Albania
This fabulous country is a still-neglected treasure whose years of isolation have inculcated a profound and marvellous eccentricity. (AM)
Battambang, Cambodia
This is on the wrong side of the great Tonle Sap Lake from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat so nobody goes there, but some of the ruins around this quietly provincial riverside town would blow your mind. (TW)
Berkeley, California, USA
Right across the Bay from San Francisco (you can clearly see it except when the fog rolls in), this is a place that firmly believes in doing things its own way. After all, it is ‘the only city in America with its own foreign policy’ and they do say UC Berkeley has parking spaces reserved for Nobel Prize winners. (TW)
Bisbee, Arizona, USA
An artsy, ex-mining border town nestled in the Mule Mountains in Cochise County. Voted the second quirkiest town in America. (MJ)
From the ice-white sand to the constantly courting frigate birds, this is an oasis of picture-perfect Caribbean tranquillity, carved naturally from the rainforests of this beautiful tropical island. (PM)
Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland
An unspoilt, taken-for-granted coast where to surf is to bask in sumptuous silence, facing towards Scotland’s scattering of western-flung islands. (TA)
Collioure, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Postcard-perfect, the local wine is delicious, the restaurants are inviting and a morning swim across the little bay makes a good start to the day. It’s easy to see why Matisse and the other Fauves loved the place. (TW)
Columbia River, Washington State, USA
This is the spot where the mountains of Oregon meet the Columbia River mouth and where Lewis and Clark emerged from their transcontinental trek in 1805. (TA)
Damascus, Syria
Wandering the souks of the oldest trading city in the world you become just another traveller, wherever you’re from. If you talk to anyone you can be sure of a genuinely warm welcome; if you don’t, you will be left alone. (CC)
Deal, Kent, England
An attractive seaside town with a long and important history that it wears publicly but lightly, Deal is very much its own place and welcomes visitors, many of whom return regularly. (HG)
Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
A region so confident, it naturally epitomises Ireland’s charms so perfectly that it feels no obligation to oversell them. (AM)
Dungeness, Kent, England
Dungeness beach is dominated by a nuclear power station, but despite this unprepossessing piece of technology, it’s actually a beautiful rugged stretch of shingle coast, dotted with vividly painted clapboard houses. For decades, artists and writers, most famously the late Derek Jarman, have been drawn by the sublime empty skies and bracing winds. (AdB)
