The Best Travel Photos of 2013

The 25th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest has been a long, strange, and beautiful trip. We loved every minute of it, and we hope you did, too.

Our panel of judges had their work cut out for them since the contest closed on June 30, sifting through more than 15,000 entries submitted by an eccentric lot of seasoned and amateur photographers from around the world to come up with three grand-prize winners.

Here they are in all their stunning glory:  

First Prize

Second Prize

Third Prize

Did your favorites make the cut? Check out our gallery to see the rest of this year’s winners. All ten prize-winning photos — three grand-prize winners, plus seven merit winners — will also appear in the year-end issue of Traveler magazine and on the National Geographic website.

And while judges will judge, let’s not count out this year’s Viewers’ Choice winner, seen at top, captured by Dody Kusuma.

Missed entering this year’s contest? There’s always next year…