Tag: Is PAKISTAN safe?

Top 10 best Holiday destinations of 2020.

1. PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s tourism industry has been stymied for the past two decades. But ancient valleys, relaxed visa restrictions and a high-profile royal visit from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the end of 2019 mean that at a start of a new decade this remarkable country is also entering a new era.

‘Having operated tours in Pakistan since the late 1990s, I’ve had a ringside seat to its troubled tourism industry, but finally, it seems to be improving,’ says Jonny Bealby, founder and CEO of adventure-tour operator Wild Frontiers. ‘A focus on security measures, which saw the British FCO lift its advice against travel to large parts of the north, and the election of Imran Khan, who has vowed to increase international tourist numbers, has already had an impact,’ he says.

While many of the frustrating permits previously required to travel here have been dropped, Pakistan is still a high-risk destination and it’s worth checking up-to-date guidelines before booking flights. But for the intrepid traveller, this is a place of exquisite landscapes, where green spaces are overlooked by towering mountains. In fact, Pakistan has more peaks taller than 22,965ft than China and Nepal combined, making it an almost magnetic spot for adventure travellers and intrepid hikers. Visitors can follow in Michael Palin’s steps while traversing the 12,250ft Shandur Pass, home to the world’s highest polo field, or meet with the Kalash people of the Hindu Kush, famed for their cowrie-shell headdresses and brighter-than-bright embroidery. In Lahore, the sight of 100,000 worshippers crammed into the sandstone 17th-century Badshahi Mosque will leave you breathless, while Mughal-era architectural masterpieces stand resplendent on bustling street corners.

Hardy visitors will find that little has changed since Mughal times – with the peaks’ gemstone mines, fairy meadows and winding trails worn into the ground by heavy-laden yaks – while the Karokoram, stretching upwards from the north-west frontier and carved into the ancient bedrock, is one of the world’s most astonishing highways.

2. PLYMOUTH, UK

The waterfront city of Plymouth has long sailed under the radar. But it’s starting to shrug off its (unwarranted) rough-around-the-edges rep. The arrival of restaurants from high-profile chefs such as Mitch Tonks and Marco Pierre White, as well a multimillion-pound waterfront regeneration project, mean this once-tired seaside city is beginning to look ship-shape again.

3. KYRGYZSTAN

Now that Uzbekistan has found itself a firm fixture on the travel map, more intrepid types are turning their attention to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. In response, an increasing number of tour operators are adding the unspoilt country to their portfolios for 2020. ‘We’re seeing a rise in people wanting to go completely off-grid, digitally detox and taste the kind of wilderness that is still untouched, untamed and untainted by tourism,’ says Amelia Stewart, ambassador for high-end London-based company Original Travel. ‘Kyrgyzstan ticks all those boxes; it’s a country on the cusp of discovery, but not for much longer.’ 

4. ARMENIA

The Caucasus has been on the up for the past couple of years, with visitor numbers to diverse Georgia booming. Yet neighbouring Armenia has been somewhat overlooked – until now. This charming country has a huge amount to offer. Its food scene – a heaving panoply of honey-drenched baklava, pillowy manti dumplings and wheelbarrow loads of lavash – is up there with Tbilisi’s, and pretty Yerevan is bursting with bookshop cafés (such as the unpretentious ArtBridge Bookstore Café) and traditional restaurants that look like Old Master paintings (Dolmama on Pushkin Street serves up Armenian lamb shank and baby red spotted trout, as well as the hearty dolmas it’s named after). 

5. SALVADOR, BRAZIL

The Amazon fires made headlines across the world in 2019, shining a light on unsustainable logging, deforestation and mining in one of the planet’s most threatened ecological regions. But instead of foregoing travel to these areas, experts argue we should be supporting them more than ever. So don’t write off Brazil just yet.

6. KANGAROO ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

With milky turquoise seas, craggy limestone cliffs and eucalyptus forests filled with big-bellied koalas, Kangaroo Island – 70 miles off mainland South Australia – is a truly wild destination.

7. GALWAY, IRELAND

8. SIARGAO, PHILIPPINES

9. PARIS, FRANCE

10. EGADI ISLANDS, SICILY

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#travel #holiday #2020

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LIST IS ACCORDING TO FORBES DATA RELEASED IN 2020.