivasha, Nakuru
One of the few Kenyan parks where you can cycle or walk among zebras and giraffes, through a gorge of red cliffs with hot springs, which inspired The…
Tours and activities
Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng, Vientiane
A small town on the Nam Song river surrounded by dramatic karst mountains, now known for outdoor adventures: kayaking, tubing, caving, rock climbing,…
Tours and activities
Sani Pass and Lesotho highlands
Mokhotlong
A steep mountain pass climbing from South Africa into Lesotho to 2,876 m, with a pub at the top, one of the highest in Africa.
Tours and activities
Schengen and the Moselle Wine Route
Schengen, Remich
The small wine village where the Schengen Agreement abolishing border controls in Europe was signed in 1985, on a boat on the Moselle.
Tours and activities
Kilim Karst Geoforest Park mangrove tour, Langkawi
Langkawi, Kedah
A boat trip through the mangroves and limestone cliffs of the Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, in the north-east of Langkawi, part of a UNESCO Global Geop…
Tours and activities
Majuro lagoon and wreck diving
Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, Majuro
The Marshall Islands are known for WWII and nuclear-test wrecks; Majuro, the capital, has lagoon diving; Bikini Atoll's lagoon holds the USS Saratoga…
Tours and activities
Mayotte lagoon
Kani Keli
Mayotte, a French island, has one of the largest enclosed lagoons in the world, ringed by a double barrier reef, where you can snorkel with turtles a…
Tours and activities
Cenotes of the Yucatán
Tulum, Quintana Roo
The Yucatán Peninsula has thousands of cenotes, natural sinkholes filled with clear fresh water, sacred to the Maya.
Tours and activities
Whale sharks and Isla Mujeres
Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo
A small island off Cancún, with Playa Norte's calm turquoise water and an underwater sculpture museum (MUSA).
Tours and activities
Naadam Festival, Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia's great national festival, held on 11 to 13 July, with the 'three manly games': wrestling, horse racing, with child jockeys riding across th…
Tours and activities
Camel trek into Erg Chebbi, Merzouga
Errachidia
Erg Chebbi is the great sea of Saharan sand dunes beside the village of Merzouga in south-east Morocco, with dunes rising up to 150 m.
Tours and activities
Tofo Beach
Inhambane
A relaxed beach village known for diving with manta rays and snorkelling with whale sharks, which feed offshore much of the year.
Tours and activities
Swakopmund
Swakopmund, Erongo
A seaside town with German colonial buildings between the desert and the ocean.
Tours and activities
Everest mountain flight from Kathmandu
Kathmandu, Bagmati
A one-hour sightseeing flight from Kathmandu along the Himalaya to Mt Everest (8,849 m), passing Langtang, Gauri Shankar, Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Makalu.
Tours and activities
Mudflat walking on the Wadden Sea
Groningen
The Wadden Sea, along the north coast of the Netherlands, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of tidal mudflats.
Tours and activities
Farewell Spit tour, Collingwood
Tasman
Farewell Spit is a 30 km sandspit at the northern tip of the South Island, curving between the wild west coast and the calm tidal flats of Golden Bay.
Tours and activities
Milford Sound cruise
Southland
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi) is a fiord in Fiordland National Park, where sheer cliffs and Mitre Peak rise straight out of the sea.
Tours and activities
Queenstown: Skyline Gondola and Shotover Jet
Queenstown, Otago
The 'adventure capital of the world' on Lake Wakatipu, beneath the Remarkables.
Tours and activities
Ulva Island guided walk, Stewart Island
Southland
Ulva Island is a predator-free open sanctuary in Paterson Inlet, a short water-taxi ride from Oban on Stewart Island.
Tours and activities
Helistar helicopter flights, Taupō
Taupo, Waikato
Helistar runs scenic helicopter flights from its base just north of Taupō, over Huka Falls, the Waikato River, Lake Taupō and the Māori rock carvings…
Tours and activities
Punting on the Avon, Christchurch
Christchurch, Canterbury
A relaxing, very English way to see Christchurch: a punter in Edwardian dress poles a flat-bottomed boat along the willow-lined Avon River (Ōtākaro) …
Tours and activities
León and Cerro Negro volcano boarding
León
León is a lively colonial city with the largest cathedral in Central America, whose white roof you can walk on.
Tours and activities
Grotto dive site, Saipan
A collapsed limestone cavern open to the sea, one of the best cave dives in the Pacific.
