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My happy place

Turquoise shores at Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas.

Why this tiny town on the edge of Australia has our hearts

We said we’d stop going when we ran out of things to do. We never have.

  • Lindy Alexander
Ben Groundwater’s heart belongs to San Sebastian.

I lived in this joyful European city for a year. In my heart, I never left

I’ve been visiting this wonderful European city for almost 25 years. I love it so much, in fact, that I decided to live there.

  • Ben Groundwater
Bermuda has attracted celebrities and the well-to-do since the 1930s.

Despite not visiting for 50 years, I still find this island is my favourite place

A new job took my grandfather to paradise. Joining him there was the highlight of my childhood.

  • Mark Chipperfield
Giraffes in the Kruger National Park.

This world-famous national park is my cure for modern stresses

One of the world’s greatest national parks turns 100 this year. I’ve been visiting it for almost half its life.

  • Catherine Marshall
A beach in Chumphon: Not a lounge chair, umbrella or backpacker in sight.

My beach paradise is somewhere most tourists ignore as they pass through

I didn’t intend to come to this Thai town, but I missed my ferry. I discovered an incredible place most tourists never experience.

  • Paul Marshall
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Noosa has transformed over the past few decades.

My happy place

Traveller’s writers reflect on the holiday destinations in Australia and around the world that they cherish the most.

Milawa offers the simple life city dwellers dream about.

We found a dream escape during COVID. Five years on, we keep going back

After eight months of inner-city lockdown, home-schooling and curfews, an escape to rural Victoria was a breath of fresh country air.

  • Penny Watson
Savour a summer’s day in Fitzroy Gardens.

I dreamt of Disneyland, but a park became my real dream destination

Every summer our friends disappeared to the coast in caravans, or road-tripped to Surfers Paradise. We were stuck at home, until my mum had an idea.

  • Julietta Jameson
Surf breaks at Jiguma Beach.

Nothing ever happens in this coastal Aussie town. It’s my idea of heaven

We tried family holidays in different parts of Australia. But when we returned to this childhood spot, I knew we’d found the right place.

  • Justine Costigan
Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

More Aussies are discovering my island paradise, but they can’t change it

I grew up in a place where no building is allowed to be higher than the tallest coconut tree. It remains my happiest place on Earth.

  • Craig Tansley