8 Redwood National Park, Northern California U.S.. 20 Yosemite National Park, Eastern California U.S.. 22 Mount McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska U.S.. The winds will blow their ow
Trang 1Lake Pehoe in Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia, Chile
The
Stunning landscapes Breathtaking vistas Awe-inspiring getaways
100
Unforgettable Destinations
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Page 1: The setting sun lights the walls at Toroweap
Point on the rim of the Grand Canyon Pages 2–3:
The Shwesandaw Pagoda temple at sunrise in
Bagan This page: A beachcomber strolls across
the sands at Frégate Island in the Seychelles.
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World Map 6
peaks & valleys 8
1–25 Verdant hills, jagged peaks, mist-shrouded jungles, rippling grasslands, rocky moors, and undulating landscapes majestic enough to steal your breath away
rivers & shores 38
26–50 Magnificent landmarks and worlds shaped by water, from bright coral reefs and white-sand shorelines to twisting rivers and glistening fjords
cities & beyond 68
51–75 Structures and foundations so beautiful it’s hard to believe that we created them: spectacular cities, architectural gems, and remnants of great civilizations past
stark & wild 98
76–100 Vistas of shimmering heat and sparkling ice, strange shapes, and sharp trasts sure to inflame your imagination and inspire the adventurous spirit
con-Illustrations Credits 128
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EQUATOR TROPIC OF CANCER
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
ANTARCTIC CIRCLE
ARCTIC CIRCLE
Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, p 38
Guilin, Guangxi, China, p 41
Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii (U.S.) , p 42
Crater Lake, Klamath, Oregon (U.S.) , p 44
The Everglades, Southern Florida (U.S.) , p 46
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia, p 48
Clifs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland, p 50
Zanzibar, Tanzania, p 52
Big Sur, Coastal California (U.S.) , p 54
The Amazon River, South America, p 56
Bays of Fires, Eastern Tasmania, Australia, p 56
Loch Katrine, Stirling, Scotland (U.K.) , p 56
Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand, p 57
Great Blue Hole, Belize, p 57
Okavango Delta, Botswana, p 57
Seychelles, Africa, p 58
Newfoundland, Eastern Canada, p 60
Iguaçu National Park, Paraná, Brazil, p 62
Lofoten Islands, Northern Norway, p 64
Tahiti, French Polynesia (France) , p 64
Kaikoura, Canterbury, New Zealand, p 64
The Lake District, England (U.K.) , p 65
Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, p 65
Okefenokee Swamp, Southern Georgia (U.S.) , p 65
Cannon Beach, Coastal Oregon (U.S.) , p 66
rivers & shores
Saguaro National Park, Southern Arizona (U.S.) , p 8
Redwood National Park, Northern California (U.S.) , p 10
Chiang Mai Province, Northern Thailand, p 12
Masai Mara National Reserve, Southwestern Kenya, p 14
Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile, p 16
Tuscany, Central Italy, p 18
Olympic National Park, Olympic Peninsula, Washington (U.S.) , p 20
Yosemite National Park, Eastern California (U.S.) , p 22
Mount McKinley, Denali National Park, Alaska (U.S.) , p 24
Jeju Island, South Korea, p 26
Taktshang Monastery, Bhutan, p 26
Bryce Canyon, Southwestern Utah (U.S.) , p 26
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, p 27
Alpine National Park, Victoria, Australia, p 27
Glacier National Park, Northern Montana (U.S.) , p 27
Jasper National Park, Alberta (CANADA) , p 28
Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, p 30
Annapurna Sanctuary, Nepal, p 32
Jotunheimen National Park, Besseggen, Norway, p 34
Munnar, Western Ghats, India, p 34
Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania, Australia, p 34
Autumn in New England, Vermont (U.S.) , p 35
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand, p 35
The Highlands, Scotland (U.K.) , p 35
Bali Rain Forest, Bali, Indonesia, p 36
peaks & valleys
peaks & valleys rivers & shores cities & beyond stark & wild
map key
The
beautiful World’s Most places
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c t i c O c e a n
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0 2000 km
cities & beyond
Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria, Germany, p 68 Rome, Italy, p 70
Machu Picchu, Peru, p 72 Oxford, England (U.K.) , p 74 Sintra, Portugal, p 76 Savannah, Georgia (U.S.) , p 78 Bergen, Western Norway, p 78 Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico, p 78 New York City, New York (U.S.) , p 79 Kyoto, Japan, p 79
