Everyone assumes August has to mean sky-high fares. Peak summer, school holidays, everyone and their dog trying to get away at once, surely the flights are a fortune? Not necessarily. We’ve had a dig through Skyscanner and found ten cracking European destinations you can fly to and from London this August for under £75 return.
The trick, as ever, is flexibility. Stay open-minded about your exact travel dates and which airport you land into, and there are still some brilliant deals to be found even in the height of summer. Whether you fancy a proper city break or a springboard into somewhere further afield, here’s our countdown of the best value flights for August.
10. Tirana, Albania – £75
Albania’s buzzing, colourful capital doesn’t get nearly enough credit. Expect leafy boulevards, a lively café culture, and the Dajti Mountain cable car right on the doorstep, all in glorious August sunshine. It’s also one of the best-connected gateways into the Albanian Alps. It’s worth noting that Tirana easily connects to our Mountains to Sea and Mini Albanian Alps Experiences.
9. Stockholm, Sweden – £73
August is arguably Stockholm’s finest month, long, mild days, the crowds of high summer beginning to thin, and the city’s parks, waterways, and outdoor cafés all at their absolute best. Don’t miss the Old Town’s cobbled lanes or a boat trip out into the archipelago.
8. Trieste, Italy – £72
Sitting quietly at the top of the Adriatic, Trieste blends Italian, Austrian, and Slavic influences into something genuinely different from the usual Italian city break. Wander the grand Piazza Unità d’Italia, sip coffee in one of its elegant old cafés, and enjoy August’s warm, breezy evenings by the sea. Trieste connects beautifully with any of our Slovenia Experiences either by a relaxing train to Ljubljana or a shorter 1 hour road transfer
7. Budapest, Hungary – £68
Budapest in August means long evenings on the Danube, thermal baths that are just as good (if not better) in summer, and a ruin bar scene that really comes alive after dark. It’s a city that rewards wandering, so leave plenty of time to get gently lost.
6. Zagreb, Croatia – £61
Croatia’s underrated capital swaps the coastal crowds for a relaxed, café-filled old town, excellent museums, and some of the best ice cream in the Balkans. August evenings here are warm without the intensity of the coast, making it a lovely, low-key city break. Zagreb is also another easy connection for our Slovenia Experiences, with the two capitals just a short hop apart.
5. Seville, Spain – £59
Yes, Seville in August is properly hot, but early mornings and late evenings are glorious, and you’ll find the Real Alcázar, Plaza de España, and the city’s famous tapas bars far quieter than in spring. Just pace yourself in the afternoon heat. Seville is where our Andalusia Experience both starts and finishes, so it’s the ideal bookend to a deeper dive into southern Spain.
4. Copenhagen, Denmark – £40
Copenhagen in August is all bicycles, harbour swims, and long, light evenings. It’s a wonderfully liveable city to explore on foot or by bike, with Tivoli Gardens, Nyhavn’s colourful waterfront, and a seriously good food scene all worth your time.
3. Biarritz, France – £40
This elegant surf town on the French Basque coast is at its absolute best in August, think golden beaches, excellent seafood, and a laid-back, sophisticated atmosphere that feels a world away from the nearby Spanish coast. Perfect for a long weekend by the sea.
2. Bologna, Italy – £36
Bologna is one of Italy’s great food cities, and August brings warm evenings perfect for lingering over pasta and gelato beneath its famous porticoes. The Piazza Maggiore, the leaning towers, and a properly local, unpretentious atmosphere make it a brilliant, undervalued choice. Bologna is also home to our own Bologna Experience, so why not turn your flight into something more?
1. Cologne, Germany – £33
Topping our list at just £33 return, Cologne combines an extraordinary Gothic cathedral, a lively riverside old town, and a properly welcoming beer garden culture, all easily explored on foot. August brings a full calendar of outdoor festivals and events too, so check what’s on before you book.
Ready to do it?
Deals like these don’t tend to hang around, and with prices this good, there’s really no excuse to let the rest of summer pass you by. Whether it’s a spontaneous long weekend or the perfect springboard into one of our small-group adventures, now’s the time to book that last-minute trip you’ve been putting off.
