What is the one spot on earth that took your breath away?

[ImInStealthMode]

Part inspired by a thread I just read about Switzerland and happy memories of beautiful scenes there.

What is the single most beautiful scene / spot / vista / landscape you've ever seen? Anywhere in the world. Pictures encouraged!

Mine (funnily enough) is not Switzerland but Bavaria. Lake Konigsee. So incredibly picturesque that it doesn't seem real.

(The Matterhorn reflected in a lake up the mountain from Zermatt is a very close second though)

Salvador da Bahia -- all of it, but especially Pelourinho, whose colours and funky drumbeat sounds blew my mind when I chanced upon this nabe in 1996. Brazil is such a wonderful country to travel in, but SdB is extraordinary and deserves to be superstar famous. My digs were in Barra, which has a beautiful beach and lovely people ... and carts selling sorvetes (sorbet on a stick) by Kibon. Yum!

The whitsundays Australia. I actually remember having tears.

Venice

Victoria Falls

The Ngorongoro Crater

The Okavango

Venice

Guilin gorges

Most of the scenery in the mountains and coasts in Lesvos

Iguazu Falls in South America. Nothing compares
Honourable mention to Bryce Canyon and Grand Viewpoint Overlook in Canyonlands, Utah.
Oh, and can I have Moraine Lake in Banff, Canada too? And the night sky on safari in Kenya.

Lake Garda
The double crater lakes in Sao Miguel, Azores
The views from Pico do Arieiro in Madeira
The view across the valley in front of my house in Yorkshire

Semuc Champney in Guatemala. Paradise found (by very few as it’s not easy to get to).

Halong Bay Vietnam

Amalfi Coast

Sorry should say Whitehaven beach in the whitsundays

This is such a good recommendation! 😄I grew up on the Peak in Hong Kong and still love a gobsmacking cityscape. One day I will visit Shankers and prowl the Bund.
As for breathtaking, flying into HK's old airport, Kai Tak, with the jet a mere 20 metres above Kowloon City's flats, was both terrifying and hilarious. Kai Tak was closed in 1998 but you can see videos on YouTube and scream your head off.

Omg. Yes. 1981. Mist over the waters. Magical - still have vivid memories of it.

Before that it was New Mexico - getting off a greyhound bus in the desert and being hit by the heat and seeing nothing on the horizon apart from nodding machinery of oil wells. I'd never been anywhere before, on land, where the horizon was just flat like that.

Castlerigg stone circle in the lake district near Keswick. Just the most amazing natural amphitheater and beautiful

Many, many places in Scotland, the Lake district and Iceland. I'm a slag for mountains, lakes and geology

Ipanema beach, Rio viewed from above, the mountains either side and city below. I was lucky enough to live in Ipanema for a few years.

Glen Coe, and the drive to it.

So many places in Iceland! Faxi and gulfoss waterfalls, and thingvellir national park where you can walk between tectonic plates.

Monument Valley, absolutely stunning and really couldn't believe we were actually there.

Waking up early, sitting on the defo of the cabin watching the sunrise over the Mittens was mins blowing.

Moorea - just so beautiful

The top of a sand dune somewhere in Namibia. The land and sand went on forever in every direction. I'd never seen so much space. It looked like a whole country laid out before us.

I agree - one of my favourite places.

Also ‘the view of views’ at Lake Matheson in NZ.

Approaching Angel Falls in Venezuela on a small plane, the view was amazing. The pilot dropped the plane down the front of the falls for a close up view too.

Gulfoss waterfall in Iceland was beautiful too. We managed to find a lovely quiet spot away from the herds of tourists and just watch for a while.

I'm definitely guilty of spending too many important moments behind the camera lens though. I've lost count of the times I've said to myself I should just enjoy a moment rather than ensuring it ends up on camera (never to be looked at again).

Slough

Wow! I didn't expect to wake up to so many answers, Thank you. Such a diversity in places and tastes & experiences (no shame for Vegas and Times Square, if it made you gasp it made you gasp!).

Privileged to say some of these answers I've seen already and get where you're coming from, some are on my immediate agenda, some on my bucket list, and others I'll have to go Google to see what the fuss is about!

Big takeaway from the thread is I need to spend more time in Ireland 🇮🇪

Negril, Jamaica

I have many all from New Zealand! Top of the list though is Cape Reinga. When you look out to sea there you can see a line across the ocean where two seas with currents that go in different directions "meet". Really spectacular.

Out in the desert near Alice Springs on a cattle station. It was a pretty awesome place as it was - dinner out on the red sand - but then they turned all the lights out. And you saw the milky way in all its glory and it was totally, utterly jaw dropping

The one that comes to mind was a field outside Barcelona, we went canyoning one day and had to walk through it. It was just full of poppies and one of the most unexpected things I've seen, making it one of the most beautiful. No camera as we were going in the water, I do regret asking the instructors to take a photo for me though.