VATNAJÖKULL NATIONAL
PARK, ICELAND
Born of ice and fire, Vatnajökull
is everything Iceland should be:
wild and exposed, ice-crowned
and volcano-scarred, but always
ruggedly handsome. As you
roam this vast reserve – Europe’s
largest protected area –
you’ll find calving glaciers,
geothermal springs, rocky
canyons, snowcapped mountains,
featureless ice sheets, silent
lagoons, buried volcanoes,
eerie ice caverns, surreal basalt
formations and even wandering
herds of reindeer.
F The easiest access is from Route 1,
Iceland’s Ring Road, as it follows the
south coast, with the town of Höfn
as a hub (inspiredbyiceland.com).
JIGOKUDANI MONKEY
PARK, JAPAN
In the snowy mountains around
Nagano, magma courses
beneath the terrain, heating up
groundwater, which bursts to
the surface in a series of onsen
(hot springs). At Jigokudani
Monkey Park, snow monkeys take
advantage of this, descending
from the mountains to warm up in
their very own onsen. Visit when
there’s snow on the mountain
(December to February).
F Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen
train from Tokyo to Nagano
(en.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp).
HUANGLONG NATIONAL
PARK, CHINA
Huanglong National Park in
central China’s Sichuan province
has intact forests, snowcapped
mountains, waterfalls and
colourful lakes that are the result
of rich calcium deposits swirling
in water. Geothermal springs
burst through the Earth’s crust
all around the park.
F Fly into Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport,
27 miles away, from Sichuan’s
capital Chengdu (huanglong.com).