The Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in mainland Portugal, rises to 1,993 metres at its summit of Torre, a landscape of glacial valleys, granite outcrops, and high-altitude plateaus that is unlike anywhere else in the country. In winter, the mountains are blanketed in snow, making this Portugal’s only ski destination. In summer, the […]
Categories: Nature, Portugal, Wellness, Relax & Sports
Rising 764 metres above the shores of Clew Bay in County Mayo, Croagh Patrick is Ireland’s holiest mountain, a site of Christian pilgrimage for over 1,500 years. According to tradition, Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting on the summit of the mountain in 441 AD, and it […]
The Pieniny Mountains rise dramatically from the valley of the Dunajec River, their limestone peaks creating a landscape of extraordinary natural beauty on the border between Slovakia and Poland. Despite being the smallest and second oldest national park in Slovakia, established in 1967 and covering just 37 square kilometres, the Pieniny National Park is one […]
Categories: National Parks, Nature, Nature, Slovakia
hidden in the limestone cliffs of the Western Tatras, Mylna Cave is one of Poland’s most accessible and rewarding natural wonders. The cave, whose name translates to deceptive in Polish, earned its name from the confusing network of passages that can easily disorient first-time visitors. With a total length of about 1,600 metres, of which […]
The Hautes Fagnes, or High Fens, is a landscape unlike any other in Belgium. Stretching across the eastern border with Germany, this vast peat bog plateau sits at an altitude of over 600 metres, creating a unique ecosystem of raised bogs, heathland, and stunted birch forests that feel more like Scandinavia than the Low Countries. […]
The Akamas Peninsula juts into the Mediterranean from the northwest coast of Cyprus, a rugged wilderness of limestone gorges, sea caves, and sandy coves that has escaped the development that has reshaped much of the island’s coastline. This is one of the last truly wild landscapes in Cyprus, a protected national park covering 230 square […]
The coastline of the Cilento National Park stretches for 100 kilometres along the Tyrrhenian Sea, a sequence of cliffs, coves, and sandy beaches that rivals the Amalfi Coast but draws a fraction of the crowds. Inland, the mountains of the Cilento rise to over 1,800 metres, covered in forests of chestnut, oak, and beech. The […]
Categories: Italy, National Parks, Nature, Nature, Sea Sites
Menorca has escaped the mass tourism that transformed its larger sister Mallorca into a strip of concrete hotel blocks. The second largest of the Balearic Islands has strict building regulations that have preserved its coastline as it was fifty years ago. The Cami de Cavalls, a 185-kilometre coastal path, circles the entire island, passing through […]
Categories: Islands, Nature, Nature, Spain, Wellness, Relax & Sports
The walkway rises through the canopy of the Bavarian Forest, a steel and timber structure that lifts you 44 metres above the forest floor. Below, the trees of the oldest national park in Germany spread in every direction, their crowns forming a green carpet that stretches to the Czech border. The tree top walk at […]
The Pindus Mountains run like a jagged spine down the centre of Greece, dividing the mainland into two distinct worlds. On the western side, the Ionian Sea sends moisture-laden winds that create some of the greenest landscapes in the country. On the eastern side, the rain shadow produces the dry, sunbaked terrain that most visitors […]
