While many well-known hotspots buckle under the pressure of overtourism, overcrowded holiday destinations are not inevitable. Other countries remain largely untouched and openly welcome visitors. Travelnews presents five destinations that promise lasting memories—far from the crowds.

Travel has become easier than ever, yet increasingly contradictory. While cities such as Barcelona, the Canary Islands, and Amsterdam struggle with growing crowds, awareness of tourism’s negative impacts is on the rise.

According to the «Travel and Sustainability Report 2025» by the booking platform Booking, 84 percent of travelers say that sustainability plays an important role in their vacation planning. Furthermore, 73 percent want their money to benefit local communities.

Those who travel off the beaten track not only relieve pressure on overcrowded destinations but also support regions that desperately need visitors. Five countries serve as examples of where conscious tourism can unleash significant potential.

1. Moldova

For a long time, Moldova was considered the least visited country in Europe. Although it recorded a noticeable increase in visitor numbers in 2025, according to «Time Out magazine» , tourism remains a key growth opportunity. After the devastation of the World Wars, infrastructure was rebuilt slowly over decades. Today, Moldova focuses on sustainable cultural tourism, wine experiences, and exploration in the capital, Chișinău. Tourism revenue helps preserve historical sites and create jobs—especially outside the capital

2. Gambia

Tourism has long been more than just a supplementary business for Gambia. Climate change and declining agricultural yields have forced the country to pursue new economic avenues. Today, community-based tourism is the focus. Travelers stay in lodges or homestays, hike through mangrove forests, or visit village communities along the Gambia River. The revenue flows directly into local businesses and secures livelihoods in regions without industrial alternatives.

3. Jordan

The geopolitical situation in the Middle East has hit Jordan’s tourism hard. Visitor numbers have plummeted, even though the country itself is considered safe. For many communities, especially along the Jordan Trail or around Petra, travelers are an essential source of income. Jordan consciously focuses on local providers, family-run accommodations, and hiking tours. Every visitor contributes to securing jobs and preserving cultural heritage.

4. Tajikistan

Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia, yet it possesses enormous natural potential. Trekking tours in the mountains or encounters with Pamir communities bring income to remote mountain regions. Tourism here is small but effective: Guided tours create opportunities for local guides, cooks, and host families – in areas that otherwise have few economic opportunities.

5. Paraguay

Paraguay is often overshadowed by its larger neighbors. Yet the country is culturally rich and ecologically diverse. The sparsely populated Chaco region, in particular, offers opportunities for sustainable tourism. Revenue from birdwatching, cultural tours, and visits to the capital, Asunción, helps to create alternative sources of income and finance the preservation of nature and traditions.

The era of one-dimensional travel is quietly ending. Modern travellers no longer like to pick a vibe and commit to it. Why choose one when you can have it all? Destinations that allow fluidity and offer meaningful immersions are clear winners. Here are top five of them.

Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

For Nature Lovers & Adventure Enthusiasts

Ras Al Khaimah lets travellers move between intensity and slowcation without changing postcode. Mornings begin high on Jebel Jais, home to the world’s longest zipline and ends in a slow brunch at 1484 by Puro, the UAE’s highest restaurant, before the descent. Afternoons can be spent taking a bird-eye view on a gyrocopter at Jazirah Aviation Club or kayaking through the Al Rams Mangroves, spotting flamingos and herons. Evenings settle along the beaches of Al Marjan Island, where resorts such as Mövenpick Resort Al Marjan Island invite long swims, spa wind-downs and open-air dining at Ula and sundowners at Neo Sky Bar with stunning view of the Arabian Gulf.

Krabi, Thailand

For Wellness Seekers & and Luxury Connoisseurs

Krabi welcomes every kind of traveller with open arms and Phulay Bay can hold its own masterclass with ease when it comes to letting guests enjoy at their ow pace. Mornings unfold with a private sunrise yoga session at the world’s first Ritz-Carlton Reserve property overlooking the Andaman Sea, followed by a long Thai herbal compress ritual at the spa, and a made-to-measure breakfast timed exactly to your internal clock, all orchestrated by a dedicated butler who anticipates rather than interrupts. Then comes the retreat inward. Villa doors close. Private pools replace agendas. Hours dissolve into reading, floating and doing nothing at all, Phulay Bay compresses opposing desires into a single address.

