Sneak Peek: Our Destinations Rated Issue

Our November/December issue is on its way to a newsstand or mailbox near you – and features our sixth annual Destinations Rated Survey. Conducted by the National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, this year’s survey looked at how tourism is impacting some of the iconic places we first surveyed in 2003 and rated in 2004, with several new places added to the mix.

Topping the list this year was the “vigorously protected” Fjords region in Norway, followed by the “awe-inspiring” Kootenay/Yoho National Parks in British Columbia and the “authentic Francophone” villages of the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. And pulling up the rear, garnering strong concern from our panel of tourism management experts, was the “cruise ship hell” of Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas, the war-torn and “intimidating” status of Bethlehem in the West Bank, and Spain’s Costa del Sol region, which one panelist called a “textbook example of tourism run amok.” See all the results from this year’s survey, and more comments from the panelists online.

Elsewhere in the issue, you’ll find Jim Conaway’s pitch-perfect piece on Portland, Oregon, and Andrew Evans’ On Foot walking guide to Valpariso, Chile, which he reported for us while filming the pilot for “Confessions of a Travel Writer.” Melina Bellows heads to the boreal forests of Central Mexico “In Search of Magic” (hint: it involves butterflies), and Raphael Kadushin brings us tidings of good cheer from Copenhagen, Denmark’s eco-aware capital city, which is hosting the U.N. Climate Change Conference this December.

Want more? Visit our online table of contents for more maps, photo galleries, and World Wise quizzes from the issue.