Hike to Millpu, a staircase of a hundred turquoise travertine pools hidden in an Ayacucho gorge
Descend from cloud forest to jungle floor in Manú, the most biodiverse protected area on the planet
Fly or ice-break to the Snow Hill or Gould Bay colonies to stand among thousands of the largest penguins on Earth.
Set eyes on Río Abiseo, the UNESCO park almost nobody may enter — cloud-forest ruins and a monkey back from the dead
Roam Huascarán National Park, the highest tropical mountain range on Earth — 660 glaciers under Peru's tallest peak
A city reachable only by river or air, gateway to lodges where pink dolphins, sloths and macaws fill the flooded forest.
Drift past pink river dolphins on an Amazon boat out of Iquitos, the largest city on Earth unreachable by road
Drift by boat beneath a cave ceiling lit by thousands of glowworms.
Wind-carved chalk mushrooms and icebergs of rock glowing at sunset — camp overnight under the Sahara stars.
High-altitude geyser field steaming at dawn, 4,300 m up in the Andes.
The clearest night skies on Earth, above the driest desert.
Hike through cloud forest to Gocta, a 771-metre double waterfall the wider world only learned of in 2005
Hike between Hmong and Dao villages through emerald terraces cut into the mountains near the Chinese border.
Cruise past sea-lion colonies and Humboldt penguins crowding the guano-white cliffs of the Ballestas Islands
Watch Andean condors ride the morning thermals out of Colca Canyon, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon
The world’s largest tropical wetland — the best place in South America to spot jaguars.
Sandy spit at Denmark’s northern tip where the Skagerrak and Kattegat collide.
Mineral springs that have petrified into white waterfalls of stone above the Oaxaca valleys, with cliff-edge pools you can swim in.
The "river of five colours", turned red by aquatic plants between June and November.
Venture into the world's greatest rainforest.
Drop into a limestone sinkhole of crystal-clear fresh water on the Yucatan, where the Maya saw the entrance to the underworld.
Track down the world’s largest flower blooming on the rainforest floor.
Remote geyser basin on the volcanic Kamchatka peninsula, reachable only by helicopter.
Two hundred and seventy-five waterfalls on the Argentina–Brazil border, with walkways to the lip of the Devil’s Throat.
Thundering two-tier glacial waterfall.
Four hours drifting past the karst peaks on the back of the 20-yuan note, with cormorant fishermen and water buffalo on the banks.
The highest tides on Earth, best watched among the Hopewell Rocks flowerpot stacks.
Bathe in warm sulphur water cascading over natural limestone terraces in the Tuscan countryside
Fort ruins and dry forest in Rajasthan where India’s most photographed tigers pad past jeeps in broad daylight.
A volcanic archipelago off Sicily — chic Panarea, smoking Stromboli, and the spa mud of Vulcano
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