These jaw-dropping, weird places will leave you in awe!
What if the strangest destinations in the world aren’t the ones we’ve always admired but the ones that make us question everything we know?
The Earth is a big and stunning planet, a tapestry woven with bustling cities, vibrant landscapes, and ancient monuments. We often marvel at its diverse cultures, grand scale, and historical wonders.
But hidden within this familiar tapestry lie little pieces of the extraordinary… places that challenge perceptions defy logic, and leave you questioning the very nature of, well, other Nature!
These aren’t your typical tourist traps, but check out 10 weird places that whisper tales of the bizarre, the inexplicable, and the downright strange!
Socotra Island: Yemen
Celebrated as the original Garden of Eden due to its unique biodiversity and isolation, which are not found anywhere else on the planet, this isolated island in Yemen looks like a Dr. Seuss book that has leaped to life.
If you visit this weird place, you can expect the ancient dragon’s blood trees and bulbous bottle trees, among other things.
Leaving people very curious about its roots, the enchanting Socotra Island is one of the most bizarre places on Earth…and I mean that in the best way possible! This island is also home to a collection of several shipwrecks and caves.
Plain of Jars: Laos
This is another strange one, folks! Megalithic stone jars with an unknown history are sprinkled across the Xieng Khouang Province in Laos, huddled in groups from one to a hundred. Stone lids, human bones, and discs have been discovered around these giant cylindrical jars, concluding that they were once a part of ancient funeral ceremonies.
Local legend says otherwise, though. People say that the jars in this weird place were used to brew rich rice wine for giants. Enveloped in mystery and laced with intrigue, the Plain of Jars is one of the oddest places in the world, where the explanations are best left to your imagination.
Nazca Lines: Peru
Few places on earth are as mysterious and strange as the huge drawings etched onto the deserts of southern Peru. The geoglyphs, also known as the Nazca Lines, range from simple swirls and lines to more intricate shapes like a monkey and a hummingbird.
Nobody knows why this weird place exists, but scientists have a theory that most of the geoglyphs were made by the Nazca civilization, which lived in the region around 1 to 700 AD. Nowadays, many think that the indentations were part of the ancient civilization’s ritualistic traditions.
The mystery is part of the charm, for sure. But travelers will find the sheer volume and age of the Nazca Lines fascinating. The best way to see them is from the sky on a charter flight, but if you’re on a budget, you can also see a couple from the viewing tower.
Avanos Hair Museum: Turkey
Inside the cellar of a famous ceramic shop in Avanos, Cappadocia, lies a bizarre exhibition of human hair samples. You can walk into the Avanos Hair Museum, which displays locks of hair from over 16,000 women worldwide, alongside messages with their names and contact information.
What might be even more strange, though, is that ten randomly selected women win an all-expenses-paid trip to the owner’s hometown each year in appreciation of their contributions. Here’s how the story goes about this weird place: A friend of Turkish potter Galip Korukcu moved out of Avanos and left him a piece of her hair as a keepsake.
Women passing by Galip’s shop felt so moved that every one also left him some locks of their hair. Eventually, the shop collected enough of it to create an entire museum!
What began as a simple goodbye gift between the ceramic shop owner and his dear friend escalated into a weird situation, now one of the world’s oddest museums and places.
Island of Dolls: Mexico
Ok… Brace yourself for this weird place! Step inside a spine-chilling clearing deep in the woods where thousands of maimed dolls hang from trees and hide amongst overgrown bushes. Myths run rampid in the uninhabited Mexican island of Xochimilco, with its visuals unbelievably morbid.
Mexico has its share of quirky attractions, but this one might just top the list. The legend goes that a withdrawn Mexican man, Julian Santana Barrera, hung these dolls.
He thought that doing so would suppress the agonizing screams of the ghost of a small girl who drowned more than 50 years ago and still haunts the woods to this day. Hazardous? Probably. Awesome photo opportunity? Absolutely!
Lake Hillier: Australia
Lakes don’t often come in shades of bubblegum pink, but this weird place sure does! Due to the presence of colorful algae and bacteria, Australia’s Lake Hillier is a vibrant pink color that makes it as eye-catching from above as it is from the coast.
When flying over the Recherche Archipelago, the pink shades stand out even more as the lake lies right beside the crystal-clear blue ocean.
The Giant’s Causeway: Northern Ireland
Legend has it that giants used to walk this part of the earth and created The Giant’s Causeway, a cluster of approximately 40,000 uniformly shaped basalt columns ascending from the sea in Northern Ireland. If you visit the area, you can climb the hills and catch a peek at this epic UNESCO World Heritage Site.
And while stories of giants seem absurd, it’s almost easy to accept that the tall tales at the presence of these ancient rocks. Even though it’s one of the most bizarre places in the world, the truth is a little less utopian: A giant volcanic eruption around 60 million years ago radiated an extraordinary mass of molten basalt that cooled and hardened into this unusual landscape.
Set against the peaceful backdrop of mountains and the sea, this weird place is as captivating as it is odd.
Okunoshima (Rabbit Island): Japan
An island inhabited by hundreds of cute wild rabbits? Sign me up IMMEDIATELY! Okunoshima, a.k.a. Rabbit Island in Eastern Hiroshima, is a popular destination for animal lovers and families in Japan.
Nobody knows how these untamed creatures ended up on this island, considering this is where the Japanese Imperial Army also made poison gas during World War II. Some believe that school kids released them in the 70s, while others think that they’re the offspring of the rabbits used as test subjects for chemical weapons.
No matter their heritage, I can’t say I’m not charmed by this weird place full of adorable fluffy rabbits.
Painted Hills: United States
You didn’t think I’d leave the US off this list, did you? Well, nature has a special way of showcasing its artwork to the human eye. One of the most bizarre places in the world can be found in Oregon.
The state is home to the famous “painted hills” in Wheeler County. This weird place was once a part of an ancient river floodplain which, throughout the years, under the influence of weather, caught all those unique colors.
Crooked Forest: Poland
I bet you’ve never seen pine trees like these before! Crooked Forest is a scenic grove of roughly 400 pine trees, all perfectly curved at the bottom of their trunks. Like many of the other unique places in the world, Crooked Forest is baffling.
Some people believe that the oddly shaped trunks resulted from being buried under snow while they were mere saplings.
On the other hand, others say humans intentionally shaped these trees when they were planted almost a century ago. The mystery behind this weird place is still unsolved… but it’s fun to speculate, isn’t it? And the protected area is a nice spot for a friendly stroll in northwest Poland.
Have you heard about these weird places? Be sure to let me know what you think in the comments section. And if you want to read about more interesting places in the world, check out: 8 Magnificent Under-the-Radar Destinations You Must Visit Around the World
