Japan
Miyajima
A vermilion gate floating on the tide while deer doze on the beach beside it.
The torii stands in the sea. At high tide it floats, vermilion against grey water and green mountain. At low tide it rests on sand, suddenly mortal, barnacled and weather-worn, and you can walk out and touch it. Miyajima is an island of the Inland Sea where nobody has ever drawn a line between the sacred and the natural.
Itsukushima Shrine has stood on this shore since the sixth century and was rebuilt in its present form in 1168 under Taira no Kiyomori, built on piers over the bay so that it seems to float like a palace on the water. UNESCO listed the shrine in 1996. The great gate, sixteen metres of rot-resistant camphor wood, dates from 1875 and simply rests on the seabed under its own weight. Behind the town, Mount Misen rises to 535 metres, with a ropeway most of the way and a primeval forest walk to the top. Deer wander the shrine grounds and the shopping street, and at night the gate is floodlit against the water.
Couple
Stay overnight in a hillside ryokan and see the floodlit gate at night. The island after dark is a different place entirely.
Family
Deer at every turn, a ropeway up the mountain, beach walks, and warm momiji manju from every shop — Miyajima entertains all ages without effort.
Solo
The Mount Misen summit trail takes about two hours through old forest. At the top the Inland Sea spreads in every direction with nobody rushing you to leave.
- The torii stands in water at high tide and on sand at low — the view changes every six hours.
- Wild deer wander Itsukushima Shrine, a World Heritage site built on piers over the water since the twelfth century.
- Momiji manju maple-leaf cakes are baked fresh at stalls along the approach, warm in the hand.
- Ryokan on the hillside overlook the floodlit gate at night.
Grilled oysters the size of a fist from the island's own rafts, briny and sweet, eaten off the shell.
Momiji manju — maple-leaf-shaped cakes filled with custard or sweet bean, hot from the press.
Bamburgh
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A fortress on volcanic rock rising from sand so wide the castle looks painted.
Kaikōura
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Sperm whales sound beneath snow-capped mountains in a town named for eating crayfish.
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Mackinac Island
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No cars since 1898, only horses, bicycles and the smell of fresh fudge.
Jigokudani Monkey Park
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Snow monkeys soaking in a hot spring while the snow piles up on their heads.
Ouchi-juku
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Thatched-roof inns lining a mountain highway frozen since the samurai stopped passing through.
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Hot-spring inns above a volcanic lake with Fuji framed in the window on a clear day.
Unzen
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A hot-spring town where Christians were martyred in the boiling pools and the earth still steams.