Beautiful places you’ve never heard of – but must visit in 2022

Travel has gotten weird. First, nobody did it for a couple of years. Then everybody did it at once and airports fell apart. “Revenge travel,” became a thing. Airports mostly figured out how to keep track of luggage, and people kept going places—too often the same ones. Major cities across Europe have enacted anti-tourism policies.

A statue of Cristiano Ronaldo towers over a crowd of admirers as they queue to have their photos taken with it. One young man with a leather satchel thrown over his shoulder giddily takes his turn. I’m watching from the roof of the Pestana CR7 hotel in Funchal, Madeira.

Carefree days lounging on the sand are a hallmark of an idyllic vacation for many travelers. But beaches themselves are a commodity, vulnerable to retreat that’s exacerbated by climate change. In fact, nearly half of the Earth’s sandy beaches could be extinct by 2100, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.

There are many things to do in Colombo because of its diversity, nice beaches, and its history. In the past, it was ruled by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and then the British who all left their mark on the city, which now combines with the vibrant independence of the Sri Lankan people. Beaches Mount Lav

On April 15th, 2019, the whole world watched in shock as Notre Dame burst into flames. Thankfully, much of the cathedral’s structure, including its iconic bell towers and flying buttresses, survived the blaze. It will likely be closed to tourists for years, but a flood of donations has already put restoration plans in motion.

Top 10 lists are ubiquitous, especially in travel; it seems there’s one for everything. And when it comes to destinations, whether it’s a “most popular” or “up-and-coming” ranking, these lists tend to be a mix of well-known cities and semi-under-the-radar places. Unless you’re a Booking.com user planning 2020 travel, apparently.

Like a sprawling carpet of moss, the Amazon Rainforest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Andes, creating a lush basin that still remains partially unexplored to this day. Cut by thin ropes of water flowing from the Amazon River, the forest stretches over land in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.

This summer, many families had their first holiday abroad since the pandemic began. But as autumn sets in and the cost of living crisis deepens, that week or two by the sea may soon seem a distant memory. Perfect timing, then, for the Ocean Film festival’s UK tour. Nell Teasdale, the tour director, says audiences can “dive into a night of wild seafaring voyages and astounding marine life, without getting their feet wet”.

Since the 1960s, foreign tourists have flocked to Goa, India’s smallest state, attracted by its palm-fringed golden beaches, glorious sunshine and distinctly relaxed attitudes. Domestic tourism has taken off enormously in recent years too, such that now almost ninety percent of visitors are from within India.

Psychedelic tourism isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there is nowhere on Earth where so many shaman serve such magical brews as they do in Peru. The typical setting for a session with an ayahuasquero or jungle shaman, is to meet him at a rainforest lodge on the edge of an Amazon tributory. After giving each guest a bitter, small gourd-full of psychotropic hallucinogen, the shaman begins to rattle, chant or drum. The effects can be challenging – the drug’s purging qualities mean many people vomit, while the colourful visions may be spiritual, sexual or just plain terrifying – but most people, helped by the shaman’s guiding songs and vision, make it beyond this to a healing and ecstatic session.

Brazil’s booming southern states – Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul – are often strangely absent on tourist itineraries of the country. The cities of Curitiba and Porto Alegre will host 2014 FIFA World Cup matches, and the region is already a huge draw for Brazilian, Argentine and Uruguayan tourists. Yet it can be a hard sell for European and North American travellers – it lacks the glamour of Rio but often sports the same prices thanks to the booming economy. After an obligatory pilgrimage to the mighty Iguazu Falls most Western travellers simply move on. So what makes those sudamericanos stick around? Here’s ten reasons I can think of immediately…

Prepare for an assault on the senses. Southeast Asia has a bellyful of thundering motorbikes, fiery volcanic peaks, seething jungle temples and pungent markets. Yet we also love it for its squeaky-clean sands, barely believable islands and pagodas overlooking lily-topped lotus ponds. From temples to tropical rainforests, here are the top ten places to visit in Southeast Asia – as voted for by you.