Gone are the days when travelling was all about seeing the obvious tourist sites.

The discerning traveller now seeks out experiences, many of which take them off the beaten track.

Whether you’re after a cultural experience, immersing yourself in a foreign city, taking in some natural beauty, or chasing adventure, National Geographic has you covered.

Drawing on the combined knowledge of their editors and globe-trotting experts, they chose the following 25 travel destinations to see in 2020.

CULTURAL PICKS

Asturias, Spain

An autonomous region of Spain, Asturias lies along the Bay of Biscay, dense with trees that run up hillsides, dotted by wild marshland, and scalloped with tidy beaches.

Guizhou Province, China

In eastern Guizhou’s indigenous villages, in particular, days unfold at a slow pace and people continue farming and textile traditions—such as spinning, embroidery, and batik—practiced since the sixth century.

Göbekli Tepe, Turkey

Built about 11,600 years ago, the monumental limestone pillars at Göbekli Tepe, or Potbelly Hill, have been hiding in plain sight for millennia. Excavation of the megaliths only began in the mid-1990s. The archaeological site is located in southeastern Turkey, at the northern edge of the Fertile Crescent region that nurtured early civilizations.

Maya, Guatemala

A treasure map created using revolutionary laser technology is leading to discoveries under the jungle canopy of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in northern Guatemala. Armed with information gathered via the Pacunam Lidar Initiative, an 800-square-mile aerial survey, archaeologists are finding long-hidden pyramids, watchtowers, and other ruins of an extensive pre-Columbian civilization considerably more complex than most Maya experts realized.

Mendoza Province, Argentina

With bodegas (wine cellars) backed by the snowcapped Andes and the world’s best Malbec, Argentina’s Mendoza province is a spectacularly scenic place to tour vineyards and satisfy the palate.

 Abu Simbel, Egypt

The feeling of having a destination to yourself still can be found at Abu Simbel, deep in the south of Egypt near its border with Sudan. Originally cut into a rock cliff by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1303–ca. 1213 b.c.), the temples at Abu Simbel are at once archaeological treasures and marvels of modern engineering.

BEST CITIES

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

There’s a lot of glimmer in Philadelphia: vibrant murals and glinting metalworks, multihued mosaics and kaleidoscopic light installations, art collectives in garages, and a traditionally Italian neighborhood famous for cheesesteaks now sprouting vegan-punk-metal coffeehouses.

Telč, Czech Republic

With resplendent Italian Renaissance architecture, it’s no wonder the southern Czechia (Czech Republic) town of Telč is sometimes called the Czech Florence.

Fort Kochi, Kerala, India

The oldest European settlement in India is gaining notice as a buzzing new arts hub. […] The four-month-long Kochi-Muziris Biennale is the largest event of its kind in South Asia. Launched in 2012, the biennale showcases contemporary international, Indian, and cross-cultural visual art and experiences.

Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Partially destroyed during the Bosnian War (1992–1995), history-rich Mostar still bears scars of the past. Numerous buildings in the Old City, developed as a 15th-century Ottoman frontier town, have been rebuilt or restored in the 25 years since the Dayton Peace Accords established relative calm in the western Balkans.

Parma, Italy

Parma’s gifts to the world include “king of cheeses” Parmigiano-Reggiano, the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, and the ”Assumption of the Virgin” masterwork by High Renaissance painter Correggio. The surrounding Emilia-Romagna region produces a bounty of DOP, or protected origin, foods, such as Parma ham, balsamic vinegar of Modena, and sparkling Lambrusco wines.

Puebla, Mexico

Built by the Spanish in 1531, Mexico’s fourth-largest city is a bastion of baroque architecture. Puebla’s 100-block city center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, teems with ornate 17th- and 18th-century buildings.

NATURE PICKS

Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada

This frozen world is stripped down to essentials: impossibly blue sky, bright sun bouncing off a blanket of fresh snow, wind that vibrates like a cello, whiteness all around. Welcome to the harp seal nursery in the Gulf of St. Lawrence off the Magdalen Islands, Quebec, one of three Northwest Atlantic harp seal pupping grounds.

Kalahari Desert, Botswana

Year-round stable temperatures, extremely low humidity, virtually zero light- or sound-pollution, and lack of cloud cover make the park—which scored an almost perfect 21.9 on the SQM (sky quality meter) scale of darkness—one of the planet’s best stargazing destinations.

Always good to see some southern African flavour in there.

Bialowieza Forest, Belarus/Poland

Untamed Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site and Biosphere Reserve, protects remnants of lowland Europe’s last remaining primeval forests.

National Blue Trail, Hungary

Originating in 1938 and recognized as Europe’s first long-distance trail, it’s part of the nearly 6,500-mile European long-distance walking route E4, which begins in Spain and ends (with ferry connections) in Cyprus.

Canary Islands, Spain

Once considered the westernmost point of land in the known world, El Hierro is a world apart from the rest of Spain’s main Canary Islands, which are more often famed for sun-and-sand resorts.

Maldives

The first nation to champion the need to address climate change in the United Nations General Assembly, in 1987, the Maldives is an environmental protection trailblazer. For the idyllic, 1,200-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean, forward-thinking sustainability initiatives—such as the effort to be carbon neutral by 2020—are a matter of survival.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Since its designation as a national park—the Grand Canyon celebrated its centennial in 2019—this natural wonder in northwest Arizona has dazzled visitors with its immense scale (277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep) and breathtakingly stratified geology that dates back to 1.8 billion years ago.

ADVENTURE

Tasmania, Australia

Swathed in 2,000-year-old trees and home to real-life devils (and even “tigers,” if you believe the rumors that the officially extinct thylacine lives on), it’s the stuff outdoor adventures are made of.

Grossglockner High Alpine Road, Austria

Designed to maximize scenic views, the serpentine Grossglockner High Alpine Road is a testament to the value of taking the long way home. Completed in 1935, the mountain-pass toll road packs 36 hairpin curves in its 29-mile route through Hohe Tauern National Park, one of central Europe’s largest protected natural areas.

Wales Way, UK

Three new, fully mapped national touring routes, collectively called the Wales Way, showcase the best of this legend-filled land.

Tohoku, Japan

Walk the Michinoku Coastal Trail, which runs for 620 miles from Aomori to Fukushima. The latter was devastated by the 2011 tsunami, and the newly opened trail is a stirring symbol of the area’s rebirth. For skiers, Tohoku regularly records some of the planet’s heaviest snowfalls, and resorts such as Appi Kogen are exhilaratingly uncrowded.

Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

No roads link the rest of Russia to the Kamchatka Peninsula, the vast, thumb-shaped tail of the Russian Far East. Extending into the sea between the Japanese and Aleutian archipelagoes, 776-mile-long Kamchatka is part of the Ring of Fire, the chain of volcanoes and seismically active sites outlining the Pacific Ocean.

Zakouma National Park, Chad

Home to a rapidly growing African elephant population—some 559 in 2019 and a thousand expected by 2024—Zakouma National Park is an under-the-radar African safari destination.

National Geographic mentioned another prime safari destination in their recent feature on seven of the best places to visit in South Africa. 

Check it out if your travel plans are a little more local in 2020.

You’ll find there’s a lot to explore in this incredible country of ours.

[source:nationalgeographic]