Getting the flavour of…

Your own private Idaho

America’s national parks are spectacular, but they can feel overcrowded and overburdened with tourist paraphernalia. Not so the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho, says Kevin Rushby in The Guardian. One of 765 areas protected by the National Wilderness Preservation System, this is “the real American wilderness”, with no roads, no signs, and few footpaths through its jagged peaks and ancient forests. On a four-day hike, you could progress from the clear waters of Redfish Lake to the top of Reward Peak (10,070ft) at the very heart of the range – quite possibly without seeing any other human beings. At the end, there’s the chance to soak, quite alone (save perhaps for a watching osprey), in a natural hot spring pool beside the beautiful Salmon River. Sawtooth Mountain Guides (+1 208 774 3324, www.sawtoothguides.com) has a fourday trek from about $1,000pp (£775).

A Tolstoy pilgrimage

For fans of Russian literature, little can match the thrill of a trip to Yasnaya Polyana, says Noah Sneider in The Economist’s 1843 magazine. Three hours by car from Moscow, the Tolstoy family estate – where Leo wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina – is almost exactly as it was when the great novelist died in 1910, save for a gash subsequently left by Nazi soldiers on his leather sofa. Begin your visit as Tolstoy began his days, with a stroll through the surrounding birch woods, and, before leaving, make the pilgrimage to his unmarked grave in the grove he called the “green wand”. Then cross the street for a meal at Preshpekt, a “cosy” café serving Tolstoy family recipes. If you want to stay overnight, try the Bolotov Dacha, a “sleek, Scandi-style” hotel nearby. For more information, see ypmuseum.ru/en.

The sublime sea cliffs of Milos

Best known as the place where the Venus de Milo was discovered in 1820, buried within ancient ruins, the Greek island of Milos is often overlooked by tourists in favour of neighbours such as Santorini and Mykonos. But it is like a work of art in itself, says Timothy O’grady in Condé Nast Traveller – a spectacularly arid, wild place ringed by sea cliffs that are streaked with mineral colours and curved, rippled and pockmarked like modernist sculpture. A boat trip around the island is the best way to appreciate these cliffs, along with the island’s 70 or so “glorious” beaches. But there’s much else to see too – an ancient amphitheatre, dramatic catacombs and several museums, as well as some excellent harbourside restaurants in the “serene” town of Pollonia. Serendipity (+41 078 700 85 87, www.serendipitygreekvillas.com) has villas in Milos.