27 Surreal Places To Visit Before You Die
1. Zhangye Danxia landform in Gansu, China
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The rainbow formation is the result
of red sandstone and mineral deposits being laid down for over 24
million years, according to the Telegraph.
At the edge of Ecuador sits a rickety
tree house (casa del árbol) overlooking an active volcano in the near
distance. With it comes a swing with no harnesses, inviting only the
bravest of risk-takers to experience a killer view.
AMK1211 / Wikipedia Commons
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The Great Blue Hole is a submarine
sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It’s one of the top scuba diving sites
in the world and the water is 407 feet deep.
Many people often mistake Keukenhof,
also known as the Garden of Europe, as the designated space of the tulip
fields. However, these majestic fields are located just outside the
garden and are mostly privately owned.
5. The Hang Son Doong cave in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam
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CARSTEN PETER/National Geographic Creative
Carsten Peter/National Geographic / Getty Images
Son Doong is the world’s largest
cave, created 2–5 million years ago. A half-mile block of 40-story
buildings could fit inside it!
The park is in full bloom during spring and tourists often visit to see 4.5 million “baby blue-eyes” flowers blossom.
The cave lies beneath the Mendenhall Glacier and it melts as you walk through it.
The tabletop mountains are considered
some of the oldest geological formations on Earth, dating back to
roughly 2 billion years ago. The mountain also serves as a triple border
for Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela.
The area has become a popular tourist area and a favorite spot for hot air ballooning.
10. Sea of Stars on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives
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What may appear as a mirror image of
the stars above, the bioluminescence in the water is actually due to
marine microbes called phytoplankton. The effect it has on the shore is
absolutely breathtaking.
This 355-foot waterfall lies at the
border of Zambia and Zimbabwe and it is the widest waterfall in Africa.
There’s also a famous feature on the Zambian side called the Devil’s
Pool, which allows adventurous tourists to hang out at the edge of the
falls.
Trolltunga is a piece of rock that
hangs out of the mountain about 2,000 feet up in the air. The Troll’s
Tongue (translation in English) is available to hikers from mid-June to
about mid-September.
This beach is known for its beautiful
white sands, which are believed to have been brought to the beach from
sea currents over millions of years. The sand is very fine and does not
retain heat, making it comfortable for a barefoot walk along the shore.
It can also damage electronics, so keep your cell phones and cameras in a
safe place!
This magnificent beauty is 277 miles long and 18 miles wide, and is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
15. Marble Caves at General Carrera Lake in Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)
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The Marble Caves, known as Marble
Chapel and Marble Cathedral, are located at the center of the lake and
were formed by waves over the past 6,000 years.
This railway engulfed in a tunnel of
leaves is a Pinterest favorite and a Ukrainian hot spot for lovers.
Although it’s undoubtedly romantic, there is an active train that
travels through the tunnel three times a day to deliver wood to a
factory. Just beware of the train before snapping engagement photos!
17. Salar De Uyuni in the Potosí and Oruro departments of southwest Bolivia
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This is the world’s largest salt flat. It also becomes a giant mirror of the sky during the rainy season.
Located at Chapada Diamantina National Park, this well’s water is 120 feet deep and is clear enough to see the rocks.
Located near Page, Ariz., this
brilliant slot canyon is split into two different sections, commonly
referred to as “The Crack” and “The Corkscrew.”
Although it may seem like this block
structure is man-made, it was actually formed by hexagonally jointed
basalt columns within a Paleocene lava flow.
21. To Sua Ocean Trench in the Lotofaga village on the south coast of Upolu, Samoa
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To Sua is a giant hole in Lotofaga that was converted into a swimming pool with water flowing through a lava-tube tunnel.
Often referred to as the “Bamboo Forest,” this tree-lined path is popular for walks and bicycle rides on a nice day.
This specific spot in the Waitomo
Caves is known as the Glowworm Grotto, a place where glowworms create a
starry effect on the ceilings. This species is exclusively found in New
Zealand and is around the size of a mosquito.
