Picture this: colossal sand dunes stretching toward the sky, their golden ridges rippling in the wind, with a backdrop of snow-dusted Rocky Mountains that look like they belong in a different universe. Welcome to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern USA — a natural mashup of desert and alpine that feels almost too surreal to be real.

Tucked away on a hill in the heart of France’s capital lies a neighborhood that feels like a village within a city. With cobbled streets, crimson cafés, and painters on every corner, Montmartre is Paris’s bohemian soul—crowned by a shining white basilica that watches over the city like a guardian angel.