Looking for travel Instagram accounts to follow? Well, you should because according to Instagram posts, stories, and reels, the world is slowly recovering from the pandemic. Travel bloggers travel again, sharing their travel photos and impressions with their travel-thirsty followers.
These bloggers recommend beautiful destinations and promote different kinds of travel activities and adventures. We made a list of the 10 best travel Instagram accounts to follow. Check it out and enjoy the ride!
@danielkordan
He calls himself a Happy Dreamer. According to his Instagram account – he really is. Daniel has one of the best Instagram travel accounts, with more than 1.8 million followers on the platform. Thus, he found himself on our top 10 travel Instagram accounts to follow list.
Furthermore, Daniel is a landscape photographer who shares stunning views of beautiful lakes, breathtaking sunsets, and snow-capped mountains. When you scroll through his account you will find photographs from Russia, Japan, Antarctica, Mongolia, Greenland, Norway, Patagonia…
In addition, he also shares his filming techniques and travel adventures, usually announcing upcoming webinars and expeditions. His hashtags include destination, editing tools, type of camera and so much more.
@theplanetd
Dave and Deb are the bloggers behind ThePlanetD and were even named Top Travel Influencers by Forbes Magazine. They have visited over 115 countries on all 7 continents and are real heavyweights in the travel space.
Dave and Deb mostly share one picture per post and use captions to describe the location and share camera settings. The number of hashtags varies from a couple to twenty or thirty and includes destinations, type of photos, and travel.
Also, they like to respond to comments under their posts, or at least like them. Their travel blog Planet D is an award-winning and one of the best travel Instagram accounts in 2021, with over 204k followers.
@mr.pokee
“It all started with a hedgehog named Mr. Pokee who taught us to be happy and smile.” This sentence is written under the profile picture of one cute hedgehog who has almost 2 million followers.
So what’s the catch? Well, this account shares photos of a hedgehog Mr. Pokee traveling around the world. The creators of this account wanted to remind people that there are always reasons to be happy, no matter how serious things can be.
Every once in a while there are a few long stories, but the captions are mostly short. Photos show beautiful destinations and stories about the adventures of a little hedgehog.
@alexstrohl
Alex Strohl is a photographer and filmmaker who has more than 2 million followers on Instagram. His eye for beauty is really stunning; he really has a gift to capture and show all the natural beauty in the shot.
Furthermore, this blogger usually describes his locations and camera settings, but sometimes shares his experiences, adventures, and personal impressions. He doesn’t use many hashtags. Alex is on the team with @canonusa and @wildistco
@louiscole
Louis Cole is a travel vlogger who shares his adventures, hoping to inspire social change. He has over 1 million followers on Instagram. Furthermore, his account is rich with single-picture posts, carousel posts, reels, and IGTV videos.
Also, Louis shares travel adventures, describe locations and promotes social campaigns. He also runs a lot of contests and giveaways. You can find hashtags for social campaigns like #SayYes or #EarthDayLive.
@theblondeabroad
Kiersten Riech is a woman who stands behind this blog. She is a Californian native who changed her corporate wealth management career to traveling around the globe.
Her Instagram account is for solo and female travelers around the world. And, at this moment she is one of the top travel influencers! Kiersten has been to over 70 countries and has over 520k followers on Instagram.
Likewise, her photos are stunning and breathtaking, her destinations are very popular and her captions are all about personal experience, travel tips, lifestyle, and, of course, sponsored content. It is really nice that she always gives an answer to all comments under her posts.
@muradosmann
Murad Osmann is the man behind the “Follow me” photo series with the iconic hand-holding pose. He is also a film producer, having over 3.6 million followers on Instagram.
Together with his wife Natalia Murad chronicles the world’s most beautiful things. He made it to the list of the top three travel influencers by Forbes. Furthermore, Murad usually shares single-picture posts, but there are also carousel posts and reels.
Also, he uses captions to describe locations where the photos are shot or share travel experiences.
@taramilktea
Tara Whiteman is an Australian travel blogger who has over 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Her photos are beautiful and arranged through a kaleidoscope of color, passing from yellow to peach to blue and so on.
In addition, her Instagram account will teach you how to travel in style and live life to the fullest. Likewise, Tara shares a lot of reels and some IGTV videos, but also single-image and carousel posts. And, she often talks about her travel experiences in destinations and promotes beauty and fashion brands in captions.
@theslowtraveler
Carolyn travels around the English countryside. She has 775k followers on Instagram and shares photos of beautiful indoor and outdoor in England, in a very vibrant and atmospheric mixture.
Furthermore, Carolyn posts only 4-5 times per month, but every post has a lot of comments. Her captions are all about travel experiences, descriptions of places, famous quotes, and similar. She almost never uses hashtags.
@TheBucketListFamily
This account is one of the most amazing travel Instagram accounts, with over 2.6 million followers. Thanks to Garrett and Jessica Gee, who sold everything they owned to travel the world with their three kids, this family has been to over 85 countries all over the world.
