Our Readers’ Best Travel Photos

This photo was taken by Karen Bergmann from Racine, Wisconsin.

"A friend and I had taken a long weekend off to go to the Finger Lakes in New York state to take fall photos. We expected the foliage to be at peak color. It rained the entire weekend. We were so disappointed.

Finally, on Sunday afternoon, we headed back to New Jersey. Late in the afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds and as we were driving along on the freeway I spotted a sign that said 'Hidden Lake this exit.' On a whim, I told my friend to exit the highway and follow the signs to Hidden Lake.

... My friend, who was driving my car and not accustomed to driving outside the city, backed the car up to park on the side of the road on the earthen shoulder ... The car immediately sank up to the axles in mud ... I called around to find a tow truck that would come out late on a Sunday afternoon to pull us out. It would be over two hours. Upset, I took out my camera and went to shoot some photos so it would not be a total loss. We were lucky. The colors were at peak and no one was on or around the lake so it was perfectly still ...

Eventually we were pulled out of the mud and we drove the rest of the way back to New Jersey tired and still disappointed about the weekend. It was only the next day when I downloaded the photos and looked at them on the screen that I realized what beautiful photos I had taken. It was a complete surprise and shock! ...

About me: I am a pharmacist who has worked for a large multi-national pharmaceutical company for the past 16 years. Twelve of those years I lived in Greece and Switzerland, traveling around the world from those countries. The most unique place I have had the privilege to visit was Bhutan. I enjoy building pottery and taking photographs as a way to relax and develop the more artistic side of my brain after working in the science and business world all day. I began using a digital camera in 2000."

This photo was taken by Thomas Nevin from Naples, Florida.

"It was taken in the Grand Palace area of Bangkok as we were walking around three years ago. I saw the monk putting on his robe and took the picture; I did not realize it until I got home to examine the picture [that] I noticed the tattoo of 'LOVE' on his arm and how I got it perfectly. The orange robe and the contrasting face and arm made it an outstanding photograph.

I have been doing photography for many years. I have traveled extensively all my adult life taking at least two trips a year for many, many years. I have traveled basically all over the world."

This photo was taken by James Diedrick from Decatur, Georgia.

"I took this photo on August 9, 2007, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival—specifically, on the Royal Mile in central Edinburgh. During the days of the festival, actors and actresses in full costume perform short scenes from their plays, to be performed that evening in area theaters. This actress had the lead in John Ford's 1629 play 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore.

I took the photo with a Canon EOS 20D equipped with a 70-200 mm lens ... I'm a professor and Dean at Agnes Scott College, a women's college in Atlanta, Georgia.

My wife and I love to travel, and in the past five years have visited Greece, Scotland, France, and England. We are planning a trip to Finland and Norway in June 2010. We attended the Fringe Festival as part of a two-week tour of Scotland, a 10th wedding anniversary present to ourselves."

This photo was taken by Robin Fryday from Novato, California.

"The photo was taken in Varanasi, India, while I was there photographing children in a school/orphanage for a non-profit organization in the Bay Area called 'The Milagro Foundation.' I happened upon a wedding that was in progress and was invited in to take photos. A group of women were gathered in a room with the bride and were showing their decorated hands, which is traditional for Indian weddings.

I have traveled extensively throughout Peru, India, Bhutan, and Thailand to photograph people of other cultures. Much of my work focuses on children in civilizations, which are rapidly changing and vanishing."

This photo was taken by Julie Gillis from Seattle, Washington.

"This photo was taken in the Willamette Valley, south of Portland, Oregon. I tagged along with a friend while she was on a business trip. Any excuse for a vacation. We were driving through the countryside and came down over a hill. We both are photographers and saw a beautiful site and decided to stop. I'd never seen acres of red clover before. We both were overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.

I use to say that my work got in the way of my travel time. They say, be careful what you wish for, as I lost my job in February ... It has been a blessing in disguise. I thought, 'What an opportunity not to pass up. I have free time now to travel.' My travels have been many this year. I've been on a vacation every month except for November since April. I just realized that I've visited every corner of the U.S. this year. I've been to San Diego,CA; Portland, Maine; Key West/Miami, Florida; and I live in Seattle. I also went to Whistler, B.C., San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

What I love about traveling is meeting new people. Not just the ones that live in the places that I visit, but the other travelers. I went on a cruise this October and met a gal who lives on an island off of Madagascar. I now have a new friend to visit. What a wonderful way to make friends."

