The Best Travel Photos We’ve Ever Taken

This past Christmas, my family decided to ditch the snow for sand and jet off to St. Kitts. It wasn't hard to settle into island life, kicking back at low-key beach clubs and taking scenic drives around lush volcanoes, the Caribbean's calm turquoise waters, and the Atlantic's rolling waves. But that's not to say it was all brain-off vacation time. One day, we hopped a ferry to Nevis, St. Kitts' smaller, wilder sister isle, to tour the historic plantations (Nisbet and Montpelier are stunning), sip a seriously strong Killer Bee rum cocktail at Sunshine's beach bar, and even sneak into (and get chased off of) the ultra-luxe Four Seasons Resort. I'd say the trip was a success.

— Chelsea Bengier, Editorial Assistant

All my favorite photographs I’ve taken are in the woods. Some of the greatest experiences I remembered to document were skiing at Sugarbush Mountain in the Mad River Valley and hiking around my hometown during one of the best leaf-peeping seasons ever in the Hudson Valley. The absolute best was cliff jumping and exploring the deep, emerald pools of Bash Bish Falls, right on the border of Massachusetts and New York. The falls are beautiful to visit in winter, but even better on a hot summer day. The water is so cold and so clear – you can see straight to the bottom!

— Lauren Dishinger, Associate Photo Editor

In college I spent a whirlwind four months studying abroad with Semester at Sea. During that time, I was lucky enough to visit and study in (yes, we actually studied) 16 different countries across Europe, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean – taking thousands of photos all the while. Some of my favorites include the colorful mosques, markets, and villages in Casablanca and Marrakech, Morocco, and the ambling countryside that accompanies the Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk, just a quick DART ride out of Dublin, Ireland.

— Chelsea Stuart, Writer

Cambodia holds a special place in my heart. I trekked through most of the temples – six months pregnant and hot AF – on a spiritual high. Witnessing Angkor Wat sunrise to sunset is truly a life changing adventure. I played hide and seek with barefoot local children, touched the consuming vines, smelled incense in the air, and sensed the ancient all around just during the shift of light.

— April Ellis, Senior Photo Editor

Morocco is such a beautiful place, it’s almost impossible to take a bad photo there. While on vacation there last year, I took these photos during a camping trip in the Sahara Desert. We woke up early to watch the sunrise over the dunes, catching the “golden hour” when everything seems to glow. Looking at these photos always takes me back to the surreal experience of sleeping in the desert and seeing nothing but sand for miles and miles, it was definitely a highlight of the trip!

— Gretchen Moosbrugger, Photo Editor

See More Sahara Desert Photos

Hiking Kauai’s Kalalau Trail (top left) was an experience I’ll never forget—mostly because of this jaw-dropping view of the Na Pali Coast. (And yes, the water really was that blue.) Last November, I found myself in South Africa, and I’ve never known such gale-force winds as I found in Cape Town. From this overlook (top right) near Camps Bay, I watched clouds pour over the Twelve Apostles ridgeline like a blanket and waves being blown completely backwards. And my heart still jumps into my throat every time I look at the third shot. Going on my first safari in South Africa’s Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve changed my life, and this moment, captured right before a pride of lionesses stalked by my vehicle and went in for a kill, is something I know I’ll never see again with fresh eyes.

— Lindsey Olander, Editor

My mother is Italian, and Italy holds a special place in my heart. Every year, I take my boys to Tuscany and we always discover something new (besides gelato flavors). Last summer, it was Populonia, a gorgeous hilltop village known for its Etruscan remains and fortress. My boys ran around for hours pretending they were knights, while I played the Queen, of course. Brooklyn is my home, but when the weekend comes I like to pretend I'm a tourist. One of my favorite recent discoveries is the contemporary art center, Pioneer Works, in Red Hook. It has an amazing garden with live music during the summer months, drinks and this old-school RV that my boys love to play in. If you come early enough, you can have the space all to yourself.

— Clara Sedlak, Executive Editor

I went to Costa Rica last January and couldn’t get over how beautiful the beaches were. In fact, every afternoon I’d take a long walk down Jaco Beach, a popular surfing destination on the country’s central Pacific coast, and snap photos of the wildlife, the seashells, and yes, the swells. I’ve never been one for wildlife/nature photography, but the country’s abundance of natural scenery really blew me away!

— Siobhan Reid, Writer

Travel photography is hard because most everything has been photographed before – there are millions (maybe billions) of photos that look just like yours. Good travel photos happen when instead of touring a place, you experience it. It’d go to follow that the best photos aren’t of landmarks, but of everyday rhythms. Even better if a photo shares a unique window into how you’ve experienced those everyday rhythms. I shot the first image on a whim while on a road trip. Florida looks so plastic/constructed sometimes, and it sort of is – most of the trees, etc there have been carefully chosen and imported and planted. I wanted to make a picture about how odd it felt to me. I shot the second image while stopping for gas. Florida is just dead at night, and to me that’s fascinating. It’s a mundane thing, a gas station, but there’s a certain magic about the mundane when you travel – everything is new, down to the plants around the gas pumps, and there’s an ecstasy in noticing.

— Rebecca Enis, Photo Editor Intern