‘It’s nature at its purest – distant, quiet and rejuvenating’: readers’ favorite wild locations in Europe | Travel

Into a Finnish labyrinth

One of probably the most magical locations I’ve been is Lake Saimaa in japanese Finland – an enormous labyrinth of islands and tranquil forests the place you don’t come throughout many individuals. We rented a lakeside cabin (sometimes they price from about €100 an evening, sleeping two) and watched the midnight solar shimmer throughout peaceable waters. Days have been spent kayaking between uninhabited islets or mountaineering pine-scented trails, with solely the decision of black-throated divers (or loons) for firm. We visited the Linnansaari national park on an archipelago in the course of the huge lake (the biggest in Finland and fourth largest freshwater lake in Europe), the place encounters with uncommon Saimaa ringed seals await. It’s nature’s embrace at its purest – distant, quiet and completely rejuvenating.
Anthony

Canyons and forests in Montenegro

Last autumn, I visited Durmitor national park in northern Montenegro, a quiet and exquisite place within the Dinaric Alps. The street there handed by way of thick pine forests and opened on to large valleys surrounded by tall, rocky mountains. I walked to the Black Lake (Crno Jezero), the place the water was so nonetheless it completely mirrored the autumn colors of the timber. In the hills, shepherds taken care of their sheep, and small villages bought recent cheese and honey. I additionally gazed down into Tara River Canyon, which is amongst Europe’s deepest gorges; proper on the backside, a number of thousand ft beneath me, I might see the intense turquoise ribbon of the river.
Lorna Walkden

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Guardian Travel readers’ ideas

Every week we ask our readers for suggestions from their travels. A choice of ideas will probably be featured on-line and should seem in print. To enter the newest competitors go to the readers’ ideas homepage

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Cycling by way of the Bosnian countryside

My companion and I cycled the Ćiro path in Bosnia Herzegovina. We picked up the trail in Ivanica and adopted it for greater than 80 miles to Mostar. It follows the route of the Dubrovnik to Mostar railway line, which closed within the Nineteen Seventies, and has quite a lot of spooky, bat-filled tunnels. We barely met one other particular person on the route. One evening we camped in a single day in a pub beer backyard as a result of we have been fearful about mines. Stunning surroundings, spooky historical past, and we noticed tortoises on the path.
Anna Fenton

Pyrenean hideaway, Spain

If there was ever a jaw-dropping option to enter Spain it needs to be over the peaks of the Pyrenees to the village of Ochagavía in Navarre. Nestled within the valley of Salazar, its cobbled streets and whitewashed properties are surrounded by rivers, forests and peaks the place walkers mingle with birds of prey, chamois, marmots and an occasional hermit. When civilisation and replenishment are wanted, Sidrería Kixkia, a restaurant in Ochagavía, will fill your very grateful tank with native cider and a really meaty menu.
Liz Owen Hernandez

Remote islands off northern Germany

We stayed on the charming seaside resort of Cuxhaven in Germany and took the horse-drawn carriage over mud flats to go to the tidal island Neuwerk with its extraordinary 700-year-old lighthouse. I’d additionally advocate a ferry journey past Neuwerk to unimaginable Heligoland island to see the 47-metre-high Lange Anna sea stack and the big gannet colony. You can see the craters left by the British in 1947 when the occupying authorities determined to blow up the remaining German navy installations on the island in a single large explosion, having already bombed the island severely in 1945. Yet the tiny island with its purple cliffs and grassy plateau survived by some means, and is now house to greater than 1,000 individuals.
Sue Kyson

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Kayaking between icebergs, Iceland

Starting in Reykjavík, with my 15-year-old, I took a rental automotive for a street journey, staying in small motels and hostels on the way in which. We went kayaking between icebergs within the Jökulsárlón lagoon, snowmobiling and ice-climbing on the Sólheimajökull glacier and whale-watching close to Húsavík. We have been amazed to see the molten lava on the Reykjanes peninsula, in addition to the interactive volcano museum close to Vik. Highlights for my teen included taking a ferry to the island of Grímsey to snorkel with puffins whereas they have been diving for fish.
Karen Guenzl

Brittany’s quiet facet

Tucked away in western Morbihan, an hour from Vannes and the Breton coast, Inguiniel is a quiet nook of Brittany, the place rolling hills and forests invite you to decelerate. We stayed at picture-perfect Camping Pont Calleck, which was excellent as a strolling and biking base. From there we cycled to Le Faouët, a city with a fairly sq., a Sixteenth-century market corridor, and placing gothic chapels. As night fell, our trip took us alongside the River Scorff previous weirs and watermills and finally to a quiet auberge for a conventional Breton meal.
Kevin Atkins

Winning tip: bathed in fixed daylight, Norway’s Svalbard

The Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard (which was once referred to as Spitzbergen) in summer season is bathed in fixed daylight as a result of it’s completely inside the Arctic Circle. Dog sledding on wheels is an effective way to expertise this distant panorama, guiding your groups of keen huskies over the tundra, previous mountains necklaced with puffy Arctic cottongrass flowers. Boat journeys, passing close to the city of Barentsburg, the inhabitants of that are largely Russian, permit closeup views of slumbering walruses, minke whales and dozens of seals. Nearby, big cliffs at Alkhornet are the breeding floor for 1000’s of birds, and beneath the nests, arctic foxes wait patiently for his or her subsequent meal. Afterwards, rent a floating sauna cabin, leaping into the ocean to chill off.
Caroline