Rostov Veliky, Russia, p 79 Saint Petersburg, Russia, p 80 The Great Wall of China, China, p 82 London, England (U.K.) , p 84 Santorini, Greece, p 86 Bagan, Myanmar, p 88 Seville, Andalusia, Spain, p 90 Istanbul, Turkey, p 92 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, p 94 Amsterdam, The Netherlands, p 94 Petra, Ma’an, Jordan, p 94 Washington, District of Columbia (U.S.) , p 95 Cape Town, South Africa, p 95
Mesa Verde, Colorado (U.S.) , p 95 Paris, France, p 96
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74
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stark & wild
Artic Circle, Sweden (Kiruna, Lapland), p 98 Devils Marbles, Outback Australia, p 100 Badlands National Park, South Dakota (U.S.) , p 102 Ice sheets, Antarctica (ice flow on the Southern Ocean), p 104 Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, p 106
Galápagos Islands (Ecuador) , South America, p 108 Landmannalaugar, Southern Iceland, p 108 Chocolate Hills, Bohol Island, Philippines, p 108 Sossusvlei Dunes, Namibia, Africa (Namib Naukluft National Park), p 109 Racetrack Playa, Death Valley, California (U.S.) , p 109
Emerald Lakes, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand, p 109 Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (U.S.) , p 110 Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (Wotan’s Throne on the north rim) (U.S.) , p 112 Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii (U.S.) , p 114
Mojave Desert, (U.S.) , p 116 Northwest Passage, Canada, p 118 The Pinnacles, Cervantes, Australia (Nambung National Park), p 118 Oregon Lava Fields, Oregon (U.S.) , p 118
Simien Mountain National Park, Ethiopia, p 119 Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia, p 119
Socotra, Yemen, p 119 Sahara Desert, Africa (Erg Chebbi, Maroc), p 120 Mineral Forest, Pamukkale, Turkey, p 122 K2, Karakoram Range, China/Pakistan, p 124 The Prairies, Midwestern U.S (Flint Hills), p 126
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Saguaro cacti near Tucson: The cacti grow naturally only in the Sonoran Desert and can reach heights of 60 feet and live for up to 150 years.
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“Climb the mountains
and get their good tidings The winds will blow their
own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy, while cares will drop of
2
redwood national park
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Big is beautiful when it comes to coast redwoods
(Sequoia sempervirens), and they don’t come much
bigger than in Redwood National Park, which tects a precious relic forest—some 45 percent of all surviving coast redwood habitat—whose 350-foot- tall, 2,000-year-old trees are among the world’s oldest and tallest living organisms.
pro-DON’T MISSThe 32-mile Avenue of the Giants (Route 254) gives access
to the region’s finest forest and the world’s largest ing stand of virgin redwoods
surviv-Redwoods reach for the sky in Redwood National Park, part
of an ecosystem that is 160 million years old.
1 0 P E A K S & V A L L E Y S
i n the collection of unique and iconic places
contained within these pages, the notion that
beauty is in the eye of the beholder is disproved
We may experience diferent feelings as we
stand before the Grand Canyon, Machu Picchu,
or Rome’s eternal ruins, but some strand links
them and their power to inspire Sometimes
we can look and know Sometimes we simply
recognize a place for what it is—one of the most
beautiful places on Earth.
We start with the world’s great peaks, which
inspire great awe; no wonder we have long been
drawn to them To gaze on the majesty of Alaska’s
Mount McKinley or the great Himalayan summits
that ring Nepal’s Annapurna Sanctuary is to
under-stand why the ancients and our elders reserved
the highest places for their gods To hike, climb,
or look on the world’s mountains is to escape our
earthbound lives.
Valleys are diferent Their beauty still inspires
awe—as in the immense savanna of Kenya’s Masai
Mara or among the clifs and rocky amphitheaters
of America’s Bryce Canyon—but often valleys are
places of habitation whose gentler beauty owes
something to a human touch, such as the
vine-yards and olive groves of Tuscany or the emerald
patchwork of paddy fields across the lowlands of
northern Thailand.
The spaces between the realms of peak and valley ofer up resplendent landscapes of infinite variety, from the verdant rain forests of Bali and wildflower meadows of Montana’s Glacier National Park to the glittering turquoise lakes of Patagonia’s high plateaus and New England’s dulcet hills and villages, whose blaze of autumnal color reminds us that beauty need not be in thrall to the seasons.