The Bucket List Family also has a YouTube channel with over 1.3 million subscribers. Those two share their family adventures and fun times and they have a lot of reels and IGTV videos, but also carousel posts that are very real.
Their captions length varies from one sentence to long texts, where Garret and Jessica write about their trips, parenting, and more. They use two to four hashtags on average, and only under some posts. You can find location and animal hashtags, travel-related hashtags like #bucketlist, and more.
While you are in the middle of a great game, the last thing you will do is pay attention to what’s around the basketball court, right? Also, the majority of basketball courts around the world are located in the cities, between buildings, so in most cases, there’s not much to see anyway. However, what if you find yourself on some of the best beachside basketball courts?
Playing on beachside basketball courts completely changes the game. And, there are actually quite a few scattered around the globe that make focusing on the ball very complicated. You will probably pay more attention to everything around the court than on the court and the game itself.
But, if you can keep your eyes on the ball but still want to enjoy amazing scenery at half-time, then keep reading this article. You will discover the best beachside basketball courts and maybe check out a few this summer.
Best Beachside Basketball Courts
If you love the game, then you definitely know that there’s a certain magical feeling involved when you are shooting the hoops right by the water. That goes double when that water is the ocean or the sea. Therefore, we decided to spread the magic and give you an insight into the locations of some of the best basketball courts that are close to the beach.
Frank Brown Park, Panama City Beach, Florida
This basketball court can be found in Brown Park. It’s just over the street from the Gulf of Mexico and during the entire year, it hosts a plethora of local games. In addition, you can also have fun on tennis courts or sit and relax and enjoy the ocean sunset from the pavilion.
Beach Road, Orange County, California
Have you ever imagined playing a match with your friends with the refreshing Pacific breeze keeping you cool? Well, now you know that it isn’t impossible and you can actually feel that on Orange County’s Beach road. Furthermore, this court is located just a few steps away from the beach and is actually one of the best beachside courts in South Cali.
Best Beachside Basketball Courts – Venice Beach, California
If you’ve seen the movies American History X and White Men Can’t Jump, then you’ve definitely seen these famous four basketball courts. They are located right on Venice Beach in LA, therefore, the scenery around them can’t be anything short of breathtaking. As a matter of fact, from each court, you can see the Pacific Ocean and the famous beautiful sandy beach.
Hannah’s Beach Resort, Philippines
The Hanna’s Beach Resort in the Philippines is great for many things, but for basketball lovers, this is one of the world’s top locations because of the mesmerizing views. You can enjoy a game of hoops and relax and enjoy the beautiful ocean sunset afterward.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
In Florida, more precisely in Fort Lauderdale, you can find another two great beachside basketball courts where you can just admire the magnificent nature while catching your breath in the halftime. The courts themselves are located on South Beach. And, if you do find yourself in Florida this year, make sure to check these two courts out.
Brighton Beach, Brighton, UK
Even though beach times are not that popular in the UK because of their infamous weather, the whole world knows about the parties that go down on the legendary Brighton Beach.
However, not many know that this beach also offers a top-notch basketball court with a 5-star view. Furthermore, if you are not in the mood for playing but still want to enjoy both a good game and the scenery, you will be happy to know that this court is also famous for three-on-three tournaments.
Flamingo Park, Miami Beach, Florida
Right in the center of South Beach, Miami, you can find the famous, all-year-round-full courts in Flamingo Park. One of the reasons that these courts are this famous is because they are always clean and in top shape and because they are surrounded from one side by an activities-filled park, and the beach and the ocean from the other side.
The other, more important reason why players love these courts is the fact that they are open non-stop and perfectly lit during the night. And of course, there’s always the fresh ocean breeze to keep you cool and focused on the ball.
DeShayes Dream Court, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
At the southernmost tip of the Baja California Peninsula, you can find the famous beach at Cabo San Lucas. And right on the beach, literally on the sand, usually in the summer, during the special events here, you can find a temporary state-of-the-art basketball court.
First of all, you will be blown away by the modern all-weather court surface, with blue accents on end lines, sidelines, and the key. Then once you get past the WOW effect of the court, you will notice the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean, and feel the fresh, energizing ocean air.
Best Beachside Basketball Courts – Angel’s Gate, San Pedro, California
In California, in San Pedro’s Angel’s Gate Park, you can find one of the most photographed beachside basketball courts in the world. The reason why so many people take photos of this court is the spectacular Pacific Ocean View.
It’s amazing that pretty much everywhere you look while on the court, all you can see is the Pacific Ocean. Imagine how hard is to keep your eyes on the ball while the Ocean is calling you.
In addition, an interesting piece of information is that this court was used for a scene in Spike Lee’s “He Got Game” movie.
Kitsilano Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Even though basketball isn’t the first association when you hear British Columbia, there’s a beachside court in Kitsilano Beach is definitely worth mentioning. The view from this court is just breathtaking!