Grab your flight, and get in touch with the Untravelled Paths team to see how we can turn it into something truly unforgettable.
There’s a reason seasoned travellers rate winter as the best time to visit Iceland, not the worst. Yes, the days are shorter and the temperatures dip, but that’s precisely what unlocks the country’s most extraordinary experiences. The Northern Lights only dance across dark winter skies. Ice caves only form when the glaciers freeze solid enough to explore safely. The crowds that fill Reykjavík’s streets in July thin right out, leaving you with quieter trails, softer light, and a landscape transformed into something otherworldly.
Below, we’ve rounded up ten of Iceland’s finest winter highlights, and why each one is better between November and March than at any other time of year.
1. Whale Watching
Winter whale watching off Iceland’s coast is often calmer and clearer than the busier summer season, with pods of orcas and humpbacks frequently spotted feeding closer to shore. Fewer boats on the water means a more peaceful, personal encounter.
2. The Blue Lagoon
There’s nothing quite like soaking in the Blue Lagoon’s milky-blue geothermal waters while snow settles on the surrounding lava fields. The contrast of steaming warmth against freezing air is one of Iceland’s signature winter sensations, and on a clear night you might even catch the Northern Lights from the water.
3. Diamond Beach
Named for the glittering icebergs that wash up on its black volcanic sand, Diamond Beach is at its most dramatic in winter, when low light catches every facet of the ice. It sits alongside the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, making the two an essential pairing on any winter itinerary.
4. Ice Caves
Iceland’s glittering blue ice caves only appear in the colder months, when the glaciers are stable enough to venture inside safely. Formed by meltwater carving through centuries-old ice, these natural caverns are one of the country’s most exclusively wintry wonders, gone entirely by summer.
5. The Northern Lights
The Aurora Borealis is the headline act of an Icelandic winter. With long hours of darkness and minimal light pollution outside Reykjavík, winter offers by far the best odds of witnessing the lights ripple green and violet across the sky.
6. The Great Geysir
Watching the Great Geysir and its neighbour Strokkur erupt against a snow-dusted backdrop is a wonderfully atmospheric winter experience. The plumes of scalding water and steam feel even more striking against the crisp winter air.
7. Snorkelling at Silfra
Silfra fissure, where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet, offers some of the clearest water on Earth all year round, but winter brings a stark, otherworldly beauty to the surrounding ice and snow that summer simply can’t match.
8. Glacier and Lagoon Exploration
Winter is prime time for glacier walks and lagoon visits, when the ice is at its most solid and photogenic. Guided tours across Iceland’s glaciers reveal deep blue crevasses and frozen formations rarely seen at other times of year.
9. Waterfalls
Iceland’s famous waterfalls, from Gullfoss to Skógafoss, take on a magical, half-frozen quality in winter, with ice formations framing the cascades and far fewer visitors around to share the view.
10. Reykjavík
Iceland’s capital comes alive in winter with cosy cafés, geothermal pools, and long, atmospheric evenings perfect for exploring its restaurants, bars, and Northern Lights tours right on the doorstep.
Ready to Experience Winter Iceland for Yourself?
If this has whetted your appetite, we’d love to show you Iceland at its most magical. Our brand-new Mini Winter Iceland Experience brings together many of these very highlights in one beautifully paced small-group trip, expertly guided from start to finish.
Spaces are limited, so get in touch with the Untravelled Paths team today to secure your place and discover Iceland’s winter wonders for yourself.
Some of the best trips we run aren’t built around a single country at all – they’re built around the join. The ferry crossing that swaps one culture for another overnight. The mountain pass that takes you from one language to the next on foot. The short hop across a border that, for most travellers, simply isn’t on the map.
Off the beaten track doesn’t have to mean picking just one place. Some of our favourite Experiences exist precisely because two countries, side by side, tell a better story together than either does alone. Here are six of our go-to combinations, how we get you between them, and why we think they work so well.
Slovenia + Italy
by car or train
Slovenia is compact, polished and endlessly scenic – Lake Bled, the Julian Alps, the wine country of the Vipava Valley – all within a country you can comfortably cross in a day. Drive west, though, and within an hour or two you’re in Italy: the Friuli wine region, the faded grandeur of Trieste, or further on, the Dolomites themselves.
