Best of · Oceania
The 13 Most Beautiful Places in Oceania
13 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
Oceania's beauty is defined by water and isolation — the largest reef on Earth, mirror-still fjords carved by ice, ancient red monoliths in the outback, and Pacific lagoons ringed by coral.
This is our editors' pick of the region's most beautiful natural places, loosely ordered by the strength of the spectacle. Every one is a real, mapped place with an honest guide to reaching it and the season it looks its best.
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Great Barrier Reef The living reef
Queensland coast, Australia
The largest living structure on Earth, a 2,000-kilometre mosaic of coral, fish, and turtles visible from space and unforgettable from the water.
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Milford Sound The eighth wonder
Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand
A glacier-carved fjord where sheer cliffs plunge into dark water and waterfalls pour from the rainforest — at its most dramatic in the rain.
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Uluru The red heart
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
A vast sandstone monolith rising alone from the desert, held by its Anangu custodians and glowing deep red at sunrise and sunset.
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Bora Bora
Society Islands, French Polynesia
A jagged volcanic peak ringed by a turquoise lagoon and a necklace of coral islets — the archetype of the South Pacific paradise.
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Aoraki / Mount Cook
Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand
New Zealand's highest peak, a glaciated giant mirrored in turquoise lakes and crowned by some of the darkest, most star-filled skies on Earth.
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The Twelve Apostles
Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia
A row of limestone sea stacks standing offshore along Victoria's wild coast, best seen in the golden light at either end of the day.
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Palau's Rock Islands
Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, Palau, Micronesia
Hundreds of forested, mushroom-shaped islands scattered across a turquoise lagoon, hiding hidden marine lakes and world-class reefs.
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Bungle Bungle Range
Purnululu, Kimberley, Western Australia
Beehive-striped sandstone domes in remote Western Australia, banded orange and grey and hiding cool palm-filled gorges.
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Tongariro National Park
Central Plateau, North Island, New Zealand
A trio of active volcanoes at the heart of New Zealand's North Island, crossed by the famous Alpine Crossing past steaming craters and emerald lakes.
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Ningaloo Reef
Coral Coast, Western Australia
A fringing reef you can swim to straight off the beach, where whale sharks and manta rays gather along the Western Australian coast.
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Kakadu
Northern Territory, Australia
A vast tropical wetland of floodplains, escarpments, and waterfalls in Australia's Top End, rich in wildlife and ancient rock art.
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Mount Yasur
Tanna Island, Vanuatu
One of the world's most accessible active volcanoes, on a Vanuatu island, where you can stand on the rim and watch it hurl lava into the night.
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Whitehaven Beach
Whitsunday Island, Queensland, Australia
Seven kilometres of near-pure white silica sand on an uninhabited Whitsunday island, with the swirling sands of Hill Inlet inside the Great Barrier Reef.
Distances in Oceania are huge and seasons flip with the hemisphere — the tropical north has wet and dry seasons, while the New Zealand alps are best in the southern summer. Each guide notes the best window and how to reach it.
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