Photo of Big Bend National Park courtesy of National Park Service.
National Geographic names Big Bend a top destination for 2023
Big Bend National Park was among the destinations listed in National Geographic Traveller’s Best of the World list for 2023.
The Texas park is among 35 destinations selected to highlight “some of the most exciting and exceptional experiences on the planet,” according to National Geographic. Twenty-five of the destinations were chosen by global editors of National Geographic Traveller and another 10 were selected form the UK edition.
Why was Big Bend National Park selected as part of the list?
National Geographic noted the park received nearly 10 times fewer visitors than Yellowstone pre-pandemic.
“This remote and arid part of west Texas nurtures more cactus species than any other national park, as well as birds such as roadrunners and bright yellow Scott’s orioles, and mammals such as javelina,” the national magazine states.
Robert Draper, a National Geographic contributing writer, noted how, “Above all, life in the Chihuahuan Desert that comprises Big Bend’s 1,252sq mile expanse is stubborn and easily misunderstood but also impossible to forget.”
Destinations selected for the 2023 Best of the World list are grouped in categories of Culture, Nature, Adventure, Community and Family.
The Culture category includes Appian Way, Italy; Busan, South Korea; Longmen Grottoes, Henan Province, China; Egypt; Charleston, N.C.; Egypt; Vilnius, Lithuania and Hauts-de-France, France.
The Nature category includes Big Bend National Park; Slovenia; Scottish Highlands; Azores; Botswana; Guyana and Tanzania.
The Adventure category includes New Zealand; Choquequirao, Peru; Utah; Austrian Alps; Revillagigedo National Park, Mexic; Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico; Bhutan.
The Community category includes Dodecanese Islands, Greece; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Alberta, Canada; Laos; Ghana; Nova Scotia, Canada; and Aboriginal Australia.
The Family category include San Francisco; Trinidad and Tobago; Colombia; Manchester, UK; Switzerland; Bath; Wicklow, Ireland.