Doha, Qatar

For Big-Moment Lovers and Calm Collectors

Doha is perfect for modern day travellers and Hilton Salwa Beach Resort let them thrive on extremes. One half of the resort is pure kinetic energy, the Desert Falls Water & Adventure Park with its roller coasters, surf rider, wave pools and multi-slide towers, where motion never really stops. It’s built for travellers who need their daylight hours stimulated. Cross the property and the atmosphere flips completely. Standalone beachfront villas, adults-only pools, private cabanas and long, uncrowded shoreline stretches create near-total sensory withdrawal. For travellers navigating shifting internal rhythms, social one hour, solitary the next, Hilton Salwa Doha gives permission to follow the mood, not fight it.

Bali, Indonesia

For High-Energy Seekers and Slow-Travel Purists

Arrival in Bali is designed to impress. Cliff-top lawns spill toward the Indian Ocean, elevators carve through rock to reach the beach, and the scale immediately pulls your gaze outward. At Ritz Carlton Bali, sunrise walks along Sawangan Beach, open-air breakfasts overlooking surf breaks, and wide public spaces keep energy circulating. Then the tempo drops. Villas fold inward with shaded courtyards and plunge pools. The spa leans into long Balinese therapies rather than fast treatments. Dinners stretch unhurried, often barefoot, often candlelit. It’s an escape that lets momentum burn off first, then invites you to soften only when you are ready.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

For Outward Explorers and Inward Resetters

Just outside Colombo, The Wallawwa serves slow breakfasts on the beautiful veranda inside the restored manor house, surrounded by clipped lawns, frangipani shade, and an almost ceremonial quiet. Step beyond the gates and Sri Lanka arrives in full volume — tuk-tuks, temple bells, coastal drives, and air thick with spices. Day trips spill toward Negombo’s fish markets, lagoon boat rides, or heritage quarters humming with everyday life. The reset comes at dusk. You return to silence, chilled pools, garden dinners and a sense of containment that restores equilibrium. For travellers who crave immersion without surrendering serenity, The Wallawwa delivers both without dilution.

The best trips today don’t demand consistency. Because great travel isn’t about choosing a side. It’s about enjoying the contrast.

Foreign face cream and postcards sent to yourself are among the hands-on ways to preserve trip memories

Now that we all carry high-definition cameras in our pockets, it’s easier than ever to snap vacation photos. Ironically, it’s also easy to forget them there.

It’s important to find more than one way to capture your vacation memories. Not only is it nice to relive your memories, but it’s also good for you. According to research, doing so helps extend the many health benefits of travel — particularly reduced stress and increased happiness. According to Psychology Today, intentionally recalling happy memories helps disrupt negative thought patterns, lower cortisol levels and keep anxiety at bay. Reminiscing can boost optimism, combat loneliness and cement our connections with others as we age, studies find.

“Especially if you’re older, you forget details, and when you come back, you want to relive it. That’s part of it,” says Karen Gershowitz, a 74-year-old travel photographer and author of books such as Travel Mania: Stories of Wanderlust. Finding ways to share her travel experiences extends them, she says, and allows them to inspire and live on with others.

Shir Ibgui, founder and CEO of the trip planning community Globe Thrivers, agrees. “I’m a big believer that travel shouldn’t just be experienced and forgotten,” she says. “It should shape how you live, what you surround yourself with and the small joys in your daily routine.”

Here, Gershowitz, Ibgui and other dedicated travelers share the different ways they keep travel memories alive, enjoyable and tangible for years, even generations, to come.

Make a DIY souvenir

Make-and-take workshops are travel activities with built-in souvenirs. Think: silversmithing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or leather crafting in Florence, Italy.

Digital nomad Amy Poulton says that after years of collecting items that held few to no personal memories for her, she decided to learn how to make something at every destination. Among her favorite creations is the perfume she made at a famous perfumery in Nice, France, during an hour-long workshop that also taught her about the many nuances of scent composition. “Whenever I smell it, all the memories come flooding back,” she says.

