Kotor and the Bay of Kotor

Travel guides · Curated for 2026

Where to go next

Fifteen countries, chosen because our own explorers have been to them in numbers - most of them the ones the big guidebooks skim. Each guide says what the place is actually like, and what the data behind it says.

Kotor and the Bay of Kotor · Pudelek (Marcin Szala) CC BY-SA 3.0

Curated travel guides

Updated November 2026Numbers read from our database on 1 November 2026. They count explorers with public maps, never individuals.

🍁 Where to go in November: ten places at their best, and one to plan around.

Bled IslandCurated for 2026Slovenia

Alps, karst and 47 km of coast, all within a two-hour drive

59 explorerstypical explorer reaches 1%

Also went to Croatia (83% of them)

Tallinn seen from ToompeaCurated for 2026Estonia

A medieval capital, 2,000 islands and forest in every direction

40 explorerstypical explorer reaches 13%

Also went to Finland (90% of them)

Bay of KotorCurated for 2026Montenegro

The Bay of Kotor, then mountains almost nobody drives into

39 explorerstypical explorer reaches 17%

Also went to Croatia (92% of them)

the church at ThethCurated for 2026Albania

Ottoman towns, an empty Riviera and the Accursed Mountains

35 explorerstypical explorer reaches 42%

Also went to Montenegro (63% of them)

the TransfăgărășanCurated for 2026Romania

Saxon Transylvania, the Carpathians and Europe's best road

48 explorerstypical explorer reaches 14%

Also went to Bulgaria (60% of them)

the Seven Rila LakesCurated for 2026Bulgaria

Monasteries, Black Sea beaches and mountains all winter

38 explorerstypical explorer reaches 11%

Also went to Romania (76% of them)

Fjallsárlón glacier lagoonCurated for 2026Iceland

One ring road, and every landscape on it is the reason you came

35 explorerstypical explorer reaches 44%

Also went to Ireland (66% of them)

Reine, LofotenCurated for 2026Norway

Fjords, Lofoten and trains that are the point of the trip

53 explorerstypical explorer reaches 14%

Also went to Denmark (85% of them)

Valletta's skylineCurated for 2026Malta

Three islands, 7,000 years of building, and winter that never bites

46 explorerstypical explorer reaches 22%

Also went to Greece (91% of them)

ChefchaouenCurated for 2026Morocco

Medinas, Atlas passes and the edge of the Sahara

48 explorerstypical explorer reaches 6%

Also went to Egypt (46% of them)

Tràng An, Ninh BìnhCurated for 2026Vietnam

1,650 km end to end, and the middle is the part people skip

48 explorerstypical explorer reaches 5%

Also went to Thailand (81% of them)

Gyeongbokgung, SeoulCurated for 2026South Korea

Seoul, then mountains, temples and islands an hour out

38 explorerstypical explorer reaches 18%

Also went to Japan (92% of them)

the torii path at Fushimi Inari, KyotoCurated for 2026Japan

Forty-seven prefectures, and most visitors see five

61 explorerstypical explorer reaches 11%

Also went to South Korea (57% of them)

Ko Tapu, Phang Nga BayCurated for 2026Thailand

Seventy-seven provinces, and the islands are only the start

64 explorerstypical explorer reaches 4%

Also went to Malaysia (61% of them)

the pyramids of GizaCurated for 2026Egypt

Five thousand years along one river, and a coral sea next door

50 explorerstypical explorer reaches 7%

Also went to Jordan (46% of them)

Why these fifteen and not fifty? Because a guide is only worth reading if there is something behind it. Twelve are countries 19 to 33 of our explorers had marked when we wrote them - deep enough in our data to say something true, and far enough off the Paris-Rome-Barcelona circuit that we are not just repeating what everyone else already wrote. Japan, Thailand and Egypt came later: they are the long-haul trips our explorers take most, and each guide leads with the part of the country they skip. More will follow, slowly, as the data gets deeper.

Curated culinary guides

The dishes worth the trip, and where we would send a friend to eat them. Every restaurant checked by hand, and dated.

Culinary · 2026Portugal

Francesinha, bacalhau, leitão and a pastel de nata still warm

12 dishes23 places to eat
Culinary · 2026Slovenia

Štruklji, orange wine, Karst ham and a three-star kitchen in the Alps

8 dishes22 places to eat

A few countries at a time, on purpose. A food guide is only as good as its restaurant list, and ours are checked one by one. More are coming.