Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
BRITISH COLUMBIA
MOST DESIRABLE REGION (LONG HAUL)
Sometimes numbers tell a story better than words.with 25,000km of coastline, about 15,000 grizzly bears, seven national parks, and five wine-producing areas, British Columbia is not only vast but varied. Its appearance at the top of this list is also a bit of a surprise. Canada itself may have lingered in the upper reaches of your Travel Awards picks for years but it’s this westernmost province that has particularly stolen your heart in this new category, and it’s not hard to see why.
There is nowhere better suited to our new socially distanced lifestyle.the region is roughly the size of Germany and France combined, and over half of it is covered in wild forest.you can spy grizzlies pawing at passing salmon in the remote Bella Coola Valley, paddle alongside orca and humpbacks in the Johnstone Strait, or boat the quiet backwaters around Klemtu in search of the shy, elusive spirit bear.there are adventures everywhere here and not a soul for miles.
Even getting from A to B is an epic journey.the Sea-to-sea Skyway drive is filled with tumbling falls and First Nations culture, while the Alaska Highway remains a motoring icon for not only its size (2,224km) but its history – built in the Second Worldwar to head off any Japanese invasion of Alaska.then there’s the Okanagan Valley, which drops you into vineyard country. BC produces the bulk of Canada’s wines though little of it leaves the region, so it’s a joy to discover.
For others, it’s all about the mountains.the Peak 2 Peak gondola sees you dangle for 3km between the summits of Whistler and Blackcomb; the Rockies meanwhile are best explored on scenic trains running all the way to Vancouver where the Museum of Northvancouver and its 9,000-strong collection has just opened. British Columbia is the wild escape we dreamed of in lockdown; the antithesis of everything we’ve experienced recently. No wonder you love it so much.
While British Columbia is arguably something of a newcomer, the same can’t be said of your runner-up. Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands is one of travel’s evergreens, even if it has suffered in recent years.the absence of tourism has certainly hit the islands’ 25,000-strong population hard, with visitor numbers dropping by 74% in 2020. But there have also been positive changes, too, and last year saw the protected marine area around the islands extended by 60,000 sq km. It is hoped that this will help preserve them for years to come, but any chance to see this fragile ecosystem is worth taking. You clearly feel the same.
In third place is the USA’S Deep South, a vast region covering five states (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana). There are so many different ways to experience it, from riverboat cruises and road trips along the Mississippi to soaking up jazz in New Orleans and country music in Nashville. But most important of all is its history.this was where the birth of the Civil Rights movement in the USA began. Visits to its antebellum plantations remind us the dark days are not long since gone, while 2022 sees the opening of the much-anticipated International African American Museum in Charleston, exploring the city’s role as one of the USA’S largest former slave ports. Hopefully British Airways’ direct flights to the city will resume in time.
Not far behind is Western Australia. Brits barely had time to savour their newly launched direct flights to Perth before the pandemic saw access cut off entirely. With luck, travellers can return soon. Then there’s perennial favourites the Silk Road and Antarctica. Late 2021 saw Ponant, Hurtigruten, Silversea and others resume their Antarctic cruise seasons for the first time since March 2020, and hopes are high that interruptions are minimised in 2022.
More surprising is the appearance of the Caribbean this high.with islands being a recurring theme in these awards, their appearance is not just indicative of a desire for uncrowded escapes, but a growing recognition of just how much variety’s there, particularly among the lesser-visited isles.the tumbling falls and walking trails of the Dominican Republic or the lush tropical forests of St Lucia offer much more than just beaches, carnivals and rum punch. It’s time they were embraced.
Lastly, Patagonia (Chile/argentina) and the jungles and orangutans of Malaysian Borneo are much discussed in these pages, but it’s been a few years since we got to enthuse about Southern India’s Kerala. Inching its tranquil backwaters on modified kettuvallam houseboats, once used to transport spices to the port at Kochi, remains one of the world’s great slow-travel adventures.we’re glad you still love it, too.