What Inspires You to Travel — A List of Destination Ideas

What Inspires You to Travel — How About These Places? A Recommended List to Help You Choose a Destination

Can’t bear not seeing Fu Bao the panda? Want to watch the world’s best brown bears up close? Do you enjoy beer, wine, and whiskey alike, or are you a die-hard fan of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series? Here is a list of recommendations for anyone who can’t decide where to travel next.

Words Pyo Youngso

If You Want to See Fu Bao the Panda Again, Ya’an in Sichuan

On March 3, 2024, Fu Bao had her last meeting with Korean fans at the outdoor enclosure of Panda World at Everland, and the next day preparations for her return to China began. Korea’s first naturally conceived panda, Fu Bao has been a star here ever since her birth in 2020. The competition for a part-time job as her “daily manager” reached 4,540 to 1. With so much attention, her return to China became a major topic too. Under the Korea-China agreement, Fu Bao goes back to China on April 3, when she turns four. Her destination is the Bifengxia Panda Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya’an, Sichuan.
Ya’an was once the central city of Xikang Province, a former province in southwestern China whose territory covered part of today’s Sichuan and the Kham region of Tibet. Sitting just below the Tibetan Plateau, it has long been a key transportation hub linking China and Tibet. It is a famous tea-growing area and lies on the Tea Horse Road, the ancient trade route. Because of its altitude, temperatures stay cool even in summer, and heavy rainfall has earned it the nickname “Rain City.” Four rivers run through the city, which is ringed by mountains and has scenery well worth seeing. Niubei Mountain (3,600 meters above sea level), famous for its ridgeline of rocky peaks shaped like an ox’s back and for views blanketed in a sea of clouds, is also here. And of course, the panda base in Bifengxia, a remote valley village 15 kilometers north of the city center, is an unmissable attraction. Around the end of next year, you may find yourself looking up how to get there (two hours by car from Chengdu) because you miss Fu Bao, so it can’t hurt to scout the sights in advance.

If You’re a Wine Lover Who Can’t Give Up Beer or Whiskey Either, Dahlonega, Georgia

Every early fall, wineries around the world hold a variety of festivals for the grape harvest. It is the time when wine lovers flock to famous wine regions to enjoy beautiful vineyard scenery, grape picking, and winemaking experiences. But what if you love wine yet don’t fancy places that are too well known, and you want something to do besides wine? Head to Dahlonega, a small town at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia.
The town was recently named ‘Best Small Town for Wine, Beer, and Spirits’ on Travel + Leisure’s ‘2023 Best Small Towns in America’ list. In this small city of about 7,000 residents, you’ll find several award-winning wineries. Eight wineries and 12 tasting rooms are just the start, and breweries and distilleries have recently been popping up as well. Traces of the 19th-century Gold Rush offer another unusual sight. At this time of year in particular, mountains colored by autumn foliage and vineyards unfold in panoramic views, and the Dahlonega Trail Fest is held, so you can also enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking, canoeing, and backpacking around the *Appalachian Trail, designated a National Scenic Trail.

*A long-distance hiking route 3,540 kilometers in length, running from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. It crosses 14 states along the length of the eastern United States.

If You Want to Watch the Best Brown Bears, Katmai National Park in the United States

Every October, ahead of the hibernation season for the brown bears that live there, Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska hosts Fat Bear Week. Southwest of Anchorage, Katmai National Park covers some 16,500 square kilometers. Visitors can enjoy hiking, backpacking, fishing, kayaking, and other activities in the wilderness, and because the park is home to about 2,200 Alaskan brown bears, often called grizzlies, it is also a popular bear-watching destination. The brown bears here are among the largest in the world. From summer through fall, they devote themselves to hunting salmon on the park’s Brooks River, storing up nutrients to get them through winter, and they fatten up so fiercely that they can gain more than 100 kilograms in this period alone.
Fat Bear Week, held online, picks the bear that bulked up most efficiently (!) that year through a week of online voting. This year, a female bear known as ‘128 Grazer’ was chosen as the fattest of 12 candidates. The event, run jointly by the live-stream wildlife channel explore.org and the U.S. National Park Service, may look like nothing more than a fun promotion, but its real purpose is to raise awareness of the brown bears’ ecosystem and draw more attention to it. Preventing climate crisis and protecting endangered species don’t always have to be grim and serious (though they are, of course, important and serious matters). Why not cast your vote for the fattest brown bear first, and think it over afterward?

If You’re a Die-Hard ‘Mission: Impossible’ Fan, Norway

*Warning: This section contains potential movie spoilers.

Remember ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,’ one of last year’s most anticipated films? Ethan Hunt, or rather Tom Cruise, returned after five years and once again ran, climbed, and leapt without pause. Among the film’s many action scenes, the Orient Express sequence is easily the highlight. The train is the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, bound from Venice for Innsbruck, and a caption reading ‘Austrian Alps’ appears at the bottom of the mountainous scenery. It refers to the Alps, which stretch across Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (since the range is sometimes called the ‘Central East Alps’ in English, the Korean subtitles rendered it as ‘Middle East Alps,’ but strictly speaking it means the central and eastern Alpine regions).
The actual filming location was not the Alps but Norway. In particular, the scene in which the hero leaps off a cliff to board (?) the speeding train was shot on Mount Helsetkopen. Standing 1,246 meters above sea level, two hours by car from the western coastal city of Alesund, the mountain is famous as a spot for BASE jumping, the extreme sport of parachuting from high places. Of course, you can also hike or cycle around it safely! The bridge in the nail-biting train-crash scene is Kylling Bridge, considered one of Norway’s most photogenic iron bridges. Ride the Rauma Line train between Oslo and Dombås to see the film’s scenery in person. There is also a six-day tour that visits seven filming locations in Norway, including those above, with outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, and climbing, so die-hard ‘Mission: Impossible’ fans may want to take a look (from about 1.4 million won per person).

If You Want to See a Newly Designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, Nîmes, France

There is a new reason to visit Nîmes, the historic city in southern France, about 50 kilometers southwest of Avignon. The Maison Carrée has just been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Built around the 2nd century, it is regarded as one of the best-preserved ancient Roman temples in existence. Nemausus, the Roman city where it was built, is present-day Nîmes.
Beyond the Maison Carrée, the city holds so many Roman remains that it is often called the ‘Rome of France,’ including the amphitheater Arènes de Nîmes and the hilltop watchtower Tour Magne. If the Maison Carrée is an ancient temple, the Carré d’Art, the contemporary art museum directly across from it, could be called a modern one. Designed by the world-renowned architect Norman Foster, it houses a collection of more than 500 works of contemporary art dating from the 1960s onward.
If neither ancient ruins nor contemporary art appeal to you, you can still stroll through the city center admiring the stylish old houses scattered throughout, or spend a leisurely afternoon in the 18th-century fountain garden.