I did the route on my bicycle after the summer and it was fantastic. I camped so didn’t even notice the cost.

There are a lot of places that are great on a bike but not necessarily for the normal tourist. The appeal in the remote areas of Indonesia or the outback in Australia are missed when you ride a bus but spectacular on a bike and camping outside. I tried to pick places that would appeal to non-bicycle tourists. My favourite list for bike touring would be a little different.

Sri Lanka,
Kyrgyzstan
Cambodia
Laos

India

Croatia - dubrovnik and dalmatian coast

France

India is the most amazing and bonkers place i have ever been. Its also at the same time the most luxurious and the biggest shit hole on earth.

Depends massively on what you like doing. You want history? Culture? Food? Amazing landscape? Cities? Sport and adventure? With kids or without? You want a place that is well set up for tourists or somewhere you can get off the beaten track and discover?

I think the most fascinating place I've visited was Japan. Just a totally different culture - made me realise that actually pretty much every other place I'd visited, and certainly all the developed countries, had strong European roots or influence. Japan is just different, it never had that European influence and as a result it's culture is different in a thousand little ways that I would struggle to write down but you feel as soon as you're there. Amazing food.

I love Europe but take it somewhat for granted as a Brit who has holidayed there all my life. Incredible density of history and culture, and very accessible for tourists with no shortage of good hotels, restaurants and activities pretty much anywhere you want to go. Some beautiful landscapes, but also a lot of people - you can get away from things a bit away from the cities, but you never feel you're far from civilisation.

Love South Africa, doing a safari there (or Kenya) is pretty awesome to see those animals in the wild. Also has some spectacular wilderness, great wine and food. Some safety concerns, fairly easily managed if you do your research but not a place to just head off exploring and hope for the best.

New Zealand also spectacular, very well set up for outdoor adventuring from kayaking to climbing, skiing, pot-holing, mountain biking, etc. Not so much in the way of wildlife, but extremely safe and also has great food and wine.

According to Fodor's, here’s where you shouldn’t go this year, https://www.seattletimes.com/...e-not-to-go-in-2018/

I was kind of surprised Iceland wasn’t on the list. It seems like everybody I talk to is going or has just come back from there due to the free stopover.

I can only speak to the countries I have visited.

South Africa is amazing. Full stop. I lived there for a while in 1998 and went back for a safari trip in 2010. I don’t know how i’ll Ever top that trip.

Ireland was fun. It’s unbeleivable how green that place is. But it’s rains just about every day. Sometimes only for a short while. One thing I didn’t expect was how much I would like the ruins of old castles and bridges.

Along those lines, Chizen Itza (spelling?) in Mexico was pretty cool.

Apart from those, I’ve done a lot of cool stuff right here in North America.

Basically everywhere I have been has been great. Our planet is awesome.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I only had six countries on my list but of the ones I've been too, would put Ireland (especially the west coast) and Iceland at the top. Iceland has become a big tourist draw in recent years and Reykjavik is a fun little city, but the countryside is amazing as you head out to the more remote areas.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

it all depends on what you are seeking - every country, in a way, is unique, but if you are looking for outdoor stuff, going to NYC is a bad choice, conversely if you are interested in shopping Galapogos might be wrong.

i wd however recommend the following, based on my experience, to avoid:

Laos - Boring - really boring. Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand all much, much better;
Egypt - I can only speak to Cairo, but avoid at all costs - an absolute dump and Giza and the Spinx don't make it worth the hassle;
Paraguay - Didn't see much of it, but for the hassle and cost to get there, skip it - in South America there are a ton of great things to see and do without wasting time in places like Paraguay (or Venezuela)(same with Bolivia - the cost for the Visa makes it a take it or leave it proposition);
Netherlands - Not that it is bad, but not great - Belgium right next door is more interesting IMO and Amsterdam is way over-rated;
Cuba - Ridiculously expensive for what it offers, and a lot of your money will go to line the pockets of the scumbag regime old timers - until Cuba is libre, spend your greenbacks elsewhere in the Carib.

Iceland is definitely a "must go" destination. It's the only place I've been to where the landscape genuinely feels otherworldly. Not spectacular otherworldly like NZ, but "of a different planet" otherworldly. Not surprisingly it gets used a lot for film shoots for this reason*.


