Most Popular/Stunning Photo Travel Destinations

[martin7]

What are the most popular/stunning photos from around the world that you've seen, would like to visit, have visited, etc. if you had to narrow it down? Popular and more obscure ones appreciated.

USA: Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Olympic, Acadia National Parks, Kauai
Europe: Greece - Zakynthos Shipwreck Beach, Santorini Blue Dome Cathedral
Asia: Taj Mahal, Great Wall, Phuket
Africa: Cape Town, Pyramids, Safari
South America: Macchu Picchu, Rio, Iguazu Falls
New Zealand: Southern Island Nature
Other: Bora Bora, Tahiti w/ over water bungalows

 

[stk]

I'm quite biased in this, but I would recommend the northern parts of Norway (for example out Lofoten, Senja and Kjerringøy), or the fjords and mountains in the west (like Trolltunga, Prekestolen, Kjeragbolten, Sognefjorden and Geirangerfjorden).

 

[Nintendoeats]

So many... Sri Lanka has some amazing foliage that I didn't really appreciate being colourblind. The hillside tea farms are a particular treat.

My memories of Jordan are mostly of endless vistas. I swear there isn't a flat bit of the place. Wadi Rum of course is fantastic (it's where much of Lawrence of Arabia was shot), as is Petra if you leave the touristy parts and risk life and limb to get to the high point of sacrifice. Really though, I think you could just drive out of Amman in any direction and in less than an hour you would be at something amazing.

The above two pictures are my mother's, the below mine.

Egypt is full of stuff. There is of course the ancient architecture, but also lots of nature. The botanical gardens on The Nile is a treat.

And then there is just going off into the vast desert of a gulf country. You have to look harder for the photos, but they are there and they can be fantastic (especially when a local has rolled their Land Rover). Below is pretty much my favorite photograph that I have ever taken, on the border between Qatar and Saudi, AKA the middle of nowhere.

Oh, and my girlfriend would be displeased if I didn't point out the Canadian Shield. It's not my cup of tea, possibly because of the aforementioned colourblindness, but northern forests and lakes can be pretty amazing. I've also not mentioned urban centers or anything here since I haven't tended to take such a visual interest in them. Edinburgh is a very photogenic city.

Oooh, Capadocia in Turkey. Musn't forget that. Do it in a hot air balloon. You can see bits of Egypt that way as well.

 

[Upadhyay]

Within India my favorite is Ladakh ( for landscapes primarily) and Maha Kumbh Mela (for candid) would love to shoot Holi festival at Vrindavan or Mathura.

 

[Braineack]

I'm doing a day trip to Santorini in the end of May. I hired a local photography guide to take us away from the tourist groups and see the best photographic sites on the island.

 

[Derrel]

The entire length of the Oregon coast has all-public beaches, and many places with wild, unspoiled,un-developed ocean and coastal headland interface. Whales are commonly visible from shore; at a few places near Lincoln City, Oregon, whales can be seen repeatedly diving,surfacing,and feeding, as close as 20 to 100 meters from the shore. Seriously. Other places have beautiful natural phnomenon,like The Spouting Horn and the immediately adjacent miracle, Thor's Well.

Two beach areas stand out to me as being world-class: Bandon Beach,

bandon beach oregon

and the relatively close-by Samuel H. Boardman State park, and also the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor. The many seastacks close to shore at Boardman make this perhaps the most-beautiful ocean/shore interfce area in Oregon, which itself has high desert, coastal and interior mountain peaks, volcanic mountain peaks, and hundreds of miles of ocean shores with light houses, ports, and fishing vessels, bays, and estuary areas teeming with wildlife and birds.

Samuel H. Boardman State Park

Both of these places offer spectacular sunset views, since the near-shore rock formations make huge, interesting foreground subjects against the panoramic view of the ocean and sunset behind. BOTH Bandon Beach and Boardman are what I call target-rich environments.

If you can not make simply spectacular photos at either of these locations with any lens from 20mm to 400mm, you probably have the lens cap still on. Here's a representative view from beach level at Bandon...https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrUieEjxL9aUDkAqwqJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIyMGw3NnZ2BHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANiNDZiZjdjMTE2ZDBlOWMwMDI5OTYzOWZiMjQzNzJiMgRncG9zAzkEaXQDYmluZw--?.origin=&back=https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=bandon+beach+oregon&fr=aaplw&tab=organic&ri=9&w=1600&h=1000&imgurl=www.supercoolbeaches.com/sites/default/files/bandon-beach-oregon.jpg&rurl=http://www.supercoolbeaches.com/usa/bandon-beach&size=221.9KB&name=<b>Bandon+Beach+/+Oregon</b>+//+USA+//+Super+Cool+Beaches&p=bandon+beach+oregon&oid=b46bf7c116d0e9c00299639fb24372b2&fr2=&fr=aaplw&tt=<b>Bandon+Beach+/+Oregon</b>+//+USA+//+Super+Cool+Beaches&b=0&ni=160&no=9&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11gdaisoq&sigb=12t3pqv50&sigi=124e6ha2u&sigt=11pvsp63e&sign=11pvsp63e&.crumb=dPZ1mZaZ4Rt&fr=aaplw

 

[keen.observer]

I liked Taiwan....Ilha Formosa....The Beautiful Isle. From the right spot, in the city center, you are five minutes away-in one direction-from the beach...and five minutes away-in another direction from the jungle, and about five minutes away-in another direction-from the Big City shops, 5 star hotels, monuments, etc...and five minutes away-in another direction-from slums, etc....a bit of something for everyone., in easy reach. The many, varied, shades of green in the Formosan landscapes makes American National Forests seem grey by comparison.