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chiang mai
province
NORTHERN THAILAND
The landscapes of Chiang Mai are as varied as
the many peoples that have long been drawn
to this area of Thailand, one of Southeast
Asia’s most important historical crossroads
Paddy fields fill the lowlands and sinuous
hillside terraces with a vivid patchwork of
jade and emerald Encroaching on all sides is
the darker, denser green of jungle, laced with
slow-flowing rivers and shadowed by
moun-tains like Doi Inthanon (8,415 ft/2,565 m) and
Doi Chiang Dao (7,136 ft/2,175 m), two of the
country’s highest peaks.
DON’T MISS
The region’s capital, Chiang Mai, has a moated old
town that has retained its charm and is a base for
excursions to out-of-the-way tribal villages and for
cycling, hiking, elephant trekking, bird-watching,
and rafting trips in the surrounding backcountry
Paddy fields near Chiang Mai; about half of Thailand’s
arable land is given over to rice production.
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1 4 P E A K S & VA L L E Y S
masai mara national reserve
SOUTHWESTERN KENYA
When the sun sets in the Masai Mara National
Reserve, Africa’s vast skies fill with stars as
the tree-dotted grasslands and low
escarp-ments of the savanna below are bathed in
a gentle golden glow Shadows gather and
the dry, searing heat of the day gives way to
the balmy stillness of twilight, a cooling calm
before the storm of evening activity erupts
among many of the thousands of
crea-tures—lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros,
hyenas, and more—that call this corner of
southwestern Kenya home.
DON’T MISS
Visit the Masai Mara in August, when 1.2 million
wildebeests, 750,000 zebras, and other animals
driven north by drought arrive in the region during
the “Great Migration” from the Serengeti plains of
neighboring Tanzania
Sunset over the Masai Mara (right) and a cheetah
(above), which likes to hunt when the sun is low
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1 7 P E A K S & VA L L E Y S
torres del
paine
PATAGONIA, CHILE
Yes, they are torres—towers—but no
human-made tower has the awe-inspiring grandeur
of the vast, soaring granite monoliths at the heart of the Torres del Paine massif Yet this great easterly spur of the Andes, protected
by a 935-square-mile (2,422 sq km) national park, ofers far more than skyscraping spires and pinnacles Trails wend through pine-scented forest, past emerald lakes, and across windswept plains to the fringes of the Grey, Dickson, and other glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
DON’T MISS
Day hikes on good, marked trails ofer views of the Paine’s celebrated pinnacles Hikers can follow the famous “W” trail through the mountains in five days,
staying at refugios, or make a full circuit of the
mas-sif in eight or nine days
Sunrise casts the granite spires and rock walls of Patagonia’s Paine massif in a golden glow.
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tuscany
CENTRAL ITALY Tuscany is blessed, even by Italy’s high stan- dards In Florence, it has Europe’s greatest Renaissance city, and in Siena, its most perfect medieval town Hilltop villages look much as they have for centuries, and the timeless landscapes, worked over millennia, are a tapestry of vineyards, age-old olive groves, cypress-topped hills, rustic farm- houses, and fields of wheat and summer sunflowers Visitors gorged on art and scen- ery can feast on the region’s sublime food
or sample wine at a profusion of wineries.
DON’T MISS
The Val d’Orcia (Orcia Valley), south of Siena, mizes all that is best in Tuscany, home to pastoral landscapes and a lovely abbey—Sant’Antimo—as well
epito-as a trio of its most captivating small towns: Pienza, Montalcino, and Montepulciano
Olives, cypresses, vineyards, and rolling hills—a classic Tuscan landscape in the Orcia Valley near Pienza
1 9 P E A K S & VA L L E Y S
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The U.S National Park Service has called this picturesque expanse “three parks in one.” Only three? Someone needs to recount, because few areas in North America are quite as varied Land- scape proliferates, from the wild beaches at the park’s fringes, through vast tracts of old-growth rain forest dense with mossy undergrowth and fast-flowing streams, to the alpine meadows and deep-cut valleys that herald the glaciers at the park’s jagged, mountainous heart.
DON’T MISSFew roads penetrate the park’s mountainous interior, but Hurricane Ridge ofers accessible alpine and Nordic skiing, along with superb views of the surrounds
Deer graze (above) on sloping fields at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park; a bunchberry flower (left) nestles among ferns.
