Where to go when you've already travelled a lot

The other side of a country you know

Many people have been to Istanbul, Cappadocia or the Turkish coast. South-eastern Anatolia is another world. Gaziantep has its food and Roman mosaics; near Şanlıurfa lies Göbekli Tepe, one of the oldest known monumental sites on earth. On the summit of Mount Nemrut the sun rises over colossal stone heads, and Mardin's stone houses step down towards the Mesopotamian plain. It is a journey for people drawn to history, food and the places where Turkey meets the older cultures of the Middle East.

For most, Egypt means the pyramids and the Nile. The Western Desert is a different story: Alexandria on the Mediterranean, the Siwa oasis with its palm groves and salt lakes near the Libyan border, then a night under the stars in the White Desert, where wind has carved the chalk into strange white sculptures.

Where travel still asks for effort

Bolivia is one of South America's least polished countries, and that is exactly its appeal. La Paz with its cable cars over the city, the rainforest of Madidi National Park reached by small plane or boat, white colonial Sucre and the mining city of Potosí. Further south, around Tupiza, red canyons lead towards the Uyuni salt flat. High altitude is a daily reality here, so the journey should be planned slowly; we cover this in a separate piece.

In western Tanzania, Katavi and Mahale national parks are reached only by small aircraft. In Katavi's dry season, great herds of buffalo gather at the last of the water, and in the Mahale Mountains beside Lake Tanganyika you can follow chimpanzee trails. There are few camps here, and so few other travellers.

Australia's far north – the Top End and the Kimberley – means immense distances, ancient Aboriginal rock art at Kakadu and the striped domes of Purnululu National Park, best grasped from the air. Many roads and parks are only accessible in the dry season, roughly May to October, so the timing matters.

What experienced travellers remember most is not distance but depth.

A few questions before choosing what's next

Before choosing, it helps to answer a few simple questions. The answers often lead somewhere you didn't expect. Sometimes the best next journey is a return to Turkey or Egypt by an entirely different road. Sometimes it is a country you had never even considered.

• Which of your past journeys stayed with you most – and was it the place, or the way you experienced it?
• Do you want a new country, or another side of one you already know?
• How much flexibility will you accept: small planes, simpler lodging, changes forced by weather?
• What matters more to you – history, nature, people or silence?

Quiet as a luxury

In the Cook Islands, most visitors stay on Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Atiu and Mangaia move at another pace entirely: coral caves, birds, coffee grown on the island itself, and villages where Sunday hymns carry a long way. There is nothing to “do” in the usual sense – and that is precisely the point.

The north of the Philippines is little known too. In Luzon's mountains the rice terraces of Batad rise like giant stairs, Sagada has caves and pine forests, and far to the north, on the Batanes islands, the stone houses of the Ivatan stand among green hills and wind-scoured cliffs. Batanes depends on weather and flights, so build a spare day into the journey.

If you've travelled a lot, you probably know what you love and what you don't. Let's start there: tell us which journeys stayed with you most and why, and we'll explore the possibilities from there.