Your "Most beautiful places"

[Surfdaddy]

As I've traveled through my life, I've always had one "most beautiful place" to me. Over the years I've added two more places to that list that really stand out. So I'm curious - what are the most beautiful/stunning places that you've been?

For me, although I do like some cities - beautiful/stunning describes mostly natural places (although the last place on my list is a combination of nature and town). Mine (in order) are:

1 - Yosemite Valley - particularly the view as you emerge from the tunnel coming into the Valley
2 - The Na Pali coast of Kauai
3 - The view from the top of the Island of Santorini (town of Oia)

 

[kumquat]

DD lives 'near' here. Last week we took the canoe to see it (it took 4 days round trip). You can do it in an airplane in one day.

 

[Marita40]

These are my favorites. I've been back to them many times and will continue to return. Both are pure bliss/gorgeous eye candy for me.

Salzburg, Austria and the surrounding Salzkammergut area
Vienna, Austria and the surrounding Kahlenberg/Vienna woods area
Positano, Italy and the surrounding Almalfi coast villages

 

[Bestwifeever]

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

 

[Richard4444]

The beach at Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos is the prettiest beach in the Caribbean (IMHO). BTW, the friendly bull shark avatar was taken when the critter wouldn't stop circling me a few hundred yards off that beach

 

[DayDreaming]

1. Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park
2. Big Sur - a drive down the coastal highway is awe-inspiring

 

[Chuckanut]

Ozark mountains in Arkansas. Unbelievably beautiful.

 

[grumpy]

The island of Santorini in Greece
The Napali coast in Hawaii
Iguasu Falls in Brazil
The view from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio

 

[H2ODude]

Drive from Capetown to Cape of Good Hope.
Agree with BWE: Lake Atitlan

 

[Nemo2]

One of many.....Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.

 

[73ss454]

When I'm with all my Grandkids are in the same place at the same time.

 

[Midpack]

Off the top of my head:

Nantucket MA (The Wauwinet or 'Sconset)
Newport RI (sailing in Narragansett Bay)
Acadia National Park ME
Machu Picchu
Mackinac Island MI (finishing a Chicago to Mac race)
Sleeping Bear Dunes MI (sailing by on Lake Michigan)
VT during peak fall foliage (on bicycle)
Grand Canyon (by helicopter)

never been to Yosemite, but the pictures are stunning...

 

[Lsbcal]

Recently:

There is a nice loop trail that takes you around a meadow in Kings Canyon National Park. It's a popular loop towards the end of the road there.

What makes this beautiful:
1) Kings Canyon views are like Yosemite Valley
2) the meadow is dynamically shrinking and growing, nice environmental story
3) there are beautiful examples of granite features along the trail
4) there are swampy areas and forests of cedar/pine/sequoia

It's not just the visual feast but the mental one too.

 

[Seeking Hobbes]

I'll +1 on...

Machu Picchu
Big Sur & the PCH
Yosemite Valley

and add...

The Cinque Terre region of italy (picture attached)
The Croatian Coast

Hopefully I'll get to explore Hawaii in the next year or so...

 

[W2R]

Wow, it's really hard to narrow this down. There are so many places on this earth at which the natural beauty is absolutely overwhelming. How can one say that one is more beautiful than another?

That said, I'll pick a few at random. They may or may not be beautiful any more, but my memories are distinct.

1. Kailua Beach (Oahu) - - where my parents lived for about 20 years.
2. Tidepools of the Monterey/Carmel area of California, as dawn breaks.
3. Remote nameless clearings, waterfalls, and chasms of the Pali (Oahu), as seen from a hiker's perspective
4. Any ocean, as far from land as possible, when viewed alone and not at midday
5. Various coral reef dive sites off the west shore of Oahu

To me, Santorini is spectacular but not overwhelming so it didn't make my list. The view from Corcovada in Rio didn't even seem that spectacular to me. It's a big, "So?" The Andes are beautiful. Big Sur is a contender. From photos I would gather that Puget Sound and Nova Scotia would be too, although I have never been to either place.

Yes, Oahu is beautiful but I am sort of in the BTDT category for those sites since I lived there for some time. LIsted them anyway.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Here's a controversial one: Most beautiful beach.
My vote is for Frenchman's Cove, near Port Antonio, on the east coast of Jamaica.
There, a cool freshwater river about 3-4 feet deep winds through tropical rainforest scenery to meet and mix with warm sea water at the edge of this stunning little cove. You can wade around in it and feel the mix of the warm and cool waters as you go from the river to the sea.

 

[arky]

Gotta include the Maroon Bells, near Aspen, CO.

 

[MuirWannabe]

- Yosemite Valley
- Grinnel Glacier hike views in Glacier Natl Park
- Lake Morainne near Lake Louise Canada
- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Petit Jean Mountain - Arkansas
- Hill country - South central Texas

 

[Midpack]

- Yosemite Valley
- Grinnel Glacier hike views in Glacier Natl Park
- Lake Morainne near Lake Louise Canada
- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Petit Jean Mountain - Arkansas
- Hill country - South central Texas

Not Muir Woods (user name)?

 

[W2R]

- Hill country - South central Texas

Oh yes! OMG, I forgot about how breathtakinglly beautiful the bluebells and Indian paintbrush wildflowers are along the highways near College Station and Austin. These would fit into the "overwhelmingly beautiful" category (for me). Hard to find a photo to do this justice; these really don't.

 

[homestead]

Crater Lake Oregon

 

[Bluemoon]

Northern Catskill Mts. of NY State
Beaches of Phuket, Thailand
Going down the estuary from San Salvador to the Pacific Ocean in El Salvador
Sunset in the mountains ouside of Albquerque, NM
The Alhambra in Granada, Spain
Westminster Abbey, London

 

[W2R]

Westminster Abbey, London

Oh, yes!!! There's another one I could have easily included, had I thought of it. Spectacular and overwhelmingly beautiful, even though manmade.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Not Muir Woods (user name)?

Well, I didn't want to brag about my woods. But yes, they are quite beautiful.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Oh yes! OMG, I forgot about how breathtakinglly beautiful the bluebells and Indian paintbrush wildflowers are along the highways near College Station and Austin. These would fit into the "overwhelmingly beautiful" category (for me). Hard to find a photo to do this justice; these really don't.

Actually those are called bluebonnets. Not bluebells. But you are forgiven since Blue Bell is actually another altogether beautiful thing in Texas. It's our little creamery that dishes out portions of ice cream heaven exclusively for us Texans living through another summer of temperature purgatory.