CAPTIVATING PLACES CAPSTONES : TRAVEL 2023. {1}

 

Travel's rebound has revealed the depth of our drive to explore the world. What do we seek? Food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? This year's list has all those elements and more.

1 .- Kilmartin Glen Scotland

A misty Scottish Stonehenge, with all of the mystery and far fewer visitors. 

The sun rises over Kilmartin Glen as it has for thousands of years, illuminating an ancient landscape more than 800 archaeological monuments sprouting in the mist. The verdant valley on Scotland's wild west coast is one of the most significant prehistoric sites in Britain, yet it's largely off the visitor circuit.

Imagine Stonehenge without the crowds. Wander among majestic stone circles, standing slabs that jut from the earth, burial cairns and rock carvings of concentric rings, expanding like ripples from a drop of water.

And now the past getting refreshed : The Kilmartin Museum is reopening with expanded exhibits and new experiences that have delve into the region's relics and flourishing natural life, including Moine Mhor [Great Moss], one of the few remaining raised bogs in Europe, above which looms the Iron Age hill fort of Dunadd.

For full immersion into the Scotland of Yore, stay at the moody 16th-century Kilmartin Castle, which was recently transformed into a boutique hotel, with vaulted ceilings, copper tubs and a wild swimming pond. [ Annelise Sorensen ]