This photo was taken by Harriet Feagin from Plainview, Texas.

"I am a 61-year-old seventh grade math teacher and grandmother of eight. I have always loved photography, but really got serious about it in 2007. I went digital and will never go back. I have always had a fascination for the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.

In June, my daughter, granddaughter, and I took a trip to Prince Edward Island. I gave two of my children dream trips for their 40th birthday. She has always loved Anne of Green Gables, so PEI was her dream trip.

We stayed a couple of days at Southwest Harbor near Acadia National Park in Maine ... On Sunday, I got up before dawn and went by myself to the lighthouse. As you can see, the rocks are daunting. I climbed down those rocks and perched there all alone to wait for sunrise. This was my only chance since I knew that I would not be scaling those rocks again. It was worth the wait. My daughter had her trip of a lifetime and I shot my photo of a lifetime.

Now this photo hangs above my fireplace. Each time I look at it I can almost smell the salt air, hear the crashing waves, and feel the cool wind. I can relive this moment over and over thanks to this photo. I live in West Texas, but this photo transports me to the seashore in an instant."

This photo was taken by Zongqi Xia from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"During a visit to the Golden Temple of Amristar (Punjab) in the winter of 2009, I took this photo while sitting serenely beside an elderly Sikh pilgrim by the Pool of Immortal Nectar facing the Harimandir. Just like the pilgrim, I was deeply entranced by the hypnotic and sublime chanting of Gurbani Kirtan.

Before my journey across India, I volunteered for a month with the Himalaya Health Exchange in the Himachal Pradesh as an elective during residency. We provided free medical care to an underserved part of rural Northern India.

I am a neurologist based in Boston. Since college, I have traveled to six continents and several dozens of countries. When I travel to a new place, I like to spend time wandering aimlessly and discovering the unexpected. An ideal trip for me combines elements of (mis)adventure, local culture, culinary delights, and serendipitous encounters with kind strangers."

This photo was taken by Jeff Tidwell from Las Vegas, Nevada.

"The photo was taken in Paro (Western Bhutan) in October of 2003. I was accompanied by a local guide whom I met at the boarder as travel in Bhutan alone is not allowed. I spent the night in the Druk Hotel, which is just over the border on the Bhutan side, and then departed with him the next morning.

I'm not sure of what changes have been made recently if any, but at the time, Bhutan had only one road, which traversed the entire country. As I recall, I think the trip took five hours to travel from the Indian border to Paro, and the way was marked by thick forest similar to areas in Washington and Oregon, with steep mountainsides along this narrow and dangerous road, and with ocassional prayer wheels ...

As you may already know, Bhutan is a difficult place to enter, but well worth the effort. I have traveled extensively throughout Asia and from 1991 to 2006, I lived there almost every year [for] an average of six months. Asia has been the place I prefer to travel, but I am interested in other areas as well. I was living in Utah at the time, but now reside in Las Vegas, Nevada."

This photo was taken by Judith Fenson from San Diego, California.

"This trip was to the Antarctic Peninsula. We made a zodiac landing at Port Lockroy and were rewarded with the sight of this Emperor penguin. They are not normally in this area and it was off course by maybe several hundred miles. The scientists onboard our ship thought perhaps it had come ashore to molt. There is a huge intact whale skeleton on the beach. I also have a video of it strolling alongside the skeleton. It was very exciting!

My husband, Larry, and I seek out adventure travel and interesting cultures such as the Dogon people of Mali; stone age tribes in the Baliem Valley of West Papua, Indonesia; Himba people in Namibia; peoples in Papua New Guinea; and an upcoming trip to the Omo Valley tribes in Ethiopia. We are recently back from a trip to Tibet where we went to Everest base camp. We have trekked in the Annapurnas in Nepal. We love the Peruvian Amazon and return there frequently. We are for the most part independent travelers—we find a company in the country we are interested in and then work with them to make a custom itinerary usually with guide and driver. We have a few friends who like our style of travel and accompany us sometimes."

This photo was taken by Bill Wynn from Poinciana, Florida.

"The photo was taken just outside the Hyatt Embarcadero hotel in San Francisco April of 2004. I just liked the 'vortex' look of it. My wife and I were there for a short vacation. We both love San Francisco and the California coast—just one of the beautiful spots on the planet.

We do travel from time to time and prefer the West Coast from San Diego up to Vancouver, B.C. We are both retired now and looking forward to more travel in the coming months. We expect to visit Vancouver's coastal region again this coming summer."