Best Village

Castrovalva is a 1930 lithograph by the Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher that depicts the mountainous Abruzzo region of Italy. Created during Escher's early travels in Italy, the artwork features a meticulously detailed, high-altitude view of the hill town of Castrovalva and the surrounding landsca...

"A Murder is Announced" is a detective novel by Agatha Christie, published in 1950, featuring the amateur investigator Miss Marple. The plot centers on a fictional English village called Chipping Cleghorn, where an advertisement in the local newspaper announces the exact time and location of a murde...

This Country offers a realistic portrayal of rural life through a British mockumentary format. The show follows Kerry Godliman as Timms, a village nurse navigating everyday challenges in the Cotswolds. It’s notable for its authentic and often awkward humor reflecting small-town interactions and rela...

The Body in the Library is a 1942 detective novel by Agatha Christie featuring the amateur investigator Miss Marple. Colonel and Mrs. Bantry awaken to find the body of an unidentified young woman in the library of their country house near St. Mary Mead, prompting an inquiry into the victim's identit...

Lalomanu Beach is a pristine white-sand shoreline located on Upolu Island, Samoa. It’s notable for its untouched reef and calm waters, offering exceptional snorkeling opportunities. The beach was significantly impacted by the 2009 tsunami but remains a popular destination for travelers seeking natur...

The Moving Finger is a 1943 detective novel by Agatha Christie featuring Miss Marple. After Jerry Burton and his sister Joanna move to the village of Lymstock, they become targets of anonymous letters accusing residents of concealed misconduct, and the campaign is followed by apparent suicide and mu...

Sennen Cove is a coastal settlement and beach on the Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall, England, located just over a mile north-east of Land's End. Its sandy, south-facing beach is popular with surfers and is among the most westerly beaches on mainland England. An RNLI lifeboat station has operated...

The Old Deerfield Historic District is a nationally recognized district in western Massachusetts encompassing approximately 400 Colonial buildings constructed between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. It offers a rare glimpse into early American life through its preserved architecture and settle...

Hahei is a small settlement and beach located on the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. The sandy beach is sheltered by nearby islands, providing calm waters that are suitable for swimming and kayaking. The settlement serves as the primary gateway for visitors t...

Shirakawa-go is a historic Japanese village nestled in Gifu Prefecture. It’s renowned for its unique gassho-zukuri farmhouses characterized by steeply pitched thatched roofs designed to withstand heavy snowfall. These buildings, dating back centuries, represent a remarkable architectural tradition a...

The Slatersville Mill is a historic water-powered textile mill in Rhode Island, established in the early 19th century. It formed the core of Slatersville, widely considered one of the earliest planned industrial villages in the United States. The mill harnessed water power from the Branch River to d...

The French lavender villages of Provence, including Sault and Gordes, offer a unique experience centered around extensive purple fields. These areas are notable for their historical connection to the fragrance industry originating in Grasse. The landscapes attract visitors seeking natural beauty and...

Assos Cove is a small coastal inlet located on the northwestern coast of the island of Kefalonia in Greece. The cove and the adjacent village are situated on a narrow isthmus that connects the island to a small peninsula. A 16th-century Venetian fortress, constructed in 1593 to defend against naval...

Agios Nikitas is a coastal village on the northwest coast of Lefkada, one of the Ionian Islands of Greece. The village sits around a small bay with a pebble beach and retains a traditional character compared to some of the island's larger resort areas. The well-known beaches of Porto Katsiki and Kat...

Cala Gonone is a coastal town on the eastern shore of Sardinia, Italy, situated in the province of Nuoro along the Gulf of Orosei. The town developed from a fishing community into a base for visitors exploring the beaches and coves along the gulf, including Cala Luna, Cala Mariolu, and Cala Goloritz...

The Cirque de Lescun is a mountain amphitheater above the village of Lescun in the western French Pyrenees, near the border with Spain. Its landscape is formed by prominent limestone peaks, cliffs, ridges, pastures, and valleys shaped by erosion and glacial processes. The area forms part of the broa...

Conca dei Marini is a small coastal village located in the Campania region of southern Italy, situated along the Amalfi Coast between Amalfi and Positano. The town is perched on terraced cliffs overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and is heavily associated with local lemon cultivation. Its most prominent...

Hallstatt is a village on the shore of Hallstätter See in Austria's Salzkammergut region, set between the lake and steep Alpine slopes. The surrounding area contains salt deposits that have been worked since prehistoric times, and archaeological finds from a nearby cemetery gave the Hallstatt cultur...

Bagno Vignoni is a historic Tuscan village located in the Val d'Orcia region of Italy, distinguished by its central Piazza delle Sorgenti. The village's main square is occupied by a large, steaming thermal water pool that has been used since Roman times. The waters were historically frequented by no...

Peace Dale Mill is a historic 19th-century water-powered woolen mill in Rhode Island, notable for its central role in the planned industrial village built by the Hazard family.

The Litchfield Historic District encompasses the town center of Litchfield, Connecticut, a settlement founded in 1719 that became prominent during the late colonial and early republican periods. The district contains well-preserved examples of Colonial, Federal, and Greek Revival residential archite...

Dargavs Necropolis, called the City of the Dead, is a late medieval Ossetian burial complex in North Ossetia, Russia, with about 99 crypts.

Positano Spiaggia Grande is the primary beach of the cliffside village of Positano, situated on the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy. It is a wide, dark-pebble and sand shoreline that directly faces the Tyrrhenian Sea, flanked by the town's iconic vertically stacked houses and the colorful majolica-ti...

Kingsand Cove is a small shingle and rock beach located in the fishing village of Kingsand on the Rame Peninsula in southeast Cornwall, England. The village, along with neighboring Cawsand, was historically part of Devon until 1844 when the county boundary was redrawn, placing it within Cornwall. Th...

Gion A. Caminada is a Swiss architect based in the village of Vrin in the canton of Graubünden. He is known for timber buildings that adapt traditional Alpine construction methods to contemporary architectural purposes, working primarily in rural Swiss communities. Notable projects include the Stiva...

Cala Llonga is a sheltered bay and resort area on the eastern coast of Ibiza in Spain's Balearic Islands, located near the town of Santa Eulària des Riu. The beach is backed by pine-covered hills and features a small marina at one end. The bay's inlet shape creates calm swimming conditions, and the...

Gorran Haven is a coastal village located on the south coast of Cornwall, England, approximately 5 kilometers south of Mevagissey. The village developed around a small harbor that historically served local fishing fleets and now accommodates both working fishing boats and recreational vessels. The m...

Cala Fonte is a sheltered bay situated on Ponza Island in Italy's Tyrrhenian Sea. It serves as one of the island's secondary anchorages and is characterized by a sandy shoreline and adjacent village. The cove is a popular destination for yachters and swimmers during the summer months. It provides a...

Portreath is a coastal village on the north coast of Cornwall, England. Its harbor, dating to the late 18th century, was built to export copper ore from the nearby Gwennap mining district and import coal for the mining industry. Today, the village is known for its beach, which attracts surfers, and...