Cape Town South Africa and the surrounding area that includes the Cape of Good Hope;the city itself;the wine country and whale country over in Hermanus.The people,scenery,food,wine and history make it the perfect place for me!( To me it is the meeting of Big Sur California coastline with parts of Maine in the USA for the scenery-absolutely breathtaking.)

I don't always find re-visits very enjoyable. Some places have changed too much and not always for the better.

A few exceptions: Berlin, Dresden, southern Poland, Portugal.

Barcelona, Mombassa (Kenya), China in the 80s, and Paris every time.

Peg, my favourite trip was my excursion to China--and walking three miles on the Great Wall!

We went to a Hot-Pot restaurant somewhere in Beijing. A boy at a nearby table got up and leered at us. After speaking to the boy, our guide told us that he had never seen "white" people before!

At the Beijing Zoo (we were looking at the pandas) a group of teenage boys asked if they could take a photo of me with their camera. They spoke broken English and told me that they dreamt of going to America so they were honoured to have a photo of a REAL LIVE AMERICAN!

I also met the farmer who found the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian when he was plowing his field.

That was an AMAZING TRIP!

Thin

A California road trip with 3 friends we did a whole circle tour starting in San Diego, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, San Francisco, Hwy1 and back to SD.. it was really great and was a good balance between cities and nature.

2. Sicily on my own with a side trip to Tunisia... fantastic place definitely want to go back.

3. Greece with the exception of Athens, I loved Delphi in the spring, and also touring the islands, the cheap food, and the friendly islanders... I could live in Greece and love it.

Costa Rica last February. We stayed primarily in the cooler mountain regions, like Arenal and the Monte Verde Cloud Forest. We usually go to Ireland or Great Britain when traveling abroad, but Costa Rica really opened our eyes to the possibilities of tropical environments with the glorious vegetation and incredible bird and animal life. We did not rent a car, but hired a driver to take us to the major regions and then used local taxis. Can hardly wait to go back.

They've all been special, but we keep returning to southern Africa. Can't get enough. As dutyfree said, Cape Town is spectacular. Safaris are my passion, though. It doesn't have to be expensive, either. Seeing your first elephant and lions - life-changing. And the people are incredibly nice.

But we really want to go to Argentina. It would be nice to stay in the same time zone. Hopefully Africa won't win the "vacation pool" again, but no guarantee.

Jordan - I have never been anywhere quite like it!

Like Christa, I am hooked on Africa. Trekking to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda was perhaps my most unforgettable trip. But each safari has been special-- hard to pick a favorite. I was born and raised in the heart of a city, so the peace and quiet, open skies, unbelievable (and vulnerable) wildlife, and soft-spoken, persevering people of East Africa are all a kind of miracle to me each time I visit.

I loved my trip to Sicily last year. It's tough but so worth it.

I have to agree with Pepper. Gee, does that happen often here?
Anyway, our trip to China was amazing.
The Great Wall, the Terra Cotta Warriors.
Krakow. This surprised me.
Portugal. Never stops surprising me.

Pepper. DH and I still think they hired actors to impersonate the farmer who found the Warriors! Do you really think he lurks there all day?

Leely2, what was tough about Sicily? I'm thinking of a trip there, but I have health issues. Was it physically difficult?

I'm afraid that I waited too long for China or Africa, as I may be past those destinations (too physically trying).

My favorites are much more tame:

Big Sur as mentioned above
Northern New Mexico
Grand Canyon
Lake Como
Matera, Italy
Paris
Cornwall
Yorkshire
Lake District, England


A place I didn't like but everyone else does:
Naples

tuscan, no it wasn't tough physically. I did all the driving and we got lost a LOT. That was tough. In general, I found Sicily much less polished than most of what I've seen on mainland Italy. To me that was fun and refreshing.

What didn't you like about Naples? It has been many years since my one brief visit there, but I tend to think that if you didn't like Naples, you might not like Palermo, which is a bit gritty and semi-chaotic.

South Island New Zealand.

Turkey! Loved it and would go back in a heartbeat, we went to Cesme so we could easily visit Ephesus. A wonderful week with wonderful food and wonderful people.

We took our children on a boat trip on the Sunday and were the only non-Turks on board. That alone was worth the trip! Our fellow passengers used us for language practice and chuckled at our attempts to speak Turkish.

I'm waiting for an African safari to land in my Christmas stocking. DH went on one when he was in Zimbabwe on business 20 or so years ago - I was SOOOO jealous.

