National Geographic’s Happiest Places

• Denmark
• Singapore
• Mexico
• San Luis Obispo, California

New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned explorer Dan Buettner uncovers the secrets to a longer, healthier, and happier life—and shares how people can change their surroundings and culture to mimic them.

Buettner, a National Geographic fellow, has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity, wellness, and happiness. His work focuses on three goals: identifying locations where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives; studying, on a global level, the keys to personal happiness; and re-creating the healthiest cities and workplaces by incorporating these secrets of well-being.

Click HERE to read more about each location.

mothernaturenetwork:

Solar powered webcam installed near Mt. Everest

World’s highest peak can now be viewed from the comfort of your personal computer.

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Cape Town crowned best destination in Africa again

It is the seventh time this accolade has been won by the city. Since 1998, Cape Town has picked up the award in all but two years (2004 and 2007) when it was pipped by Sharm El Sheikh.

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BBC Travel’s America’s most beautiful coastal walks

Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals gained 32.3 percent in July from a year earlier to the highest level since December’s record tally, as the island nation kept attracting more visitors and tourism-related investment since the end of a 25-year civil war.

For a relatively brief, shining period in history, there was no posher way to get from point A to point B than to go by train. Almost more moving hotels than industrial conveyances, passenger trains offered luxuries from the finest chefs to comfortable beds to on-side tailoring.

 See/Read more night markets at Travel + Leisure.

Dangling precariously off the top edge of the Arabian peninsula, dwarfed by neighbouring Saudia Arabia and Iran, it is easy to miss Qatar on a map. Though the city does not immediately spring to most people’s minds as a tourist destination, with more long-haul travel routes connecting through the large Middle Eastern air hubs, Doha is very much worth a stop.

The Qatari capital has relatively few tourist attractions in the traditional sense, so to get the most out of Doha you need to tap into the lifestyles of the resident expats and locals

With its lush gardens and picture-perfect landscapes, it is no wonder that the island of Kauai is best known as Hawaii’s “Garden Isle”. The beautiful vistas lure a steady stream of tourists, not to mention movie directors – Gilligan’s Island, Jurassic Park and, most recently, the latest instalment of Pirates of the Caribbean have all used the island as a natural backdrop.

But in recent years, Kauai has also quietly developed into a prime destination for adventure seekers. From Hawaii’s largest ziplining course to a 100ft waterfall that can only be reached by kayak, a trip to Kauai can be as much about adrenaline as it is about relaxation.