Places of Interest (Part 1)
It’s precisely 200 years since the publication of Kubla Khan, Coleridge's opium-fuelled poem describing the earthly paradise of Xanadu with its sweet-scented gardens, rivers and ancient forests. Inspired by the anniversary, Telegraph Travel has racked its collective brain for the places that most resemble heaven on Earth.
Namaqualand, South Africa/Namibia
Arid for most of the year, this desert, framed by soaring purple mountains, becomes paradise in spring, when hundreds of miles of luridly colorful flowers blossom in the valleys.