Nature is never far in Helsinki. Locals swim in the sea, walk forested trails, and gather mushrooms or berries all within city limits. One popular local habit is heading to the sauna, and the city offers several open-to-the-public options. Löyly, located on the waterfront, combines traditional wood-burning saunas with a sleek, modern design. In winter, visitors can even pair a sauna session with a quick dip through a hole cut in the ice for an experience both shocking and strangely calming.

Matagalpa is a mountain city in northern Nicaragua, surrounded by forested hills and agricultural land. Known as one of the country's principal coffee-growing areas, it sits in a cool, elevated landscape where coffee plantations, pine forests, and cloud forest environments are common.

Patagonia, Argentina, is a land of untamed beauty, where jagged peaks, expansive glaciers, and crystal-clear lakes come together to create one of the most awe-inspiring landscapes on Earth.

Ely, Minnesota, sits on the edge of the Superior National Forest in the state’s Northwoods, where boreal forest, rocky terrain, and interconnected lakes define the landscape. The community is best known as a major gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which contains more than one million acres of protected forest and waterways along the Canadian border. Ely itself has a compact downtown with independent shops, galleries, restaurants, and outfitters serving wilderness travelers.

Koh Kood, also spelled Koh Kut, is an island in Trat Province near Thailand’s eastern maritime border with Cambodia. It is the fourth-largest island in Thailand and the southernmost major island in the Koh Chang group. Much of its landscape consists of forested hills, coconut and fruit plantations, streams, and sandy beaches along the Gulf of Thailand.