jerry305

^^^

Reindeerflame

Chiricahua National Monument in the southeast corner of Arizona, with only 40,000 annual visitors. Features beautiful rock formations, including a number of unbelievable balancing rocks -- a cross between Bryce Canyon (Utah) and Pinnacles (California). A hiking and photography paradise.

Another lesser-visited area is Great Basin National Park, east of Ely, Nevada on Highway 50 near the Utah line. It's a desert island, with high mountains and vegetation, esp. trees, more similar to Canada than the Nevada desert. Within this park you will find a limestone cave (Lehman Caves), ancient bristlecone pines, the second highest peak in Nevada (Wheeler Peak, 13060 ft., reached by 4-mile trail), an arch (Lexington Arch), and the highest paved auto road in Nevada, which climbs above 10,000 feet.

pbiflyer

Hiking through the Bamboo forest in Oahu. People slam Oahu as touristy, but there are some great off the beaten path hikes if you know where to look.

pbiflyer

The Asturias region in northern Spain. Well off the beaten path. Spectacular area, beaches, mountains, architecture.
https://www.facebook.com/experienceasturias/
And a great little restaurant in the area: https://www.facebook.com/restaurantelapanera/

GadgetFreak

Agree on both points. The Imperial War Museum in Duxford is also quite nice, and I got to go inside an Concord when there.

celle

I think you're a bit confused. I'm from New Zealand and we don't have aborigines or didgeridoos. They are from Australia.
Our indigenous people are the Maori.

stut

Here's a handful from the UK.

First of all, the lovely Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire. It's a beautifully preserved bit of countryside, some of the very best of East Anglia.

If you're a fan of Henry Moore, the Henry Moore Studios and Gardens in deepest Hertfordshire have an excellent collection of his work, set in a particularly pretty bit of countryside. Some nice pubs around too.

Much more urban, there's Seven Stories up in Newcastle. This is the National Centre for Children's Books. If you've got children, or an interest in Children's Literature, it's a rather lovely place.

AdamPD

Seeing my first sunrise when visiting the USA, was a beautiful setting (Carillon park, St Petersburg Florida)
Seeing my first sunset, on the Siesta key beaches for the first time in Sarasota, Florida.

Sorry if these are a bit large, I thought they would be thumbnailed!

GadgetFreak

I believe that was where Marx wrote Das Kapital.

Just checked. The Reading Room of the British Library is actually in the center of the Great Court, not the whole Great Court.

JayhawkCO

Kazbegi, Georgia, where I proposed to my wife.

Chris

kalderlake

Chao Phraya river in Bangkok.

I stayed at Taksin station and spent all sorts of time riding up and down the river on those cheap ferries.

It's rare that riding a transit system is fun, even exciting.

wrp96

For museum lovers, I highly recommend a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. Entrance to the permanent exhibits is free, the architecture of the museum is lovely (so much light), and the grounds are gorgeous too. Make sure to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright House (costs extra). If you go, park in lower level parking because the actual entrance is down there. The museum itself is built over creeks/ponds down in a valley. I was lucky to see a Chihuly exhibit there last year featuring shows from the Corning Museum of Glass (both mentioned up thread). Those were temporary exhibitions but they do have some Chihuly pieces in the permanent collection.

Offshore171

The Salt Mines tour out of Salzburg.

I never would have considered it, but one of the doormen at the Hilton in Vienna strongly recommended it, and it was both fascinating and great fun.

The tour departs Salzburg and then crosses the border into southern Germany, passes through the Bavarian Alps and visits several notable WW2 historical sites, before arriving at the entrance to the mines in Berchtesgaden. From there you descend deep under the mountain in a mine cart, and the adventure really starts. One highlight is crossing a subterranean lake on a large raft. Then they turn out the lights (briefly)! This is followed by a laser show, which is quite surreal.

Recommended.

wrp96

I did a salt mine tour out of Salzburg back when I was a teenager. One thing I remember was having to put on a jumpsuit to slide down a shaft, which I thought was really cool.

smc333

I didn't enjoy the ferry that much, although that was mainly because I was scared of the angry woman rattling her coin box at me. I did really enjoy spending some time at Jack's Bar and watching the boats go by, though.