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10Best: Hidden places around the world


Some of the world's most interesting places may not be found on maps, says Alastair Bonnett, author of Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies ($25, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). "It isn't the Colosseum in Rome that we talk about after our trip. It's the little back street," he says. "When I wander off the usual pathway, when I go somewhere I wasn't expected, something a little odd, that's where the memories are." He shares some favorite geography-defying destinations with Larry Bleiberg for Paste BN.

Christiania, Denmark
While technically part of Copenhagen, this hippie enclave calls itself an independent nation. The commune, located in a former military barracks, is home to about 1,000 people, many living in buildings they designed and built. "It's architecture without architects," Bonnett says. "It's full of dropouts from the rest of society, but they've been allowed to possess this huge area of Copenhagen." Visitors are welcome, but many are deterred by the drug dealers congregating at the main entrance, known as Pusher Street. visitcopenhagen.com

Liechtenstein
Bonnett, who considers tiny countries "intrinsically fascinating," is particularly taken with this European microstate between Switzerland and Austria. With just 35,000 people, it's one of the world's richest places based on gross domestic product per capita, but it also attracts tourists. "It has a fairy-tale castle where the royal family lives, and a tiny army." tourismus.li/en/

Baarle-Nassau and Baarle-Hertog
Netherlands and Belgium
It's hard to tell what country you're visiting in these twin villages. Although technically inside the Netherlands, they contain more than two dozen areas belonging to Belgium, a legacy of the Middle Ages, when rulers sold off and traded parcels of land. "You've got a Russian-doll village with bits of one country inside another inside another inside another," Bonnett says. "You can walk along a street and cross about five borders in under 60 seconds." Holland.com

Time Landscape
New York
A tiny corner of Lower Manhattan offers a glimpse of the past. The city park, created by artist Alan Sonfist, features only plants that existed in New York before European colonization, from red cedar trees to Virginia creeper vines to violets. "It's a park in the form of a time capsule, a memorial to the departed natural landscape," Bonnett says. GoNYC.com

Arne, England
During World War II, the British built a fake town near the village of Arne to confuse German bombers. The area was set on fire, and invaders attacked the so-called sacrificial village, sparing actual population centers. "The whole place was bombed to bits," Bonnett says. Decades later, it became a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. "The tranquility contrasts with the violence of the past."
rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/

Giarre, Italy
This corner of Sicily offers modern archaeological ruins. It contains 25 huge, unfinished structures built in the past 60 years as part of an anti-Mafia public-works project — the aim was to give residents jobs so they wouldn't join the region's notorious crime syndicates. But the buildings never were completed; shells of a swimming pool, park and athletic and polo field remain. "These are enormous and pointless projects — unfinished megastructures," Bonnett says. "They are quite magnificent." italiantourism.com

Cappadocia, Turkey
Central Turkey is home to what may be several hundred underground cities. Residents developed the ancient settlements for protection, Bonnett says. "They were living in fear, and when they knew they were going to be attacked, they'd take their entire community and go underground." Now visitors can tour ruins and even stay in underground hotels. goturkey.com

Sani Pass
South Africa
Travelers driving from South Africa to the landlocked country of Lesotho cross a long stretch of territory between border posts. Though technically part of South Africa, the area feels like a no-man's land. "It's miles and miles of wilderness unclaimed by any nation," Bonnett says. There are plans to pave the dirt road, which is popular with 4-by-4 vehicles. "It's a very dramatic drive." southafrica.net

Kangbashi, China
This modern-day ghost town in Inner Mongolia developed over the past decade. Although it has a capacity for several hundred thousand residents, its current population is much smaller. "There are huge radiating avenues and great residential blocks going off into the distance, and the whole place is almost empty," Bonnett says.cnto.org

Nowhere
Monegros, Spain
Europe's answer to Burning Man, Nevada's alternative annual arts festival, adheres to the same hippie vibe. "It's an instant utopia. You're not allowed to buy or sell anything once you've bought your ticket," Bonnett says. "It's a creative playbox. There's music and ceremonies and pageants and circuses." It's held every July in northern Spain.goingnowhere.org