Japan
Daisetsuzan
Japan's first autumn colour igniting an alpine plateau where bears and pikas roam unchallenged.
Autumn arrives here first. Mid-September, when the rest of Japan is still green, the peaks of Daisetsuzan blaze red and gold across a wilderness larger than any national park in Japan. Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido's interior spans 2,268 square kilometres of volcanic ridges, boreal forest, and brown bear territory — a landscape that cares nothing for human schedules.
Daisetsuzan National Park is Japan's largest, centred on a cluster of volcanic peaks exceeding 2,000 metres. The Grand Traverse links Asahidake, Hokkaido's highest peak at 2,291 metres, to Tokachidake across a five-day ridgeline walk with mountain huts spaced a day's walk apart. Sounkyo Gorge cuts through columnar basalt cliffs, with two 100-metre waterfalls — Ryūsei and Ginga — visible from the road. Brown bears, Hokkaido deer, and pikas inhabit the park year-round, and the autumn colour change — starting in mid-September, weeks ahead of mainland Japan — draws photographers from across Asia.
Solo
The Grand Traverse is a five-day solo commitment through bear country on ridgelines above the clouds. This is not hiking — it is mountaineering in slow motion.
Friends
Multi-day ridge walks shared between mountain huts, with the mutual support of group navigation through volcanic terrain and unpredictable weather.
- Japan's largest national park spans 2,268 square kilometres of volcanic peaks, boreal forest, and brown bear territory.
- The Grand Traverse links multiple peaks above 2,000 metres over five days, with mountain huts spaced a day's walk apart.
- Autumn colour arrives here first in all of Japan — mid-September, when the lowlands are still green.
- Sounkyo Gorge cuts through columnar basalt cliffs with two 100-metre waterfalls visible from the road.
Venison and potato stew at mountain lodges after a ridge traverse.
Sounkyo Gorge onsen ryokan dinners: Hokkaido crab, corn, and melon.
Queenstown
New Zealand
The town where bungee jumping was born, cradled between a glacial lake and jagged peaks.
Sete Cidades
Portugal
Twin crater lakes, one emerald, one sapphire, fill a volcanic caldera wreathed in Azorean mist.
Silverton
United States
A narrow-gauge steam train delivers you to a mining ghost town at 9,318 feet.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Nikko
Japan
Gold-encrusted shrines hidden in cryptomeria forests where a sleeping cat guards the gate.
Narai-juku
Japan
A kilometre-long wooden post town where the street narrows until the Edo sky disappears.
Yakushima
Japan
Ancient cedar forest wrapped in mist where roots swallow granite boulders whole.
Naoshima
Japan
A fishing island where pumpkins glow yellow and museums burrow underground.