Vanuatu
Riri Blue Hole
Locals paddle you through dark jungle to a pool that glows like stained glass.
The best arrival is the slow one: an outrigger canoe, a local paddler, and a river so transparent the hull seems to hang in air. Jungle leans in from both banks, and then the channel widens and the colour arrives, the deep mineral blue of spring water rising through limestone.
Riri is a set of karst springs feeding the Mavutor river on Santo's east coast, and the official guide calls it the prettiest blue hole and crystal river on the island, which is a serious claim given the competition. The blue is chemistry, limestone-filtered spring water, and it stays cool on the hottest afternoons. You can drive almost to the water off the East Coast Road, but the river approach is the point: local paddlers take visitors up the entrance lagoon by outrigger canoe, a magical half-mile that no vehicle can copy. The families who keep the site have built wooden platforms, bathrooms and changing areas; pay the local fee, ask where entry is allowed and let clear water earn your trust before any jump. Turtle Bay Lodge sits a leisurely kayak away for the after-swim table.
Couple
Take the canoe approach for the slow reveal, swim off the far platform, and drift back down the river with the current doing the work.
Family
Drive in if small children make the paddle impractical, use the changing areas, and keep young swimmers close over the deep spring.
Friends
Book a local canoe together, race nothing, and finish with pizzas and cold drinks on the waterfront deck nearby.
- The official Santo guide calls Riri the prettiest blue hole and crystal river on the island.
- Local paddlers take visitors up the entrance lagoon and crystal river by outrigger canoe.
- The pool is a set of karst springs feeding the Mavutor river, its blue born of limestone-filtered water.
- The families who keep the site have built wooden platforms, bathrooms and changing areas.
Paddle out and eat at the Salty Dog on Turtle Bay's waterfront deck: local seafood, organic Santo beef and wood-fired pizzas.
Cold green coconuts sold at stalls along the East Coast Road are the right drink for the drive between blue holes.
Lagunas de Montebello
Mexico
Karst lakes shift from green to blue among cool Chiapas pine forest.
Preveli Beach
Greece
A palm forest meets the Libyan Sea where a river carves through Crete's southern cliffs.
Al Mughsail
Oman
Swells drive seawater up through the cliff's blowholes beside a long Dhofar beach.
Wadi Bani Khalid
Oman
A hot spring keeps these emerald pools warm while the country around them bakes.
Port Vila
Vanuatu
A capital where France and Britain ruled at once, and kava quiets the harbour at dusk.
Mount Yasur
Vanuatu
Molten rock bursts skyward several times an hour from a rim you reach at dusk.
Hideaway Island
Vanuatu
Post a waterproof postcard from the world's only underwater post office, then snorkel the sanctuary reef.
Ambae
Vanuatu
Every soul left Ambae twice when the volcano stirred; its crater lake still shifts colour.