A co-worker was just telling me about a gorilla hike she went on there. Went right up to the old silverback who had a bunch of gorilla kids jumping all over him.
Schroon Lake, NY. Lovely place. This will probably be my last year there, though. 
New Orleans, Louisiana - 'Nuff said. I went to college there. Katrina killed a part of me but the core is still there.
Canterbury, New Hampshire - my inlaws have a 300 acre farm there that me and my wife are going to inherit. I was married there. It is a classic, small New England town with a picture perfect center and beautiful country all around.
Woodstock, Vermont - one of the prettiest towns in the U.S. It is even more perfect than Canterbury but a little larger and more touristy.
Hanover, New Hampshire I went to school at Dartmouth for graduate school. The whole place looks like a movie set. Someone I was walking with once asked me what was odd. They said that no one was fat, sick, unattractive, or not well put together anywhere you looked. I thought about that from time to time for the next several months and it was always true.
Yeah, you need to wander farther out of town (or over to the hospital) to see the more down to earth natives. I go to church in Hanover and last week the priest mentioned that perhaps obesity was a problem of faith. Hey, did you notice that I’m the only fat person in this church?? :rolleyes:
That’s where Mrs. Lebeef and I honeymooned. The Lake Crescent Lodge is a phenomenal place to stay, relax and just unwind. I’d go back there today if I could find a way out of work!
In downtown Seoul, near the Nam Dae Mun market, a friend and I were walking one summer day. As we came around a corner, out of seemingly nowhere a buddhist shrine appeared. In the middle of the loudest, busiest markets in the biggest city in South Korea there was an island of green trees, a babbling brook, and quiet meditation. I could probably never be caught by that place in the same way again, but on that particular day it was breathtaking.
In Sicily, off the south western coast, there is a little town called Catania. Some of the best calamari I have ever had, along with whichever restaraunts house wine, or Vino Locale. The view from the clifftops into the Mediterranean at sunset was amazing.
Back in the Northwest, the family farm backs up to some National Park land, and when I was a kid I would hike all through the area. Now when I go home to see the folks, one of my first priorites is to hike up onto the hill behind the farm and just listen to the quiet.
Shinjuku in Tokyo at nightime is like walking through the set of Bladerunnner.
I love this thread! I can talk about some of my favorite places without being accused of “placedropping”.
Asheville NC
Camden ME
Savannah GA
Charleston SC
Guntersville AL
Great Smoky Mountains (NC and TN)
Fall Creek Falls TN
Mammoth Cave KY
Clearwater FL
Eufaula AL
Natchez Trace Parkway (TN, AL, MS)
New Orleans LA
Reelfoot Lake TN
Long Lake NY
A few of my choices:
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where there are people: San Francisco, the south of France (esp. between Nice and the Italian border), the Virgin Islands
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in the wild: Strawberry Mountain Wilderness and John Day National Monument in Oregon, Death Valley (in springtime!) and the Panamint Range, and El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico
Assorted places I’d like to visit before I die: Angkor Wat, Kashmir Valley, Santorini
And remember that little island hideaway in The Thomas Crown Affair? I want that. 
Stockholm and Santa Fe.
All places I have been and loved and would return to:
Denali Park, Alaska
Chandelar Shelf, Dalton Highway, Alaska
Hatcher Pass, Alaska
Katmai Lake and Valley of 10,000 Smokes, Alaska
Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory
Copper River, Alaska
Victoria Falls, Zambezi River, Zambia
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Okavongo Delta, Okavongo River, Botswana
Serengeti Plain, Tanzania
Pyramids, Giza, Cairo, Egypt
Japan at cherry blossom time
Douro River Valley, Portugal at grape harvest time
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Small island, friendly people, and bathwater warm ocean water that is unbelievably clear - I’ve often pondered trying to move there.
Juneau, Alaska Grew up there and any time I have a rainy day here in the Bay Area it brings back memories. Nothing beats standing on a cobble covered beach skipping rocks into the water, or the distinct creosote smell of the wharf in downtown.
The Great Lakes. I’m not much of a fan in the summer-- too many tourists ruin the peace, but in the fall and winter, they become magical.
There’s one particular resort town we visit as frequently as we can after August and the “season” is over. In the fall, there’s the cool breeze which makes the brilliantly colored leaves dance across the deserted streets. The ducks and geese are usually still around, doing their last-minute packing for the trip down South, squawking and honking goodbyes to one another. Most of the shops are closed, of course, but there’s something strangely romantic about that-- it’s almost as if you have the whole place to yourself. When the cold descends, the lake turns a flinty grey and is always choppy from the wind. It sounds like the ocean at times. Ice-cicles from the spray line the railings. It’s wild and beautiful and there’s something so* cozy* about it. In the spring, there are terrific storms which you can watch rolling across the lake.
The Smoky Mountains. Yes, it sometimes seems as if the tourism industry is intentionally trying to make that place as tacky as possible, but there are still a lof of little places which are devoid of mechanized puppet shows. I’ve rented houses in some of these little towns. You have to go there in the summer, of course, because unless you can sit on the porch in a rocking chair and sip a cup of tea while soaking in the awesome majesty of the mountains, you’re missing out on a lot.
I’m certain that the Rockies probably make the Smokies pale in comparison, but I live on the wrong side of the country to be able to go there frequently enough to enjoy them.
On a side note, it was in the Smoky Mountains that I first saw a bear in the wild. I was absolutely thrilled.
