Along the banks of the Moselle River, Cochem is a charming village known for Reichsburg castle as well as its old town, with its half-timbered houses.

As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Stone Town boasts narrow, winding streets lined with towering stone buildings adorned with beautifully carved wooden doors, reflecting its rich history as a major trading hub.

Alter do Chão is a riverside village in the Brazilian state of Pará, on the banks of the clear Tapajós River. Though part of the larger municipality of Santarém, Alter do Chão has its own rhythm and identity, known far beyond Brazil for the white-sand beaches that appear when river levels drop between July and December. One of the most famous spots is Ilha do Amor (Love Island), a sandbar just off the village shore that feels almost like a hidden world of warm water and bright sky.

Stewart Island, known in Māori as Rakiura, lies off the southern coast of New Zealand and is the country’s third-largest island.

Yala National Park sprawls across Sri Lanka’s southeast, where dry plains meet lagoons and the Indian Ocean’s shoreline. It is one of the country’s oldest protected areas, first set aside as a wildlife reserve in 1900 and later declared a national park in 1938, and today invites travelers to see life thrive in a wide range of landscapes, from scrubland to sandy beaches.