 

[Braineack]

I'm doing a day trip to Santorini in the end of May. I hired a local photography guide to take us away from the tourist groups and see the best photographic sites on the island.

news flash: it's a pretty as the pictures look.

 

[KmH]

Boy howdy.
There's no way I could list them all.
But it's nice running through the many sites, and sights, in my head.

I've not been out of North America much, but I've been to 49 of the 50 states, and several parts of Canada.
The only state I've not been to is Hawaii.

Some highlights:
Bunches of spots on the west coast, Big Sur in particular.
New England in the fall.
The Sonoran Desert in the spring.
The view from the top of Mt. McKinley.
Yosemite Valley. The view from the top of the Lost Arrow Spire is stunning.
The Cottonwood Lakes area below Army Pass in the south east Sierra Nevada mountains is gorgeous and very peaceful.
The view from the exit of turn 3a at Sonoma Raceway (Sear's Point back in the day).
Bunches of places in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The Bugaboos in Canada.

 

[chuasam]

Been to: Singapore, Bali, Crater Lake (Oregon), London (England), Lake District (UK)
the problem with "stunning is that you end up with really cliche ****.

Would like to go to: Tokyo (Japan), Toba Lake (Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand)

Unimpressed by: Yosemite, Vancouver (BC), GrandCanyon (Arizona), Banff, Lake Louise (Alberta)
basically any place where I emerge from a LOOOOONG car ride makes me unimpressed
anyplace with really good food makes me very impressed

 

[407370]

Oman is a great place to base yourself for stunning mountain landscapes. Head towards the Shangri la hotel from Muscat.

 

[JoeW]

First, most stunning depends upon the criteria. I know some photographers who argue that the mix of people and styles in New York City is "stunning" b/c they live for street photography. I know other people who would go "urban life stunning? Pfft!" One person's "stunning" is another person's "how boring" in many cases.

Second, a lot depends upon the time of year or setting. Lots of ash and sediment in the air and you can get amazing sunsets. I've been in Florida at Ft. DeSoto and shot some sunrises where it's "ok, there is a sun coming up today" and some at the exact same location where it's "holy f*ck this is so beautiful!" Logan Canyon in Fall with the Aspens is a different experience then Logan Canyon in August when stuff is kind of brown.

Third, this is from a photographic bucket list that I keep of places I want to shoot (or have shot and want to go back again):
Peek-a-boo Gulch in Escalante Utah, Iguazu Falls in Brasil-argentina, Channel Islands National Park in California, Meridian Hill Park in DC, The Wave in Arizona, Cinque Terra in Italy, Eze in France, the Namib Desert in Namibia, Yosemite in Winter (CA), White Sands in New Mexico, Waterholes Canyon in Arizona, Colorado National Monument (similar to The Wave), Pastel Canyon in Valley of Fire Nevada, Zebra Canyon in Utah, Happy Canyon in Utah, multiple locations in Valencia Spain (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, City of Arts and Sciences), Kreeger Museum in DC, Mitchel Rales collection--the Glenstone Museum--in DC, Flag Ponds Park in Lusby MD, Cunningham Falls State Park in MD, Hunting Island State Park in SC, Washington Oaks Garden State Park in FL, Fernandina Beach in FL, the whole freaking Oregon Coast (Derrel is spot-on: the most diverse coastline in the world for a 100 mile stretch), Tallulah Gorge State Park in GA, Cumberland Island National Seashore (GA), Caladesi Island State Park in FL, Edisto Beach in SC, Folly Beach in SC, the falls in Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden CT, Indiana Dunes in Indiana on Lake Michigan, Gare de Liege-Guillemins in Liege Belgium, Red River Gorge in Kentucky, the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, Makoshika State Park in Montana, Brunei Dunes State Park in Idaho, Chengyang Bridge in Sanjiang China, Millau Viaduct Bridge in France, Puente de Alamillo in Sevilla Spain, Bushwick Inlet Park inBrooklyn, the John and Frances Angelos Law Center at the Univ. of Baltimore in MD, the Sustainability Treehouse in Glen Jean WV, the Amazon, the Stari Most Bridge in Mostar Bosnia, the Vasco de Gama Bridge in Lisbon Portugal, the inside of the Broad Art Museum in LA, the CIT building at Dulles Airport in VA, the Rainbow Canyon at Lake Powell Utah, the San Rafael Swell in Utah, Rattlesnake Canyon Page Arizona, Secret Canyon also in Page, Bannerman Castle on the Hudson River in NY, Salar de Uyuni (the salt flats) in Bolivia, Hotel Monaco in DC, the staircase in the Old Executive Office Building in DC, Buckskin Gulch in Utah, Antelope Creek Canyon in Page Arizona (upper and lower), the George Peabody Library in Baltimore MD. Yellowstone is a bunch of places. I've shot the Getty Museum probably 4 times and could go back again and again. Yosemite (but this time in the winter with ice turning to flame when the sun sets). And then instead of a list of places there let me just say: Iceland--all of it. In summer and in winter, on the coast and inland.

 

[Jeff15]

Australia

 

[Gary A.]

California.

 

[akboeckman]

USA: Crater Lake in Oregon, Joshua Tree in California
Europe: Iceland.
Other: Bali (Indonesia)

I've been to Crater Lake and it's breathtaking. I've seen some incredible photos taken by some of my favorite photographers. I've not been to Iceland (yet) but the place seems like its out of some alternate reality, it looks incredible. Bali is on my list of places to go - Monkey forest, temples, the whole place looks incredible in photos.

*edited to add: Joshua Tree. This is a favorite place of mine and just so weird looking.