Incorporate everyday items

Keep an eye out for little necessities that are easy to weave into daily routines and so make trip memories part of life at home. “I buy one meaningful local object from every destination, but something I’ll actually use,” Ibgui says. She has a soft spot for artisanal kitchen items, such as her handmade ceramic serving bowls from Istanbul and a traditional Moroccan teapot.

Lisa Pittman, a 50-year-old certified travel coach known as the Travel Docta, loves handmade jewelry and clothing, as well as toiletries found at supermarkets and pharmacies. Two favorite finds: a honey-based cream from Greece and black soap from Ghana. “Ordinary routines become small reminders of where I’ve been,” says Pittman.

Pen yourself a postcard

Dash off trip thoughts, whether an anecdote or a few disjointed observations, while you’re in the moment. The limited space takes the pressure off.

Casey Keller, who posts about her extensive travels on her blog, Wandering Everywhere, stores hers in a photo keepsake box. “A few times a year, my husband and I pull them out, look through the postcards and reread those captured moments together,” she says.

Keller used to mail them to herself, but finds that she’s not always up for finding a stamp or post office, so now she tends to slip them into her luggage. Some hotels will mail cards for you if you provide postage.

Save the sounds

The clamor of vendors in an open-air market, waves crashing against rocks, and a variety of Irish accents are all sounds Gershowitz has recorded on her phone. They transport her back to the places where she experienced them. “You can’t capture those things in writing or in photos, you know?” she says. She uses her phone’s free recording app and corrals the captured sounds into digital files named for their location.

Discover non-traditional art

Collecting artwork on your trip is a clear way to keep your memories front and center back home. However, don’t limit art to what you see in galleries and boutiques. Traditional accessories, interesting food tins, handmade home tools — literally anything that strikes you can be a treasure, whether used, framed or displayed in a place of prominence. Local thrift stores and flea markets are great places to find such nontraditional souvenirs.

Re-create the food

Enjoying local dishes and ingredients is an integral part of travel. Rather than just snapping a photo of your delicious meal, photo organizer Isabelle Dervaux, 64, recommends re-creating the culinary experience at home.

“Get a recipe book to learn more about the spices or special ingredients; try out some of the recipes and host a dinner for friends or family,” she says, noting that’s what she did after a trip to Hawai‘i. “I cooked many, many recipes with pineapple, papaya or mango from the cookbook I bought over there to feed my family after our trip, to the tune of traditional ukulele music.” It’s easy to buy what you need online, but finding ingredients at a local ethnic or specialty market when you’re back home can make for a fun trip.

Start a travel memory box

Collect tickets, receipts, coins, maps, coasters, brochures and stickers as you travel. Jot down immediate thoughts on them or any available scrap — Gershowitz likes hotel stationery, when available. At home, collect the souvenirs and noted memories in a small box, envelope or file folder to revisit each destination as you like. Other travelers — including the founder of the women-only trip-planning company Girls’ Guide to the World, Doni Belau — attach them in journals. “Your grandchildren will thank you,” she says.

Choose a visibile collection

Go with something you won’t tuck into a drawer and forget. Belau once spotted a hard-sided suitcase at baggage claim covered in destination stickers, for example. Holiday ornaments allow you to revisit your travels annually — if you don’t find one at your destination, create one from a vacation image once you’re home. You can also make it a goal to mine your phone’s camera roll for at least one choice image to print and hang within a set amount of time after your vacation. Build on your framed collection with every trip, creating an evolving visual reminder of so many happy travels.

A new eye-tracking study reveals the 10 most beautiful mountain landscapes in the world, ranking peaks that capture attention fastest and hold it the longest.

Mountains have always sparked wanderlust—but have you ever wondered why some peaks stop you mid-scroll while others barely register? A new scientific study suggests it’s not just imagination. Using advanced eye-tracking technology, researchers have identified which mountain landscapes grab human attention the quickest—and keep our eyes locked the longest. Conducted by Irish travel insurance firm JustCover, the study analysed images of 56 mountain ranges across the world. Participants viewed photographs while eye-tracking software measured how fast their gaze was drawn in and how long it lingered. These insights were combined into a weighted score to rank the planet’s most visually captivating mountains. The results show North America leading the list, with the United States featuring prominently, while Ireland emerged as an unexpected standout. From towering alpine giants to dramatic coastal cliffs, here are the top 10 most beautiful mountain landscapes in the world—according to science.

