Greece
Valia Calda
Bears roam black-pine valleys in one of Greece's wildest corners — no road runs through.
There is no road in. The trail from Perivoli or Avdella enters through black pine forest so dense the canopy blocks the sky, and the valley below is silent except for the river. Brown bears leave tracks in the mud along the Arkoudorema — the 'bear stream' carries its name for a reason.
Valia Calda — the 'warm valley', ironically named — forms the remote core of the Pindos National Park, the largest terrestrial national park in Greece. Routes come in from Vovoussa, Milia and Perivoli over cols that hold snow late and turn boggy after rain. Brown bears, wolves and otters live here; what you will certainly meet is four-hundred-year-old black pine, cold streams and silence.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Powered by Geoapify
Solo
For an experienced walker with map and supplies — enter from Perivoli, follow the Arkoudorema, and read the mud for bear tracks.
- The Arkoudorema — bear stream — is named for its regulars, whose tracks stamp the mud.
- Black pines four centuries old stand in forest that logging never reached.
- The valley sits inside Greece's largest terrestrial national park, and feels like it.
- No road crosses it — every way in is on foot over a col.
Metsovone, the smoked PDO cheese made in nearby Metsovo, served grilled or sliced.
Wild-greens or mushroom pie in the gateway villages, baked in a thin hand-rolled crust.
Al Ayn Beehive Tombs
Oman
Stone beehive tombs older than the pyramids hold a clean line along the ridge.
Al Madam
United Arab Emirates
Sand pours through the doorways of a village the desert is swallowing whole.
Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve
United Arab Emirates
Flamingos wade through a mirage-like lake in the middle of the Arabian desert.
Allpahuayo-Mishana
Peru
White-sand forests hiding birds found nowhere else, half an hour from Iquitos.
Acheron River
Greece
Wade into the ice-cold River of the Dead — Greeks believed it flowed to Hades.
Agiofarango Gorge
Greece
Three hundred hermits once lived this gorge — a cave chapel and the Libyan Sea remain.
Alonissos
Greece
A vast marine park where monk seals still hold their coves — Greece's wild northern Sporades.
Amorgos
Greece
A whitewashed monastery clings to a 300-metre cliff face above crashing Aegean surf.