The California land where no-one can liveBBC Travel - By Zack Frank Despite being located less than 130 miles from downtown Los Angeles, few Americans have heard of Carrizo Plain.
Machiavelli’s secret tunnel to fameBBC Travel - By Silvia MarchettiIt’s hard to believe that one of history’s greatest men was actually so down-to-earth. It’s hard to imagine Niccolò Machiavelli, Florence’s chancellor at the end of the 1400s, sneaking like a fugitive
An ancient oasis in China’s remote desertBBC Travel - By Eva RammelooAlthough not as widely known as the Great Wall, the karez – and its vast maze of underground tunnels – is one of China’s most recognized ancient engineering feats. The air here has a matte gold colour,
Where there are islands in the skyBBC Travel - By Zack Frank In southeastern Arizona, a unique geology has created a ‘sky island’ ecosystem – meaning you’ll find deer, bears and mountain lions in the arid, dry desert.
The secret side of the Sierra NevadasBBC Travel - By Zack Frank On the less-traversed eastern slopes of the mountain range is a complex environment of geothermal activity, volcanic forces, salt lakes, desert hills and ghost towns.
Turkey’s secret underground cityBBC Travel - By BBC's The Travel ShowThese narrow underground caves – a sanctuary against different empires throughout history – have remained hidden for centuries. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter,
An underground boat to Islamic gloryBBC Travel - By Sara Toth StubA hidden subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of the city’s enchanted past. When the geographer Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din al-Muqaddasi visited the city of Ramla on the road between Cairo
The Italian city that stood up to RomeBBC Travel - By Silvia MarchettiFaced with defeat, the ancient Norba people chose to burn their city to the ground rather than succumb to Rome. Ask any Italian, and they’ve likely never heard of ancient Norba, once a flourishing Latin
Africa’s most misunderstood country?BBC Travel - By Benjamin Zand Benjamin Zand spent a week in Sudan – a country long-ravaged by terrorism and civil war – to uncover the timeless beauty and rich humanity beneath its fraught exterior.
A town that's more British than BritainBBC Travel - By Lane Nieset More than 9,000km from the motherland, the Falkland Islands’ capital serves up everything you'd expect from a trip to England, from traditional pubs to iconic red telephone boxes.
A pure land inspired by treacheryBBC Travel - By Beth ReiberHiraizumi may well be the most important Japanese village you’ve never heard of. During the days of the samurai, Feudal Japan was like Game of Thrones in real life, with countless tales of familial betrayal
Hamilton’s forgotten CaribbeanBBC Travel - By Jonathan KnottWith a phenomenally successful hip-hop musical named after him, Alexander Hamilton’s life story has become a topic of global interest. Nevis is less well-known than other Caribbean islands – and Nevisians
A tiny forest on the tip of the worldBBC Travel - By Gideon LongEvery year, travellers visit Patagonia to marvel at its vast glaciers and huge open skies. But this miniature forest is so small, visitors are given magnifying glasses. Every year, travellers head to to
Hong Kong’s ghost islandBBC Travel - By Kate SpringerIn Hong Kong’s northeast, an oft-overlooked island is returning to life after decades of solitude. The cramped city of Hong Kong isn’t the first place you’d expect to find an abandoned island. But in quiet
The places that ‘don’t exist’BBC Travel - By Dave SeminaraExtreme traveller Kolja Spori frequents conflict zones, lonely ice roads in Siberia and unrecognized breakaway republics. Kolja Spori packs light. For a short trip, it’s nothing more than a travel jacket,
The real-life garden of Eden?BBC Travel - By Hillary RichardThe coco de mer has spawned so many legends that the tree is fabled and revered in lands far beyond the Seychelles. In 1881, General Charles Gordon (later known as Gordon of Khartoum) embarked on a long
A museum of 500,000 odditiesBBC Travel - By Ben LerwillReachable only through an arched doorway hidden in Oxford’s Natural History Museum, this treasure trove has everything from nose flutes to totem poles to shrunken heads. The 30cm-long, rolled-up scrap
The descendants of 'biblical Noah'BBC Travel - By Daniel Moritz-Rabson Living high up in Azerbaijan’s Greater Caucasus mountains, this community – with its own unique language and traditions – has survived here for centuries.
The village divided by a borderBBC Travel - By Ariel Sophia BardiWithout social media or mobile phones, estranged family members exchange recorded video messages on flash drives, sent by post. When the first tourist arrived in Turtuk, a tiny farming village nestled
The US mountains few people knowBBC Travel - By Zack Frank Between the Rockies and the Appalachian Mountains lies a dazzling region that is unbelievably overlooked.
An ancient fortress in the skyBBC Travel - By BBC's The Travel ShowFor Peru’s Chachapoyan people, the ancient city of Kuelap was more than just a settlement – it was a sacred place. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If
A stunning anomaly in the US MidwestBBC Travel - By Zack Frank The otherworldly formations of the Wildcat Hills were iconic landmarks on the long and challenging pioneer trail.
The ghost town surrounded by oceanBBC Travel - By Amanda RuggeriThe most remote of the British Isles is home to northwest Europe’s largest seabird colony, cliffs taller than the Empire State Building – and to one of the world’s eeriest ghost towns. There are few places
Oregon’ five-million-acre alien landscapeBBC Travel - By Zack Frank East of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains is an unexpected alien landscape of colourful badlands and rolling hills that extend for hundreds of miles.
An ancient world concealed undergroundBBC Travel - By Elizabeth WarkentinAn impressive underground network of tunnels and caves, curiously filled with vintage cars and forgotten World War II relics, lay forgotten under the ancient city of Naples. In cities as old as Naples,
The gold miners who work for freeBBC Travel - By Sebastian Castañeda Men flock to this brutal, lawless land – sometimes with their entire families – in search of a fortune that will give them a better life.
Hong Kong’s urban explorersBBC Travel - By Kate SpringerFrom abandoned theatres to underground mines, adrenaline junkies HK Urbex are on a mission to immortalize Hong Kong’s forgotten structures – before they’re lost forever. To some, a deserted public housing
India's Scandinavian secretBBC Travel - By Charukesi RamaduraiWhile Pondicherry is widely hailed as a slice of France in India, Tranquebar, with its rich Danish heritage, sits quietly out of the limelight. On the edge of the Bay of Bengal in South India is a town
