It’s easy to overlook our home continent’s connections with the wild world. Rapid urban development and high population densities have left very little room for nature to thrive. But between the skyscrapers and dual carriageways lie some of Earth’s most impressive feats of engineering – gorges carved by vividly blue rivers; mountain peaks slicing through clouds; rocks with the power to “grow”.
Arctic mountain ranges along the northern coast of Norway are – in my mind – a worthy match for the iconic towers of Chile’s Torres del Paine. Although smaller in scale, Iceland’s waterfalls trump Iguazu and Victoria Falls for the sense of isolation. Even the soaring dunes of the 85-million-year-old Namib have a rival in Sardinia; the windswept, abandoned mining settlement of Piscinas has become a cherished under-the-radar spot on an island I’ve been visiting since childhood.
Wilderness areas may be more compact in Europe compared to other continents, but that does have one major advantage: with shorter distances to travel, seeing every one of our recommended wild wonders should be doable in a lifetime.
Camargue Wetlands, France
Out at sea, white horses are a maritime metaphor for angry, frothing waves. But in the glassy waters of the western Mediterranean’s largest river delta, the animals embody a powerful sense of calm. Born black, these salt-stained equines flourish in the briny marshlands of the Camargue Wetlands, where two rivers spill into the sea.
At any time of day, sunset colours flood the area: steppes are carpeted by a haze of purple lavender and algae dye a patchwork of salt flats pink. Similarly sugary hues coat the wings of greater flamingos, one of 400 bird species recorded in the region. But the real stars are a breed of wild bull herded by local gardian cowboys.
How to do it
Wildlife Worldwide offers a four-day White Horses of the Camargue escorted photography tour, departing Sept 10, from £2,295pp. Includes B&B accommodation and guiding. Flights extra.
Aldeyjarfoss, Iceland
In a nation overflowing with waterfalls, it’s hard to gush about a standout winner. The majesty of Gullfoss is undeniable and the power of Dettifoss unsurpassable, but there’s something special about wandering right up to the barrier-free edge of Aldeyjarfoss, a plunging torrent miles away from any souvenir shops.
Guided by my drone, I followed the roaring sound to find this remote spot in the northern Baroardalur Valley, hidden from view at ground level. Here, icy water flows from Europe’s largest glacier into an amphitheatre of slender basalt columns formed by a volcanic eruption 9,000 years ago. Perfect as a box of matchsticks, the mineral-streaked tubes glow crimson when struck by the sun.
How to do it
Discover the World offers a seven-night self-drive Northern Highlights tour from £1,405pp. Includes B&B accommodation and car hire. Flights extra. Various departures May-September.
Segla and Hesten, Senja, Norway
Norway’s second-largest island is a fantasy land shaped by tales of magic and folklore. When I first visited more than a decade ago, the island proudly held a place in the Guinness Book of Records for having the world’s largest troll. The ghoulish structure has since burned down but myths of monsters lurking in shadows still burn brightly.
Hike the two-hour trail to reach sail-shaped peak Segla, or summit neighbouring Heston for the perfect view of the granite spinnaker and a coastline seemingly set adrift in a dark void.
How to do it
Inn Travel offers a self-guided seven-night Hike Senja tour from £2,428pp. Includes half-board accommodation and car hire. Flights extra. Various departures May-September.
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
New research suggests it took 5.5 million years to craft the hexagonal building blocks of the Antrim peninsula’s ancient Lego set – eight million years less than previously predicted. With 40,000 interlocking pieces to assemble, that’s an impressive feat.
Formed when molten lava flooded a valley, eventually cooling and fracturing into perfectly symmetrical pillars, the Unesco World Heritage Site now attracts more than a million tourists a year. A tenth of that number visit Fingal’s Cave across the water in Staffa, Scotland – a marvel created by the same volcanic event.
Legends suggest a causeway once linked the two nations, creating a battleground for two rival giants. Irish warrior Finn McCool gained the upper hand by posing as an enormous baby, proof this has and always will be a place associated with child’s play.
How to do it
McKinlay Kidd offers a five-night Car Free Belfast & the Causeway Coast holiday from £1,450pp. Includes half-board accommodation. Various departures year-round.
Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Gushing with more cascades, grottoes and scenic pathways than a Renaissance pleasure garden, Croatia’s oldest national park is a masterpiece. Boardwalks and hiking trails wind through a watery mosaic fed by more than 90 waterfalls in an area the size of Amsterdam.