The converse: when in N Am I am always struck at the way the servers remove plates once a diner has finished, even if other diners in the group are still eating. In Europe this would be considered pretty rude, in the "you fuckers who are still eating - hurry the fuck up and eat faster. We've got people waiting to use these seats you know" way.



* so, yeah, you could skip Iceland and watch Prometheus/the first 20 mins of Rogue One I suppose.

New Zealand

France (I'm biased, obviously)

Croatia

Switzerland

Belgium

Italy

Morocco

Peru, China, Fiji, Australia.

I need to go back one of these days. I went on two 3 day trips while deployed to that corner of the world but was 20 or 21 at that time..no doubt I only appreciated fraction of what was there.

It sounds like the secret is out about Croatia now though. Went in 99 and everything was super cheap at that point. Spent most of my time on the beaches in Makarska.

Completely this.

The list should be different if you want to travel to see beautiful scenery, or to experience drastically different cultures, or to take part in adventurous activities, etc. It would also be different if you are adventurous and comfortable in different cultures with languages you don't speak vs if you want an experience that's easier where you can get by with a common language.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

I enjoyed the history of Italy and the pure beauty of Austria and Switzerland.
Japan is amazing from a completely different cultural perspective. Get outside of Tokyo.
Singapore is amazing for food and shopping, but you can do it in a couple days. Combine it with a Thailand visit.

Australia was amazing. The Daintree Rainforest was spectacular as was the area around Cairns. There's the obvious stops of Sydney and Uluru (Ayers Rock) as well.

Italy is beautiful. Went there with the wife for an anniversary. Thoroughly enjoyed Venice.

Austria/Switzerland/France are all beautiful but Austria was way less expensive.

Surprising there is no love for Costa Rica. I've always heard it is super beautiful.

My Recommendations:


Asia:
If visiting only one country pick Thailand. Its relatively safe, quite affordable, the people are amazingly friendly, and the food!! Interesting fact: One of the few Asian nations never colonized by western powers.
Bangkok is a fascinating mega-city - exciting, historic, cultural. The north has beautiful mountains / hills, temples and scenery.
The islands in the south - particularly the less touristy, are beautiful beyond anything you can find in the Caribbean or Mediterranean .

Europe:
Swiss Alps - Beautiful, clean, safe. No shortage of things to do - hiking/skiing, sight seeing, etc. But very pricey.


Americas:
Banff and Jasper Parks in Alberta (Canada) - Natural beauty at its finest.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

The two places I visit annually.

Italy- (more specifically Tuscany) for the food, the people, the cycling.

Japan - (more specifically Kyoto and Osaka) for the food, the people, the cycling.

Different nuances in the two countries of course.

Costa Rica is very beautiful and worth a visit especially for bird watching.

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DISH is how we do it.

High on my list would be:

New Zealand - In terms of geography, it packs in everything that you would ever see in North America and Europe into two modest sized Islands and a small population that is totally into outdoor sport and recreation. It also preserves some of those English/British traditions that are part of my families heritage, but have become lost in Canada. I'd move there in a minute if I could, but you realize it's SO far away from everything.

India - I don't know how much has changed since I was there in '95. It's a place if you are off the beaten track and away from the normal tourist places, that overwhelms ALL of your senses all of the time. It's a little to a lot overwhelming! There's places in India, that you feel are trapped in some sort of time-warp, that you wonder if they will ever get out. Backwards, in a quaint and strange way, does not even begin to describe it. I'd like to go back at some point and see what has changed and what has stayed the same.

Nepal - The Himalayas - are beyond words - the sheer size, magnitude and grandness of the landscape, is breathtaking - literally - at 4,000m there's not much air! To be out in the mountains and hiking up and along their flanks, is to realize how rugged, beautiful and dangerous this geography is!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Fudor put the US state of Missouri on the list are you sure they deserve any credibility?

I second Kazakhstan. Which part did you visit? I've only been to Astana, but i really enjoyed it.

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LLLEEEEEEEEEEEERRRROOOYYY JEEENNNNNKKKIIINNNNNS!!!

Almaty, Astana, Shymkent and Turkestan. I was with my Kazakh friends today so I will add Norwalk, California too.

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DISH is how we do it.