Everyone is looking back these days. Facebook recently released its list of the most checked-in places of 2013 and Instagram revealed the most Instagrammed locations.
This retrospective is our favourite however – National Geographic Travel’s 50 Best Travel Photos of 2013 (the featured image of an Arctic Fox is by Norbert Rosing, National Geographic).
These 10 images are chosen from National Geographic Travel’s daily photo feature, Travel 365. You can see the other 40 here.
Photograph by Kacper Kowalski, Panos Pictures: Fall colours blaze out in concentric rings from a lake in eastern Pomerania, Poland. The region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea is largely covered with farmland—and vast swaths of forest.
Photograph by Agnieszka Rayss, Anzenberger/Redux: Drinks blend with the landscape during a summer solstice midnight party in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. Marking the beginning of the season, the summer solstice is the longest day of the year, falling on June 20 or 21.
Photograph by Gabriele Forzano, Reuters: A rare snow shower falls on Rome’s Colosseum, built 2,000 years ago to host gladiator duels, battle reenactments, and other public spectacles. Today the 50,000-seat amphitheatre serves Rome in another capacity: as a major tourist attraction.
Photograph by Pronob Ghosh, National Geographic Your Shot: A Bangladeshi fisherman flings open a traditional blue net to catch tiny shrimp. His village, Gabura, is in southwestern Bangladesh and has been studied for the effects of climate change.
Photograph by LOOK/Alamy: The observation deck at the Burj Khalifa—the tallest building in the world at 2,716.5 feet—offers a panoramic view of the flat desert shores of sea-level Dubai. The building took seven years to build and holds a number of other records, including most number of stories, highest outdoor observation deck, and tallest service elevator.
Photograph by Cory Richards, National Geographic: A camp on Pumori offers a stunning view of neighboring Mount Everest, the highest peak on Earth at 29,029 feet. Before being named Mount Everest by the British in 1865, the mountain had gone by many names in many languages over the centuries. Tibetans call it Chomolungma, often translated as “mother of the universe”.
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, National Geographic: In Japan the nighttime viewing of cherry blossoms in spring, like these at Kyoto’s Hirano Shrine, is a special event. “The cherries’ only fault: the crowds that gather when they bloom,” wrote Saigyo, a 12th-century poet.
Photograph by Jonas Bendiksen, National Geographic: “Pseudo craters” mark the land surrounding Lake Mývatn in Iceland. The southern part of the lake rests on a lava flow that was emitted 2,000 years ago. The pseudo craters are continually formed as water trapped beneath the Earth’s surface turns to steam and explodes through the layer above.
Photograph by Corey Rich, Aurora: Most of the nearly five million people who visit Grand Canyon National Park each year simply take in the stunning views from the rim. The more adventurous descend the canyon and get up close to rock that dates back 1.8 billion years. Here, hikers traverse Deer Creek Trail, an overnight trip that’s one of the most popular routes in the park.
Photograph by Norbert Rosing, National Geographic: Before dawn, a brilliant full moon illuminates the snowy landscape of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, home to an arctic fox. The fox’s coat changes colour with the seasons; as the snow melts it begins to turn grayish brown.
