This year, we posed for selfies with K–pop buskers in Seoul, foraged the forests of New Zealand with the chefs of the Maori food renaissance and explored remote glaciers in British Columbia. Here’s a collection of highlights from around the planet.
Travel Photos We Loved in 2019
Inflatable stand–up paddleboards come in handy for exploring a hard–to–reach slot canyon near Nimmo Bay. Photo: Jeremy Koreski
Simon Whitfield explores a remote glacial lake in the wilderness near the resort. Photo: Jeremy Koreski
Lost Lagoon in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, from where many birder walks take off. Photo: Grant Harder
The Sea to Sky Trail winds around Garibaldi Provincial Park, a hiker’s paradise. Photo: Alana Paterson
The Silver Mine Head Path snakes along the cliffs of Newfoundland’s eastern shore. Photo: Farihah Shah
Père–Marquette Park, Montreal, 6 p.m. Photo: Thomas Bouquin
Much of Ivvavik National Park has not seen an ice age in the last two million years, leaving a landscape that’s been shaped by wind rather than ice, slowly revealing limestone tors that stand like sentinels overlooking the park. Photo: Andrew Querner
Limestone out–croppings along the Firth River, including Engigstciak, or “young mountain” in Inuvialuktun, add texture to the landscape. Photo: Andrew Querner
UNITED STATES
Hawaii
Ferns grow through the cracks in an old lava flow on the Puna Coast Trail in Hawai’i. Photo: Kari Medig
Lava from the 2018 Kilauea eruption pushes into a residential area of Pahoa. Photo: Kari Medig
Monument, Utah, 1995. For more than 20 years, London–based photographer Nadav Kander has been adding to his series God’s Country, re–examining the great American outdoors as a place where untouched wilderness does not exist. Photo: Nadav Kander
Hudson Yards’ Vessel is an open–air, 16–story climbable sculpture featuring 154 interconnecting flights of stairs. Photo: Fraser Ballard
CARIBBEAN
Dominican Republic
Self–proclaimed musicologist Sandy Bonilla gets a haircut in front of one of his monster speakers at his workshop in Bonao in the Dominican Republic. Photo: Marco Argüello
No shady business in this corner of Malecón 663’s rooftop terrace in Havana, with uninterrupted ocean views. Photo: Kari Medig
SOUTH AMERICA
Brazil
A Baiana, or woman of Bahia, watches the sunset from Rio Vermelho beach. Photo: Luisa Dörr
You can spot the Bahia de Todos os Santos from almost anywhere in Salvador. Photo: Luisa Dörr
Cañón de Guatín, San Pedro de Atacama. Photo: Chiara Zonca
EUROPE
Croatia
In Istria, there are green olives and blue waves for days. Photo: Ériver Hijano
At a Croatian crossroads. Photo: Ériver Hijano
Rocking out at Baluota (Monte) beach in the fishing port Rovinj. Photo: Ériver Hijano
Forager Morten Michalsen diving near Norway’s underwater restaurant Under. Photo: Jeremy Koreski
Under pairs unlikely sea creatures with tableside science. Photo: Jeremy Koreski
The Hverir geothermal area in northeast Iceland looks eerily like the surface of Mars. Photo: Michael George
The world–famous Haute Route ski traverse weaves an improbable line for roughly 100 rugged kilometres through the Pennine Alps and links the iconic mountain towns of Chamonix, France, and Zermatt, Switzerland. Photo: Kari Medig
Writer Andrew Findlay scrambles down a frosty granite bluff while wind gusts and a blanket of thick, foreboding clouds settles upon Aiguille du Tour in France. Photo: Kari Medig
The Hacker Festzelt beer tent (the “heaven of Bavaria”) takes nine weeks to set up and boasts painted scenes of Munich landmarks and everyday Bavarian life, courtesy of Oscar–winning production designer and set decorator Rolf Zehetbauer. Photo: Gunnar Knechtel
MIDDLE EAST
United Arab Emirates
A leaf–shaped telephone booth packs a heavy dose of nostalgia in Dubai. Photo: Yosigo
45 kilometres south of downtown Abu Dhabi is the Emirates National Auto Museum, a pyramid–shaped complex that houses over 200 cars belonging to Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, including the conceptual Earth on Wheels, a 10–bedroom caravan in the shape of a globe that’s one–millionth the size of our planet. Photo: Yosigo
AFRICA
Morocco
Morocco is a chameleon of a country, one where the past and present are fluid and the colours change with both light and landscape. Photo: Alanna Hale
The ancient ksar of Aït Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for the integrity of its ancient, earthen clay architecture where several families still live. Photo: Alanna Hale
Desert tour in the Sahara is best experienced on a dromedary or “Arabic camel” of the one–humped variety, which is often better behaved than its two–humped cousin. Photo: Alanna Hale
Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Ken Geiger offers an otherworldly perspective on Kenya through the lens of his black–and–white infrared camera. Photo: Ken Geiger
ASIA
Bali
Palm tree at Ulun Danu Beratan Temple, Bali. Photo: Salva López
A manta ray at Manta Point in Komodo. Photo: Salva López
Trees line Japan’s Shiroishi River during the Ōgawara Sakura Festival. Photo: Fumi Homma
Photo booths on Eouumadang–ro in Seoul make for snappy souvenirs. Photo: Jonah Rosenberg
K–pop performer Park Kyungwoong brings slick moves (and a pop of purple) to his Thursday–night slot on Hongdae Street in Seoul. Photo: Jonah Rosenberg
A fisherman rows out to inspect his crab farm near the fishing village of Xiapi in Fujian province. Photo: David Burdney
AUSTRALIA / OCEANIA
Tasmania
Kitchen Hut rises from Tasmania’s Central Highlands. Photo: Peter Tarasiuk
Hot springs smoulder in the Waimangu reserve near Rotorua. Photo: John Laurie
Steaming geothermal pools at Te Puia, near Rotorua, New Zealand, have long been used by the Maori to prepare food. Photo: John Laurie