The breathtaking Misty Fjords National Monument is a 3,570-square-mile swathe of virgin forest and plunging fjords, just to the east of Ketchikan. As the name suggests, the fjords are often cloaked in a fine mist, and the wilderness is home to bears, bald eagles, whales and more.

Back in its 19th century heyday Wrangell was a lawless gold rush town, and it's still a little rough around the edges, but it's also a very welcoming place, ideal for exploring the surrounding Alaskan wilderness. Take a trip to the nearby Anan Wildlife Observatory for the chance to see black and brown bears at close proximity.

Sitka was founded by Russian fur traders in 1799 as the city of New Archangel, and there is still a discernible Russian influence here, including the distinctive St Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral. The town also enjoys spectacular natural surroundings, facing the Pacific Ocean and dramatic Mount Edgecumbe.

The tiny city of Seward, home to just 3,000 people, enjoys a spectacular setting on the edge of Resurrection Bay, on Alaska’s southern coast. Surrounded by the mountains and forests of the Kenai Fjords National Park, it’s a great base for exploring the Harding Ice Field and the stunning scenery of the Kenai Peninsula.

Kodiak is known as Alaska’s ‘Emerald Isle’ thanks to the lush green countryside, a landscape crisscrossed by gushing salmon-filled streams that provides a home to around 3,000 Kodiak bears, the world’s largest. Ships dock in Kodiak city, an important fishing port with a fascinating Russian heritage.

Geographic Harbor is situated in Alaska’s stunning Katmai National Park, and is known for its large brown bear population. As you approach the shore you might spot the bears foraging for clams and crabs when the tide goes out, or fishing for salmon in the mountain streams.

Dutch Harbor is the port that serves the city of Unalaska, and is known for the hardy fishermen who brave the turbulent, icy seas off the Aleutian Islands. Points of interest include the remains of defensive fortifications built during the Second World War and the striking Russian Orthodox church.

St Paul is the largest of the Pribilof Islands, situated in the middle of the Bering Sea between the US and Russia. Sparsely populated by humans, the island comes alive in summer with some 500,000 northern fur seals and sea birds including tufted puffins, auklets, kittiwakes, cormorants and fulmars.

Way out in the Bering Sea, St Matthew Island is one of the most remote locations in Alaska, a day’s sailing from the nearest human settlement. Foxes and voles are the only resident mammals, though polar bears have been known to visit, and the cliffs provide shelter for birds including Brünnich’s guillemots, parakeet auklets and glaucous gulls.

Only accessible by air or sea, the remote Alaskan town of Nome sits overlooking the Bering Strait, surrounded by miles of largely featureless tundra. This was once a boomtown; the discovery of easily extractable gold in 1898 led to a gold rush, and you can still see the remnants of the mining industry which thrived here.

Point Barrow is the northernmost point in the USA, and is close to the city of Utqiagvik (Barrow), home to the largest community of indigenous Iñupiat in Alaska. Despite its remote location and harsh climate there is considerable wealth here, thanks to the nearby oilfields, and Barrow was historically an important whaling centre.

The remote community of Cambridge Bay is located on the southeast coast of Victoria Island, part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It’s the largest stop for ships transiting the Northwest Passage, despite a population of less than 2,000, and it's a great place to learn about the wildlife of the Arctic and the culture of the Inuit people who live here.

Gjoa Haven was known by the Inuit as Uqsuqtuuq, the ‘place of plenty blubber’, but was renamed when Roald Amundsen became the first explorer to traverse the Northwest Passage on his ship the Gjøa. It was also here that the wreck of the HMS Erebus, from Franklin’s famous lost expedition of 1845, was finally discovered in 2014, followed by the HMS Terror in 2016.

Devon Island is the world’s largest uninhabited island, a barren and frozen place that is used by NASA scientists to carry out research on the practicalities of missions to Mars. The chilly waters off the coast support species including bearded seals, harbour seals and humpback whales, and if you’re lucky you may even spot polar bears.

