Scotland
Isle of May
Puffins waddle to their burrows inches from your boots on an island nature kept for itself.
Puffins waddle within arm's reach on the Isle of May — tens of thousands of nesting pairs in burrows so close to the path you can watch them emerge, shake their feathers and launch seaward from a standing start. The island sits in the Firth of Forth, and the boat from Anstruther crosses dolphin water to reach it.
The Isle of May is a National Nature Reserve in the outer Firth of Forth, holding Scotland's largest puffin colony and Britain's most approachable seabird spectacle. The puffins arrive in April and stay through July, nesting so close to the visitor paths that no telephoto lens is needed, while terns dive-bomb the landing party with proprietorial fury. Grey seal pups carpet the November beaches until the shore reads white and grey. Lighthouse history runs deep here: Scotland's first light was a coal beacon on this island in 1636, and Robert Stevenson's 1816 tower later became the first in Scotland to burn electric light. The seasonal crossing from Anstruther runs about forty-five minutes, wardens meet each boat, and bottlenose dolphins escort on their own terms.
Solo
Sitting on the path with puffins at arm's length, watching them bumble and launch — a solo wildlife experience of pure delight.
Couple
The boat trip, the puffins and the lighthouse make a shared day of wildlife and coastal romance, with dolphins as the unscripted bonus.
Family
Puffins at arm's reach captivate children instantly, the crossing adds adventure, and the wardens pitch their guidance perfectly for young visitors.
Bring lunch across with you — and guard it from the gulls, not the puffins.
Award-winning haddock back in Anstruther as the reward for the crossing.
Moeraki Boulders
New Zealand
Spherical boulders the size of cars on the tide line, cracked open like ancient eggs.
The Catlins
New Zealand
Jurassic petrified trees on a beach where sea lions sleep in the dunes.
Hokitika Gorge
New Zealand
Glacial flour turns the river a turquoise that photographs get accused of faking.
Punakaiki
New Zealand
Limestone stacked like a giant's pancakes, with blowholes that roar on the right tide.
Rannoch Moor
Scotland
Fifty square miles of nothing — Britain's last emptiness, crossed by one road and one railway.
Jura
Scotland
Red deer outnumber humans thirty to one on the island where Orwell wrote 1984.
Kilmartin Glen
Scotland
Eight hundred ancient monuments line a single glen — cairns and carvings older than the pyramids.
Orkney
Scotland
Neolithic villages older than the pyramids emerge from windswept farmland beside a Viking cathedral.