Peter Wade
For anyone who has traveled the world extensively, it is excruciatingly difficult to eliminate all the scenic beauty, fascinating culture, and stunning cuisine we’ve enjoyed, narrowing down a lifetime of adventures to only three recommendations.
Sorting through my memories around the globe - the mountains of New Zealand, Montenegro, and Switzerland, the remote regions of Argentina, Peru, and China, the oceanfront of northern Norway, southern Chile, and Australia’s Lord Howe Island, and the exotic aura of India, Brazil, and Egypt - all of this is so diverse and unique and worthwhile. It’s so unfathomable to reduce the planet to only a few of the world’s highlights.
Within the United States alone, I cannot imagine overlooking the stunning scenery of Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, California, Oregon, and Washington! America has its own impressive highlight reel, which I’ll set aside for the purposes of recommending the planet’s most ideal, exotic, far-flung places off the radar of many.
If I must attempt this impossible task, I won’t need to necessarily select the three most beautiful places I’ve witnessed. I must simply choose three locales of great variety that will offer a tremendous adventure to anyone who takes my advice, not only the final destination but the experience along the way. With that in mind, I’ll give you three examples whose photo ops will make all your friends envious, places with staggering terrain and stunning water features, sufficiently life changing enough to ignite a passion for travel if not already, and even the opportunity to glimpse unique wildlife as a bonus.
- GPS coordinates -23.148672, 14.443982
- Sandwich Harbour, Namibia
This is one of the most majestic places you’ll see in the world. The massive sand dunes of the Namib Desert are juxtaposed against the mighty South Atlantic Ocean in one of the planet’s most surreal scenes.
Lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, black rhinos, and oryx are among hundreds of species that roam the barren desert landscape and even the coastline itself. The endless stretch of crashing waves and lunarlike topography without the intrusion of resorts and high-rises is simply stellar.
- GPS coordinates -64.847812, -62.948225
- Paradise Bay, Antarctica
See as much of Antarctica as you can. Quite simply, these are the most indelible travel memories I retain. In Paradise Bay, the water is as smooth as glass, the black mountains offer an eerie intrigue, and the glacial cliffs of stunning proportion rise like frozen skyscrapers towering above the bay. Turn off the boat engine and you won’t hear a sound. It’s the only place in the world I’ve ever felt the experience of going deaf. There is literally not one speck of noise pollution in this remote place at the bottom of the world. And my goodness, the journey along the way!
- GPS coordinates 63.775764, -18.175476
- Reynisfjara Beach, Iceland
Just tour all of Iceland from top to bottom and your mind will be blown. But a personal highlight was strolling along the southern coast of this magical island, with jet-black sandy shores, waves reaching for the foothills of Reynisfjall mountain, and basalt sea stacks towering in the ocean. The orange-beaked roosting puffins and odd rocky formations along the cliffside known as Columnes Reynisfjara complete this otherworldly trek, as if you’ve stumbled into a fairytale.
Of all my travels, these three places are perhaps the most unforgettable and most likely to inspire!
You may also be interested in my list of the most exquisite and lesser-known places in the world.
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