Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the world's northernmost capital and one of its most unlikely. A colorful cluster of corrugated-iron houses, design-forward cafes, and geothermally heated streets perched on the 64th parallel, it is home to just 140,000 people yet serves as the cultural, economic, and creative engine of an entire nation. The city punches absurdly above its weight in music (Bjork, Sigur Ros, Of Monsters and Men), literature (Iceland publishes more books per capita than any country), and design, all fueled by the long dark winters that drive creativity indoors.

But Reykjavik is really a base camp. Within a day's drive lie some of the most extraordinary natural landscapes on Earth: the Golden Circle route of geysers, waterfalls, and tectonic rifts; the otherworldly black sand beaches of Vik; the glacier lagoon of Jokulsarlon where icebergs calve into diamond-strewn shores; and the vast interior highlands of lava fields, hot springs, and volcanic craters that feel more like another planet than another country. Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart, and the geological drama is visible everywhere.

The city itself rewards a slower pace. Soak in the Sky Lagoon or the famous Blue Lagoon just outside town. Browse the independent bookshops on Laugavegur, the main shopping street. Sample fermented shark and smoked lamb at a traditional restaurant, or enjoy New Nordic cuisine that rivals Copenhagen's. And if you visit between September and March, the Northern Lights may dance overhead in curtains of green and violet, a spectacle that alone justifies the journey.