The two countries share a border, a fair amount of history, and a food culture that shifts gradually rather than abruptly, so the drive between them never feels jarring. It’s an easy, self-drive-friendly combination that pairs Slovenia’s alpine lakes and rivers with Italy’s cities and cuisine, without ever feeling like you’re doing two separate holidays stitched together.
Albania + Montenegro
by car, or on foot through the Accursed Mountains
This is the combination for people who want their trip to feel like an adventure story. Albania‘s rugged, still-quiet north and Montenegro‘s dramatic Bay of Kotor sit right next to each other, and you can cross between them however you like: a scenic drive along the coast, or – for the more adventurous – on foot, trekking over the border through the Accursed Mountains themselves.
That mountain crossing is one of our favourite border stories anywhere in the Balkans: remote valleys, shepherd huts, and a walk that takes you from one country into another with nothing but a mountain pass and your own legs. Combine that with Montenegro’s fjord-like bay and Albania’s Ottoman towns and untouched beaches, and you’ve got a trip that rewards genuinely curious travellers.
Montenegro + Bosnia & Herzegovina
by car
A short drive inland from Montenegro‘s coast and you’re in an entirely different Bosnia: the Ottoman bazaars of Sarajevo, the iconic Stari Most bridge in Mostar, and the turquoise waterfalls of Kravice. It’s one of the easiest border crossings we run, and one of the most rewarding, because the contrast between the two countries is so vivid.
Montenegro gives you the coast, the mountains and the drama of the Bay of Kotor. Bosnia gives you history, culture and a city where mosques, churches and synagogues sit side by side telling the story of a place that’s seen a great deal and rebuilt itself with real grace. Together, it’s coastal beauty and cultural depth in a single, easy loop.
Romania + Moldova
by car or train
Romania alone has more than enough to fill a trip – Transylvania’s castles, the Carpathian Mountains, Bucharest’s grand boulevards – but push on to Moldova and you’ll find one of Europe’s genuinely least-visited corners. Chișinău has a low-key, unhurried charm all its own, and the wine country around Cricova (yes, including underground cellars you can drive through) is unlike anything else on the continent.
We run this one by car or train, and either way it’s a proper journey rather than a border you barely notice – a reminder of just how much variety sits within a few hours of Bucharest, if you’re willing to keep going a little further than most people do.
Spain + Morocco
by boat
Few combinations change the scenery, the language and the entire atmosphere of a trip as quickly as this one. A short ferry crossing from southern Spain and you’re in an entirely different continent: Marrakech’s souks, the chaos and colour of Djemaa el-Fnaa, and the winding road up into the Atlas Mountains towards the Sahara.
It’s the combination that proves how much can change in the space of a single boat crossing – flamenco and tapas on one side, mint tea and market stalls on the other – and it’s precisely that contrast which makes it one of our most requested Experiences.
Montenegro + Italy
by boat from Bar or Dubrovnik
Montenegro is a small country, easily explored in a week, which makes it the perfect springboard for something else. Take the overnight ferry from Bar (or nearby Dubrovnik) across the Adriatic, and you’ll wake up in Italy, ready for the Amalfi Coast, Puglia’s sun-baked towns, or Rome itself.
It’s a wonderfully simple way to double a holiday: dramatic Adriatic scenery and rugged mountains on one side of the sea, La Dolce Vita on the other, with a night on the water in between to make the whole thing feel like a proper adventure rather than a connecting flight.
Why stop at one country?
Every one of these combinations exists because the join is as good as the destinations either side of it – the ferry deck at sunrise, the mountain pass on foot, the moment the language and the menu both change at once. That’s the sort of detail that turns a good trip into a story worth retelling.
If any of these have caught your eye, or you’ve got a combination of your own in mind that you haven’t seen anyone else offer, get in touch. We specialise in exactly this kind of joined-up, off the beaten track adventure – so tell us where you’d like to go, and we’ll help you work out how to get there.
Some places are worth visiting for their scenery. Others are worth visiting for a single day, or even a single hour, when a whole culture pours itself into the street, the stadium or the sea. These are the events that turn a good trip into a story you’ll still be telling twenty years from now.
