Imagine a river so green it looks like melted jade, snaking through cliffs taller than a cathedral. Welcome to the **Verdon Gorge**—also known as **Gorges du Verdon**—a place often called the “Grand Canyon of France.” Only here, instead of red desert rock, you get alpine cliffs, turquoise water, and fields of lavender nearby.

Imagine walking through an ancient forest so untouched by time that even the soil seems to rise and fall beneath your feet—as if the Earth itself were breathing. Welcome to Shirakami-Sanchi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Japan, home to one of the last remaining virgin beech forests in East Asia... and possibly the most subtly mystical landscape in the entire country.