Tours and activities
Flåm Railway and Nærøyfjord
Aurland, Vestland
One of the steepest standard-gauge railways in the world, climbing 863 m in 20 km from Flåm at the end of the Aurlandsfjord to Myrdal on the Bergen l…
Tours and activities
Northern Lights in Tromsø
Tromsø, Troms
Tromsø, far above the Arctic Circle, is one of the best places in the world to see the northern lights (aurora borealis), from September to early Apr…
Tours and activities
Trollstigen Mountain Road
Rauma, Møre og Romsdal
A dramatic mountain road climbing a steep valley wall in 11 hairpin bends, with the Stigfossen waterfall crashing down beside it.
Tours and activities
Atlantic Ocean Road
Averøy, Møre og Romsdal
An 8 km road hopping across small islands and skerries on the edge of the Norwegian Sea, linked by eight bridges.
Tours and activities
Musandam fjords
Khasab, Musandam
A rugged peninsula at the Strait of Hormuz, separated from the rest of Oman, with mountains plunging into fjord-like inlets (khors).
Tours and activities
Mount Hagen Show and the Highlands
Mount Hagen, Western Highlands
Each August, highland tribes gather at the Mount Hagen and Goroka shows (Goroka in September) in elaborate costumes of feathers, paint and shells for…
Tours and activities
Tufi fjords and diving, PNG
Oro
Tropical fjords with coral reefs and village guesthouses, great for diving and cultural visits.
Tours and activities
Huacachina
Ica
A small oasis lagoon surrounded by huge sand dunes.
Tours and activities
Tubbataha Reefs
Palawan
Two remote coral atolls in the Sulu Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with some of the best diving in the world: walls, sharks, manta rays and turtl…
Tours and activities
Diving at Anilao, Batangas
Mabini, Batangas
Anilao, on the Calumpan Peninsula in Mabini, Batangas, is known as the macro and 'muck' diving capital of the Philippines.
Tours and activities
Kawasan Falls and Moalboal, Cebu
Badian, Cebu
A turquoise multi-tiered waterfall in south-west Cebu, popular for canyoneering: jumping, swimming and sliding down the river through the canyon.
Tours and activities
Siargao
General Luna, Surigao del Norte
A teardrop-shaped island in the east, the surfing capital of the Philippines, famous for the Cloud 9 reef break.
Tours and activities
Bioluminescent bays of Puerto Rico
Vieques
Puerto Rico has three of the world's brightest bioluminescent bays, where tiny organisms glow blue when the water moves.
Tours and activities
Transfăgărășan Highway
Cârţişoara, Sibiu
A spectacular mountain road across the Făgăraș Mountains, Romania's highest, built in the 1970s for military reasons, twisting up through hairpin ben…
Tours and activities
Trans-Siberian Railway
Moscow
The longest railway line in the world, 9,289 km from Moscow to Vladivostok, a journey of about 7 days without stops, across forests, steppe and the s…
Tours and activities
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Busogo, Northern
Bamboo forests on the Virunga volcanoes, where Dian Fossey studied mountain gorillas.
Tours and activities
Whale sharks of Saint Helena
Saint Helena
From December to March, whale sharks gather off Saint Helena.
Tours and activities
Soča Valley
Bovec
The emerald-green Soča River flows through a valley in the Julian Alps, one of the best places in Europe for rafting, kayaking and canyoning.
Tours and activities
Cape Winelands: Stellenbosch and Franschhoek
Franschhoek, Western Cape
Wine valleys among mountains east of Cape Town, with Cape Dutch estates.
Tours and activities
Kandy to Ella train
Badulla District, Uva
One of the world's most scenic train rides, about 7 hours through the hill country, past tea plantations, waterfalls and mountains.
Tours and activities
Mirissa whale watching
Matara District, Southern
Mirissa is one of the best places in the world to see blue whales, the largest animals ever, from November to April, as well as sperm whales and dolp…
Tours and activities
Boat trip to the glaciers of Svalbard
In summer, day cruises from Longyearbyen sail along the Isfjorden to glacier fronts, where ice breaks off into the sea, and past bird cliffs and walr…
Tours and activities
Mount Pilatus
Alpnach, Obwalden
A mountain above Lucerne, 2,128 m, with sweeping views of the lake and the Alps.