We’ve put together a list of ten of the most extraordinary cultural and sporting events on the planet; some ancient, some barely a century old, all utterly unmissable. We’ve been fortunate enough to tick off a fair few of these ourselves, and we’ve got strong opinions about the rest.
But this isn’t really about our list. It’s about yours. Read on, keep count as you go, and let us know at the end: how many have you visited, and how many are still on the bucket list?
1. Day of the Dead, Mexico
Held on 1st and 2nd November, Día de los Muertos is one of the most misunderstood celebrations in the world to outsiders, and one of the most moving once you understand it properly. Far from being a morbid affair, it’s a joyful, technicolour celebration of lives once lived where families build ofrendas (altars) laden with marigolds, candles, sugar skulls and the favourite foods of those who’ve passed, inviting their spirits home for one night of the year. It’s recognised by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a nod to just how deeply rooted the tradition is.
The origins stretch back to Aztec and other Mesoamerican traditions, later blended with the Catholic observances of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day brought by Spanish colonisers. Oaxaca and Mexico City put on the most elaborate displays, with cemeteries lit by candlelight and streets filled with painted skulls (calaveras), marigold petals and parades that feel more like carnivals than commemorations.
We may be looking at hosting this event next year alongside the wonder of the world Chichen Itza, keep your eyes pealed!
Best for: Anyone curious about a culture’s relationship with mortality, and travellers who like their history served with genuine colour and warmth.
2. Naadam Festival, Mongolia
Every July, from the 11th to the 13th, Mongolia turns its attention to the “Three Manly Games”; wrestling, horse racing and archery, in a festival with roots stretching back to the 13th century and the reign of Genghis Khan, and now inscribed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage tradition in its own right. These weren’t simply sports; they were the training grounds that kept Mongol warriors battle-ready between campaigns, and something of that spirit survives in the ferocity of the competitions today.
Ulaanbaatar hosts the largest celebration, complete with an opening ceremony of extraordinary pageantry, but it’s worth seeking out a rural Naadam if you can; smaller, rawer, and a genuine window into nomadic life on the steppe. Women compete in the archery and horse racing (children as young as five ride in the latter), while wrestling remains a men-only affair, fought in eagle-inspired costumes to the sound of traditional chanting.
Best for: Anyone who wants to see a warrior culture very much alive, rather than confined to a museum.
3. Basking Shark Migration & The Highland Games, Scotland
Two very different spectacles, both worth building a Scottish summer around. From around June to September, the waters of the Sea of the Hebrides, particularly around the islands of Mull, Coll and Tiree, fill with basking sharks: the second-largest fish in the world, gentle plankton feeders that can grow beyond ten metres and glide along the surface with a fin that looks alarmingly like something out of a different film altogether.
Meanwhile, inland, the Highland Games carry on a tradition that’s said to date back to King Malcolm III, who once summoned the fastest runners in Scotland to compete for the role of royal messenger. What survives today; caber tossing, hammer throwing, tug o’war, and pipe bands in full regalia and is largely a 19th-century revival, given a considerable boost by Queen Victoria’s enthusiasm for all things Highland.
Best for: Wildlife lovers and lovers of a good, honest tug o’war in equal measure.
4. ANZAC Day, Gallipoli, Turkey
Every 25th April, thousands gather at Anzac Cove on Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula for a dawn service that commemorates the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops during the First World War. Of the 16,000 men who came ashore on that first day, more than 2,000 were killed or wounded by the following morning and the beginning of a gruelling, months-long campaign that shaped national identity on both sides of the world.
The dawn service is followed later in the day by an Australian ceremony at Lone Pine, named for the solitary tree that once stood on the battlefield, and a New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair. Standing on that quiet peninsula as the sun rises, surrounded by cemeteries and memorials, is a genuinely humbling experience and one that draws visitors back to Gallipoli year after year. Following the service, being able to visit the British memorials as well to pay respect to the troops that lost their life fighting for their country.
Best for: History lovers, and anyone wanting to understand how a single campaign can forge a nation’s sense of self.
