Our Top-of-the-List Greatest Places in the World
With the New Year upon us, our eyes once again gaze at the art we’ve created in our World Travel Collection, wistfully reminiscing on our past international travels and planning new across-the-world trips for 2023. This vintage poster art collection of world travel art was inspired by the trips our artists have taken and those we hope to take someday soon.
The World Travel Collection has over 400 original illustrations, on-track to be the first single art collection to house a poster from every country in the world. We spent some time perusing the collection recently, gathering our best travel locations in the world.
The Most Beautiful Places in the World
Anderson Design Group’s picks of the most beautiful places in the world include locations from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. Our top choices of the best places to visit in the world include:
Jasper National Park has got to be the best travel destination in North America. Centered around Mount Columbia (the highest point in the park), and the Columbia Icefield (the largest ice field in the Rocky Mountains), this park is truly a place of wonders. The park is home to wildlife, glaciers, hot springs, rivers, waterfalls, and endless forests and mountain peaks.
The stunning Aconcagua is undoubtedly the best travel site in South America, as it is the largest mountain on the South American continent and a true sight to behold. Located in Argentina, the mighty Aconcagua stands above the rest as the tallest mountain in both the Southern and Western Hemispheres. Only the giants of the Himalayas surpass Aconcagua for height. Aconcagua began its long life as a volcano, but around ten million years ago, the gradual shift of the tectonic plates lifted the mountain away from its volcanic base and forced it even further into the sky. The mountain peak is over 22,800 feet above sea level.
In Europe, we have a soft spot for Normandy, France. Normandy is a historical region, coastline, and beautiful Northwest France district. Normandy became well known during World War II and has since become a cultural hub in France. But the region has not forgotten its history. Normandy is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 80 monuments to World War II. The best place in France is the Normandy coast, with the stunning Mont-Saint-Michel setting the stage for vintage splendor and beauty.
It is challenging to pick just one location as the best travel destination in Africa, but Kruger National Park in South Africa stands out as a truly incredible place to visit. Did you know that Kruger National Park is one of Africa's largest game reserves? Coming in at 7,500 square miles, this park is about the size of the entire nation of Israel, and Kruger National Park is also the oldest in Africa. Last but not least, Kruger National Park is a no-hunting zone, meaning the birds and animals that live in the park are protected by national law.
The best place to visit in Asia must be the Great Wall of China. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Wall of China represents a heroic feat of engineering, dedication, time, and sheer hard work. The wall is the longest manmade structure in the world, running a course of over 13,000 miles! The wall was built over hundreds of years, construction beginning 2,300 years ago and ending in the 1600s. The wall is one of the most-visited attractions in the world, with one record-breaking year bringing about 63 million visitors to the wall.
In the Middle East, perhaps no place has earned as much acclaim as the Great Pyramid of Giza. Technically located in Africa but a part of the Middle East, the Egyptian Pyramids are also one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a true sight to behold. A journey across Egypt offers an in-person look at huge monuments, pyramids, statues, and structures that are thousands of years old. Visitors enjoy unique places like the fertile Nile River Valley, including Giza's colossal Pyramids and the Great Sphinx, Luxor's hieroglyph-lined Karnak Temple, and the ancient Valley of the Kings tombs.
In Oceania, Ayers Rock stands out as a truly eye-opening natural phenomenon. A favorite destination for the outdoorsy types, Ayers Rock, also known as “Uluru” in the Native tongue, is a massive sandstone monolith in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The monolith is sacred to indigenous Australians and has been for centuries. The rock stands 1,141 feet tall and is two miles long and one mile wide. And as if that wasn’t impressive enough, most of the rock is underground!
That's just a glimpse of our favorite travel destinations in the world. The World Travel Collection has 406 (and counting) original illustrations of the most popular attractions in the world.
The Best Cities in the World
The best places to travel in the world often include cities, so we picked a city from each of the above regions to share as our favorite, best cities in the world!
North America: Vancouver, Canada. A city famous for its skyline, bridges, coastal nature, and rich, verdant Pacific Northwest setting, Vancouver, British Columbia, is worth visiting. Vancouver is home to all kinds of great attractions, places like Stanley Park, a city park even larger than New York City's Central Park! Also, about 40 percent of this city's population is comprised of immigrants, making Vancouver one of the biggest cultural melting pots in the world. On top of that, the city maintains much of its indigenous history, with Native American culture, landmarks, and art visible in many areas of the city. Vancouver is a welcoming city, one of the world's safest and most "livable" cities.
South America: Sao Paulo, Brazil. Did you know that Sao Paulo is home to 18 million people and is one of the largest cities in the world? Sao Paulo has more cars in it than Rio de Janeiro has people! The city is known for its incredible festivals, tropical climate, and art deco architectural styles. The city experienced its most significant growth boom from 1950 to 1975, hence the influence of art deco in much of the structures in the city. However, the most famous structure is a more modern one, the Octavio Frias de Oliveira bridge, a fantastic structure completed in 2008.
Europe: Berlin, Germany. Berlin is a massive city, a city-state actually, a huge metropolis where different cultures, architecture styles, businesses, art styles, colleges, and religions meet. Some believe that a piece of every corner and pocket of the world can be found in Berlin. Berlin is nine times larger than Paris, has more canals than Venice, and has a public transportation system so heavily used that the total distance traveled each day would circle the Earth more than eight times.
Africa: Cape Town, South Africa. Did you know that a breed of penguin lives on the beaches of Cape Town, South Africa? Or that Cape Town is known for having some of the best surfing in the world? Or that the world’s first successful heart transplant was performed in Cape Town? This coastal city is a must-see for any visitor to the African continent.
Asia: Kyoto, Japan. Kyoto is a truly ancient city, and for over a thousand years, the city served as the imperial capital of Japan. There are easily hundreds of Buddhist temples in Kyoto, making this city a spiritual and religious center for Japan. Kyoto is known for its festivals, artisans, traditional cuisine, and heritage sites.
Middle East: Jerusalem, Israel. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, and its roots go back to the dawn of civilization. There is evidence of settlements in the region dating back to 4500 BCE. As one can imagine, Jerusalem has a vivid history, perhaps the most contested city in the world. Jerusalem has been conquered 40 times, with Persians, Romans, Ottomans, and the British claiming possession of the city at various points in history.
Oceania: Auckland, New Zealand. Did you know that, with a population of just under 4 million yet a landmass comparable in size to Japan, New Zealand is one of the least populated countries per square mile in the world? And yet Auckland is a stunning, modern, teaming metropolis. Also, no point in the island nation is more than 74 miles away from the ocean, and the incredible mountains of the island nation are world-famous.
We could write several articles celebrating our favorite international cities, and the above are just a glimpse at our favorite cities in the world. The World Travel Collection has 406 (and counting) original illustrations of the most popular cities in the world, both old and new.
What Do You Think are the Most Beautiful Places in the World?
Where do you think we can find some of the best places to visit around the world? We’d love to hear your top picks of the best places to go in the world!
And if you need some inspiration when you’re planning your next trip to your favorite, unique places in the world, the World Travel Collection provides a stunning view into the best places on Earth, colorful, vintage-styled, original illustrations of some of the hundreds of places that make us proud to call this planet home.
Happy travels in 2023!
-Ren Brabenec
Anderson Design Group Staff Writer
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