Itineraries

On the trail of the stećci: Radimlja’s carved necropolis, the layered town of Stolac and Mramorje above the Drina — the Balkans’ shared medieval stones in three stops.

Central America’s wild spine in two stops: the binational La Amistad wilderness and the Chirripó trek from cloud forest to a summit that sees both oceans.

North to south along the Barrier of Spears: Royal Natal’s Amphitheatre, Tugela Falls, the painted shelters of Giant’s Castle and Sehlabathebe across the Lesotho line.

Four stops in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng: the park, the boat-entered Phong Nha Cave, Thiên Đường’s dry immensity and Sơn Đoòng, largest cave passage on earth.

Two stops, one ancient forest: guided walks in Białowieża’s strict reserve and the Belarusian Pushcha beyond the border, among oaks older than the states around them.

Across the Gulf of Bothnia in four stops: the High Coast’s raised beaches, Skuleskogen’s crevices, the suspension bridge gateway and Kvarken’s multiplying skerries.

Around Monte Perdido: the Ordesa canyon, Gavarnie’s 1,500-metre amphitheatre and great waterfall, and the Brèche de Roland — the border gap you cross on foot.

Around Lake Fertő/Neusiedl in six stops: Rust’s storks, Purbach’s walls, the Fertőrákos quarry, Eszterháza’s Haydn rooms and Nagycenk — 120 flat km, ideally by bicycle.

Six stops in the Aggtelek and Slovak Karst: the border-crossing Baradla–Domica cave, karst trails above, and Slovakia’s aragonite and ice caves below.

Sigeric’s road from Canterbury to the Alps: Laon, Reims and Châlons, the Langres plateau, Besançon’s citadel loop, Lausanne and the Great St Bernard Pass.