5. San Fermín, Pamplona, Spain
Held from 6th to 14th July, San Fermín is best known worldwide for the encierro, the running of the bulls through Pamplona’s narrow streets each morning, a spectacle immortalised by Ernest Hemingway and now watched by crowds from balconies and barricades across the old town. But the bull run is only a small part of a nine-day festival that also includes fireworks, giant processional figures, brass bands and rather a lot of sangria.
The opening ceremony, the Chupinazo, sees the entire town crammed into the Plaza Consistorial in a sea of red and white, waiting for the rocket that signals the festival has officially begun. Whether or not you fancy outrunning a bull yourself (we’d suggest not), the atmosphere alone makes Pamplona worth the trip.
Best for: Adrenaline seekers, and anyone who enjoys a festival that doesn’t do things by halves.
6. Midsummer, Sweden
Midsommar falls on the Friday between 19th and 25th June each year, marking the longest day of the year with a celebration that predates Christianity by a considerable margin. Communities gather to raise a flower-bedecked maypole (majstång), dance around it to traditional songs, and weave crowns of wildflowers to wear for the rest of the evening.
Out in the archipelagos and countryside, where much of Sweden decamps for the occasion, the tables groan with pickled herring, new potatoes, soured cream and rather a lot of schnapps, all enjoyed under a sky that barely darkens at all. It’s a wonderfully unpretentious celebration, no elaborate costumes or ancient rites, just good company, simple food, and a genuine appreciation for a fleeting Nordic summer.
Best for: Anyone who wants to understand why Swedes take their summer so seriously.
7. Tour de France, France
Every July since 1903, the world’s greatest cycling race has wound its way across France (with the occasional foray into neighbouring countries) over three punishing weeks and roughly 3,500 kilometres. Full route details and stage-by-stage coverage are published each year on the official Tour de France site. The mountain stages through the Alps and Pyrenees are where the race is usually won or lost, riders grinding up switchback after switchback while roadside crowds press in from either side, but it’s the final procession down the Champs-Élysées in Paris that provides the great theatre.
You don’t need a ticket, a grandstand seat or even much cycling knowledge to enjoy it properly, just find a spot on a mountain stage, bring a picnic, and wait for the peloton to sweep past in a blur of colour, noise and unmistakable effort. The rider in the yellow jersey (maillot jaune) leads the overall standings, and the fight to wear it into Paris is one of sport’s great slow-building dramas.
Best for: Sports fans and anyone who fancies combining a proper Alpine holiday with a world-class spectator event.
8. The Great Migration, Kenya & Tanzania
Around two million wildebeest, along with several hundred thousand zebra, move in a continuous, roughly circular pattern between the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Masai Mara in Kenya, chasing the rains and fresh grazing across the plains. It’s less a single event than a year-round cycle, but the most dramatic chapter; the Mara River crossings, typically plays out from late July into September, as the herds fight their way through crocodile-filled water on the way north.
Nobody can predict the exact day a crossing will happen; the animals themselves don’t seem to know until the last moment, and that unpredictability is part of what makes witnessing one so thrilling. Whenever you go, and wherever in the cycle you catch it, the sheer scale of the migration, the noise, the dust, the sense of a landscape genuinely on the move, is unlike anything else on earth.
Best for: Wildlife enthusiasts prepared to be patient, and rewarded handsomely for it.
9. Carnival, Brazil
Held in the run-up to Lent each February or March, Rio’s Carnival is the largest and most famous of its kind anywhere in the world. The centrepiece is the Sambadrome parade, where the city’s top samba schools compete in a riot of sequins, feathers and percussion that’s rehearsed for the entire year beforehand, but the real party happens on the streets, at the blocos; free, informal gatherings that draw millions of revellers across the city.
Carnival’s roots stretch back to Portuguese colonial entrudo celebrations, later fused with African rhythms and traditions brought by enslaved communities, evolving over centuries into the spectacle it is today. Whether you watch from a grandstand seat in the Sambadrome or simply follow a bloco through the streets of Santa Teresa, Carnival is Brazil at its most unguarded and exuberant.
Best for: Anyone who wants their trip accompanied by a permanent soundtrack of drums.
We’d love to know your answer and if you’ve visited any of them, tell us about it in the comments below. And if this list has given you the curioisity to attend one, please reach out, we can’t promise wonders but we’ll do our best and you can expect something special in 2027, watch this space!