Devon Island is the world’s largest uninhabited island, a barren and frozen place that is used by NASA scientists to carry out research on the practicalities of missions to Mars. The chilly waters off the coast support species including bearded seals, harbour seals and humpback whales, and if you’re lucky you may even spot polar bears.

The small Inuit settlement of Pond Inlet sits at the entrance to the fabled Northwest Passage, on the north coast of Baffin Island. A dramatic landscape of fjords, glaciers and icebergs provides a habitat for wildlife including whales, seabirds, seals and narwhals, the otherworldly ‘unicorns of the sea’.

The spectacular Ilulissat ice fjord is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's the source of the many icebergs that float out across Disko Bay. The town of Ilulissat itself is Greenland’s third largest settlement, and activities on offer here include dog sledding and whale watching.

The name Sisimiut means ‘the people living in a place where there are fox dens’, though these days the town is better known for being Greenland’s northernmost year-round ice-free port. Around 25 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it’s a common stop for ships making the journey north to Disko Bay.

The natural harbour at Halifax is the second largest in the world after Sydney, and this charming city has a proud maritime heritage. Take a stroll along the historic waterfront, delve into the vibrant arts scene or explore the beautiful coastal scenery of Nova Scotia.

Situated off the coast of Nova Scotia, remote Sable Island is a largely uninhabited wilderness of shifting sand dunes and deserted beaches. The island is best known for its wildlife, including hundreds of wild horses and the world’s largest colony of grey seals.

Lunenburg’s UNESCO-listed old town is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America, with its picturesque wooden buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. You can also see a replica of the famous schooner Bluenose, an icon for Nova Scotians, which was built at the port.

At the tip of Cape Cod, on a coastline of wild dunes and beautiful beaches, lies welcoming Provincetown, where the Pilgrim Fathers sought shelter on board the Mayflower in 1620. Writers and artists have long been drawn here, as evidenced by the town’s many galleries, and it’s also a popular holiday destination for the LGBT community.

Just seven miles off the coast of Cape Cod, the island of Martha’s Vineyard is a world apart from the mainland, with no chain restaurants or motels in sight. A-listers and other well-to-do types have their summer boltholes here, attracted by the Vineyard’s arty vibe, pretty beaches, rolling hills and friendly locals.

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the USA, and in amongst the skyscrapers are plenty of red-brick buildings, a Georgian architecture that lends the city a distinctly European feel. Boston is also home to a wealth of cultural riches, including the superb Museum of Fine Arts, as well as the world famous Harvard University.

Downtown Miami is a destination in its own right, with a host of world class galleries, but it's still Miami Beach that draws the biggest crowds. The Art Deco district around South Beach is very much back in vogue, with new restaurants, bars and luxury developments sprouting up all over the place.

Belize’s capital does not enjoy the best reputation, and we wouldn’t recommend spending too much time here; use it instead as a jumping-off point to explore the fascinating Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, Lamanai and Altun Ha, or take a snorkelling trip to the beautiful Barrier Reef, including the famous Blue Hole.

The Caribbean island of Providencia may belong to Colombia, but its relative inaccessibility and distance from the mainland lends the island its own distinct flavour. Many locals speak an English creole, and tourists are thin on the ground. It’s a great place for diving, snorkelling or relaxing on the beach.

The Bocas del Toro archipelago is one of Panama’s most appealing tourist destinations, a collection of idyllic Caribbean islands blessed with beautiful beaches, lush mangroves and wildlife including sloths, iguanas and turtles.

Situated at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, Colón is not somewhere you will want to hang around for long, and serves merely as a gateway to the Canal, which will carry you to much nicer places.

The Ecuadorian port of Manta is known as the “tuna capital of the world”, and you’ll see plenty of fishing boats as you arrive. The beach is a popular destination for local tourists, but you may find that the nearby town of Montecristi, home of the Panama hat, makes for a more interesting excursion.

