Batalha, a small town in central Portugal, is steeped in history and home to one of the country’s most magnificent monuments, the Batalha Monastery. This UNESCO World Heritage Site, also known as the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, was built to commemorate the Portuguese victory over Castile at the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. I

The Sacred Valley, located in the Andes and divided by Urubamba River, was part of the larger Inca Empire, along with Machu Picchu and the closeby town of Cusco. Tourists will see green agricultural landscapes and Spanish hamlets like Ollantaytambo and Pisac, the latter featuring a Sunday market.

Cardigan sits on the west coast of Wales, where the River Teifi reaches the wide sweep of Cardigan Bay. At the heart of town stands Cardigan Castle, where battlements and gardens overlook the Teifi. The castle’s history includes the first recorded National Eisteddfod in Wales, a cultural competition of music, poetry and performance that still inspires events across the country.

El Chaltén sits at the edge of Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina’s Patagonia region, framed by the iconic peaks of Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. Its remote location beside the Río de las Vueltas makes it a gateway to dramatic landscapes of granite spires, glacial streams and wide steppe plains.

Arikok National Park, covering nearly 20% of Aruba, is a striking showcase of the island’s rugged landscapes, cultural history, and biodiversity. Unlike the postcard image of Aruba’s white-sand beaches, Arikok reveals a wilder side, with windswept hills, desert-like terrain, and dramatic limestone cliffs meeting the sea.