Explore the world differently with Untravelled Paths. Small groups, big experiences and places you won’t find in the brochures.
In 2007, over 100 million people around the world cast their votes to decide which human-made structures deserved a place on the most coveted list in travel. The result was the New Seven Wonders of the World — a roll call of the most breathtaking, historically significant and architecturally extraordinary places on the planet.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit several of them over the years, and we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this question. But rather than give you our verdict and leave it there, we want to hear from you. More on that in a moment.
First, let’s take a tour of all seven — because each one has a story worth telling.
1. Machu Picchu, Peru
Perched at 2,430 metres above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu is one of those places that genuinely defies expectation. You can read about it, see the photographs, watch the documentaries — and still nothing quite prepares you for the moment the clouds part and the full scale of this 15th-century Inca citadel reveals itself.
Built around 1450 and abandoned less than a century later during the Spanish conquest, Machu Picchu was unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911. The site covers roughly 80,000 acres of mountain terrain, with stone temples, agricultural terraces and residential quarters arranged with extraordinary precision — and without the use of mortar, wheels or iron tools.
The classic approach — a four-day trek along the Inca Trail — remains one of the great travel experiences in South America. But the train journey through the Sacred Valley from Cusco is a worthy alternative, and the Aguas Calientes hot springs at the base of the mountain make for a restorative end to the day.
Best for: Hikers, history lovers, and anyone who wants to feel genuinely small.
2. The Great Wall of China
Stretching over 21,000 kilometres across northern China — from the eastern shores of Bohai Bay to the Gobi Desert in the west — the Great Wall is less a single structure than a vast network of walls, towers and fortifications built across more than 2,000 years of Chinese history.
The most visited sections near Beijing (Badaling and Mutianyu) are spectacular but busy. For a more atmospheric experience, the unreconstructed sections at Jiankou or Jinshanling reward those willing to make a little more effort — crumbling watchtowers, wild vegetation reclaiming the stonework, and views that stretch to the horizon with barely another soul in sight.
The wall was never truly a single defensive line so much as a series of regional barriers, expanded and connected over centuries by successive dynasties. Walking a stretch of it, particularly on a clear autumn day, is to walk through layer upon layer of Chinese history.
Best for: Those who want scale — and lots of it.
3. The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
Few buildings in the world carry quite the same weight of history as the Colosseum. Completed in 80 AD under Emperor Titus, this elliptical amphitheatre once held up to 80,000 spectators who came to watch gladiatorial combat, animal hunts and public spectacles on a scale that wouldn’t be matched for over a millennium.
Standing in the arena itself — where the sand once covered a labyrinthine network of tunnels housing animals, gladiators and stage machinery — is genuinely stirring. The engineering is as impressive as anything the ancient world produced, and the fact that it survived two millennia of earthquakes, stone-robbing and neglect makes it all the more remarkable.
Rome, of course, offers considerably more than the Colosseum — the Forum, the Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, and more excellent food than you could eat in a month — but the Colosseum remains the city’s most iconic image for very good reason.
Best for: History enthusiasts, architecture lovers, and first-time visitors to Rome.
4. The Taj Mahal, India
Built between 1631 and 1648 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal is perhaps the most recognisable building on earth — and one of the very few that lives up entirely to its reputation.
The symmetry is extraordinary. The white marble changes colour with the light — pale gold at dawn, brilliant white at midday, soft rose at sunset, silvery grey by moonlight. The inlaid semi-precious stonework, the calligraphy, the reflecting pool, the surrounding gardens — every element was conceived as part of a unified whole, an expression of grief and devotion rendered in stone.
It’s worth going early, before the crowds arrive, and taking time to walk the full gardens rather than heading straight for the mausoleum. The rear view of the Taj from the riverbank — less photographed and far quieter — is arguably the most beautiful perspective of all.
Best for: Romance, architecture, and a genuinely moving experience.
5. Chichén Itzá, Mexico
The great Maya city of Chichén Itzá, in the Yucatán Peninsula, is dominated by El Castillo — the step pyramid of Kukulcán, which rises 30 metres above the surrounding jungle and demonstrates a level of astronomical precision that continues to astonish researchers today. At the spring and autumn equinoxes, the angle of the sun creates the illusion of a serpent descending the staircase — a phenomenon that draws thousands of visitors twice a year.