Salaverry is the nearest port to Trujillo, northern Peru’s most important city. Located amongst the verdant Andean foothills, Trujillo is home to a host of beautiful colonial buildings, and is also known for the spectacular nearby ruins of Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian city in South America.

Peru’s underrated capital enjoys a fine setting on the Pacific coast, and the handsome colonial-era buildings surrounding the Plaza de Armas give clues to Lima’s distinguished history; for three centuries this was the capital of the Spanish Americas, when the city grew rich on the back of plundered Inca gold.

The port of Paracas is surrounded by the spectacular landscapes of the Paracas National Reserve, where the desert meets the ocean along a coastline of sandy beaches and spectacular cliffs teeming with birdlife. Look out for species including pink flamingos, Humboldt penguins and condors.

Arica sits at the northern tip of Chile, known as ‘the land of the eternal spring’ thanks to its temperate year-round climate. Sightseeing options include the War of the Pacific battlefield at El Morro and the breathtaking altiplano scenery of Lauca National Park, a stunning high-altitude landscape of snow-dusted volcanoes and shimmering lakes.

Situated in the far north of Chile, the golden sands of Iquique attract both sunseekers and thrillseekers; surfing and paragliding are particularly popular here thanks to the clear skies and the wind coming in off the Pacific. The city is also home to some charming old mansions, remnants of a 19th century nitrate mining boom.

The busy port of Coquimbo is the gateway to the charming colonial city of La Serena, one of the oldest in Chile, where you’ll find attractive architecture and a fine stretch of beach. Other nearby sights include the fertile Elqui and Limarí Valleys, home to excellent wineries and ancient petroglyphs.

Characterful, colourful and a little chaotic, the port city of Valparaíso is scattered across 45 vertiginous hills. Thanks to this difficult topography the city streets are punctuated by steep staircases and funicular elevators, and energetic explorers will be rewarded with wonderful views of the pastel hued buildings that hug the slopes.

Rugged and unspoilt Chiloé, situated at the southern end of Chile’s Lake District, is a unique and culturally distinct island that stands apart from the rest of the country. The main town, Castro, is notable for its colourful waterfront homes on stilts (known as palafitos), and is the gateway to the dense forests and rolling hills of the island interior.

Puerto Natales, situated at the southern end of the Chilean Fjords, is a major tourism hub for southern Patagonia. Formerly a fishing port, the town is now the gateway to the Torres del Paine National Park, a spectacular landscape of granite peaks, grassy steppes and azure lakes, populated by guanacos, condors, pumas and more.

Puerto Williams has the feel of a true frontier town, situated on windswept Navarino Island facing out across the Beagle Channel. The surrounding mountains offer a spectacular backdrop for hiking and kayaking, while to the south lies the infamous Drake Passage and, beyond that, the frozen continent of Antarctica.

Surrounded by notoriously treacherous waters and battered by gale force winds known as the Furious Fifties, Cape Horn is the dramatic southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. This is the point where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, watched over by a lonely lighthouse.

Half Moon Island is home to several thousand chinstrap penguins, as well as cormorants, terns and the notoriously territorial skuas, who will divebomb anyone who gets too close to their nests! There are also fantastic views of mountainous Livingston Island.

Located at the southern end of the Lemaire Channel, Pléneau Island is the site of some spectacular iceberg scenery, and is also home to species including Gentoo penguins, Antarctic terns, south polar skuas and southern elephant seals.

The rocky slopes of Cuverville Island provide a home for some 6,500 pairs of gentoo penguins, the largest colony on the Antarctic Peninsula. Other bird species nesting on the island include skuas, southern giant petrels and Antarctic shags.

Part of the South Shetland archipelago, Deception Island is a flooded volcanic caldera that forms one of the largest natural harbours in the world. The island was once a whaling station, and it’s also an active volcano - the British Antarctic Survey base here was abandoned in 1969 following an eruption.