What’s your favourite place on earth?

Quelle est votre destination de rêve ?

Chaque année, The New York Times rédige son propre guide de voyage, et suggère à ses lecteurs une cinquantaine de destinations à visiter dans l'année. Mais en 2021, difficile de voyager ; le quotidien s'est donc tourné vers ses lecteurs, leur demandant de répondre à une question plutôt poétique : quel est votre endroit préféré au monde ? Plus de 2000 témoignages, venant des quatre coins de la planète, ont été recueillis. En voici quelques-uns.

At this time of year, The New York Times’ Travel desk usually publishes its lavish 52 Places to Go list, a compendium of suggestions for the destinations that are especially worth visiting in the coming year. In 2021, we turned to another group of passionate travelers, our readers, and asked them to tell us about their most beloved places.

ISFAHAN, IRAN

2. My memories of Isfahan come in snippets: the hiss of the nan panjereh, an intricate funnelcake dessert; the smiling, chattering taxi drivers; the winding alleyways in the Grand Bazaar. There’s a difference between the people and the government. I wish Americans could see the vibrant curiosity of the people who live here. Neeknaz Abari, 22, was raised in Washington, D.C., and works at a consulting firm in Dallas.

EGYPT’S SIWA OASIS

3. Siwa haunts my dreams. This oasis, nearly 400 miles from Cairo, is a place of infinite vistas and intimate conversations. Only one road goes to Siwa; it’s a valley of figs and palms, hot and cold springs. Inhabited since Paleolithic times, Siwa is where the past, present and future seem to exist at once. There you will find a mountain filled with Ptolemaic tombs and the Temple of the Oracle, both thousands of years old.

Catherine Litten of Hyattsville, Maryland.

DAKAR, SENEGAL

4. I landed in Dakar to the bluest sky I’ve seen, hundreds of sprawling baobab trees, sandy dust and angelic light. Dakar is a place where tradition runs through every corner: the Wolof language, the sharing of meals — especially thieboudienne, or red rice with fish. It's a city with such a clear sense of self, ideals and history, a city that refuses to be like anywhere else.

Faridah Folawiyo is an art historian from Lagos, Nigeria.

LAKE MICHIGAN

5. Visits to Lake Michigan have gradually taken on increasing seasonal regularity: marveling at ice waves in winter, enjoying

April wildflowers, swimming late into autumn. We spent the summer quarantining with family so we could have help caring for our son. Our first week back to Michigan, I took him up to the lake. He was around 3 months old at the time. I walked down to the water with him in my arms. I wanted him to experience this thing that has been so profound in my own life. Jillian Snyder is a humanities and English lecturer.

ASUNCIÓN, PARAGUAY

6. Stepping off the plane in Asunción, the Paraguayan capital, is like opening an oven: The heat fogs up your glasses, and the air smells of diesel smoke and grilled meats. The colorful buses racing through the city inevitably have to slow down for the mango and lapacho trees in the roads. Paraguay is all about the people. It is the sort of place where multiple people will offer to drop you off or pick you up from the airport. Abigail Williamson is an English language teacher in Massachusetts.