Beyond El Castillo, the site encompasses the Great Ball Court (the largest in Mesoamerica, where the acoustic properties allow a whisper at one end to be heard clearly at the other), the Temple of the Warriors, and the Sacred Cenote — a natural sinkhole used for ritual offerings.
Chichén Itzá can feel busy during peak season, and visitors are no longer permitted to climb the pyramid. But the scale of the complex and the sophistication of Maya civilisation it represents make it one of the most fascinating archaeological sites in the Americas.
Best for: History, archaeology, and travellers with a genuine curiosity about pre-Columbian civilisations.
6. Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
At 38 metres tall, arms outstretched 28 metres wide atop the 700-metre Corcovado mountain, Christ the Redeemer has been watching over Rio de Janeiro since 1931. It is simultaneously a feat of Art Deco engineering, a deeply held religious symbol, and one of the most iconic images in the world.
The views from the summit — over the city, the bays, Sugarloaf Mountain, and the Atlantic beyond — are extraordinary on a clear day. The statue itself is impressive up close in a way that photographs don’t quite capture, and the engineering story behind its construction (the soapstone tiles were each individually shaped and shipped from Portugal) is remarkable.
It’s worth being honest, though: Christ the Redeemer is primarily a viewpoint with a monument attached. The experience is wonderful, but it lacks the historical depth of several others on this list.
Best for: First-time visitors to Rio, photographers, and those with a head for heights.
7. Petra, Jordan
Petra — the ancient Nabataean city carved directly into the rose-red sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan — is one of those very rare places that manages to exceed even the highest expectations. The approach through the Siq, a narrow 1.2-kilometre gorge with walls rising 80 metres on either side, builds the anticipation masterfully. Then, as the gorge narrows to its tightest point, the Treasury appears in a sliver of light — and the effect is nothing short of spectacular.
But the Treasury is just the beginning. Beyond it lies an entire city — the Street of Facades, the Royal Tombs, the Byzantine Church, the Great Temple, and at the far end of the valley, the monastery of Ad Deir, reached by 850 rock-cut steps and rewarding the effort with a façade even larger than the Treasury and views across the desert that stretch for miles.
Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, a sophisticated civilisation of traders who controlled the incense routes between Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean. At its peak, the city was home to 30,000 people. Today, only around 15% of the site has been excavated — the rest remains buried under the desert.
Jordan itself is a gem — Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, Aqaba, Jerash — and Petra is its crown.
Best for: Everyone. Genuinely. We haven’t met a person who came away disappointed.
So Which is the Greatest Wonder of Them All?
Every single one of these places deserves its place on the list, and choosing between them is genuinely difficult. Machu Picchu has the drama. The Great Wall has the scale. The Colosseum has the history. The Taj Mahal has the beauty. Chichén Itzá has the mystery. Christ the Redeemer has the view. And Petra has something that’s hard to put into words — a sense of discovery, of stepping into another world entirely.
We’ve shared our thoughts — now we’d love to hear yours. Which of the Seven New Wonders of the World do you think deserves the top spot? Cast your vote below.
We’d love to know your answer — and if you’ve visited any of them, tell us about it in the comments below. And if this list has given you itchy feet, take a look at our small group tours to some of the world’s most remarkable destinations. We can’t promise wonders — but we’ll do our best.
Explore the world differently with Untravelled Paths. Small groups, big experiences and places you won’t find in the brochures.
If you’ve been scrolling through holiday inspiration for the Adriatic, chances are Dubrovnik keeps popping up. Croatia’s “Pearl of the Adriatic” has had the marketing machine and a certain dragon-themed TV show behind it for the best part of a decade. But just an hour or so down the coast, tucked into one of the most dramatic bays in Europe, sits a town that does almost everything Dubrovnik does, and does it with a fraction of the crowds and none of the queues. We’re talking about Kotor.
At Untravelled Paths, we’ve built our reputation on finding the destinations that haven’t yet been flattened by mass tourism, and Kotor is a brilliant case in point. Here’s why we think it deserves a place on your itinerary ahead of its more famous Croatian neighbour and why, if you’re choosing between the two, Kotor should win.