Stairway to Heaven is a steep hiking
trail that is technically closed to the public, but many people continue
to climb despite “No Trespassing” signs.
This large chain of volcanoes sits on
the Kamchatka Peninsula, with 19 of them still active. The highest
volcano is Klyuchevskaya Sopka, standing at almost 16,000 feet high.
26. Cenotes of Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
Vadim Petrakov/Shutterstock
These sinkholes in Mexico were formed during the ice age and were held sacred by the Mayans.
The westernmost lake is called the
Lake of Old People and is usually blue, and the other two are called the
Lake of Young Men and Maidens and Bewitched or Enchanted Lake, which
are typically green and red, respectively. The colors vary on a periodic
basis and have become a popular tourist destination.
22 Breathtaking Festivals Around The World That You Must See
Witness some of the most unique and fabulous celebrations from all around the world. Festivals that have gathered millions of people from around the world partying, drinking and having the time of their lives. Experience life the way it should be lived.
1. The Rio de Janeiro Carnival - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
www.en.wikipedia.org
The
Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro is a world famous festival held before Lent
every year and considered the biggest carnival in the world with 2
million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date
back to 1823. The typical Rio carnival parade is filled with revelers,
floats and adornments from numerous samba schools which are located in
Rio.
www.destination360.com
2. Chinese New Year
www.policymic.com
The
biggest holiday, with dragons, fireworks, symbolic clothing, flowers,
lanterns, and celebration is China's most important and significant day
of the year. Also known as the Spring Festival, Chinese New Year
celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day
of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on
the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the
Chinese calendar!
www.laterm.com
It
marks China's greatest festival - an important traditional Chinese
holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is
also known as the Spring Festival. Chinese New Year celebrations
traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the last
month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day
of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese
calendar.
3. Boryeong Mud Festival - South Korea
www.blogs.ft.com
A
South Korea cosmetics company developed a line of beauty products which
featured mud from the Boryeong mud flats as a main ingredient. Since
the company couldn't be bothered to spend money on commercials, the
Boryeong Mud Festival was born so potential customers could feel the
benefits of the special mud firsthand. In case you attend and get bored
of the mud slides, mud prison, mud pools, and mud skiing, you can enjoy
live music, acupuncture, and the festival's culminating fireworks
display.
4. Burning Man - Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
www.theguardian.com
Burning
Man is an annual event when up to 48,000 people gather in Nevada’s
Black Rock desert to create art and express their individuality. It
takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy, which
is set alight on Saturday evening. The event is described as an
experiment in community, art, radical self-expression, and radical
self-reliance. People who have gone to Burning Man gatherings claim you
need to attend to truly understand.
www.theatlantic.com
5. Harbin Ice and Snow Festival - Harbin, China
www.dailymail.co.uk
A
festival exhibiting the most exquisite ice and snow sculptures in the
world. Every year people build incredible things out of ice and snow,
decorating them with lights and lasers. This exhibition has a lot to
offer, one can only find out after visiting it...and it is phenomenal!
www.boingboing.net
www.itchyfeetmagazine.wordpress.com
6. White Nights Festival - St. Petersburg, Russia
www.trip.worldtravellist.com
The
White Nights Festival is an annual international arts festival during
the season of the midnight sun. It consists of a series of classical
ballet, opera and music events and includes performances by Russian
dancers, singers, musicians and actors, as well as famous international
guest stars. The Scarlet Sails celebration is the culmination of the
White Nights season, the largest public event anywhere in Russia with
the annual estimated attendance about 1 million people, most of whom are
students from thousands of schools and colleges, both local and
international.
www.budgettravelrussia.com
7. Dia de los muertos (Day of the Dead) - Mexico
www.guardianlv.com
is
a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in
other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends
to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is
particularly celebrated in Mexico where the day is a bank
holiday. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private
altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using sugar skulls,
marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and
visiting graves with these as gifts.
www.funkypickens.com
www.funonthenet.com
Scary indeed!