Tours and activities
Glacier Express
Zermatt, Valais
The 'slowest express train in the world', an 8-hour scenic journey between Zermatt and St.
Tours and activities
Grindelwald First
Grindelwald, Bern
A mountain above Grindelwald reached by a gondola, with the First Cliff Walk, a steel walkway pinned to the cliff face, with views to the Eiger's nor…
Tours and activities
Alishan Forest Railway
Alishan Township, Chiayi County
A narrow-gauge mountain railway climbing from the plains of Chiayi through bamboo and cypress forests to the Alishan area, famous for sunrise over a …
Tours and activities
Pamir Highway
Khorugh, Gorno-Badakhshan
One of the world's great road trips, through the high Pamir mountains from Dushanbe to Osh in Kyrgyzstan, along the Afghan border in the Wakhan Valle…
Tours and activities
Chao Phraya River and Thonburi canals, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok was once the 'Venice of the East', and its river and canals are still the best way to see the old city.
Tours and activities
Ethical elephant sanctuary, Chiang Mai
Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai
Elephant Nature Park, founded in the 1990s, is a sanctuary for rescued elephants in a valley north of Chiang Mai, where you watch and feed them witho…
Tours and activities
Ko Tao diving
Koh Tao, Surat Thani
A small island in the Gulf of Thailand famous as one of the cheapest places in the world to learn to dive, with dozens of dive schools and calm, clea…
Tours and activities
Songkran at Tha Phae Gate, Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is the best place in Thailand to celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year, from 13 to 15 April (celebrations often run for several days eithe…
Tours and activities
Bosphorus ferry cruise, Istanbul
Fatih, İstanbul
The strait dividing Europe from Asia, lined with palaces, Ottoman wooden mansions (yalı) and fortresses.
Tours and activities
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest gorilla trekking
Kanungu, Western
A rainforest park, a UNESCO site, home to nearly half the world's mountain gorillas.
Tours and activities
Kibale Forest chimpanzees
Kamwenge, Western
A rainforest with the highest density of primates in Africa, and the best place in Uganda for chimpanzee trekking, with 13 primate species.
Tours and activities
Source of the Nile, Jinja
Jinja, Eastern
Jinja, on Lake Victoria, marks where the White Nile begins its journey to the Mediterranean.
Tours and activities
Desert safari and Liwa Oasis
Abu Dhabi
Dune-bashing, sandboarding and a camp dinner are popular evening desert trips from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Tours and activities
Jebel Jais, Ras Al Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah
The UAE's highest mountain, about 1,900 m, with a winding road to viewpoints, and the world's longest zipline.
Tours and activities
Big Sur and Highway 1
Monterey, California
One of the world's great drives, along the rugged California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains drop into the Pacific.
Tours and activities
Chicago architecture river cruise
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, and the best way to see its architecture is a boat cruise along the Chicago River with a guide from the …
Tours and activities
Road to Hāna and Haleakalā, Maui
Hana, Hawaii
The Road to Hāna winds along Maui's north-east coast over 59 one-lane bridges, past waterfalls, rainforest and black-sand beaches such as Waiʻānapana…
Tours and activities
Bromley Mountain, Peru
Londonderry, Vermont
A family-friendly ski resort in southern Vermont, unusual for facing south, so it's sunnier and warmer than most New England ski areas.
Tours and activities
Florida Keys and Key West
Key West, Florida
A chain of tropical islands linked by the Overseas Highway, with 42 bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge.
Tours and activities
Magic Mountain, Londonderry
Londonderry, Vermont
An independent, old-school ski area in southern Vermont, popular with skiers who prefer challenging, natural terrain to crowded mega-resorts.
Tours and activities
Hà Giang Loop
Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang
A road trip of about 350 km through the karst mountains of Hà Giang, Vietnam's northernmost province, on the border with China.
Tours and activities
Hòn Mun island boat trip, Nha Trang
Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa
Nha Trang bay is scattered with islands, and day trips by boat visit several of them.
Tours and activities
Mekong Delta
Cần Thơ
A maze of rivers, canals, rice fields and orchards where the Mekong reaches the sea.
Tours and activities
Victoria Falls (Zambia side) and Devil's Pool
Livingstone, Southern
The Zambian side lets you walk the Knife-Edge Bridge in the spray and, from mid-August to January when the water is low, swim in Devil's Pool at the …