National Geographic Traveller (UK)

Sarah Gillespie Ireland’s coast draws many road-trippers, but a vegetable-oil-fuelled cruise down the River Shannon is a slow — and sustainable — alternative. From holy sites to emerald trails, Ireland’s heartlands are seriously underrated. RIVER SHANNON P.44 Zoey Goto During my time on America’s Maine coast, not a single mediocre meal crossed my plate. Oysters, lobster rolls, potato doughnuts — all were put together by passionate local producers using ingredients straight from the sea and soil. PORTLAND, MAINE P.50 Sam Kemp Haunted isles, world-class surf, jungles stalked by pygmy hippos… little could have prepared me for Sierra Leone’s astonishing landscapes. I spent 90% of my time there in slack-jawed amazement, my every preconception blown out of the water. SIERRA LEONE P.96 Florian Kriechbaumer Cruising the Pantanal’s winding rivers, I encountered…

For decades now, Vancouver has ranked highly in surveys of the world’s most liveable cities — taking its place alongside the likes of Copenhagen, Melbourne and Zurich. Culture, cuisine, healthcare and education get plenty of points for British Columbia’s largest metropolis — but it’s the unique proximity of mountains, rainforest and ocean that really seals the deal. It’s this dramatic scenery that marks out Canada’s westernmost province as a playground for outdoor adventure. In a vast country of spectacular landscapes, British Columbia is home to some of the most incredible — with soaring, snow-capped peaks, emerald lakes and resplendent forests, as well as wildlife that never fails to amaze. This issue, we turn our attention to this wild western frontier — from the windswept surfing beaches of Tofino and the…

SNAPSHOT Rey Maraca, Cuba I travelled to Cuba to document the Caribbean nation’s rich culture. One evening, while capturing the sunset along the Malecón, Havana’s oceanside highway, I encountered Rey Maraca. In the 1960s and ’70s, he was a celebrated musician and singer of son cubano, an Afro-Cuban genre blending Spanish guitar, vocals and layered percussion. He agreed to be photographed, but only if he could change into his cherished white suit. MEHDI BENEMBAREK • PHOTOGRAPHER gallery.so/mehdi_benembarek @mehdi.benembarek…

Ahaggar National Park, Algeria After 13 years of trying, I finally managed to gain access to some of the most remote regions of Algeria’s Ahaggar National Park, following a long period of political instability. Encompassing 173,745sq miles, the park is dominated by vast desert expanses and towering pinnacles sculpted by wind and time. Volcanic activity, tectonic uplift and extreme weathering have also played their part, shaping one of the Sahara’s most stunning and surreal desertscapes. I was joined there by a Tuareg guide, who you can just make out walking across the ridge of dunes. MARSEL VAN OOSTEN • PHOTOGRAPHER @marselvanoosten…

1 New York, US May sees the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveil its reimagined Michael C Rockefeller Wing, featuring over 1,800 works from the institution’s expanded African, Ancient American and Oceanic art collections. Backing onto Central Park, the renovated space includes three galleries, with newly acquired Peruvian textiles and paintings by Papua New Guinea’s Kwoma people highlighting each region’s distinct approach to visual art. met.museum/org 2 AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE The Provençal studio where Paul Cézanne spent his final years (1902-1906) reopens to the public on 28 June after renovation. See some of the post-impressionist painter’s possessions and personal correspondence on a guided tour of the 20th-century farmhouse, atop a hill and enveloped by olive groves. cezanne-en-provence.com 3 ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS A 1920s cargo warehouse has been converted into a contemporary art museum…

Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs (pictured right) may be The Salt Path’s star names, but the windswept landscapes of England’s southwest coast get equal billing. Released in May, the film sees the actors following in the footsteps of their real-life counterparts, Raynor and Moth Winn. The couple spent months walking all 630 miles of the South West Coast Path (SWCP) after being made homeless — an experience evocatively described by Raynor Winn in her bestselling 2018 memoir of the same name. The UK’s longest complete National Trail, the SWCP starts at Minehead in Somerset, passing through Devon and Cornwall before ending at Dorset’s Poole Harbour. “[This] is more than just a path,” says Raynor, who now works as an ambassador for the SWCP. “It’s a transformative landscape, both challenging and…