8. Running of The Bulls - Pamplona, Spain
www.blogs.sacbee.com
The
Running of the Bulls is a part of the famous San Fermin festival - a
practice that involves running in front of a small group of bulls
(typically a dozen) that have been let loose on a course of a
sectioned-off subset of a town's streets. A first rocket is set off at 8
a.m. to alert the runners that the corral gate is open. A second rocket
signals that all six bulls have been released. The third and fourth
rockets are signals that all of the herd has entered the bullring and
its corral respectively, marking the end of the event. Every
year between 200 and 300 people are injured during the run although most
injuries are contusions due to falls and are not serious. So you think
you're up for it?
9. Holi - India
www.escapenormal.com
Holi
is a spring festival also known as the festival of colors. It is an
ancient Hindu religious festival which starts with a Holika bonfire on
the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance. The next
morning is free for all carnival of colors, where everyone plays, chases
and colors each other with dry powder and colored water, with some
carrying water guns and colored water-filled balloons for their water
fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or
poor, man or woman, children and elders. Groups carry drums and musical
instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance.
10. Up Helly Aa Fire Festival - Scotland
www.no-straight-lines.com
It
takes place in Lerwick, Shetland, on the last Tuesday in January every
year. Up Helly Aa day involves a series of marches and visitations,
culminating in a torch-lit procession and the burning of a galley. This
is followed by hours of performing acts and dancing in halls throughout
Lerwick. There is a main guizer who is dubbed the "Jarl". There is a
committee which a person must be part of for 15 years before one can be a
jarl, and only one person is elected to this committee each year.
The procession culminates in the torches being thrown into a replica
Viking longship or galley.
www.wodumedia.com
11. Carnival of Venice - Venice, Italy
www.funonthenet.com
The
tradition of carnival dates back over 900 years. It was the one time
during the year when there were no bounds. Everybody was free to do
things desired all year without any guilt thanks to the masks. During
the carnival, Venice comes alive with masked Venetians and tourists.
Bands,jugglers and entertainers are everywhere and the canals are full
of colorful boats. The nights are also full of parties and masked
balls.It gives you a feeling as if fairy tales are coming alive!
www.blog.perfect-tour.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
12. Pingxi Lantern Festival - Taiwan
www.jadeturtlerecords.blogspot.com
Its
a festival that witnesses thousands of sky lanterns light over Pingxi
District in Taiwan. It was originally celebrated to ward of evil and
disease from the town. The Taipei Pingshi Sky Lanterns were released
originally to let others know that the town was safe. These lanterns are
decorated with wishes and images relating to the owner and finally
they're released off into the sky together magically decorating the sky
into a sanctuary of lights.
13. La Tomatina - Spain
www.telegraph.co.uk
Fun,
frolic, dance and lots of tomatoes - this is one festival you
absolutely cannot miss. Participants throw tomatoes at each other and
ride down those tomato-streaked slides having the time of their lives.
Be it tomato fights or the enormous water showers that follow, la
tomatina is one event that gets you dancing and engaging in unlimited
fun.
www.latomatina.org
14. Oktoberfest - Munich, Germany
www.theatlantic.com
Oktoberfest
is the world's largest beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria,
Germany. It is a 16-day festival running from late September to the
first weekend in October with more than 6 million people from around the
world attending the event every year. The event is all about beer, beer
and only beer. Imagine being surrounded by those traditional huge
glasses of beer and serving them are the beautiful and sensational
waitresses. Its a party well endowed!
www.niemcy.lovetotravel.pl
15. New Year's Eve - Sydney Harbor, Australia
www.owenwilson.com.au
Sydney
New Year’s Eve is an annual multi-tiered event held every New Year’s
Eve over Sydney Harbor, centering on the Harbor Bridge. Its main
features are the two pyrotechnic displays, the 9pm Family Fireworks and
the Midnight Fireworks. It is known as the best place in the world to
see the New Year fireworks display.
