Calm Beaches
The Wide Beaches Of The Costa Vicentina
Protected coastline, few buildings, and Atlantic water that never really warms up.
Alentejo and western Algarve, Portugal
Official Section
World Highlights
Single places, described properly. Not a ranking and not a bucket list: a set of destinations we would send a friend to, with the caveats included.
14 highlights across 7 categories
Grouped by the day they suit
Categories
We group highlights by the kind of day they produce rather than by continent, because that is how most people actually choose. A calm beach and a scenic road ask for different energy, and mixing them badly is what makes trips tiring.
Calm Beaches
Shorelines that stay quiet outside peak weeks.
2 entries
Scenic Roads
Drives where the road is the reason for the trip.
2 entries
Quiet Islands
Islands with a working local life, not only visitors.
2 entries
Night Walk Cities
Cities that improve after dark and stay walkable.
2 entries
Hidden Viewpoints
Vantage points that are known locally and rarely queued.
2 entries
Cultural Classics
Well known places that still deserve the attention.
2 entries
Nature Icons
Landscapes worth building an entire trip around.
2 entries
Category
Calm Beaches
Shorelines that stay quiet outside peak weeks.
Calm Beaches
Quiet Stretches On Zanzibar's East Coast
Tidal flats, seaweed farms and village beaches that still work as villages.
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Category
Scenic Roads
Drives where the road is the reason for the trip.
Scenic Roads
The Great Ocean Road, Driven Slowly
243 kilometres that most people compress into one day and should not.
Victoria, Australia
Scenic Roads
Sognefjell, Northern Europe's Highest Pass
A road above the treeline, open roughly five months a year.
Western Norway
Category
Quiet Islands
Islands with a working local life, not only visitors.
Quiet Islands
The Faroe Islands For Slow Weather Watching
Eighteen islands, 50,000 people, and weather that reorganises your plans daily.
Faroe Islands, Denmark
Quiet Islands
Sao Miguel, The Azores At Its Own Pace
Volcanic lakes, hot springs and a mid Atlantic climate that rains and clears in the same hour.
Azores, Portugal
Category
Night Walk Cities
Cities that improve after dark and stay walkable.
Night Walk Cities
Lisbon After Dark
A city where the evening walk is a genuine local habit and the hills are cooler after sunset.
Lisbon, Portugal
Night Walk Cities
Osaka's Night Streets
A food city that only really opens after seven and stays open late.
Osaka, Japan
Category
Hidden Viewpoints
Vantage points that are known locally and rarely queued.
Hidden Viewpoints
Letna, The View Locals Actually Use
A park above the river with the city's best panorama and beer garden prices.
Prague, Czechia
Hidden Viewpoints
Madeira's Levada Viewpoints
Irrigation channels turned walking paths, with views that do not appear from any road.
Madeira, Portugal
Category
Cultural Classics
Well known places that still deserve the attention.
Cultural Classics
The Alhambra, Still Worth The Queue
A palace complex that survives the weight of its own popularity, if you time it right.
Granada, Spain
Cultural Classics
Petra Beyond The Treasury
The famous facade is the first ten minutes. The site continues for kilometres.
Petra, Jordan
Category
Nature Icons
Landscapes worth building an entire trip around.
Nature Icons
Vatnajokull, Ice On A European Scale
Europe's largest ice cap by volume, and the outlet glaciers you can actually reach.
Southeast Iceland
Nature Icons
The Serengeti Plains And The Migration
A grassland ecosystem where the animal movement follows rainfall, not a calendar.
Northern Tanzania
Official Notice
Build a trip around a highlight
A single place is rarely a whole trip. Our routes show how to connect one highlight to the days either side of it without spending the week in transit.
Open World Routes