From the blue all-weather surface and with the maple leaf in the center, you can actually see the entire English Bay and the west part of Vancouver city in the distance.
This article was originally posted on Rallyhaus, a website dedicated to those who want to enjoy the drive.
As part of any vacation, there are adventures, tours, and recreational activities, all of which are more expensive than a 24 hour rental of a Smart Car from Avis. Let’s put it this way, we’re getting the car for about the same amount as roundtrip cab fare from the airport.
After a quick walk around, I’m already thinking about what’s missing from the Brabus Edition, but this will still be fun.
Overview
Like a condo is a smaller house, the Smart Car has all of the things you need in order for it to be a car. We’ve seen these on the road, and yes, they are smaller than most standard golf carts, but they certainly have more features. The simple dashboard layout has heads-up gauges in the middle. Ours was outfitted in racing red with a basic radio and a lockable glovebox.
As you look down, the sight becomes more raw, seeing the floor extend between the seats showcasing the hand brake and the simplistic gear shift. The “trunk” operates much like the bed of a pickup truck – bare with a fold-down gate. There’s space for a backpack and possibly some groceries, but that’s about it.
Highway
Calling this a highway might be an overstatement, but in Puerto Vallarta it is their main street making it relatively easy to get around. Like many coastal cities, the main road follows the coastline and at times offers some spectacular views. Following 200 St will take you right downtown, or all the way North (from what we were told).
Getting up to speed was easy, and although the posted 60km/h was observed for a few moments, the safer bet is going with the flow of traffic around 90km/h. The excessive speed back home could warrant a hefty ticket, but here, if bothered to be pulled over, the fine would be about $10 USD. In case you’re wondering, we didn’t ask how much higher the fines would go for much higher speeds. Although intriguing, we had a Smart Car so we probably weren’t going to set any high-speed records.
City
Welcomed by narrower streets, and interesting boulevards that are for turning and accessing the shops, we put the top down and continued to cruise. The rag-top goes down quickly and without effort, but when folded, the rearview mirror suddenly only showed the folded top. A bit of a hassle to adjust each time the top goes up or down, but not the end of the world.
The best part of downtown was the cobblestone streets lined with shops. Everything from big brands to little, family-owned stores. We decided to stop before hitting the boardwalk and beach. With a parking spot in sight, I realized the size of the Smart by conveniently leaving enough space for another two Smart Cars to fit in. This was not intentional. On the roads, it’s easy to adjust to the size, yet while parking, I didn’t do very well. In my mind, it just couldn’t actually be that small.
Mountains
Sparing you the details of shopping and lunch, I’ll skip ahead to our journey out of downtown. Doing so could be accomplished by weaving back through the cobblestone streets, basically reversing our steps, or taking a road through the mountains, a tunnel and intersecting back with 200 St. Easy decision – the mountain road.
Heading up through this road was fun for us, and apparently the Smart Car, too. The lightweight body doesn’t take much to get it going. With ample power for the twists and turns uphill, we enjoyed the drive, but honestly, it’s shocking to see how close to the “tourist” zones many locals live. Less than five minutes into our drive and we had an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean, with tents and shacks buried off to the side of the road, people’s run-down cars still working away and filled to the brim with passengers. We’d later find out that “click-it or ticket” doesn’t exist or translate well in Mexico. Counting at least 12 people in a Ford Windstar, or 10 in the back of a pickup is common.
As promised, we reached the tunnel. Half under construction, the joys of high revs in a convertible were dashed, but that might have saved the disappointment of the Smart’s mild exhaust note. Spotting a shopping mall on the way in, we stopped off. Again, the dimensions of the Smart Car completely eluded me. Seeing what looked to be the smallest parking spot ever, I pulled in conservatively. Then, getting out, I realized practically left an entire “smart-car-length” in front.
To be honest, getting back on to the highway and heading back to the hotel was welcome as the stop, go, and Manhattan-like lane-changes were starting to feel a bit too much like home.
Driving in Mexico
A few takeaways if you’re planning to do the same:
The road conditions can be terrible in places. Hitting potholes can be detrimental.
Speeds are posted in KM/H and are rough guidelines. Follow the pace of traffic.
Speed bumps replace stop signs in slower zones. They really can stop a car.
Like all foreign driving, know where you’re going or at least how to find your way home.
Overall
Highly recommended if you have the time and want to explore outside the city. Personally, this was the best part of our trip. We had time to freely explore without being dictated by a landmark, time constraints, or tour guides. With the 24 hour rental, we also had the opportunity the next day to finish off any places we missed.
The Smart Car isn’t for us to live with. But, it turned out to be one hell of a great one-day runabout. I can see the appeal of having one in the city for car-sharing or for a short commute. Any convertible is great in sunny weather while on vacation and trying to get a tan. This was a fantastic option for us and it provided a great story to tell.
Mountains
