Pick your 4 Favourite Spots please-off the top of your head

[Guillaume_Deschamps]

@Peter Metzger

Mike started a similar thread on the UK Wine Forum. What strikes me is the difference in the responses. Not intending it as a criticism, but the places posted here seem to be more predictable and mundane. I guess for obvious reasons the focus here is much more North American, with a smattering of obvious European locales thrown in. I might be ignorant about such things, but the lists over on the other board include many places I’ve never heard of or thought about visiting that seem worth researching a lot more closely. In any case, the contrast seems interesting.

I think they mostly did a much better job at staying very specific in their answers, compared to a lot of people here talking about a whole region or country. The variety of answers comes mostly from the fact they have a more international crowd over there.

[Peter_Metzger]

@Guillaume Deschamps

The variety of answers comes mostly from the fact they have a more international crowd over there.

No question about it Guillaume, as I alluded to above. Still, much more interesting, to me at least.

[Mike_Grammer]

and me, guys, part of why I wanted to double-post it—candidly not surprised at the differences and like you, Peter, not taking anything away from the responses here, all of which seem/look like great places and experiences. Of course, the thread had died out there long ago, while this one is going strong.

[Guillaume_Deschamps]

@Peter Metzger

No question about it Guillaume, as I alluded to above. Still, much more interesting, to me at least.

Actually I had a second look at our thread and for everybody who said Paris, Italy or Big Sur, another person pointed out a much more specific, out of the way destination. I picked up a few places where I’d like to go in both threads.

[william_partmann]

1. Kona Village Resort, Island of Hawaii.
2. Backcounty, Yosemite National Park.
3. My of home town San Francisco.
4. Kauai
5. Yellowstone
   
   
   Bill

[Lonny_Isenberg]

BWCAW/Quetico

Yellowstone, (preferably in September with a flyrod)

San Francisco/Napa Valley

Denali

[Randy_Bowman]

I would love to return to Kyushu, Japan. The bases we were stationed at are now: Fukuoka International Airport and Marine World. I want to visit the Koga Golf Course again. And I want to spend some time with the most hospitable people I have met anywhere in the world.

[P_Moy]

The Daoist sacred mountains of China, especially:

• Wudang Mountain
• Lao Mountain
• Hua Mountain
• Qingcheng Mountain

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

Times Square, and the rest of New York City.
Jerusalem
Paris
115 feet below the surface on the South Wall at Grand Caymen - but Molokini crater in Hawaii was close.

[Brian_Tuite]

We don’t get out much but my faves have been:

BC - Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper Park, Vancouver

Kauai - Waimea Canyon, Na Pali Coast

Yosemite

Forestville, CA - I love where I live!

[Mike_Grammer]

With travel at least starting to be some sort of a possibility again, I don’t mind exhuming this old thread. I would probably now substitute the Panorama Trail in Yosemite for Banff, though it’d still be a fistfight. And I still miss Segovia and Cable Beach—a lot

A quick visit to see a friend in Ko Olina reminded me how beautiful even Oahu is, never mind the rest of the Hawaiian islands.

[Mark_Y]

4 is impossibly difficult:

• Antarctica cruising the channels with ice all around you
• Galapagos with the sheer volume of endemic animals
• Uganda to trek gorillas
• Kenya/Tanzania various safari sites
  
  
  Honorable mention:
• Red Sea diving / Egypt history
• various cities that have great culture and food (paris Tokyo pick ur euro city etc)
• Easter island for the remoteness / peacefulness
• Hawaiian islands certain spots also peacefulness
• siem reap and various parts of Indonesia, India, China for the history
  
  
  Need to go:
• NZ
• Israel / Jordan
• Arctic Ocean

[Rick_Allen]

Franconia, Germany - Great beer, interesting history, Tilman Riemenschneider, and generally off the beaten path for Americans
Salzburg, Austria - Incredible scenery, Mozart, possibly the best beer in the world
Arles, France - It probably helped to be there during the Cocarde d’Or (population in period costumes, bull races)
McMinnville, Oregon - I love where I live!

[T_Welch]

For sheer beauty:

Yosemite
Grand Tetons
North Shore of Kauai
Banff National Park

For memories: Lake of the Woods, Oregon

[Yao_C]

Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia
Iya Valley, Shikoku, Japan
Hardangerfjord, Norway
the Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Not a tourist island so I’ll likely never get to go back: Kudafari island, Maldives

[Michael_Martin]

Telluride, CO
Bolzano, Italy
Provence, France
Ravello, Italy

[Andy_Steinman]

Burgundy
Salzburg
Amsterdam
Cape Porpoise, Maine

Honorable Mention:

Paris
New Orleans
Vienna
St. Martin

[RyanC]

• Norwegian Fjords - Bergen to Balestrand to the Nærøyfjord and Flam, over a few crystal clear blue sky days, was as close to a religious travel experience as I’ve had.

• Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Bernese Alps - Every inch of it is perfection.

• Telluride - My favorite spot in the States. Switzerland meets the old west.

• Istanbul - Looking out over the Bosphorus from the Topkapi Palace is like gazing back through time. Just a remarkable city that oozes history.

Honorable mentions: Paris (barely missed the cut), Kyoto, Ravello, Beaune, Zermatt

[Mike_Grammer]

switched my avatar for you, Mark—flightsee over the Southern Alps in NZ. I loved NZ but wouldn’t be able to pick a single spot there, the whole country was just so amazing. Yao–the Apostles and Alhambra are honourable mentions for me

The responses are making me travel-thirsty!

[Peter_Hirsch]

Kyoto
Rome
The last 10 meters before you come through the Sun Gate, Machu Picchu Peru.
Las Vegas (the food and shows and events in LV, then within a 30 minute drive, some incredible hikes)

Honorable mention - Any part of the Amalfi Coast where you can both drink some wine and look at the water…