Tourist destinations: Places of paradise and parasites

Every big city dweller dreams of going somewhere to forget about traffic jams, hordes of people and buildings of concrete and glass. A well-known portal AskMen.com made a top ten list of most serene places on Earth where people can find peace and calmness.

Photo: Tourist destinations: Places of paradise and parasites

Top ten places of paradise on Earth

1. Island Tristan da Cunha
The world’s remotest island, Tristan da Cunha, is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,800 kilometers west of the Republic of South Africa. Here you can really stay alone – the only inhabited island is home to 300 people, and there are 400 tourists annually at most. There are no regular flights to this lost world. One can get there only by fishing boats from the Republic of South Africa. Here you will find an unusual volcanic terrain, hospitable islanders and no criminality at all.

2. Cotswolds, England
The Cotswolds hills in the county of Gloucestershire are pastoral villages with shell houses, romantic manors mantled with roses and honeysuckle, old churches and pubs. Even Englishmen call it “the most English England.” Supermodel Kate Moss likes to stay at the luxury Cotswolds House Hotel in Chipping Campden.

3. Patagonia, Chile
A little-known region of Southern Chile is a place of impressing landscapes, wild and severe beauty and a land of contrasts. Here you will see colossal glaciers of all possible colors, kilometers-long cliffs, fjords, volcanoes, waterfalls and hot springs.

4. Kauai, Hawaii
It is the least-developed and the most beautiful island of Hawaii, one of the most humid places on Earth with exuberant green vegetation. The island is enframed with 43 white-sand beaches with palm-trees. The now extinct volcano, Waialeale, rises to a height of 1,600 meters in the centre of the island. Kauai attracts tourists, surfers and hippies from across the globe. The island cuts through the famed one-kilometer-deep Waimea Canyon for 23 kilometers. The Nepali Coastline is very spectacular with its cliffs going vertically into the sea.

5. Kiribati, Micronesia
Thirty three coral islands in the equatorial Pacific Ocean stretch for 4,000 kilometers. It is the only country in the world that is located in all the four hemispheres simultaneously. Its inhabitants are the first outside Antarctica to see the New Year in. The Phoenix Archipelago is the world’s largest marine park. The islands abound in coconut palms; white-sand beaches are washed by the azure ocean.

6. Algonquin Park, Canada
It is the National Park in Southern Ontario, just a three-hour drive from Toronto. There are only several log-cabins and camping-grounds. The rest of the territory (200x200 kilometers) is a wild forest with age-old pines, lakes gleaming with plentiful trout, rash rivers and picturesque volcanoes. One can go for a walk, fishing and canoeing.

7. Thornybush Game Reserve, South Africa
The Thornybush private reserve adjourns to Kruger National Park and takes 11.5 thousand hectares of the plain covered with thick bushes. In the lap of wild nature there are luxury tents with viewing decks where the old-world colonial atmosphere is recreated. The viewing decks offer a wonderful view of safari where you can see elephants, lions or leopards.

8. Morzine, France
The alpine ski resort is located at the Swiss border, in the heart of the Portes du Soleil. It is famous for its good tracks, quiet atmosphere, picturesque landscapes and a lot of entertainment apart from skiing. You can ride by snowmobiles, go paragliding or camping.

9. Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
The volcanic archipelago is 350 kilometers off Brazil’s northeastern coast. It counts 21 islands. Only 240 people are allowed on the archipelago at any one time, which makes the islands more charming. All visitors are required to pay environmental taxes to preserve the primeval beauty of the islands. Only the main island is inhabited, and that is where tourists stay. As to entertainment, there is nothing but the sun and the ocean here. Do you need anything else?

10. Isla Vieques, Puerto Rico
After the U.S. Navy left the Caribbean island Vieques, just six miles off the coast of Puerto Rico, the island restored its serenity. There are still thick forests and kilometers-long white-sand beaches.

However, there are places where tourists should not go if they seek comfort and safety.

1. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea : numerous AIDS cases and terrifying criminal rates.
2. Linfen, China: polluted atmosphere.
3. Bujumbura, the Republic of Burundi, the world’s poorest state: the high level of corruption.
4. Pyongyang, North Korea: oppression.
5. Oklahoma City, United States: tornadoes and whirlwinds.
6. Chernobyl, Ukraine: the high radiation level after a nuclear explosion.
7. Mogadishu, Somali: armed conflicts; tourists may be kidnapped for a ransom.
8. Yakutsk, Russia: a far-away and the world’s coldest place.
9. Dhaka, Bangladesh: much polluted air.
10. Baghdad, Iraq: continuing slaughters and terrorist acts.

Translated by Julia Bulygina
Pravda.ru