BootsnAll Travel Community

Nikko, Japan
A two-hour train ride north of Tokyo, this is a world heritage site. Beautifully colourful temples, quaint town, huge cedar trees.

This place is a wonderful escape from the bustle of Tokyo! Stay overnight in one of the pensions - many of them have ofuro (Japanese bath) or onsen (hot spring) which you can reserve for yourself and friends - great for thsoe who are squeamish about getting naked in front of strangers. Also good if you want to bathe as a couple.

If you do want the full onsen experience, the Nikko Municipal Onsen is wonderful! Lots of different baths including one outdoor one whic is lovely.

Everything pretty much closes down after 5:00 in this town, so eat early! Stay a couple of days and hike the many trails or go another hour north to Lake Chuzenji. You go up 26 hairpin turns to get there (and down 26 more on the way back) and you can see monkeys in the forest by the road.

Liz

Ollyantaytambo
Peru

Say that 3 times...I went there last summer, twice. Once on a day trip, the second time to start my Inca Trail trip.

Ollyantaytambo is an Incan ruin in the Sacred Valley, near the Urubamba River. It is a huge impressive terraced structure. To the Incas, it was a sacred temple. Climb all the way up the stairs to the temple area. From high above the village, you can see the mountain across the way, which has Incan structures built into the mountainside! And look around -- you are surrounded by lush green mountains, and snow capped mountains in the distance.

Oaxaca
Mexico

Beautiful colonial city in Southern Mexico. Great architecture, museums, artesanias, and worth visiting for the food alone.

Atlas Wisconsin- a small town (but still twice the size of my hometown) in the middle of the only "dry" township in the county of Polk.
My second cousin owns a farm near that town which use to belong to my great great grandfather.

S should be easy enough.

San Sebastian

a beach in northern Spain, couldnt go there but I visited another little villas in Spain, plus my grandpa hometown

maybe next time

Gabriela

Yunguyo
Peru

It's a Peruvian border town..the border town that you go through to get to Copacabana, Bolivia. Also mentioned in the customs thread. I got ripped off by a money changer there, who gave me a fake 50 Boliviano note, which I tried to act ignorant and pass of quite a few times...

Oranjestad, Aruba -- just wanted to use some Dutch here.

Oranjestad is the capital of Aruba, one of six Dutch possessions in the Caribbean. The others are Curacao, Bonaire, St Maarten, St Eustatius and Saba. I've been to all except the last two, which is a shame because Saba is the most beautiful. Photo of Saba below, taken by me from my Navy plane (co-pilot was flying, don't worry):

Dinant
Belgium

Small town that a lot of people probably haven't heard of. I went there because I saw a picture of the Citadel and the Notre Dame Cathedral. I was in Belgium, seeking out Citadels (strange mission, I know).

Cute little town. I walked along the Meuse River for a bit, wandered about, saw the Notre Dame Cathedral towering high above the surrounding buildings, with the citadel perched atop a cliff. Was a pity though, as the citadel was closed.

KOH tAO (Ko meaning island I think) I think its the prettiest island in the gulf of Thailand. And the snorkelling is just awesome!!

Orang"e" County Florida

Home to Orlando and Kissimee/St Cloud and home to Mickey Mouse and friends. Orlando is growing ridiculously large and over populated. I would never want to live there but it is the perfect distance from my house. About a 45 minute straight shot on I-4 will get me to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. Who doesn't want to go to Disney World all the time? Ok, I must be honest, I have lived here for 14 years and been to Disney once!

Lets go with the "E" since Y is running low on destinations

Escondido-
Home of my late Grandmother. It is a strange town. .5 fancy and .5 rural. It has farms and large uninhabitied hills next to fancy spas and shopping centers. Near to San Diego I believe the town is mostly made up of older folks. She moved there because she liked the hot climate and how euculyptis trees grew everywhere.

How about a 'D'

Dresden, Germany

(I'm just following Prisa's wishes)

Just a few hours south of where I lived in Berlin, yet I only visited twice. What wasn't destroyed in WW2 is beautiful, but my greatest experience there was meeting the grandmother of my host-mother. She was over 90 years old and had lived through the firebombing of Dresden and told us all about it. It was amazing and intense. Over 500,000 civilians died there, Dresden had no military significance and the war was pretty much already over at that point. There's nothing like hearing a first hand account of something like that.

how about bad Nauheimgermany, its the little town outside of frankfurt where i stayed with my friends in there military housing. its really a charming little town. lots of fountains, and some great ice cream places

Moab, Utah

A really fun town. Very low-key, mellow, interesting locals, but during the summer months it probably doubles in size. It has canyoneering outfits, mountain-biking outfits (biking on the slickrock), rafting outfits (raft the CO river, which goes through it!), Arches National Park is 5 miles to the north, Canyonlands is to the north and south, the La Sal Mountains are 20 minutes away, it's just FUN. It has its touristy aspects, but by and large one feels somewhat away from civilization. At least that's how I felt!

Big Sur, Californian

Where mountains crash into the sea with vales of redwoods inbetween.

Wroclaw, fka Breslau in SW Poland. A city of nearly a million people, with a fantastic market square, old universities and churches, and direct flights from London Stansted for £6 plus tax

Unter Der Linden, Berlin, is the main street running east of Brandenburger Gate. It has seen a lot of change in its days, and is now becoming trendy. The first sign that I saw on the other side of the Gate was a Starbucks.

Novosibirsk, Russia

Surprisingly pleasant city in Siberia (I think it's the largest one?). I spent a month there attempting to study Russian at the university, planted outside the city in the middle of the taiga by Stalin's architects. Maybe not the most interesting place to visit in Siberia, but certainly a nice place to live for a while (in summer).

Kearney, Nebraska

Well, I stayed there one night en route to CO/UT; the town itself is basically nothing (I just holed up in the hotel!!), but very nearby you start driving along the Platte River, and it's quite pretty.

Lynn

Yosemite National Park, California, USA

An extraordinarily beautiful area that would benefit from increased protection/conservation/tourism management.

(P.S. Prisa: weird. Earlier in this thread, I saw that "e" and thought Escondido as well.)