1. Canadian Rockies, Canada

Eye-Catching Score: 99.3/100

Taking the top spot with a near-perfect score, the Canadian Rockies emerged as the most visually captivating mountains globally. The view from Lake Louise—with its turquoise waters, dense forests, and snow-dusted peaks—proved especially irresistible. Participants spent more time looking at this landscape than any other in the study, accounting for 34 percent of total viewing time. Strict conservation measures across Banff and Jasper National Parks help preserve the region’s pristine beauty, making it a benchmark for natural landscapes worldwide.

2. El Capitan, United States

Eye-Catching Score: 84.9/100

Rising dramatically from Yosemite National Park, El Capitan secured second place. The sheer granite monolith is famous among elite rock climbers, but its visual appeal extends well beyond the climbing community. The Valley View area, overlooking the Merced River with El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall in frame, held viewers’ attention for over three seconds—one of the longest gaze times recorded in the study.

3. Torres del Paine, Chile

Eye-Catching Score: 83.2/100

Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park is Patagonia at its most dramatic. Towering granite spires, glacier-fed lakes, and open plains combine to create a landscape that is both raw and accessible. Viewpoints like Lake Pehoé offer high-impact views without demanding strenuous treks, making Torres del Paine one of South America’s most rewarding mountain destinations for casual travellers.

4. Slieve League, Ireland

Eye-Catching Score: 82.9/100

Europe’s highest-ranked entry, Slieve League in County Donegal, captured attention faster than any other mountain in the study—just 1.41 seconds to first fixation. These sea cliffs rise nearly 600 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, offering sweeping coastal views across Donegal Bay. On clear days, visitors can even spot Ben Bulben, another Irish peak featured in the wider rankings.

5. Errigal Mountain, Ireland

Eye-Catching Score: 75.8/100

Another Irish entry, Errigal Mountain, stands at 751 metres and is the tallest peak in the Derryveagh range. Its sharply defined cone shape makes it instantly recognisable, particularly when snow caps the summit in winter. Part of the Seven Sisters mountain group, Errigal draws hikers and photographers year-round, though quieter weekday visits offer a more peaceful experience.

6. Maroon Bells, United States

Eye-Catching Score: 75.1/100

Located near Aspen, Colorado, the Maroon Bells—Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak—are among the most photographed mountains in North America. The reflection of the twin peaks in Maroon Lake, framed by aspen forests and seasonal colour changes, makes this landscape especially compelling. Access is regulated, with shuttle reservations required during peak months to protect the area.

7. Dolomites, Italy

Eye-Catching Score: 74.7/100

Italy’s Dolomites remain one of Europe’s most recognisable mountain ranges. Views from Val di Funes, where rolling green meadows meet jagged limestone peaks, held viewers’ attention for more than 2.6 seconds on average. Rising popularity has brought crowds, but visiting outside peak summer months still delivers uninterrupted views and quieter trails.

8. Quiraing, Scotland, United Kingdom

Eye-Catching Score: 72.7/100

Part of the Trotternish Ridge on the Isle of Skye, the Quiraing is a dramatic landslip landscape defined by cliffs, pinnacles, and sweeping curves. The terrain is particularly striking at sunrise and sunset. While accessible by car, the narrow and winding approach roads mean advance planning is essential.

9. Kirkjufell, Iceland

Eye-Catching Score: 68.6/100

One of Iceland’s most photographed peaks, Kirkjufell is instantly recognisable thanks to the nearby Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall. Seasonal changes dramatically alter the landscape—from lush green summers to snow-covered winters—while the mountain’s remote location makes it a popular spot for Northern Lights sightings.

10. Mount Moran, United States

Eye-Catching Score: 68.4/100

Completing the top 10 is Mount Moran in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, best viewed from Oxbow Bend. The mountain’s reflection in the Snake River on calm days creates one of the park’s most iconic scenes. The area is also known for wildlife sightings, including moose, otters, and birds, making it a favourite among nature photographers.