Although the otherworldly hues of its 16 lakes might suggest otherwise, there’s nothing artificial about this series of natural terraces formed from limestone tufa, a type of light, porous rock. Caves and pits harbour a collection of strange creatures, such as snails with transparent shells, blind beetles, and salamanders able to go for 10 years without a meal. Fluctuating colours, shifting water flows and aggressive algae growth mean the landscape is an ever-evolving work of art.
How to do it
Walks Worldwide offers a seven-night Hiking Croatia tour from £2,449pp. Includes B&B accommodation and flights. Various departures May-October.
Honey buzzard migration, Straits of Gibraltar
Jet planes aren’t the only high-flyers sensitive to extreme weather conditions. While storms can cause delays for international airlines, strong winds also force feathered travellers to pause plans.
Twice a year, European honey buzzards shift between their northern breeding grounds and equatorial Africa, a route requiring a crossing between two continents. Warm, sunny conditions create sufficient thermals for birds to glide across the narrow 8.9-mile gap at the Strait of Gibraltar. Waiting for fierce winds to subside, the raptors fly in synchronised kettles amassing several hundred individuals. Head to the coastal town of Tarifa either from April to May or August to September to witness their take-offs.
How to do it
Nature Trek offers a seven-day Strait of Gibraltar – Honey Buzzard Migration tour, departing May 2, 2027, from £1,995pp. Includes all meals, accommodation, guiding and flights.
Dune de Piscinas, Sardinia, Italy
Not every beach in Sardinia has a reputation for glitz and glamour. Far from the billionaire yachts of Porto Cervo, the remote Dune de Piscinas on the western Costa Verde shines with a different kind of precious metal. Iron residues from an abandoned mining industry have stained streams rust-red and other remnants can be found scattered across the sand.
The debris enhances rather than diminishes the area’s appeal. A 19th-century warehouse has been converted into the five-star Le Dune Piscinas hotel, offering guided e-bike or quad tours to explore the windswept coast. Towering up to 100m tall, shifting dunes form a buffer against storms and provide shelter for nesting loggerhead turtles and endemic Sardinian red deer.
How to do it
A two-night B&B stay at Le Dune Piscinas costs from £693pp, based on two sharing. Return flights from London Gatwick to Cagliari Airport with British Airways cost from £128pp.
Allalinhorn, Switzerland
No-one forgets their first 4,000m (13,123ft) summit; I certainly didn’t. One of the easiest high-altitude Alpine peaks to tackle, Allalinhorn is no less impressive than its neighbours. Although safely roped up with crampons and a helmet for the chilly climb, a final near-vertical scree scramble still brought me out in a sweat.
Aside from a sense of self-achievement, the scenery – ranges rising and falling like the crests of waves – is a reward for frayed nerves and burning blisters. Most of the ascent can be done via the Metro Alpin, the world’s highest underground funicular, making it possible to do the full trip within a few hours.
How to do it
Inghams offers three nights at the Revier Mountain Lodge in Saas-Fee from £840pp, including flights. Explore-share offers a full-day guided ascent for beginners from £444pp.
Les Minquiers, Jersey
Around 30 per cent of our planet can be described as terra firma. But some significant stretches emerge and vanish with the ebb and flow of tides. One of those ephemeral beauties, Les Minquiers, temporarily forms part of the Channel Islands, exposing a swirl of sandbanks, reefs and lagoons fully visible for only a few hours a day.
Travel by boat to stroll across the disappearing landscape, declared a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance due to its ecological value. A key breeding site for seabirds, it’s also a habitat for Atlantic grey seals and bottlenose dolphins. But not every spectacle is natural. The shape-shifting archipelago’s largest permanent island, Maîtresse Île, has a handful of fisherman’s huts and a tiny public toilet named the southernmost building in the British Isles.
How to do it
Jersey Seafaris offer day trips from Jersey from £72.99pp.
The High Coast, Sweden
It’s hard to count the number of islands and islets dotting the Gulf of Bothnia. New territories constantly emerge as the land rises almost 9mm per year. Once compressed by giant ice sheets, the Earth’s crust has bounced back like a foam mattress and scientists estimate it’ll be possible to walk across to Finland within 2,500 years.
