In celebration of the one year anniversary of my blog, I decided to give out my awards to my favorite places that I’ve traveled in the world. In each category, I will give out a gold, silver, and bronze, and also highlight somewhere I’d like to travel to in the future that I suspect might break into the top 3. I will be revealing one category each day until December 28, the official one year mark of my blog. Here is the schedule as well as links to the other awards:
December 20: Best Mass Transit
December 21: Best Value
December 22: Best People
December 23: Underrated City
December 24: Best Food
December 25: Best Natural Beauty
December 26: Best Small City
December 27: Best Big City
December 28: Best Country
Best Natural Beauty
Gold: Switzerland
Of all the categories, this was the hardest for me to put into any kind of order. I had a hard time deciding exactly what the parameters were. How do you compare a small but amazing country like Switzerland to a huge country like the United States? In the end, the order probably doesn’t matter, but these are the countries that made my heart flutter the most. The biggest flutter goes for Switzerland, a place that I’m walking around all the time questioning how anywhere can be so beautiful. The raw mountainous scenery is beyond breathtaking and flocks of adventure travelers come here throughout the summer. Enjoy your victory here Switzerland because you won’t be winning in any value categories. Switzerland, beautiful as it is, is not cheap.
Silver: United States
If you are deciding on the sheer number of amazing destinations, the United States is obviously hard to top. Whether you like your mountains more lush or sparse, you can choose between the Appalachians or the Rockies. For vast open awesomeness, take your choice of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, or Death Valley. If you’re looking for world class waterfalls, we have Niagara. Amazing beaches, we have two great coasts. Like a combination of beaches and mountains, head to the coast of California. Of course, the thing that the United States is lacking in comparison to many of my favorite destinations in Europe and Asia is the mass transit infrastructure to move easily from one location to the next. Grumble.
Bronze: Iceland
If you’re looking for the best day of natural sightseeing in the world, for my mind, it’s in Iceland. It has similar sights to many of the best locations in the United States. In a single easily drivable day, you can leave the beautiful, rugged coast of Reykjavik (think coast of the Pacific Northwest), walk around the magical Thingviller National Park (think Great Smoky Mountains), see the amazing Geysir (think Old Faithful), and finish off the day at Gullfoss (think Niagara Falls). I can’t wait to get back to Iceland to explore more of what this amazing country has to offer.
Blogiversary Travel Awards: Best Natural Beauty is a post from: iransofaraway.com
