Wanderlust – (Current) Top Ten

Here’s a list of ten places I’d really like to go to. I originally planned to make it a list of five, but it was even too difficult to whittle the list down to ten. Predictably, most of the destinations are in Europe. I really need to open my mind to the rest of the world.

Kakslauttanen (Igloo Village), Finland

by youngrobv

Kakslauttanen looks like such a stunning place. A wide range of accommodation is on offer, from log cabins to snow igloos, but the glass igloos appeal to me the most. Imagine gazing up at the stars and the Aurora Borealis dancing across the clear night sky. Perfect. You can view a virtual tour of the glass igloo on the website. The day time activities also sound great: husky and reindeer sledding! And how about the Wedding Package…

You are sitting in a sledge pulled by reindeers, which takes you through a magical snow covered forest. Finally you reach your destination – a chapel made of ice and snow and decorated by ice sculptures. It is totally quiet, Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky and the beauty of the place is striking.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

by rougerouge

All I know about Lake Bled is that it’s beautiful. Mountains and forests surround the lake and a medieval castle stands on the north shore. The church on the island in the middle of the lake appears to be another great wedding location.

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

by Andrew Quested

The Hill of Crosses is a pilgrimage site in northern Lithuania. The first crosses are believed to have been placed on the hill after the 1831 Uprising. There’s an estimated 100,000 crosses, crucifixes and rosaries. Communists bulldozed it numerous times, but the crosses continued to re-appear.

Prypiat, Ukraine

by Pedro Moura Pinheiro

Prypiat is an abandoned city in the Zone of Alienation, Ukraine. You’ll probably know of it because of the Chernobyl disaster. I realise it isn’t the cheeriest destination, but I find the idea of wandering around an abandoned city quite fascinating. Especially when you consider that everything had been left behind. We had planned to visit when we were in Ukraine last October, but unfortunately there weren’t any tours running that week. However, we did visit the Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv (safer, no radiation) and that made me want to go even more. There are more pictures here on English Russia.

Loch Ness, Scotland

by Citril

Why? To see the Loch Ness Monster, of course! Have you seen Water Horse: Legend of the Deep? It’s a sweet movie. I wouldn’t leave until I caught a glimpse of Nessie.

Le Palais Idéal, France

by Arnaud Tudoret

Ferdinand Cheval, a French postman, built his Palais Idéal after being inspired by a stone he tripped over in 1879. I heard elsewhere that he’d seen the palace in a dream, so I prefer to go with that version. For 33 years, he collected stones on his post route to build his Ideal Palace with. Cheval died a year after he finished building. There’s a video on the website, which gives you a better idea of amazing this place is!

Jökulsárlón, Iceland

by Matthieu Marcé

Here’s another place I intended to go to, but the hire car only made it as far as Vik, before we had to turn back to Reykjavik. Underestimated the distance and driving time on icy roads. Jökulsárlón, which literally translates as Glacier Lagoon, is the largest and best known glacial lake in Iceland and it’s been used as filming locations for James Bond, Tomb Raider and Batman Begins.

Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia

by muskva

Train travel is my favoured form of transport and the thought of seeing so much of Russia by train is my idea of a perfect trip. I’d like to take the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok and change to the Baikal Amur Mainline (for a slight change of scenery) on the return journey. Google Russia has created a virtual tour of the Trans-Siberian Railway and you can take it here. The video footage takes in the whole six day, 5,752-mile journey. You can choose to listen to the rumble of the train on the tracks, Russian radio or a Russian reading of War and Peace to accompany your virtual journey. Listen to balalaika while trundling past Lake Baikal from the comfort of your own home. Isn’t that quite something.

Portmeirion, Wales

by Arthur John Picton

I suppose you didn’t expect to see Wales on this list. Portmeirion is another of those places I don’t know a great deal about. It was built in the style of an Italian village (apparently based on Portofino, but the designer denied this) and has been used as a filming location numerous times. It’s nice to know there are some lovely places in the UK.

New York City, United States of America

by crazybobbles

New York City doesn’t feel like it’s a real place to me. My only knowledge and experience of the city has been through movies and TV shows. In my mind, it’s one big film/TV set. I’d go there expecting to see Gremlins, Godzilla and a young Macaulay Culkin standing by a huge Christmas tree. It also seems like the perfect place to bridge the gap between Europe and the rest of the world (in terms of flight time and familiar food, etc.)