1. The Setting Is, Genuinely, More Spectacular
Dubrovnik’s Old Town sits proudly on the coast, walls rising straight out of the Adriatic. It’s beautiful, no question. But Kotor has something Dubrovnik simply can’t offer: the Bay of Kotor itself.
Often (if slightly inaccurately) described as Europe’s southernmost fjord, the bay is a winding, fjord-like inlet flanked by sheer limestone mountains that plunge straight into the sea. Kotor’s Old Town sits at the very back of this bay, wrapped by medieval walls that climb 260 metres up the mountainside behind it. Nothing in Dubrovnik quite matches the sense of scale and drama you get sailing into Kotor, or hiking up to the Fortress of San Giovanni for a view over those famous terracotta rooftops and the bay beyond.
2. Fewer Crowds, More Charm
This is the big one. Dubrovnik has become something of a cautionary tale in overtourism circles. On a busy summer’s day, several enormous cruise ships can dock at once, sending thousands of day-trippers pouring through the Pile Gate all at the same time. The city has introduced visitor caps and crowd-control measures in recent years precisely because the Old Town, beautiful as it is, simply cannot cope with the volume of people trying to squeeze through its narrow marble streets.
Kotor gets cruise ships too, it’s not entirely undiscovered. But its Old Town is a fraction of the size, and outside of a few pinch-points around peak season, you can still wander its stone squares, sit at a café on Cathedral Square, or explore the backstreets without feeling like you’re in a queue. For a small-group escorted tour, that matters enormously, it’s the difference between genuinely experiencing a place and simply photographing it.
3. Better Value for Money
Montenegro hasn’t (yet) seen the price inflation that’s crept into Dubrovnik, where a coffee with a view can set you back the same as a full meal elsewhere in the Balkans. Accommodation, dining and guided experiences in and around Kotor tend to offer noticeably better value, without any compromise on quality. Your money simply goes further, which is why we’re able to build such rich, immersive itineraries around it.
4. A Gateway to So Much More
Here’s where Kotor really pulls ahead: what’s on its doorstep. From Kotor, you’re perfectly placed to explore some of Montenegro’s most breathtaking landscapes without ever getting back on a plane. Wind your way up the old Austro-Hungarian road for hairpin views back down over the bay. Head south along the coast to the photogenic islet of Our Lady of the Rocks near Perast, or the beach town of Budva. Venture inland to Lovćen National Park, further still to the turquoise waters of Lake Skadar or even the famous Durmitor National Park. Dubrovnik’s surroundings are lovely, but they don’t offer anywhere near this variety within such easy reach.
For anyone joining one of our small-group Balkans tours, this is exactly the kind of depth we build our itineraries around, not just ticking off a famous Old Town, but properly getting under the skin of a region.
5. It Still Feels Like a Discovery
Perhaps the biggest difference is intangible. Dubrovnik, for all its beauty, can feel like a place you’ve already seen a thousand times on Instagram before you arrive. Kotor still has that spark of discovery about it, the feeling of finding somewhere brilliant that most people haven’t got round to yet.
That won’t last forever. Montenegro is very much on the up, and Kotor is increasingly finding its way onto more travellers’ radars. But for now, it still offers that rare thing: a genuinely beautiful, historic, walkable Old Town that hasn’t lost its soul to tourism.
So, Which Should You Choose?
If you’ve only got a day and you’re already in Croatia, Dubrovnik is still absolutely worth a visit, it earns its reputation. But if you’re deciding where to actually base a trip, or which coastal gem deserves more of your time, we’d choose Kotor every time. Fewer crowds, better value, a more dramatic setting, and so much more to explore right on its doorstep.
It’s exactly the kind of destination we love building trips around at Untravelled Paths: somewhere with real history and beauty, that hasn’t yet been overrun. And as with all our trips, every booking helps plant trees through our partnership with the World Land Trust, so you can explore Montenegro’s landscapes while helping protect others too.
Fancy seeing the Bay of Kotor for yourself? Get in touch with our team to find out more about our small-group escorted tours and tailor-made trips to Montenegro and the wider Balkans.