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yosemite
national park
EASTERN CALIFORNIA Some 900,000 visitors flock to Yosemite National Park in an average July By January, that figure has fallen to just 26,000, making winter a wonderful time to visit, not just for the lack of crowds but also for the added splendor that snow lends to the landscape and the ice-sharp clarity of the mountains
on crisp, blue-skied days Join rangers on guided snowshoe hikes, sit in a warm shuttle bus on a drive around the park, or just curl
up in front of the fire at the Ahwahnee Hotel, a national historical landmark.
DON’T MISS
Some trails remain open in the Yosemite Valley in winter, and there’s skiing at nearby Badger Pass You can also skate outdoors at Curry Village in the shadow of Half Dome and Glacier Point, two of the park’s most spectacular natural features
The sun-dappled rock walls of El Capitan loom over a snowy Merced River in Yosemite National Park.
2 3 P E A K S & V A L L E Y S
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You might come to see bears foraging in
the brush or to admire the sublime
moun-tain scenery along the 90-mile Denali Park
Road, or with the hope of spotting moose
and herds of caribou in the Teklanika Valley
Whatever you come to see in Denali National
Park, a protected area about the size of
Mas-sachusetts, you won’t want to leave without
a glimpse of its majestic centerpiece: the
20,320-foot (6,196 m) Mount McKinley,
the highest point in North America.
DON’T MISS
Companies in the park are licensed to take visitors
dogsledding, a Denali tradition—park rangers ran
dog-team patrols as far back as the 1920s Sleds can
cover 30 miles in a day, an unforgettable way to see
the park’s wildlife and winter vistas
A canoe trip on Wonder Lake in Denali National Park,
Alaska, with Mount McKinley in the background
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taktshang »
monastery
BHUTAN
Few outsiders visit the Himalayan
kingdom of Bhutan, and even fewer
climb to Taktshang, or the Tiger’s
Nest, a clif-edge Buddhist monastery
founded in the 17th century and
situated at 10,236 feet (3,120 m),
nestled in pristine and mist-shrouded
mountains that rise above mostly
untouched forests
Taktshang Monastery, the Tiger’s Nest,
in remote western Bhutan
of natural erosion and the nial work of frost, wind, and water Then stand back and admire one of nature’s most dazzling creations— the immense rock amphitheaters and rock pinnacles, or hoodoos,
A dormant volcanic crater on Hallasan, South Korea’s highest point
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Sweeping mountain ridges, jagged
peaks, wild rivers, snow gum forests,
flower-filled meadows, and high
plains grasslands—even in a country
as vast and as rich in landscape as
Australia, the wide-open spaces of
Alpine National Park have a unique
natural grandeur
The lookout at Fainters North ofers
views over the sloping peaks and
meadows of the Bogong High Plains.
Immense rock walls soar above the meadows of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, where visitors will find pleasant cafés from which to view them.
15
glacier national park
to almost two million visitors a year
Glacier (yellow avalanche) lilies at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park
«
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2 8 P E A K S & V A L L E Y S
jasper
national park
ALBERTA, CANADA
Winter, spring, summer, or fall—it makes no
diference: the majesty of Jasper National
Park, at the heart of the Canadian
Rock-ies, remains undiminished This varied and
pristine landscape, which is also the largest
national park in the Rockies, cries out to
outdoor enthusiasts who flock here
year-round to experience a wilderness of river,
forest, mountain, and ice, seduced by its
magnificent trails, soaring peaks, pristine
powder, and crashing white water.
DON’T MISS
Drive through the finest scenery in the Canadian
Rockies—past immense peaks, incredible glaciers,
wildflower meadows, and iridescent lakes—on the
143-mile (230 km) Icefields Parkway from Jasper to
Lake Louise
Sun-tinged peaks and wisps of early morning mist
frame Spirit Island and its reflection, captured in the
waters of Jasper’s Maligne Lake.
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COUNTY KERRY, IRELAND
“It’s a soft day,” the Irish will say to describe
a mizzling afternoon with a bit of rain Soft
days come often to Killarney, in Ireland’s
southwest corner, courtesy of the Atlantic
and the Gulf Stream, but the result is a
verdant landscape of bubbling brooks,
water-falls, and lakes framed by dulcet woods of
oak and yew, lush banks of ferns, and
fuchsia-tinged hedgerows Above it all soar the steep
slopes of the country’s highest mountains,
the magnificently named MacGillycuddy’s
Reeks (3,406 ft/1,038 m).
