Most of us have seen pictures of or visited popular landscapes such as the Grand Canyon, the Great Pyramids of Giza or Macchu Picchu, right? But what about some of those unknown landscapes off the beaten path that are more charming than you can imagine? You don’t have to wade through oceans of tourists to see them, either, and that sounds like fun to us. We bet it does to you, too.
So, whether you’ve already traveled to some of the most breathtaking places on the planet or are just looking to start, here are 25 Must Visit Places Where Nature Went Crazy with Landscapes that Shareably has lined up for you. There is also a special bonus landscape at the end.
As an aside, there are a few of them that won’t be there forever, so you’ll want to head over there and tick them off your list at your earliest opportunity.
1. Antelope Canyon: USA
You’ll marvel at the sight of swirling canyon walls if you ever visit Antelope Canyon, located near the town of Page, Arizona. This landscape instance is an awe-inspiring sandstone masterpiece that is the most photographed slot canyon in the Southwest. Here’s a fun fact about Antelope Canyon, too – other slot canyons are deeper, but this masterpiece has just the right blend of width, depth, length, ambient light and rock color to make a visit there worthwhile.
2. Bajos del Toro: Costa Rica
Kendi kategorisinde ödüllü fotoğrafmış. (kim çekmiş bulamadım, ''these things will blow your mind''dan aldım.) pic.twitter.com/u5gSW5qW5h
— Ahmet Çetin (@ctnahmet) July 28, 2016
If you are looking for a place that mother nature took some extra time and loving care creating, then look no further than the forests and trails of Bajos del Toro. This little piece of paradise that’s tucked away between extinct volcanoes is largely undiscovered, and, according to BrightSide, you’ll want to be sure to trek through the crystal waters to see the splendors of the Hidden Treasure Waterfall while you’re there.
3. Mount Edith Cavell: Canada
4. Kakslauttanen Resort: Finland
Nature at the Arctic is crazy-beautiful with its lappish wilderness and snowy peaks. On the down side, the cold is a force to be reckoned with. But if you think you can’t enjoy it because of bitter cold and chattering teeth, then Shareably’s here to dispel that notion with number 4 on this list. Fortunately, the Kakslauttanen resort’s climate-controlled glass igloos and log cabins allow you to experience the splendor of the Northern Lights and the Midnight Sun, all while sipping coffee and gazing out the windows of your comfy room.
5. Emerald Lakes: New Zealand
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing in Tongariro National Park is one of the most popular day hikes in New Zealand, and the aptly-named Emerald Lakes are located on the Crossing in Tongariro National Park. The Emerald Lakes owe their brilliant colors to dissolved minerals that washed down from nearby Red Crater’s thermal area into them.
6. Cappadocia: Turkey
The Cappadocia area in Turkey is a popular destination because of its unique historic and cultural features. However, what earns it a place in this list are the geological wonders inherent there. There are entire cities that have been carved into rock and spectacular cave habitations, resulting in architectural masterpieces. What’s more, whenever colorful hot-air balloons are let loose and float through the sky, the scene is breathtakingly beautiful.
7. St. Michael’s Mount: United Kingdom
St Michael’s Mount is a civil parish and wee tidal island linked to the town of Marazion. Interestingly enough, you can reach St. Michael’s Mount by foot when the ancient causeway of setts magically appears from the sea at low tide. Once there, you can lose yourself in the myth, history, and legend behind the Mount’s story.
8. Yalgorup National Park: Australia
We’ve included Lake Clifton in Yalgorup National Park for all of you fossil-hounds out there. Lake Clifton is a prime example of nature going crazy because it contains thrombolites, which are living, round and limestone-colored, rock-like structures that have formed on the lake’s edges. The micro-organisms that build them resemble the earliest forms of life, and no one knows exactly why they form at Lake Clifton.
9. Waitomo Caves: New Zealand
Speaking of nature going crazy to spawn a breathtaking view, the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand have it going on. The caves have a habitat that boasts thousands of a type of bioluminescent larvae that are only found there. As you can see in the image, the little guys leave streamers behind that dangle and glow like stars in the night-time sky. Leave it to the Kiwis to have an underground landscape where even the worms look beautiful!
10. Cenote Ik-Kil: Mexico
Mexico has several cenotes (pronounced seˈnote), and Cenote Ik-Kil is arguably one of the most beautiful ones in the country. If you want to take in this amazing cenote, you’ll have to work for it, though, because you’ll have to climb down 26 m to reach it. The climb is worth it because once you’re there, you can drink in the beauty and relax and soak in refreshing waters that are an astounding 40 meters deep and 60 meters wide.
11. Socotra Island: Yemen
The Island of Socotra is known as the jewel of biodiversity in the Arabian Sea. Drought, fierce heat and geological isolation have fashioned spectacular and unique plant life in its landscape, as evidenced in the highly unusual and beautiful dragon blood trees there. The dragon blood tree gets its name from the red sap that oozes from it like drops of blood. Unfortunately, their numbers are vanishing because of a civil war raging in Yemen and the specter of climate change.
And speaking of red, let’s jump to number 12 on our list.
12. Panjin Red Beach: China
If you want to take in a mesmerizing and unusual landscape, you’ll want to visit the Panjin Red Beach in China. However, you’ll want to go there in the fall because plants known as Suaeda vera that make up the deep red landscape remain green during the summer. During Autumn, Suaeda vera turns into miles and miles of absolutely stunning red waves.
13. Plitvice Lakes National Park: Croatia
According to the park’s official website, Plitvice Lakes National Park was proclaimed Croatia’s first national park in April 1949. The Plitvice Lakes found within the park were formed through the process of tufa formation, which resulted in “the building of the tufa, or travertine, barriers.” When visiting, keep in mind that the lakes are a hidden little piece of paradise due to thick foliage that obscures them and makes them hard to find. Once you do stumble upon them, however, the search is worth it because it’s hard to find a better view in the world.
