The 23 Most Exciting Places in the World to Visit in 2024

Our expert travel writers circled the globe to find the next-best destinations to explore—and why to go now. From beautiful just-built wilderness lodges, to fun sporting events in perfect adventure locales, to the most stunning place to see the northern lights, here are the trips you should take this year.

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Bus 142 parked at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where it’s being prepared for exhibition at the school’s Museum of the North; a self-portrait of Chris McCandless taken in 1992

The ‘Into the Wild’ Bus Was a Pilgrimage Site in the Wilderness. Can It Hold Up in a Museum?

The rusty coach where Chris McCandless spent his final days, captured the imagination of people all over the world and inspired hundreds of seekers to make dangerous treks to the site. Now a dedicated team of curators in Alaska have given it new life as a fascinating exhibit—one that tells the story not just of McCandless, but of modern Alaska.

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“Please I Will Give Anything for You to Come Back”

In the wake of the pandemic, Rebecca Vance spiraled into a hidden world of conspiracy theory, convincing herself that global elites had ordered COVID-19 lockdowns as part of a plot to usher in a dictatorial government. She and her sister took Rebecca’s son, loaded up a car, and headed for the Colorado backcountry. They would never return.

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DYI truck camper video

A Tour of a Renovated, DIY $500 Truck-Camper Rig

In this episode of the 101, Bryan Rogala tours cameraman Corey Leavitt’s new 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 build-out. Here's how Leavitt spent months gutting and renovating it.

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a bull moose in Santa Fe, N.M. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023

The Trouble with the Internet’s Most Famous Moose

When Marty Moose strolled into Santa Fe looking for a mate, he became a viral sensation in New Mexico. But that did nothing to help his search for love—and it created big issues for wildlife managers.

An Investigation Into Charlie Barrett

How Did This Climber Get Away with So Much for So Long?

Federal prosecutors allege that Charles Barrett—a prominent member of the Northern California climbing community who goes to trial for aggravated sexual abuse next week—is a serial offender with a shocking history of violence, harassment, and intimidation. An exclusive investigation into his life and alleged actions raises troubling questions about the dangers women continue to face in the outdoors.

When Bonnie Hedlund first started dating Charlie Barrett in 2005, every day was Valentine’s Day.

She would come home from work to find her driveway sprinkled with rose petals, placed there by Barrett, an exceptionally talented rock climber and boulderer based in Northern California. Love notes were hung from trees with messages like “Keep going beautiful girl.” He put more notes inside Hedlund’s cabin, which sat on forested land near the Truckee River. When the weather was right, Barrett sometimes set up a romantic space on the porch, with a table and chairs, candles, dinner for two, and a mattress. He made CD mixes and wrote poems on beautiful stationery.

Barrett, then 21, was 12 years younger than Hedlund. When she was introduced to him by a mutual friend, she never thought of dating as an option because of their age difference. But then he started randomly showing up at her cabin, making his interest clear. He was attractive—tall and dark, with broad shoulders and a big smile—and attentive in a way she’d never experienced. Better still, some of their best times together happened in her favorite place: the outdoors.

“The climbing was phenomenal,” she says. “We would do amazing climbs nearly every day.”

Like Barrett, Hedlund was an accomplished sport climber and boulderer, and she had been ticking off difficult routes on the east side of the Sierra Nevada since the late 1980s, before the region became widely known as a bouldering destination. The couple, along with their core group of Tahoe-area friends, did routes together constantly. As the relationship grew stronger, Barrett moved in with Hedlund and her dog, a rescued wolf hybrid.

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January/February 2024

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