One of the best ways to take it in is along the 81-mile High Coast Trail, which runs through the boulder fields, deep gorges and old-growth forests of Skuleskogen National Park. Or rise to the challenge, like I did, by attempting one of four Via Ferrata courses on Skuleberget mountain. Below, sheets of shimmering blue wrap emerald mounds that could one day become mountains – a reminder of the power that lies below our feet.
How to do it
Nature Travels offers a five-day hiking trip from £735pp. Includes all meals and shared cabin accommodation. Flights and transfers extra. Various departure May-September.
Wistman’s Wood, Dartmoor, UK
Tales of feral hunting dogs haunted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on a walk through one of Britain’s oldest woodlands, inspiring his classic tale The Hound of the Baskervilles. But it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to detect the area’s beauty.
In a site once serving as a sanctuary for Celtic druids, contorted dwarf oaks still twist and coil to form dark tunnels above a jumble of moss-covered boulders. Rare lichens complete the scene, dangling like abandoned cobwebs from trees estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Guaranteed to spark nightmares, hiking through Wistman’s Wood is unadvisable after dark. But on misty mornings the sight is spellbinding – enough to fire the imagination, or even inspire a novel.
How to do it
Stay nearby at Bovey Castle hotel, where B&B doubles cost from £284 per night.
The Trovants of Costesti, Romania
Rainwater feeds all living organisms on our planet and, apparently, even has the power to animate rocks. In central Romania, rare geological and mineral conditions are responsible for a collection of “living stones”, which expand after heavy downpours – a result of calcium carbonate seeping into their porous shell and reacting with minerals inside.
Sitting somewhere between a Botero and Henry Moore sculpture, the strange shapes were once thought to be dinosaur eggs or alien handicrafts. Odder still is their ability to replicate when bulbous nodules break off. It’s the geological equivalent of a mogwai – thankfully with none of the Gremlin activity to match.
How to do it
Regent Holidays offers a 10-day Romania Fly-Drive trip, from £1,695pp. Includes B&B accommodation, car hire and flights.
Lake Leitisvatn, Faroe Islands
From certain angles, Lake Leitisvatn’s shoreline appears to match the rock wall on which it sits, making it look as if the water is suspended high in the air. The optical illusion gained notoriety on social media only a decade ago, but the Faroese have always associated the area with strange happenings.
Perhaps it’s because this natural infinity pool has a past far darker than its murky depths. In the 9th century, Norse Vikings used the southern edge of Vagar island’s largest lake to dispose of slaves. The sheer drop of the Traelanipa cliff face remains a place of phantasms.
The trailhead for the gentle hike starts from the village of Miovagur, just a five-minute drive from the airport. Continue to the Bosdalafossur waterfall, where freshwater plummets into the Atlantic below.
How to do it
Intrepid Travel offers a five-day Explore Faroe Islands escorted tour, departing Sept 22, 2026, costs from £2,156pp. Includes some meals. Flights extra.
Meteora, Greece
In the 14th century, Eastern Orthodox monks sought refuge at the top of several sandstone stacks soaring from central Greece’s Thessalian plain. Back then, they used rope ladders to reach the summits and received supplies using nets attached to manual winches and pulleys.
Solid steps have since replaced flimsy rungs, but reaching the six active monasteries still requires dedication to a higher purpose. Several walking paths connect the pillars, passing dwellings tucked into crevices and hermit caves. Once at the top, views of the surrounding spires will rouse spirits, especially at sunrise or sunset when pinnacles burn red.
How to do it
Original Travel offers a seven-day Sacred Monasteries and Mountain Landscapes tour from £2,500pp. Includes B&B accommodation, car hire and flights.
Verdon Gorge, France
A golden star dangles between two limestone cliffs above the village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie in Provence. Although its origins remain a mystery, it’s become a beacon of hope for adventurers entering the Verdon Gorge, Europe’s grandest canyon.
Sparkling with a mixture of minerals and micro-algae, a turquoise ribbon of water winds through the deep gorge largely unexplored until the early 20th century. Kayak, paddleboard or motorboat along the river, or take a hiking detour on the Imbut trail to discover the Styx – a secret sub-canyon with an inviting pool of water named after the Greek mythological boundary between the living and dead.
Sightings of rare griffon vultures paint a merry rather than macabre picture. Reintroduced in 1999, the species is flourishing again.
How to do it
Much Better Adventures offers a four-night Packraft the Verdon Gorge escorted trip from £1,326pp. Includes accommodation and some meals. Flights extra. Various departures April-October.