Meet me in..: My Favourite Travel Destinations

For a while now I've been wanting to share with you some experiences from my travels, and I thought a good place to start was to tell you about some of my favourite destinations.

I’ve been lucky enough to go on some amazing holidays over the years, but the places I’m going to share in this post are taken from my travels during my gap year (or ‘gahp yahr’) before university. I went on two different stints: the first was interrailing around Europe with one of my close friends, and the other was to Australia and New Zealand, with stopovers in Bangkok and San Francisco, also with said friend and boyfriend. 

I had some amazing experiences and saw beautiful, interesting places, so many of which I want to revisit. It was hard picking which ones to include in this post! 

With the stress of university, it’s easy to catch myself daydreaming about my travels...

Vienna, Austria

Vienna is the place I just keep thinking about, and desperately want to return to, probably the most out of all of these destinations. 

It is so historic, and has such a rich musical history, which I feel particularly drawn to. It's full of breath-taking, beautiful architecture everywhere you look. Visiting there is like stepping back in time.

We soaked up the culture, enjoying picture-perfect chocolate cake that looked almost too good to eat (almost...) and delicious coffee in the aptly-named Café Mozart in the main square, watching locals go about their everyday lives, and tourists stream in and out of the galleries. 

Vienna is amazing for art galleries and museums, and we visited many whilst we were there. We had read about a music museum, so one night we navigated our way there, only to find out we had 15 minutes to rush around before they shut. But it was fantastic, completely full of hidden gems: some of Mozart’s sheet music, Schubert’s glasses, Leonard Bernstein’s tailcoat. I kept squealing at every new amazing discovery. I’ve promised to myself to go back one day and savour it properly. 

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slovenia’s capital is like a beautiful little toy town with a modern edge. I’d never really heard of the city, but after research we found out it's actually one of the most popular interrail destinations, and upon arrival we quickly realised why. 

The town is so picturesque: cute and peaceful, clean and eco-friendly…and cheap too! 

Filled with pastel-coloured buildings and wide cobbled streets, it is surrounded by lush green hills, with Ljubljana castle perched on top of one.

A mirror-like river runs through the middle of the city centre, and there are so many individualistic, interesting bridges, each one like its own art installation, adding to the modern feel of the city.

We visited Lake Bled whilst we were there too, and this was stunning. We completed the 6km walk round the whole lake on a beautiful sunny day, rewarding ourselves with ice cream afterwards. At certain times of the year, they let people go swimming in the lake, so I must go back and try!

Queenstown, New Zealand

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, Queenstown is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. The air feels so fresh and clean, and we would spend our days climbing up the mountains for the unbelievable panoramic views. 

We visited during the winter, and the centre of Queenstown is like a ski village (you can actually ski in the area). It was bitterly cold and dark in the evenings, especially with the lack of light pollution - such a lack that, on the first night, we couldn’t even make out the spectacular views of the mountains around us, and this provided quite the awesome shock in the morning - and the cosy lights from the shops and cafes make for such a magical atmosphere. 

Queenstown has a beautiful lake - Lake Wakatipu - and one day we got lost on a walk trying to find a beach, and instead stumbled across this amazing one below, misty and moody...

We also visited Milford Sound whilst we were there, which I would recommend for a day trip. Even the drive there is so beautiful, and the scenery of the sound is unbelievable, including dramatic waterfalls, and even seals along the way! Our day-trip had to be postponed a few days due to avalanche risk, which proved for a slightly nail-biting drive winding through the mountains...

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my favourite destinations, maybe it even provided you with some travel inspiration!

With everything going on in the world at the moment, sitting at home going through all my travel photos sparked some real wanderlust. Let's hope we can all get away somewhere soon...

What are your favourite places to travel to? 


Evie x