The Travel Wire: best travel reads #27

Former and active DMZs, the powder capital of Asia, Rembrandt’s Amsterdam, the world’s biggest heavy metal cruise

Welcome to The Travel Wire, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

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Travel reads

• Former and active DMZs allow visitors to learn the haunting history of these landscapes [Smithsonian Magazine]

"Demilitarized zones—from Vietnam to Korea, Cyprus and Antarctica—require tourists to look beyond what exists and to find the real stories in what doesn’t"

• How this Japanese ski town became the powder capital of Asia – and maybe even the world [CNN Travel]

• I went to Dubai and caught a glimpse of the future (archive) [The New York Times]

• The art of escaping the system. Cape Verde [Nomadic Mind]

"A journey beyond conventional travel."

• Rembrandt’s Amsterdam – walking the Amstel River 750 years after the city’s birth [The Guardian]

• Send In the Clowns - Apokries and Carnival - the ‘Greek Halloween’ [Claire in Crete]

• Japan's spectacular bike ride through six remote islands [BBC Travel]

"The 70km Shimanami Kaido, webbed with fishing harbours, hillside citrus orchards and historic shrines, is often regarded as one of the world's most incredible bike journeys."

• Cenotes of the Yucatán—Ancient water sources on a parched landscape [Mexico Soul]

• The World’s Greatest Places of 2025 [Time]

• Ghost cities and stranded ships: Inside a country that doesn’t exist (archive) [Traveller]

"It was in a dimly lit, cigarette smoke-filled bar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s capital, where I learnt about the country that doesn’t exist."

• What it’s like to go on the world’s biggest heavy metal cruise [Independent]

"Death metal in a sauna, Lamb of God on the karaoke machine and 2am mosh pits – Kinza Shenn sets sail on a hardcore music cruise that out-rocks all others."

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James Clark (Nomadic Notes)