He was walking out of the airport looking for a cab or a bus when a fellow passenger asked him where he was going and could he give him a lift - DH was heading to the parking lot, the other guy was headed towards a helicopter

So envious when he showed me the photos he took flying in the helicopter over Victoria Falls - FOC helicopter flight over Victoria Falls? Priceless!

tuscan - there is nothing physically demanding about safari. You go from your luxury room to the lovely dining area to a safari vehicle and vice versa. I've been on safari with people in wheelchairs - it's really not demanding at all. Don't miss it if you can swing it. OK, you can't climb Kilimanjaro or hike to the gorillas. You can do game drives. It can be prohibitively expensive, but doesn't need to be. Really - our last one was very affordable. My mom went when she was 76. She loved it!!

Some might call me a bogan, but I'd say my first trip would have to be one I remember fondly as travelling overseas was so exciting and adventurous and different. On my first trip I went to Vancouver BC, Disneyland, LA and Las Vegas!! Very cliche for an Aussie!

Tanzania has to be top of the list. I long to return, but never shall. We stayed in tented camps, and had just a wonderful time. Most strenuous thing was climbing a kopje for sundowners

Route 66 was an amazing trip, which I would do again in a heartbeat. We did it in March 2002, so it was very quiet - early in the year and tourism still down from 9-11. We met so many lovely people along the way, and saw so much of the US. I love US road trips .

My first Hurtigruten trip was wonderful too. The second one, as I had feared, was less so.

On a different level I love a week in La Palma, just because we sit back and do not a lot together.

MissGreen
Las Vegas? My DH lost 25c in one of their casinos - never again but seriously his company have held their 'world wide' sales conferences there.

I'm still waiting for an invite to join him after the work events. What can I say? I like cheesy.

Revisiting many of the sites/cities in the US. Been to France and Italy eight times, but still not enough. Probabily will not return. In 2015 we hope to go to China to visit all the sites mentioned above for my 80th BD. Richard

I've been giving this a lot of thought. Our first trip to Europe was special. I had been waiting so long to go. We flew to London, took the train across the channel and then to Rotterdam, where we took a boat down the Rhine. Got off the boat at Heidelberg and started riding trains. Wandered all over Germany and then spent a couple of days in Paris and on to Spain. It was a heavenly 30 days. As soon as we got back I said when can we go again? (These were the days when we travelled without hotel reservations. We reserved the cruise, the Ritter in Heidelberg and a Eurail pass.)

Another very special trip was an Elderhostel trip to Argentina. It was not a trip I could plan myself due to all of the transportation issues. But we saw Argentina from top to bottom and it was different from anything we have done. I highly recommend it.

Another very special one was Bordeaux (and wine area), the Dordogne and a week in Paris.

I love every place we have traveled to, but I would say that the most unique & different & off the beaten path trip we took was our last trip to China. My husband & I visited our daughter, who was working in Shanghai at the time. We spent a week in Shanghai, then the 3 of us flew to Xinjiang province, the westernmost province in China. Kashgar was amazing. We went to the bazaar, held every Sunday, for the past 1000 years. I felt like we literally stepped back in time. People came to the bazaar in wooden carts pulled by horses or donkies. The livestock market was something I have never seen before, with horses, cows, goats, sheeps, including sheep heads laying in a row on the ground. Besides the livestock market, there is a spice market, fabric, hats, clothing, you name it. Street vendors selling food (be sure to bring Cipro); you can even get your haircut sitting in a chair on the sidewalk. We visited the old town with narrow allies & took photos of the very friendly children (another stepping back in time by 1000 years moment). Unfortunately, I think I read the old town has been demolished for new constuction.

Another memorable outing on this trip was a drive up the Karakorum Highway. Very mountainous, barren & rocky. Only an occasional tree, & yurts for the inhabitants. Also, sleeping in a yurt at Heaven Lake (you wouldn't know you were in China because the scenery looks like Switzerland). And a horseback ride through the snowy mountains, & a visit to the desert, all in the same day.

Western China is very different from eastern China, it's like another country. Very little Mandarin (if any) spoken. We heard a lot of Uygur, etc. People were very friendly; one woman invited us to her home for tea but had to get her young neighbor who speaks Mandarin (my husband & daughter speak Mandarin). The only English we heard was from a group of Austrialian travelers at our hotel.