Find fun places worth exploring, near and far.
Wander the map, open a place and see where it takes you. Fair warning: one place tends to lead to two more.
Not sure where to start?
Throw the dart and let the adventure begin.
Illustrated map, not to scale. Coastlines: Natural Earth.
Photo credits
- Great Sand Dunes: Photograph: Patrick Myers, NPS via NPGallery · Public domain (PD-USGov, US National Park Service)
- Iberá Wetlands: Photograph: Papa Pic · CC0 · cropped
- Alhambra: Photograph: Jebulon · CC0 · cropped
- Svalbard: Photograph: Bernt Rostad · Adventfjorden, Svalbard · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- South Luangwa: Photograph: Geoff Gallice · Luangwa River crossing · CC BY 2.0
- Flaming Cliffs: Photograph: Richard Mortel · Bayanzag (Flaming Cliffs), Gobi Desert, Mongolia (29) · CC BY 2.0
- Mount Fuji: Photograph: Steven Lynn via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Milford Sound: Photograph: Szilas · Public domain
- Easter Island: Photograph: Otávio Nogueira · Fabrica de Moais-13 · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Grand Canyon: Photograph: Romain Guy · CC0 · cropped
- Great Blue Hole: Photograph: © Xiquinho Silva · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
- Iceland’s South Coast: Photograph: NIR HIMI via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
- Dolomites: Photograph: Michael Hutter via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Kolmanskop: Photograph: Ralf Hüsges · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
- Paro Taktsang: Photograph: Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium · Paro, Taktsang Goemba (Tiger's Nest) (15841919411) · CC BY 2.0
- Blue Mountains: Photograph: Unyxium · CC0
- Bora Bora: Photograph: Fabien Bellanger via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
- Banff: Photograph: TerryDOtt · Sunrise Reflections - Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
- Blue Ridge Parkway: Photograph: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress · Public domain · cropped
- Atacama Desert: Photograph: Wescottm · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
- Príncipe: Photograph: Cgaffga · CC0 · cropped
- Santorini: Photograph: Massimiliano Morosinotto via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
- Ha Long Bay: Photograph: Marina Lobato via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
- Raja Ampat: Photograph: Rolandandika · CC BY-SA 4.0
Seven regions
Pick a corner of the world and start there. Each region has its own map.
Ten collections
Fond of deserts, or waterfalls, or anything with a volcano in it? Collections gather one kind of place from all over the map.
From the Field Guide
A few places to start with.
Entry № 033Sossusvlei & Deadvlei
A forest that died six centuries ago and never fell — black trees on white clay beneath the rusted-red dunes of the Namib.
Entry № 043Lofoten
Harbours that refuse to freeze at 68° north, and a thousand-year export trade built on one fish keeping an appointment.
Entry № 045Meteora
A river delta turned to stone and stood on end, with fourteenth-century monasteries on the flat bits.
Entry № 046Raja Ampat
The highest reef biodiversity ever recorded, on islands that also happen to be made of battery metal.
Entry № 021Katmai & Brooks Falls
Brown bears stand at the lip of a waterfall catching leaping salmon — a queue ordered by rank, with a platform for watching it.
Entry № 023Kaikōura
A deep-sea canyon starts almost at the beach, so sperm whales feed year-round within sight of a town whose name means 'eat crayfish'.
All 325 placesBuild your own list
Photo credits
- Sossusvlei & Deadvlei: Photograph: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lofoten: Photograph: Christoph Strässler · Loaded Drying Racks for Stockfish at Reine, Lofoten, Norway · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
- Meteora: Photograph: Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Raja Ampat: Photograph: Rolandandika · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Katmai & Brooks Falls: Photograph: Christoph Strässler from Oberdorf BL, Schweiz · Brown Bears at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park (10106289804) · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
- Kaikōura: Photograph: Whale Watch Kaikoura / Destination Kaikōura via Destination Kaikoura · CC BY 4.0
Field Notes
SockMonkey.com is a free travel guide to places worth exploring near and far, from national parks and scenic drives to remote islands and old stone towns. It is for the curious, the planners and the daydreamers. Open a place and you might find a lake that hides a drowned forest, a town that lives underground or a mountain road that shuts for winter. Wander the map of all the places, or dip into a short history of the sock monkey, an American folk craft. Along the way our travelling sock monkey keeps a diary and a list, which he hasn't finished yet.
What's in the hold
- № 01
The Field Guide
325 places worth knowing, from salt flats to sea stacks, each with a story to tell and a diary page from our travelling sock monkey.
- № 02
The map
All 325 places on one drawn map. Mark your Somedays, tick off where you have been, or throw the dart and see where it lands.
- № 03
The Trading Post
What to pack for ice, desert, thin mountain air or a small boat, with a friendly nudge to borrow, rent or ask first.