The New York Times has done an interactive list of the 52 places to visit in 2016. Among the many interesting places that ranges from the Mediterranean to Mozambique is also cities in Scandinavia and Indonesia.
Skåne in Sweden is one out of the 52 selected places, and The New York Times declares it the ‘Nordic cuisine’s next big thing’. “Some of the Nordic region’s most interesting food is being cooked not in Copenhagen but across the Oresund Bridge, in the Swedish region of Skane. The capital, Malmo, is home to a handful of terrific casual places, like Bastard and Bord 13. But the real action is outside the city. Almost mythologically Swedish — all unadulterated coastline, mushroom-filled forests and red wooden houses — rural Skane has been attracting lots of creative types who come to farm (organically, of course), cook and even grow tobacco to make their own snus,” Lisa Abend from The New York Times writes.
Copenhagen is often highlighted in tourguides as the place to visit in Denmark. But surprisingly the capital of Denmark is not mentioned on the list. Instead Aarhus is being called the “Thriving Danish culture beyond well-trodden Copenhagen”. Ashley Winchester from The New York Times argues that the city has a thriving art, culture and food scene that is set to expand through 2016. “New development along its industrial coastline — including Dokk1, a cultural center and the largest public library in Scandinavia — as well as a light rail expected to open by late summer, is transforming Aarhus into a more accessible cultural capital,” she writes.
Hangzhou is one out of two cities in China that takes a place on the list. It is defined as ‘state-of-the-art museums and more in an ancient city’. “Hangzhou used to be known for its ancient poets and painters; now, the city is home to the booming e-commerce company Alibaba, and will take a step on the global stage in 2016 as the first Chinese city to host the G20 summit,” Justin Bergman from The New York Times says and also mentions that the city has developed an English-language travel app to help foreigners find hotels, restaurants and attractions.
The other Chinese city is Guizhou which is described as ‘authentic Chinese hill tribes without mass tourism — yet’ which is the cause of the Guizhou province being one of China’s least accessible regions. “As a result, its ethnic minority Miao and Dong mountain villages retain an unhurried pace and authentic feel compared with Lijiang, China’s famous minority center, which draws 20 million visitors a year. At least for now. Now Guizhou, too, is starting to open more widely to tourism. The trip from Guangzhou was shortened from more than 20 hours to four after the opening of a $20 billion high-speed railway at the end of 2014,” Justin Bergman writes.
Lastly the list also includes the Balinese town Ubud in Indonesia which is characterized as ‘a spiritual destination reinvents itself’. “Filled with stone temples and surrounded by emerald rice paddies, Ubud has long attracted backpackers and burned-out careerists looking to recalibrate. But the artsy central Balinese town (often overwhelmed by tourists) is emerging as a more sophisticated destination,”Sanjay Surana from The New York Times writes, and also mentions the evolving of the dining scene in the town.
See the rest of the list of places to go here
