Japan
Miyajima
A floating vermilion gate rising from the tide while deer sleep on the beach.
The torii gate stands in the sea. At high tide it floats, vermillion against grey water and green mountains. At low tide it rests on sand, suddenly mortal, barnacled and weather-worn. Miyajima is an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea where the boundary between sacred and natural has never been drawn.
Itsukushima Shrine was first built on stilts over the water in 593 AD, its architecture designed to create the illusion of a palace floating on the sea. UNESCO designated the shrine and its surrounding forests a World Heritage Site in 1996. The island's Mount Misen, at 535 metres, offers a ropeway ride to a summit observatory with views spanning the Inland Sea. Wild deer — considered sacred messengers — wander the shrine grounds and the town's narrow shopping streets. After dark, once the day-trippers have caught the last ferry, the shrine's torii gate is illuminated against the water in near-silence.
Couple
Stay overnight in a hillside ryokan and see the illuminated torii gate after the crowds leave. The island after dark is a different place entirely.
Family
Deer feeding, ropeway rides, beach walks, and warm momiji manju cakes from every shop — Miyajima is a day that entertains all ages without effort.
Solo
The Mount Misen summit trail takes two hours through primeval forest. At the top, the Inland Sea spreads in every direction with nobody rushing you to leave.
- The torii gate stands in the sea at high tide and on the sand at low — the view changes every six hours.
- Wild deer wander Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO site built on stilts over the water since 593 AD.
- Momiji manju maple-leaf cakes are baked fresh at stalls lining the approach road, warm in hand.
- Luxury ryokan on the hillside overlook the floodlit gate after the day-trippers leave.
Grilled oysters the size of a fist from the island's own beds, briny and sweet.
Momiji manju — maple-leaf-shaped cakes filled with custard, fresh from the press.
Bamburgh
England
A fortress on volcanic rock rising from sand so wide the castle looks painted.
KaikĹŤura
New Zealand
Sperm whales surface beneath snow-capped mountains in waters teeming with crayfish.
Pátzcuaro
Mexico
Butterfly-net fishermen on a misty lake where the dead return each November.
Mackinac Island
United States
No cars allowed since 1898 — only horses, bicycles, and the smell of fresh fudge.
Jigokudani Monkey Park
Japan
Snow monkeys soaking in volcanic hot springs while blizzards pile powder on their heads.
Ouchi-juku
Japan
Thatched-roof houses lining a mountain highway frozen since the samurai stopped passing through.
Hakone
Japan
Hot spring ryokans perched above a volcanic lake with Fuji framed in the window.
Unzen
Japan
A volcanic hot spring town where Christian martyrs were boiled and the earth still steams.