Inside a cave in Brazil’s Chapada Diamantina, a shaft of sunlight crosses the still water of the Poço Encantado and turns it liquid sapphire, revealing a floor some 60 metres down as clearly as through glass. Nobody swims here: the pool is for looking only, part of a careful balance that Bahia’s tourism authorities work hard to protect.
On a handful of Maldivian beaches, breaking waves sometimes glow electric blue in the pitch dark. The so-called sea of stars is real, well documented and utterly bewitching — but it answers to biology and chance, not to a holiday itinerary.
In Overijssel, in the eastern Netherlands, Giethoorn hides a car-free historic centre where whisper-quiet electric boats replace traffic on canals lined with thatched cottages. Its intricate waterways trace back to centuries of peat digging, and today the village draws crowds that test its charm — here is how to see it properly, without adding to the strain.
Less than an hour from Barcelona, Montserrat’s serrated peaks rise above a thousand-year-old monastery that guards Catalonia’s Black Madonna. Between choral chant, the hike to Sant Jeroni and hard-won tips for beating the day-trip crowds, here is how to experience this sacred mountain properly.
Above Locarno, the Verzasca River runs over granite so clear it has earned the nickname of Switzerland’s most transparent river. Between the historic bridge at Lavertezzo, the dizzying Contra dam and genuinely dangerous swimming conditions, here is the Verzasca Valley without the filtered version.
Off Yemen’s coast in the Arabian Sea, Socotra shelters one of the most extraordinary floras on Earth: umbrella-shaped dragon’s blood trees, the swollen desert rose and landscapes that feel out of time. It’s a UNESCO-listed treasure, though one that today demands real caution before any visit.
White sand, turquoise lagoons and overwater bungalows: the Maldives lives up to the postcard, but a good trip means choosing the right season, the right island and respecting one of the world’s most fragile coral reefs. Here is how to plan a Maldives trip, from budget travel to honeymoon luxury.
