Japan
Tokushima
An entire city dancing through the streets for four August nights, feet pounding together.
For four days every August, Tokushima loses its composure entirely. The Awa Odori fills the streets with dancers in matching yukata moving in hypnotic unison to shamisen, drums and flutes, and over a million people come to watch and join in. The refrain is famous: the dancers are fools and the watchers are fools, so you might as well dance.
The Awa Odori has more than four hundred years of history and runs from 12 to 15 August, over the Obon holiday, when competing ren — dance troupes — perform choreographed routines through the city's streets and the crowds spill into the side lanes to try it themselves. Outside festival week the Awa Odori Kaikan hall stages the dance daily beneath Mount Bizan, whose ropeway lifts you above the city. Tokushima is also where the Naruto Strait's swift currents spin their whirlpools under the bridge to Awaji, and the prefecture grows sudachi, a small sharp citrus squeezed over everything from fish to beer. More than a hundred ramen shops in the city alone serve Tokushima ramen: a sweet-salty pork-belly and soy broth with slices of pork and an egg on top.
Friends
The Awa Odori is best experienced as a group — joining the open street dancing, cheering the troupes, and riding the festival's four-night energy together.
Family
Children are welcome in the open dancing, the Naruto whirlpools thrill every age, and the festival atmosphere is joyful rather than rowdy.
Couple
The festival's rhythm and the whirlpool boats give shared adrenaline; between them, the ropeway above the city and sudachi-sharp seafood keep the trip balanced.
- The Awa Odori dance festival draws more than a million people over four August nights — four hundred years old and still growing.
- Troupes of dancers in traditional costume weave through the streets in choreographed chaos, and anyone can join the open dancing.
- The festival motto is 'you're a fool if you dance and a fool if you watch — so you might as well dance'.
- The Naruto Strait's swift currents spin whirlpools beneath the bridge, best seen from a boat or the walkway above.
Tokushima ramen — a sweet-salty pork-belly and soy broth with sliced pork and an egg on top, served at more than a hundred shops in the city.
Sudachi citrus squeezed over everything — fish, noodles, beer, even rice.
Las Tablas
Panama
One town, two streets, and a two-century Carnival war fought with music, queens and fireworks.
Oudtshoorn
South Africa
Ostrich-feather palaces line the streets while Cango Caves drip in cathedral silence.
Iquique
Chile
Pacific beaches, nitrate history and desert paragliding give Iquique three horizons.
Lunenburg
Canada
A UNESCO port of painted clapboard climbs from a harbour that still rigs tall ships.
Kerama Islands
Japan
Water so clear the reef casts shadows on white sand far below the boat.
Niseko
Japan
Powder so dry and deep that falling into it feels like sinking into cold silk.
Ishigaki
Japan
Mangrove kayaks at dawn, manta cleaning stations by noon, Yaeyama soba by sunset.
Shimoda
Japan
Perry's black ships forced Japan open here; now it is white sand, sleepy surf and snapper.