16. Songkran Water Festival - Thailand
www.photo.akujom.com
The
Thai New Year festival falls on some of the hottest days in Thailand,
and people celebrate by throwing water on each other, using water guns,
buckets, hoses- whatever they can get their hands on. Sometimes chalk or
menthol (the latter causes a cooling sensation) is mixed into the water
to create a paste which people smear on each other’s faces for good
fortune. Elephants can also be seen walking around and splashing off
water jets at people!
www.telegraph.co.uk
17. Saint Patrick's Day - Ireland
www.leadapparel.com
www.alloveralbany.com
It
is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It is named
after Saint Patrick, the most commonly recognized of the patron saints
of Ireland. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of
Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrates the heritage and culture
of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades
and festivals and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians
also attend church services and the Lenten restrictions on eating and
drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and
propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption. If you're not
wearing green then watch out because you ought to get pinched!
18. Gay Pride Parade - Amsterdam, Netherlands
www.zimbio.com
Amsterdam
Pride is a citywide gay-festival held annually at the center of
Amsterdam during the first weekend of August. The festival attracts
several hundred-thousand visitors each year and thus one of the largest
publicly held annual events in the Netherlands. The peak of the festival
is during the canal parade, a parade of boats of large variety on the
first Saturday of August can be seen swarming the waters with activists
and and people from around the world.
www.queerty.com
www.blog.amsterdamcitytours.com
19. Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta - New Mexico, USA
www.raredelights.com
The
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly festival of hot
air balloons that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA during
early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine day event, and has around
750 balloons. The event is the largest hot air balloon festival in the
world. Once the balloons are let off, they paint the sky with their
vibrant colors and hues making it a beautiful sight to look at.
www.photokatha.in
20. Full Moon Party - Haad Rin Beach, Koh Phangan, Thailand
www.inseaspeedboat.com
Haad
Rin is home to the Full Moon Party and also houses about 3-5000 rather
mad people; it is the island’s nightlife capital and has Koh Phangan’s
biggest concentration of beach clubs that collectively put on the
ultimate travellers get together. Within this transient crowd of party
animals some highly talented DJ’s pass through, banging out their wares
to the raging lunar explorers that have landed on planet party. ITS A
PARTY GONE WILD! So if you're a party animal..this is your place to be.
www.phanganhouseandvilla.com
21. Glastonbury — Glastonbury, England
www.parlophone.co.uk
The
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is a performing
arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best
known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre,
circus, cabaret and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have
headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and
performance areas. The size and nature of the festival, held over 3 or 4
days in the open air, with performers, crew and paying festival goers
staying in tents, caravans and motorhomes, has meant that the weather is
significant. Glastonbury is the largest greenfield festival in the
world, and is now attended by around 175,000 people
22. Battle of the Oranges - Ivrea, Italy
www.complex.com
The
Battle of the Oranges is a festival which includes a tradition of
throwing of oranges between organized groups. It is the largest food
fight in Italy. Citrussy indeed! I don't know about you, but I'm off to
crash all these parties like right now!
In pictures: the world’s most romantic travel destinations
Some of the world’s most romantic travel destinations in pictures…
Cala Dogana, Levanzo, Sicily
Photo: Wagman30Paris
Photo: bEbOOia, Santorini
Photo: Marcel GermainOahu, Hawaii
Photo: B TalMaldives
Photo: MuhaUlun Danu Temple, Bali
Photo: Jennifer PhoonChâteau de Chillon, Switzerland
Photo: Pear BiterVenice
Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island, Hong Kong
Fernando De Noronha - Brazil
Spirit Island, Magligne Lake, Alberta, Canada
Rice Field Terraces in Yunnan, China
Bern, Switzerland
Coron Palawan, Philippines
Rocky Village, Vernazza, Italy
Porto Katsiki, Lefkada Island, Greece
Lower Lewis River Falls - Gifford Pinchot National Forest - Washington, USA
Pangong Tso Lake in the Himalayas
Golden Eye Hotel - St. Mary, Jamaica
Golden Horn, Brac Island - Croatia
Soneva Fushi, Maldives
Alentejo, Portugal
Etretat, Normandy, France
The Pearl Waterfall, Jiuzhaigou Valley, China
Norway
Awa’awapuhi Trail Kauai, Hawaii
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