Wales
Aberystwyth
Starlings swirl under the pier at dusk, a cliff railway climbs, the national library watches.
On winter evenings starlings gather over the seafront in their thousands, wheeling as one before they drop to roost under the pier. Aberystwyth is a Victorian resort, a university town and, since UNESCO said so, Wales's first City of Literature, sitting on a bay where dolphins pass in early summer.
The promenade runs the whole front from the ruined castle to Constitution Hill, and the tradition on reaching the far end is to kick the low railing before turning back. From there the Cliff Railway, opened in 1896 and the longest in Britain, climbs to the world's largest camera obscura, a darkened room that projects a thousand square miles of coast and mountain onto a table, and to a café with the bay below. The Royal Pier, the oldest in Wales, is where the starlings roost between autumn and early spring, the murmuration building over the water before the birds drop under the deck. On the hill the National Library of Wales keeps the nation's books, including the smallest book in the world, beside the Arts Centre on the university campus. The town eats well for its size, from Ultracomida's Spanish-Welsh tapas and cheese counter to seafront hotels serving modern Welsh food, and the Vale of Rheidol steam railway leaves from beside the station for Devil's Bridge; it is a town for the edges of the year, when the students are in and the starlings are home.
Solo
An autumn evening on the prom for the murmuration, the camera obscura at midday, and the library's reading rooms in between.
Couple
A seafront room, tapas at Ultracomida, and the pier at dusk when the starlings come in over the water.
Family
A cliff railway, a giant camera that shows the whole coast, a castle ruin to climb and starlings in their thousands.
Friends
A weekend of prom walks, the town's independent restaurants, and the steam train up the Rheidol valley.
- Between autumn and early spring, starlings gather over the seafront at dusk to roost under the Royal Pier, the oldest pier in Wales.
- The Cliff Railway of 1896, the longest in Britain, climbs Constitution Hill at the northern end of the promenade to the world's largest camera obscura, which throws a view of a thousand square miles onto its screen.
- The National Library of Wales stands on the hill above town, home to historic books and the smallest book in the world, and Aberystwyth has been named Wales's first UNESCO City of Literature.
- The promenade ends at a low railing that locals kick as they turn, a tradition called kicking the bar, and early summer brings dolphins past the bay on their way south.
Tapas and Welsh cheese at Ultracomida, the Spanish-Welsh deli and tapas bar in the town centre, warm and loud in the best way.
Home-made snacks in the café at the top of Constitution Hill, reached by the cliff railway, with Cardigan Bay and, on a clear day, twenty-six mountain peaks in the window.
Manuel Antonio
Costa Rica
Capuchins patrol the sand beneath dozing sloths where rainforest walks into the ocean.
Vaitupu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu's largest island, where traditional sport te ano sends two woven balls flying at once.
Tortuguero
Costa Rica
Jungle canals where green sea turtles haul onto black volcanic sand under a moonless sky.
Kadavu
Fiji
Manta rays circle the world's fourth-largest barrier reef, off villages the road barely reaches.
Blaenau Ffestiniog
Wales
The town that roofed the world, where you bounce on trampolines slung inside a slate cavern.
Harlech
Wales
A castle on a crag waiting for a sea that walked away centuries ago.
Aberdaron
Wales
A church on the sand where pilgrims ate their last meal before the island crossing.
Beddgelert
Wales
A stone village at the meeting of two rivers, named for a legendary dog's grave.