Polonnaruwa, located in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province, served as the island’s capital nearly a thousand years ago. Today, it offers one of the most extensive and well-preserved archaeological sites in South Asia. Visitors can walk among the ruins of royal palaces, Buddhist monasteries, and intricately carved stone temples. One of the highlights of Polonnaruwa is the Gal Vihara, a group of colossal Buddha statues carved directly into granite.

Cong is a small village in western Ireland, set where the River Cong flows between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. Its history is closely tied to monastic settlement, most notably Cong Abbey, founded in the 12th century and later shaped by Norman influence.

Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, has long served as a cultural and trade crossroads in the Andaman Sea. Centuries ago, it was a stopover for merchants trading tin, spices, and textiles, with influences from Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, and Malay travelers still reflected in the island’s architecture and cuisine. Inland, the Khao Phra Thaeo Wildlife Sanctuary protects rainforest habitat home to gibbons, civets, and exotic birds.

Tombstone Territorial Park is a protected wilderness area in central Yukon, north of Dawson City along the Dempster Highway. The park covers a large section of the North Klondike River region, where rugged mountains, broad valleys, tundra, and black spruce forests create a landscape unlike the lower-elevation country farther south.

Tobermory is a small harbour community at the northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, where Georgian Bay meets Lake Huron. Its location is surrounded by clear freshwater, rugged limestone shoreline, forests, and numerous offshore islands. Tobermory is closely associated with Fathom Five National Marine Park and Bruce Peninsula National Park, which protect distinctive terrestrial and underwater environments around the peninsula.