My beach, my boardwalk and my seagulls… Va. Beach, truly a place for lovers…
Oh, there’s so many. I’ll restrict myself to places I’ve actually been to.
- The entire Garden Route along the south coast of South Africa has got to top this list. Do you know the French Riviera? Multiply its beauty by 200 times, and you’re still not even close. Beautiful wild nature, charming cities. Winding from Cape Town all the way up to Port Elisabeth, it is the most beautiful stretch of land I have ever seen.
- Pulau Tioman (Tioman Island) off the coast of Malaysia. This is a bit like the Blue Lagoon come true. Swimming through the waters, spotting a mighty Manta Ray not 4 meters below. Surreal beauty.
- La Sagrada Familia: Gaudi’s cathedral in Barcelona. Even unfinished, it is of remarkable elegance.
- Sometimes, when I am walking through the center of Amsterdam at night, I need to stop myself on one of the tiny bridges overlooking the canals to remind myself that I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
It is so easy to take things for granted.
Big Sur coastline, Monterey, California. One of the few places that have ever taken my breath away.
Followed closely by Bavaria. That entire country looks like a movie set.
Well, this probably isn’t the most beautiful place, but it was a damn breath taking sight if I ever saw one.
My friend’s and I were hanging around some prep school, setting up a little Blair Witch-ish prank on a foggy night when I looked up and saw the coolest thing.
It was only a street light, a tree, and the fog, but the effect was (almost) indescribable. As usual in a fog, the light could be seen everywhere, not just where it hit things. But the tree limbs (the tree was in front of the light) blocked a lot of it. So the effect was all these beams of amber light coming out in a roughly spherical manner, all against a dark purple city sky. Absolutely gorgeous.
Inside my husband’s arms. I don’t care where we are.
Yeah, it’s not a ‘land’ type place. So what? It’s the most beautiful place I could think of 
-Elthia
I’m a sap when I’ve had no sleep 
Scottish highlands (when it isn’t raining) absoltely stunning. We went there last weekend, perfect weather, lots of mountain climbing, so, so much peace. I haven’t felt that free in a long time.
London city on a rainy night when the lights shine off the streets and I can look down from my window, with no cars around it always takes me away.
Kauai is a very pretty island. Take the highway (in name only) all the way until it ends on the north side of the island. It ends, because from the north part of the island to the west side is pretty much uninhabited and so mountainy that it will never be paved.
My wife and I found a path that leaves the beach and starts trailing into the foothills. We followed it for about 2 miles climbing higher and higher, when we came out on a grassy outcropping about 1/2 a mile above the ocean. We could see no people or civilization. Just a jungle below, a mountain above, wildflowers all around, and a deep blue ocean underneath a sunny sky as far as the eye can see.
I might also nominate Queen’s Bath. If you want to see a little of what it looks like, check out my pic on this page
Two entirely different settings. The Smoky Mountains bordering on North Carolina and Tennessee. Then the Outer Banks of North Carolina where there are islands that have never been inhabited by man.
The two places that come to mind for me are:
- Uglich. little village in Russia.
- Northern Itlay mountians in the fall.
While these my not be the most attractive places in the world, They are the ones I have seen.
I will let you know how they stand up to the Canadian Rockies and Ireland once I get to do more traveling.
Osip
I’ll have to go with “places I’ve seen,” as there are entirely too many I haven’t.
• The coast of Wales, on the Irish sea near Portmeirion.
• The English lake district.
• Yeah, parts of San Francisco. Parts of London, too (OK, Ike, Paris probably IS better, but I haven’t BEEN there yet!).
• Parts of my hometown area, the suburbs west of Philly—what suburbs SHOULD be. Old, old houses, rolling hills, beautiful landscaping.
• Various parts of Maui.
• The lobby of the Algonquin Hotel (call me biased . . .).
Taupo Bay, North Island in New Zealand.
If you ever get the chance to look it up, do so.
the only word that can describe it is Paradise.
Clear blue water, Sand on the beach, rich grassy fields just behind the beach, all sloping up towards beautiful peaks of hills and mountains with the most glorious view, and the most amazing weather.
I hope to retire there some day.
Coldfire-
Amsterdam is indeed a wonderful city, and you are absolutely right about taking for granted the beauty in our own back yards. All the mentions of the Smoky Mountains in this thread give me a renewed appreciation for the beauty in my own region.
There’s some good taste being displayed here.
I would second the Great Ocean Road/ Twelve Apostles (Vic., Australia), the Lake District (UK) and Uluru/ Ayres Rock at sunrise (yes it really changes colour - NT, Australia).
I would add: Sunset, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam; Sun-Moon Lake, Taiwan; the boiling mud at Roturua, New Zealand; and the “wild rivers” cold climate rainforest region of Tasmania, Australia.
picmr
Once I had a job at the big UPS distribution center located on the entire block bounded by 42nd and 43rd streets between 11th and 12th aves. in NYC, up about the 6th floor they have (had? this was 1983) a large outdoor parking deck, one night I was up there to take a smoke and I looked back east into the canyons of midtown…millions of lights , hundreds of buildings , floating at various levels , clean cool breeze ,…WOW…asonishingly breathtaking, words fail me.
In the natural realm, for me it is a toss up between Georgia’s Cumberland Island National Seashore (Roo- its like Hilton Head but unspoiled, unpaved and undeveloped) and The Great Smokey Mtns. National Park in Tenn/NC.
Ramnered, Sweden. Never been there, only seen one picture of it. I have my reasons
There was a small community called Barcis. It was nestled in a valley, and had the most incredibly blue lake I’ve ever seen in my life. Had some wonderful times there, and would go back any time, any day.
Mmmm . . . “Barcis is willin’.”
(Obscure Dickensian joke)
Geez, if you consider David Copperfield to be obscure, I better shelve all my snappy Martin Chuzzlewit jokes.
I’ll pick another part of Italy: The Amalfi coast (western part of the country, south of Naples).
The view of lower Manhattan from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
The drive through the Florida Keys to Key West, especially once you get down past Lower Matacumbe Key…like the view form the Seven Mile Bridge.
Down-east coastal Maine…and, so as not to seem overly prejudiced toward the Eastern US, the Mendocino coast.
Anguilla, sitting on the beach (ever sat in talcum powder?), looking across the strait and seeing the sun reflect off St. Martin, the clouds still clinging to the top of the island. The water that shade of blue/green that you wish you could recreate at the paint store but can never quite seem to find…the shoosh, shoosh, shoosh of the foam on the beach and a gentle breeze in your face. The sky takes on that blue shade that is the very definition of the word. You say to yourself, “You know, I could just sit here for the rest of my life.” But please, don’t tell anybody else.