DON’T MISS
Any Irish visit must take in the craic (the fun), so
spend an evening exploring Killarney and its
old-time pubs Then allow two days for the Ring of Kerry,
a 111-mile (179 km) drive around the region’s finest
lakes, mountains, and monuments
Historic monuments, such as Ross Castle outside
Killarney, are a feature of County Kerry’s landscapes.
3 0 P E A K S & V A L L E Y S
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annapurna
sanctuary
NEPAL
The Annapurna Sanctuary is a magnificent
mountain-ringed glacial basin situated above
13,000 feet (4,000 m) in the heart of the
Himalaya Sacred to the local Gurung people
and unseen by outsiders until the 1950s, it
has become a popular trekking destination,
largely because it serves as the base camp
for climbers tackling the peaks of the
sur-rounding Annapurna range But no technical
skills are required for the multiday trek up to
the camp, nor for the increasingly popular
day hikes in and around the sanctuary.
DON’T MISS
The trek to the sanctuary climbs through ever more
spectacular scenery, from the Himalayan foothills
to the high mountains of the sanctuary Stays in
“teahouses” in the Annapurna Conservation Area
ofer insights into the daily life of Nepali villages
Prayer flags flutter at the Annapurna base camp, one
of the world’s most popular trekking destinations.
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munnar »
WESTERN GHATS, INDIA
The Western Ghats are among the
world’s grandest and most diverse
mountain ranges, stretching almost
1,000 miles (1,600 km) down India’s
western coast At least 139 species of
mammals and 508 bird species thrive
here Among the 5,000 species of
flora is one that has greatly improved
the lot of humankind over the
millen-nia: Camellia sinensis, the tea plant,
dressing the hills in vibrant greens
Tea plantations swathe the slopes of
the Western Ghats around Munnar.
19
jotunheimen national park
BESSEGGEN, NORWAY
Vast lakes of sparkling water weave through high, wind-scoured mountain ridges in this magnificently empty, ice-carved park Hikers tackling the region’s tough but popular seven-hour Besseggen Trail will experience some of the breathtaking grandeur of
a region Norwegians call the “Land of the Giants.”
The view from the top of the gen Trail is one of Norway’s finest.
Besseg-21
cradle mountain national park
TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA
Jagged peaks, ancient rain forest, beech woods, and alpine heathland make up much of Cradle Mountain’s pristine wilderness, a haven for remarkable wildlife that is crisscrossed
by trails such as the Overland Track, one of Australia’s finest bush walks
Beech trees cloak the slopes between Lake Wilks and Cradle Mountain.
«
«
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All but one of New Zealand’s loftiest
peaks can be found in this awe-inspiring
alpine park, including Aoraki, or Mount
Cook (12,316 ft/3,754 m), the country’s
highest point Trails to suit all abilities
ofer a window onto a spectacular world
of ice and snow
A climber admires the dawn view over
the cloud-covered Mueller Glacier high in
the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
22
autumn in new england
CENTRAL VERMONT
A region that is already prettier than
a picture—all village greens, red barns, and steepled churches—becomes prettier still as the leaves start to turn in the fall Countless festivals celebrate this transforma-tion, which is one of the greatest free shows on Earth
russet-Autumn wraps New England’s towns and countryside in a blaze of dazzling seasonal color.
Winter settles over Glencoe at the heart of the Scottish Highlands.
«
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3 6 P E A K S & VA L L E Y S
bali
rain forest
BALI, INDONESIA
Dawn sees Bali’s lush rain forest at its most
beautiful Pale sunlight dapples verdant
glades where dew falls and the
morning-fresh air is alive with birdsong Mist rises
above the trees and settles in the deep
val-leys that radiate from towering volcanoes
at the island’s heart Waterfalls crash over
moss-covered rocks, and fast-flowing rivers
carve through narrow canyons The
Bali-nese, up with the sun, come to leave
ofer-ings at the estimated 20,000 Hindu temples
that lie, half-hidden, deep within the forest.
DON’T MISS
The best way to see the heart of the rain forest is
on a rafting tour from a base in Ubud, Bali’s cultural
center, riding the surging white water of the Ayung
River as it runs through a beautiful, forest-shrouded
gorge north of town
The Ayung River cuts a swath through the
under-growth and luxuriant forest canopy of central Bali.