14. The Grand Prismatic Spring: USA
Yellowstone National Park has volcanoes, which manifest their pent-up power by releasing it through mud pots, geysers, and strikingly beautiful and colorful hot springs. That being said, its one of the hot springs in particular at the park that you’ll want to mosey over and look at if you want to see a once-in-a-lifetime sight. That would be the Grand Prismatic Spring, and its hues match white light by an optical prism with rainbow colors of orange, red, green, yellow, and blue.
15. Arashiyama: Japan
The photogenic district of Arashiyama located on the western outskirts of Kyoto, Japan is considered a must-see part of the city, according to Inside Kyoto. Kyoto is filled with classical Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, yet Arashiyama made this list because it is home to one of the area’s top sights: The Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. In fact, standing amid the soaring talks of bamboo in the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove has been described as being in a different world.
16. Namaqualand: South Africa
Namaqualand is an arid region of South Africa and Namibia and South Africa. And, although the region is arid most of the year, its famed and brilliant wildflowers bloom during a short time in Spring, making it one of the world’s top visited landscapes during that time. And, according to Condé Nast Traveler, the landscape at that time erupts in a rainbow of multi-colored flowers. Especially prevalent, and a favorite for shutterbugs, are the brightly-colored orange daisies shown in the image above.
17. Sark: Channel Islands
Although they are a challenge to experience with their remote, rugged, and sometimes inaccessible landscape, the Channel Islands are worth every moment of the trouble once you make it there. Sark is an island within the Channel Islands, and it’s one of the coolest places off the beaten path you can visit. Sark, with a population of 500, is also a blast from the past because you can only use horse-drawn vehicles to get from here to there on the island.
18. Perito Moreno Glacier: Argentina
The biggest draw and most visited landscape in all of Argentina is the Perito Moreno glacier. The mammoth sheet of ice is the third largest freshwater reserve on earth and it extends for a staggering 30km (18.6 miles) and encompasses over 250km2 (96 miles2). Visitors to the Perito Moreno glacier can additionally see and hear the loud cracking of glacial ruptures and observe the whites and blues of the glacier intensify with the changing daylight.
19. Ashikaga Flower Park: Japan
The Ashikaga Flower Park is a favorite of photographers and travelers alike. The park divides each year into eight thematic chapters where hundreds of flowering trees and plants display their lovely colors at each stage. One can’t-miss time is in the spring when Ashikaga’s carefully-cultivated wisteria trees burst into bloom, transforming the landscape into a breathtaking vision of pastel purples and pinks.
20. Salar de Uyuni: Bolivia
Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat, and it is considered to be one of the most extreme landscapes in all of South America. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll catch yourself there during certain times of the year when lakes that are nearby flood over their borders. When that happens, the thin layer of water running into the surface of the Salar de Unyuni emits a brilliant reflection of the clouds and blue sky up above.
21. Mù Cang Chải: Vietnam
Mù Cang Chải, which is also known as the “Theatre of Rice,” features a luminous landscape. And every year, between September and October, the terraced rice fields put on a show of brilliant harvest colors. During that time, in the dew-drenched crack of dawn, the hundreds of stepped rice paddies that are carved into the contours of the valleys are illuminated by the sun.
22. Mammoth Lakes: California
The crazy landscape that is the Mammoth Lakes seems like it was created specifically for lovers. That’s because the region has heart-shaped hot springs in the middle of a valley surrounded by gorgeous, dramatic backdrops. You can visit and try out one of the hot springs (they are all safe to soak in) while taking in “mammoth” bigger-than-life scenery that includes expansive valleys, huge mountains, and crystal clear lakes.
23. Keukenhoff Park: Holland
It’s spawned a Windows screensaver, and even though a picture says a thousand words, there is nothing like seeing some imagery in real life. Such is the case with Holland’s famed tulips. Holland is known for its perfectly cultivated and bright and colorful arrays of tulips, particularly those located in and around the beautiful spring gardens of Keukenhof. The caretakers plant a gazillion bulbs in the park every year, and you’ll want to visit during peak season in mid-April to see the rainbow-hued flowers in full bloom.
24. Valle de Cocora: Colombia
Valle de Cocora is a natural cloud forest and protected area that contains the tallest palm trees in the world, the palma de cera, or wax palms. The graceful and tall palm trees create a surreal landscape against backdrops of mountains and misty green hills. The towering wax palms, which are the Colombian national symbol, are protected now but almost became extinct due mostly to the annual traditional use of the palm’s fronds on Palm Sunday.
25. Cliffs of Moher: Ireland
The Cliffs of Moher are one of Ireland’s Natural Wonders, and the landscape is made up of stunning and rugged cliffs that overlook an epic view of the Atlantic ocean. Moviegoers, on the other hand, might recognize them as the Cliffs of Insanity from the 1980’s film, The Princess Bride. No picture or film footage can do the Cliffs of Moher justice, and the sea cliffs offer excellent viewing opportunities at any time, whether conditions are fair, rainy or foggy.
Bonus: Bryce Canyon,Utah
Bryce Canyon, despite the name, is not actually a canyon, and the landscape there is actually a collection of huge natural amphitheaters. Another feature that makes Bryce Canyon distinctive are spectacularly-colored orange, red and white layered geological structures known as hoodoos.
Well, that that concludes your journey of the 25 Must Visit Places Where Nature Went Crazy With Landscapes. Just keep in mind that there are so many strange and beautiful landscapes on the planet that go well beyond the scope of this article. We hope that we at the very least got you started on your new and exciting expedition.
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