20 places you must visit in 2016: National Geographic Traveler's choices
National Geographic Traveler magazine has just announced its annual Best of the World list, which highlights 20 must-see places to visit in 2016, as chosen by its editors.
"This year's Best of the World list truly represents travel's superlatives," said Maggie Zackowitz, National Geographic Traveler editor in chief.
The Best of the World list is featured in the December 2015/January 2016 issue of Traveler magazine, and online at natgeotravel.com/best-trips-2016.
The selection includes:
South Georgia Island (pictured, top)
On a rocky beach, hundreds of thousands of noisy king penguins gather in a mosaic of black-and-white dots across grassy tussocks. Among them, fur seal pups bark, two-ton elephant seals galumph into the surf, and albatrosses patrol the air past slate gray cliffs and glaciers edging into the ocean. This is South Georgia Island, a hundred-mile-long expanse of peaks rising out of the South Atlantic 1,300 miles east of Ushuaia, Argentina.
The Masurian Lakes, Poland
Stretching across northeastern Poland 125 miles north of the capital, Warsaw, the Masurian Lake District claims some 2,000 lakes, many connected by rivers and canals. Always popular with Polish vacationers, the region remains a quintessential example of the simple pleasures of traditional country life.
The Philippines (this image shows 'Big Cave' Near Sagada, Luzon).
There are literally thousands of beaches here, from the pink sands of Great Santa Cruz Island to the black sands of Albay. Divers off Palawan, Apo, and Siargao islands delight in hundreds of coral and fish species. On the southern isle of Mindanao, more than 1,300 land species—including the endangered Philippine eagle—reside in Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary.
Okavango Delta, Botswana.
In a part of the world not given to small gestures and bland landscapes, Okavango Delta still manages to leap out at a person as a singularly unlikely miracle. A massive fan of water that gets its start in rivers percolating out of the deciduous forests of Angola's highlands, the delta evaporates 200 miles later in the sands of the Kalahari Desert. This wilderness is one of the last places to see the Big Five of the traditional African safari: elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros.
Seychelles (image shows Skunk Clownfish).
Located 1,100 miles off Kenya's east coast, in the Indian Ocean, the Seychelles archipelago of 115 islands dishes up vistas so lush that they can stop a queen in her tracks. During a 1972 visit, Queen Elizabeth II halted her convoy at Mission Lodge, along the Sans Souci mountain road on the main island of Mahé, for an impromptu afternoon English tea with a view.
Greenland
See the Northern Lights here from September to April, or visit June to August for the midnight sun, mild weather, and hiking and boating. Don't miss the March 6 to 11 for the Arctic Winter Games between March 6 and 11 2016.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Vast flows of solidified lava sprawl across Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, a blackened, primordial calling card from the park's most illustrious resident, the Hawaiian fire goddess Pele. Said to dwell in Kilauea, one of two volcanoes here that are among the world's most active, Pele has been a busy lady. Since 1986, hundreds of acres of new land have been created by molten rock welling up from deep inside Earth and spilling, hissing and steaming, into the Pacific Ocean.
The complete list of destinations featured in National Geographic Traveler's 2016 Best of the World list are (in alphabetical order):
Bermuda
Capability Brown's Gardens, Britain
Cot d'Or, Burgundy, France Danube River
Capability Brown's Gardens, Britain
Côte d'Or, Burgundy, France Danube River
Eastern Bhutan
Glasgow, Scotland
Greenland
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hokkaido, Japan
Masurian Lakes, Poland
New York City
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Philippines
Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
San Diego/Tijuana
Seychelles
South Georgia Island
Tangier and Smith Islands, Chesapeake Bay
Uruguay
Winnipeg, Canada
