20 Magical Travel Destinations You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

Located in the Arequipa region, the Colca Canyon is actually Peru’s third most visited attraction but it’s completely overshadowed by Machu Picchu.

The canyon is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is home to hot springs, archaeological sites and the Andean condor.

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About an hour’s boat ride from Puerto Vallarta, the Marieta Islands are uninhabited. The 'hidden beach' here, also called the Playa de Amor, is the result of military testing. Bomb sites don’t get more beautiful than this. And it shouldn't cost too much to get close to there either; it's one of cheapest trips to take from Canada right now!

The last thing you’d expect to find near the border between Colombia and Ecuador is a Gothic Revival church on a bridge over a deep canyon. However, this is exactly how you could describe the Las Lajas Sanctuary, a popular place of pilgrimage just outside of Ipiales. It's not the Grand Canyon but it's pretty damn close.

Head about 900 km eastwards along the coast from the mouth of the Amazon and you’ll find a desert landscape of large white dunes.

However, Lencois Maranhenses National Park in Maranhao, Brazil isn’t really a desert. Plenty of rain ensures that dotted among the dunes are freshwater lagoons complete with fish.

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Canada’s largest dune field, and one of the most northerly of its kind in the world, is nowhere near the ocean.

The Athabasca Sand Dunes are located in northern Saskatchewan on the southern shore of Lake Athabasca and the only way to get here is by float plane.

About halfway between Revelstoke and Sicamous, B.C. is the kind of attraction that puts most theme parks to shame. The Enchanted Forest is a fairytale world of handcrafted figurines, a castle, a tree house, a stump house and dungeons in an old-growth forest. Right next door there is an adventure park.

Visitors to New York City often overlook Staten Island but this borough provides some of the best photo opportunities you’ll find in the city.

The Staten Island Boat Graveyard (also known as The Witte Marine Scrap Yard) is where ships come to die and is eerily beautiful. Though not exactly romantic.

Hawaii is all about waving palm trees and sandy white beaches, right? Not quite. Near the southern tip of the Big Island is Papakolea, a beach with sand that is green, thanks to olivine crystals.

Jellyfish Lake is famous for its golden jellyfish, which have evolved to become completely harmless. These jellyfish migrate across the lake every day but sadly their population has declined from several million to about 600,000.

If you’ve seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Hobbit, you’ll have a good idea of what Hobbiton with its hobbit holes looks like.

Did you know, however, that you can visit the actual movie set? It’s located on a family-run livestock farm only a few kilometres from Matamata. New Zealand, it's so damn beautiful.

An isolated opal-mining town where the first 'tree' was a scrap-iron affair probably doesn’t sound like an amazing destination but Coober Pedy really is an unusual place.

The people here escape the midday heat by going underground into their subterranean homes, hotels, shops and even churches. You may recognize Coober Pedy from the Australian hit movie The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. As stunning as Mount Nyiragongo in the Congo.

In Taiwan, 'family villages' were built in the 1940s and 1950s to provide housing for soldiers and their families.

As a family village in Taichung was being abandoned over the years, one of its only remaining residents, a veteran in his late 80s, started covering everything in colourful paintings. The Rainbow Family Village is now one of the area’s leading attractions.

Of course there are better art museums in the world but the Miho Museum near Shigaraki is a must-see for its incredible architecture.

Most of the museum is built underground into a mountain and to get to the art collection you need to walk through a tunnel and then cross a bridge set amidst tranquil woodland. And at least it's not abandoned.

Northern Tanzania is renowned for its wildlife but at Lake Natron, you’re unlikely to see elephants, giraffes or zebras, although it’s a breeding ground for flamingos.

The lake has a high sodium content which makes it inhospitable for most species except cyanobacteria, which give the water a dramatic red colour.

The Mkhambathi Nature Reserve is blessed with waterfalls, dramatic cliffs, great beaches and plenty of wildlife. As gorgeous as this.

While most visitors to Venice head directly for St. Mark’s Square, there are still some parts of the city that aren’t completely overrun by tourists.

The mainly residential Cannaregio district is home to several stunning churches and palaces, neighbourhood markets and the city’s Jewish Ghetto. Or you can try one of these smaller towns in the country, if the bigger ones are too daunting.

Blagaj is a gorgeous little town at the source of the Buna River. It’s best known for the Blagaj Tekke, a Dervish monastery built next to the spot where the river emerges from a cavern at the bottom of a steep cliff.

While the Hagia Sofia, the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar are certainly good reasons to visit the billionaire-filled Istanbul, you need to look a little deeper for one of the city’s most fascinating and eerie sights. The Basilica Cistern dates from the 6th century and was converted from a basilica.

Located in southwestern Germany and at the edge of the Black Forest, Freiburg is a wonderful mix of old and new with a focus on sustainability.

You’ll find charming medieval architecture but since Freiburg is also a university city, it has a vibrant atmosphere. It’s also one of the sunniest places in Germany.

Amersfoort has typical Dutch canals, cobbled streets and historic houses, some of which are built in the city’s medieval walls. It’s also home to the remains of the Amersfoort Nazi concentration camp and a museum dedicated to artist Piet Mondriaan.

One of the city’s most fascinating attractions is the Onze Lievevrouwetoren or Lange Jan, a steeple without a church, where students from the nearby bell-ringers’ school practice their art. The perfect place to travel, if you're on your own.