Most spasy

Icy forests, husky-led sled rides, herds of reindeer, tiny log cabins blanketed in snow…. Finnish Lapland, high up in the Arctic Circle, is the real-life version of the North Pole, complete with Northern Lights viewings and igloo hotels to watch them in.

This Flemish “Venice of the North” is its own kind of canal city—one where winding river-ways share space with secret gardens, quaint chocolate shops, atmospheric breweries serving Trappist beers, and medieval architecture spared from WWII.

Only four of Meteora’s 24 original 11th-century monasteries, which were built on top of sandstone towers to protect them from pillagers during medieval times, survive. They still don’t look real.

There’s not a single ugly corner to be found in the whole of the Norwegian fjords, but some hikes outdo others. One of those is the demanding 16.8-mile hike (round-trip) to Trolltunga (meaning “the troll’s tongue”), a rock formation jutting out over Lake Ringedalsvatnet.

This addition might come as a surprise, but we love its backstory: in 1860, a local knight in Kromlau, now part of Kromlauer Park, commissioned this arched bridge with the hope that the watery reflection beneath it would create the illusion of a perfect circle. Pictures speak for themselves.

Western Ireland’s majestic Cliffs of Moher draw millions of visitors a year thanks to their sweeping vistas of where land meets sea and have become a symbol of their country’s beauty. See if you can spot colonies of puffins, which nest in its most isolated corners, as well as the distant Aran Islands.

This tiny, Iron-Age hamlet spills down a slope to the shores of Lake Hallstatt and is surrounded by mountains on all sides, where scenic trails take in the area’s glaciers and incredible fall foliage come autumn. Winter is equally beautiful, especially when snow covers the alpine houses and Baroque churches and a Christmas market takes over the main square.

Slovenia can’t compete in size, but its scenery is second to none. Every serious photographer who ends up here makes a beeline for the hills surrounding Lake Bled, where they can take in its fairytale-like central island (home to a single Gothic church built in the 1400s) and surrounding Julian Alps.

Look past the crowds and you’ll find that one of the most storied cities in the world hasn’t lost an ounce of romance. Cruising the Adriatic lagoon by gondola, taking tours of its historic palazzi, snapping a photo in Piazza San Marco—it’s all been done before, but few spots in the world are as worth braving the masses to experience as this.