London. Such a vibrant, charming city with a delightful mix of the modern and historic. I dream of someday being able to go live there for a year or so.
I lived in Banff, Alberta for a year and a half and it still amazes me to this day,
**Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia ** was my favorite part of the Maritimes, but I went in the off-season so there was virtually nobody there and the day was beautiful.
I can’t really say where my favorite place is since it’s this tiny little lake in the interior of British Columbia where my family owns a cabin. Whenever I want to get away from the world it’s always there. No running water, no electricity, no distractions. It’s absolutly perfect.
Oh and for any camping enthusiast I can’t recommend the Bowron Lake canoe circuit enough. I have done it twice and can’t wait until number three.
The link is for a guiding company. I just went on my own, but the link gives an idea of how beautiful it is.
Santa Cruz, California, a stormy paradise that won my heart and has not quite given it back.
Oakland, California, sunny skies, good food, people from every corner of the world, and pies from Louis the Pie Queen. Love that place.
Kochi, India Nothing beats buying fish from the net, having it wrapped in banana leaves and spices, and watching it as the sun sets. Exotic spice markets. Multicultural history. A respite from the tourists when the ferries leave the island. A good book shop. Amazing food. Perfect.
Garoua, Cameroon Best bar in a supermarket ever.
**Maple Springs, NY ** - right on Lake Chautauqua. I used to stay with friends in the summer who had a cabin there, and it’s the most peaceful place I can imagine. There’s a lot of interesting things to do and see especially at the Chautauqua institute, but I was always just as happy to sit on the beach for hours staring at the water.
Another vote for the Great Lakes, particularly the shores of Lake Michigan. Down at the southern tip there are nice tall dunes (used to be taller when I was a kid). When I have insomnia I mediate on the sounds of the wind blowing in the dune grass and the waves gently breaking on shore - usually puts me back to sleep 
Mohonk Mountain House , although I liked it more back in the 80’s when it was just a bit run down & a whole lot cheaper.
Oo! We used to play golf there in the early 80s. It was a big treat in contrast to the lame public course near us.
Previous posters have mentioned several of mine. **Prague **and Southern Utah have already been mentioned.
**Krakow **may be my favorite city in Europe. The old town is well preserved, though much smaller than Prague’s, but it’s much less overrun with tourism. That’s been changing in recent years, with big money coming in from elsewhere in Europe to build huge new shopping centers and gorgeous high end hotels.
But I really came in here to highlight a place I was thinking about yesterday before I saw this thread.
I’d just got The Jewel in the Crown from Netflix. The third episode has some scenes filmed on the houseboats on Dal Lake in the Vale of Kashmir. It just left me breathless remembering how gorgeous it is, and how peaceful it was for me when I was there. The houseboats are lovely and intimate (mine was richly furnished in locally hand-carved walnut furniture and hand-embroidered draperies. Ringed by mountains and gardens, the placid lake is disturbed only by passing shikaras propelled almost silently by distinctive, leaf-shaped paddles. The family that owned the houseboat also warmly welcomed me into their home. Sitting out on the porch of the boat, drinking tea and gazing out over the water towards the peaks is one of the most calm, blissful moments I can remember. The scenes in *Jewel *capture this feeling beautifully.
But this is a tragic contrast to the armed camp that Kashmir, taken as a whole, really is. I went there in in April 2002 only by an odd set of events – I had originally intended to go to Nepal instead, but they were having general strikes that more or less shut down travel and tourism there. The Lonely Planet had only two pages on Kashmir just to say that it’s beautiful but you almost certainly shouldn’t go there. I only went because I’d met the travel agent who I’d stayed with for a few days at his home in New Dehli accompanied me and brought his two year old daughter along. The houseboat I stayed on belonged to his father and brothers, who have had quite a struggle supporting their families since tourism was all but shut down in the 80’s or early 90’s.
The Srinagar airport was ringed with machine gun positions. To get into the airport, the car and all it’s occupants had to be searched twice, and in the airport itself I was searched at least twice before being allowed to board. My travels within Kashmir were restricted, though I was taken to Gulmargh, where there’s a ski area and horseback riding, and to the village of Pahalgam, but any idea of trekking from there was quashed by safety concerns. There were armed checkpoints everywhere, though the soldiers were pretty easy going; I even talked to some of them. My hosts did not allow me to go anywhere unaccompanied I think not only out of a humane fear for my safety but also that an incident with a western tourist would curtail tourism even further and for much longer. I left India only a few weeks before Pakistan’s long range missile test led the US State Department to issue an advisory against travel to the whole of Northern India (which has long since been lifted, IIRC).
Tensions in Kashmir have eased somewhat (e.g., semi-weekly bus service between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir a year or so ago, allowing travel across the line of control for the first time in 50 years). But I don’t know if this has had any impact on Kashmir tourism, or if there have been recent incidents to disrupt it again.
But if it is ever safe enough for you to go to Kashmir, do not miss your chance.
I’m a city boy at heart, and New York and London both warm my heart. Lots of bustle, mass transit that works, restaurants, skyscrapers … oh, they’re both lovely.
If I couldn’t live in Seattle, Portland, Oregon would probably be my second choice. Big enough to be comfortable.
I’m sure that list will expand as I visit more metropoli.
Number one is Yellowstone Nat’l Park.
After that, in no particular order, are Shenandoah Nat’l Park, the area around my college town (Meadville, PA), the Cotswolds, and Mt. Rainier Nat’l Park.