Scotland will be in its element in 2014, when the proud nation will celebrate its Year of Homecoming, the Commonwealth Games, and the 100th anniversary of environmentalist John Muir’s death. In April, Muir’s homeland will unveil the John Muir Way, a trail that snakes 105 miles from his hometown of Dunbar, passing through gorgeous, gothic Edinburgh, the dramatic Highlands, the mythical Loch Lomond, and ending in the resort town of Helensburgh. Meanwhile, homecoming celebrations across the country will feature Highland games, art festivals, and concerts in honor of Scottish heritage for a very Gaelic 2014.
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Off the coast of Tanzania, Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous archipelago boasting wildlife, near-perfect turquoise waters that border isolated stretches of beach, and laid-back villages. On Pemba, one of a number of paradisiacal islands, a new underwater hotel room alone warrants a trip to the islands. Located 800 feet off the shore of the lush island’s northern beach is the Manta Underwater Room, owned by the Manta Resort. Partially submerged in the Indian Ocean, the room offers an above-water living area and roof deck to take in the 360-degree, all-blue view, while beneath the surface, a windowed bedroom lets you literally sleep with the fish. The immersive experience doesn’t come cheap—the double occupancy room books for $1,500 per night. If city life is more your style, the capital of Stone Town is a historical labyrinth with British architectural touches and bustling marketplaces.
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What Detroit lacks in finances it makes up for in an arts-heavy scene that isn’t letting the city’s recent bankruptcy get it down. New galleries continue to open, while mainstays like the monthly Third Thursday city-wide art exhibition and the unmatched Heidelberg Project's wildly decorated houses on the city’s eastern side still go strong. Along with the arts, Detroit is home to a new breed of microbreweries, restored film houses, and a cool new hostel replete with volunteer city “ambassadors” to show newbies around. JetBlue is getting in on the action, unveiling a direct flight between Boston and Detroit in 2014 that will connect the burgeoning city to the east coast.
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It’s prime time to check the Northern Lights off your bucket list. Pack the parka and head to Iceland’s serene Lake Myvatn, where NASA scientists predict the most spectacular Aurora Borealis display of the next decade will be visible this coming year. Stay near the show in one of the small towns around the lake that have only a few hundred residents and quaint accommodations. The electric green and blues of the Northern Lights appear above the regions snow-covered landscape between September and April—just keep your fingers crossed for a clear night.
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Visa woes, begone. Beginning the first of this year, travelers can travel from Rwanda through Kenya to Uganda by jumping through just one bureaucratic hoop: the $100 East African Tourist Visa, valid for all three countries. This means wildlife-seekers will have triple the opportunities for that perfect giraffe picture, and nature lovers will double the area they can explore around the perimeter of the vast Lake Victoria. It’s a somber year for Rwanda, marking the 20th anniversary of its brutal genocide, but the country will also be celebrating the more upbeat 10th annual Kwita Izina Festival, honoring the country’s gorillas. Visitors can honor the primates by exploring the wildlife at Nyungwe Forest National Park in Rwanda, Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, and Mount Kenya National Park, with its massive volcano peaks.
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Watch your back, London. This picturesque region of England has now racked up more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other county outside London, and it will be putting them to good use when tourists descend on the area to kick off the 2014 Tour de France in Leeds. Yorkshire also plays host to Harrogate, “the happiest place in Britain,” and Bradford, which was just named the first UNESCO City of Film. This past year, the county was dubbed Europe’s top destination at the World Travel Awards, with its magical scenery and natural parks, art displays like the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and plentiful eats.
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If Iraq was left off your possible destinations list, you may want to reconsider. In the semiautonomous capital of Kurdistan in the country’s north, Erbil is not only one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, but Iraq’s fourth largest, and it is considered peaceful and safe for visitors. Erbil was named 2014’s Capital for Arab Tourism, and for good reason. Tourism has been climbing continuously since 2007; the city is now easily accessible from European hubs like Vienna and Frankfurt, has international hotels rising from their foundations and coffee shops filled with modern Kurds, and features shopping malls offering designer brands. But that doesn’t mean shiny and new is the main attraction: the Erbil Citadel dates back 6,000 years and a long-term restoration project is preparing the ancient site for UNESCO World Heritage status.
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Trains are nice and all, but the European waterways are where it’s at in 2014, as 15 to 25 new cruises are set to sail in the coming year, holding an extra 200,000 passengers. One company alone is launching nine new ships to travel on the Rhine and Danube. Another is offering a new romantic journey between Amsterdam and Basel, with on-land German wine-tasting excursions included. In Portugal’s Douro river, new ships maneuver the narrow waterways, and Belgium and Holland are boasting canal tours. Whatever vibe, demographic, or theme you seek for your aquatic travels, you'll be bound to find it among the bounty of offerings in the coming year.
Hisham Ibrahim
What a year for Riga. Not only does January 1 mark the official entry of Latvia into the Eurozone, it also welcomes a year-long celebration of the capital, Riga, being named one of two European Capitals of Culture. Beginning in January, concerts, art exhibits, and other patriotic events will usher in the two milestones. Don’t miss the “Chain of Booklovers,” in which tens of thousands of Latvians will line up hand-in-hand to pass hundreds of books down a distance of nearly two miles in Riga. Equally promising: the World Choir Games, considered a singer’s Olympics. In recent years, Riga, the largest city in the Baltic States, has experienced a renaissance of sorts, with cool coffee shops, colorful art nouveau buildings, and tasty, modern restaurants adorning the up-and-coming European destination.
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South Africa lost an important part of its history this year with the death of anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. Pay tribute to the influential leader on the 20th anniversary of the country’s democratic elections with a visit to his city, Cape Town. The city has also been named the 2014 World Design Capital, and a struggling currency means deals can be had for curious visitors. This coming year will find Cape Town undergoing a facelift, with energy focused on former industrial areas, sustainability, and a way to mend the city’s notorious wealth imbalance in the poverty-stricken townships. Madiba would approve.
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On June 28, 2014, exactly 100 years will have passed since Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo, setting off the First World War, and just over 20 years since a brutal war killed 100,000 people in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the early ‘90s. The latter conflict destroyed two million books in the National LIbrary, which is set to reopen this year on the anniversary of Ferdinand’s assassination. In the aftermath of a century marred by violence, locals have been working to rebuild the area’s pre-war inclusive and diverse society and to restore damaged buildings to shiny modernity. The culture-rich city isn’t the only attraction: hiking trails lead to a 322-foot-tall waterfall and mountaineering on the city’s outskirts and are becoming increasingly trafficked by tourists.
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