You won’t believe these places are real… and they’re not.
Though the world is full of real photos to fuel your wanderlust, images which will get you planning travels to perfectly accessible destinations, we’ve handpicked a few pieces of art and creative works of fiction which are simply the product of someone’s imagination.
Fiction is frustrating. We wish these places were real.
Narnia
C.S Lewis’s fictional wonderland might be a time warp full of danger and intrigue, but who doesn’t want to walk through their wardrobe to reach a magical world, have tea with a fawn and make friends with a talking lion? Cancel that flight, and clear a pathway through your clothes immediately.
Bikini Bottom, Spongebob Squarepants
He lives in a pineapple under the sea… Which you can book for just $20 per night. We wish.
Rural Japan as shown in My Neighbour Totoro
This Japanese animated fantasy film made in the ‘80s really captures the whimsy of childhood with magical landscape illustrations, made all the more compelling (and cute) by the mystical forest creatures the kids befriend. Who wants to sleep in a hostel when you can sleep on the stomach of a giant furry woodland spirit?
Discworld – as seen in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels
Imagine if the world was a flat disc, balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle. Well it’s not, and it never will be.
The world in Luigi Serafini’s Codex Seraphinianus
In his illustrated encyclopaedia of an imaginary world, Italian artist, architect and designer Luigi Serafini offers us a vivid portrait of a planet with rainbow cities, two-headed rhinos, avocado trees and other impossible creatures – from umbrellas on legs, to horses emerging from wheeled cocoons. His drawings are created with such detail and precision that it’s easy to become too absorbed and let your imagination run away with you.
Sigh.
Toon town from Who framed Roger Rabbit
Who wouldn’t want to visit a drawn, painted and animated town where even the cars talk. Toon town has a dreamlike, wondrous atmosphere.
Neverland, Peter Pan
Explore Neverland with the lost boys and never grow up. Just us? We didn’t think so.
The land of OZ from the Wizard of OZ
Witches aside, the land traversed by the yellow brick road is a top fictional destination. From munchkin country to the Emerald city, OZ brings immense colour and amazing sights to take in. Just don’t forget your red shoes…
Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
We long to meet like-minded backpackers among trees of strawberry laces, go skinny-dipping in rivers of chocolate and sample the local delicacies of never-ending gob-stoppers; but unfortunately, we can’t.
Plato’s island of Atlantis
Plato’s lost city has subsequently been taken up by a bunch of Utopian works of literature, and continues to inspire a whole host of contemporary fiction – from comic books to films. Sadly it can’t be found on hihostels.com.
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Have we missed your favourite fictional destination? Tell us in the comments below:
