Family adventure getaways.
Hike, paddle, climb — somewhere the kids will tell people about.
Vogogna
This photogenic village in the Val d'Ossola, Piedmont, sits at the water's edge with mountain terrain rising behind it, partly within the Val Grande National…
Pacentro
This particularly photogenic medieval village in Abruzzo's Maiella National Park, Pacentro sits a short distance from Sulmona and holds a concentration of hi…
Wallace
Photogenic pocket-sized city in Idaho's Silver Valley mining district, Wallace sits alongside the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and carries a notable…
Abondance
Abondance, a tiny Alpine village in Haute-Savoie just south of Lake Geneva, lends its name to both a regional cheese and the breed of cattle whose milk produ…
Revelstoke
This compact city in southeastern British Columbia where the Columbia River meets the Illecillewaet, Revelstoke sits at the foot of the Selkirk Mountains wit…
Aberdyfi
A photogenic Welsh village on the Dyfi estuary, Aberdyfi sits within Snowdonia National Park and draws golfers, sailors, and watersports enthusiasts to its w…
Modane
Compact town in the Maurienne Valley of Savoie, Modane sits within the Vanoise National Park close to the Italian border, with mountain scenery on all sides…
Cauterets
This spa town and ski resort in the French Pyrenees, Cauterets sits along the Gave de Pau river within the Pyrénées National Park, surrounded by mountain sce…
Kastelruth
Photogenic village in the South Tyrolean Dolomites, Kastelruth sits at around 1,000 metres elevation near the Seiser Alm alpine meadow and is a recognised me…
Belluno
A walkable town in the Veneto where the Ardo stream meets the Piave river, Belluno sits at the gateway to the Eastern Dolomites — a UNESCO-listed landscape s…
Vieste
Particularly photogenic coastal town on the Gargano peninsula in Puglia, Vieste sits within the Gargano National Park and has earned repeated Blue Flag recog…
Niort
Walkable town in western France's Deux-Sèvres department, Niort sits on the Sèvre Niortaise river and serves as the eastern gateway to the Marais Poitevin re…
Oamaru
Victorian buildings cut from fine white local limestone give Oamaru a distinctive streetscape, and the town also sits beside penguin colonies on the South Is…
Zahara de la Sierra
A white-walled Andalusian village in the Sierra de Grazalema natural park, Zahara de la Sierra sits above the Embalse de Zahara reservoir with panoramic view…
Porthmadog
This pocket-sized coastal town in Gwynedd, Wales, Porthmadog grew in the 19th century as a slate port on the Glaslyn estuary, and its surviving wharves now s…
Litochoro
The main gateway to climbing Mount Olympus, Litochoro sits at the base of Greece's highest mountain on the western shore of the Thermaic Gulf, with nearly al…
Saint-Lary-Soulan
This dual-season mountain resort village in the Hautes-Pyrénées, Saint-Lary-Soulan draws skiers in winter to its slopes at Pla d'Adet and Espiaube, and hiker…
Blanes
A beach town on the Costa Brava marking the southern gateway to that stretch of Catalan coastline, Blanes sits where mountains meet the Mediterranean, with c…
Tywyn
Home to the Talyllyn Railway and the Cadfan Stone — an early medieval cross bearing the oldest known written Welsh — this small seaside town sits on the Card…
Argegno
This tiny Lake Como village on the western shore sits where the River Telo meets the lake, and the waters just offshore mark the deepest point of any lake in…
Santa Lucia del Mela
This densely built hilltop town in Sicily's Messina province, its stone houses climbing toward a medieval fortress above tree-covered slopes, with surroundin…
Amatrice
This village in Lazio's Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, Amatrice carries a heritage-dense streetscape and an unusual concentration of churches f…
Sanok
Historic town on the San River in southeastern Poland, Sanok holds a refurbished castle, an open-air Museum of Folk Architecture, and a walkable Old Town wit…
Henningsvær
Little fishing village on several islands off the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway, Henningsvær is known for its traditional fishing architecture and a…
Capileira
High in the Sierra Nevada, Capileira is the uppermost village in the Poqueira Gorge and the highest point public traffic can reach on the road toward Mulhacé…
Děčín
Sitting at the confluence of the Elbe and Ploučnice rivers in North Bohemia, Děčín is a photogenic Czech town with a walkable centre, a castle, and a zoo, ri…
Merritt
Officially designated Canada's Country Music Capital, Merritt is a small city in British Columbia's Nicola Valley where the Nicola and Coldwater rivers meet.
Aussois
A pocket-sized ski and mountain village on the edge of the Vanoise National Park — France's first — in the Savoie department of the Alps, Aussois draws winte…
Sète
This Mediterranean port town in southern France's Hérault department, Sète is built across canals between the sea and the Étang de Thau lagoon, climbing up t…
Nafpaktos
Known in the West as Lepanto, this modest Greek town on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth was the site of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, the decisive Holy…
Norcia
Norcia, a small Umbrian town on the edge of the Monti Sibillini mountains, is widely known across Italy for its cured meats and sausages — so much so that th…
Busteni
A popular year-round mountain resort in Romania's Prahova Valley, Bușteni sits at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains and serves as the main gateway into that r…
Bardonecchia
This small mountain town in Piedmont's upper Susa Valley, Bardonecchia is a winter sports base with two ski areas — Colomion-Les Arnauds-Melezet and Jafferau…
Borkum
Germany's largest East Frisian Island by area, Borkum sits in the Wadden Sea off Lower Saxony and has built its economy almost entirely around tourism since…
Santa Maria Maggiore
This modest mountain village in Valle Vigezzo, Piedmont, Santa Maria Maggiore sits on the narrow-gauge Vigezzina railway that runs through the Italian Alps b…
Scanno
A modest Abruzzo village with a strong photographic reputation, Scanno sits beside a lake in the mountains of the L'Aquila province, partly within the bounda…
Landeck
Small Tyrolean city at the confluence of mountain rivers in Austria's Upper Inn Valley, Landeck sits at the gateway to one of the country's most tourism-inte…
Fivizzano
A little Tuscan comune in Massa-Carrara with an unusually dense cluster of churches and cafés for its size, Fivizzano sits within territory shared between tw…
Baiersbronn
Baiersbronn, a town in Germany's Black Forest, holds an outsized reputation for haute cuisine — accumulating eight Michelin stars across its restaurants, a c…
Coxen Hole
Coxen Hole is the main town and administrative capital of Roatán, Honduras's largest Bay Island, set on an ancient coral reef rising well above sea level in…
Arcidosso
This small Tuscan village on the slopes of Monte Amiata, Arcidosso draws visitors year-round with access to skiing in winter and mountain trails in summer, a…
Civita
Founded in the 15th century by Albanian refugees fleeing the Ottoman invasion, Civita is a hill village in Calabria's Pollino National Park whose Albanian-or…
Ellmau
This year-round resort village in the Wilder Kaiser mountains of Tyrol, Ellmau sits within the Ski Welt skiing area and offers hiking, mountain biking, and c…
Ornans
Birthplace of the painter Gustave Courbet, this little town in the Doubs department sits along the Loue river in the Jura massif, its house facades rising di…
Matalascañas
A coastal resort village on Spain's longest beach, Matalascañas sits at the edge of Doñana National Park in Huelva province, with fine golden sand, mobile du…
Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry
This little Basque village in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques sitting on the Nive des Aldudes river, Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry is the main gateway to the Aldudes va…
Loebau
A compact town in eastern Saxony's Upper Lusatia region, Löbau sits at the foot of the Löbauer Berg, a volcanic hill that offers scenic viewpoints over the s…
Gavarnie
This small Pyrenean hamlet in the Hautes-Pyrénées is the gateway to the Cirque de Gavarnie, a massive glacial cirque and UNESCO World Heritage Site that also…
Pescocostanzo
This photogenic village in Abruzzo's Maiella National Park, Pescocostanzo has an unusual concentration of historic churches and a pocket-sized but real café…
Pescasseroli
Mountain village in Abruzzo and the main base for the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, Pescasseroli draws visitors year-round as both a summer and wi…
Florac
This modest riverside village in the Lozère department of southern France, Florac sits at the heart of the Cévennes National Park — whose headquarters are ba…
Cromwell
Small Central Otago town on the shore of Lake Dunstan, Cromwell sits at the heart of New Zealand's Central Otago wine region and is surrounded by orchards kn…
Mazamet
Tiny town in southern France's Tarn department at the foot of the Montagne Noire massif, Mazamet sits within the Haut-Languedoc regional nature park, roughly…
Mittenwald
Violin-making has defined Mittenwald for centuries, and this small Bavarian Alpine town near the Austrian border carries that tradition alongside dramatic mo…
Gerace
This compact Calabrian hill village sits atop a vertical rock formation in the Aspromonte National Park, with views stretching to the coast and the town of L…
Coyhaique
The main city of Chilean Patagonia's Aysén Region, Coyhaique sits at the confluence of the Simpson and Coyhaique rivers, ringed by dramatic mountain scenery…
Arinsal
This tiny Andorran ski village high in the Pyrenees, Arinsal draws winter visitors with slopes suited to beginners and intermediates, and is particularly pop…
Dillenburg
Officially known as Oranienstadt Dillenburg, this Hessian town in central Germany sits on the Dill river in hilly terrain and carries a strong association wi…
Holmfirth
Best known as the filming location for the BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine, which ran from 1973 to 2010, Holmfirth is a stone-built West Yorkshire town in…
Artvin
A compact town in northeastern Turkey's mountains, Artvin sits on a hill above the Çoruh River with a centre concentrated enough for easy walking between caf…