New Zealand
Lake Taupō
A volcanic caldera filled with cobalt water, carved by an eruption that darkened Roman skies.
The lake fills a hole in the earth left by an explosion that darkened skies across the Roman Empire. Lake Taupō in New Zealand's North Island is a volcanic caldera, and the eruption that created it in 186 AD was one of the most violent events in recorded human history.
The 186 AD eruption ejected an estimated 120 cubic kilometres of material — enough to colour sunsets red across Rome and China. Today the caldera holds New Zealand's largest lake by surface area, fed by the Waikato River and ringed by pumice beaches. Māori rock carvings at Mine Bay, accessible only by boat or kayak, feature ten-metre faces carved into lakeside cliffs in the 1970s by master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell. Trout, introduced in 1898, thrived so dramatically that Taupō became a world-class fly-fishing destination. Huka Falls, downstream, compresses the entire Waikato River into a fifteen-metre-wide slot canyon.
Solo
Fly-fishing the Tongariro River tributary, where wild trout rise to dry flies in gin-clear water, is a meditative solo pursuit.
Couple
Kayaking to the Māori rock carvings at Mine Bay — paddling into a cliff face carved with ten-metre ancestral figures — is intimate and awe-inspiring simultaneously.
Family
The lakefront thermal pools are free, the Huka Falls viewing platform is dramatic enough for any age, and the lake itself is calm enough for swimming.
- The lake fills a volcanic caldera whose eruption in 186 AD was recorded as darkened skies across Rome.
- Māori rock carvings at Mine Bay are accessible only by boat or kayak — ten-metre faces carved into lakeside cliffs.
- Trout were introduced in 1898 and thrived so spectacularly that Taupō is now a world-class fly-fishing destination.
- The Huka Falls downstream compress the entire Waikato River into a slot canyon just fifteen metres wide.
Huka Prawn Park lets you catch your own freshwater prawns and have them cooked on the spot.
Taupō's Storehouse serves woodfired pizza overlooking the lake at sunset.
Marsa Alam
Egypt
Dugongs grazing on seagrass in shallows so clear you watch from the surface, desert silent behind.
Ishigaki
Japan
Mangrove kayaks at dawn, coral snorkelling by noon, Yaeyama soba by sunset.
Ras Mohammed
Egypt
The Sinai desert drops into the Red Sea here, mangroves clinging to the last ledge.
Ölüdeniz
Turkey
Paragliders spiral down from 1,969 metres to land on a lagoon so blue it looks retouched.
Queenstown
New Zealand
The town where bungee jumping was born, cradled between a glacial lake and jagged peaks.
Waitomo Caves
New Zealand
Thousands of glowworms turn subterranean limestone into a ceiling of cold blue stars.
Napier
New Zealand
Rebuilt entirely in Art Deco after a 1931 earthquake flattened the city in two minutes.
Lake Matheson
New Zealand
Tannic black water mirrors Aoraki so perfectly that reflections look more real than the peaks.