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Top 10 photography vacations

We've picked out of top photography tours - take a look through them below with our interactive photography vacations map. The tours are as diverse as the countries they take place in, with Northern Lights shoots in the Arctic, orangutans in Borneo, limestone mountains in Italy and the shifting dunes of the Sahara.

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Top 10 photography vacations

Our top 10 photography vacations will take you around the globe in search of the most dramatic landscapes, rare natural phenomena and buzzing local culture. What’s more, your photography tutors really know how to turn a good scene into a great one, so you’ll witness these sights under moody skies, in the gentle light of dusk, bathed beneath the midnight sun or lit up by the aurora borealis. Read on for our pick of the world’s best photography vacations.

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1. Iceland

Ice caves, glaciers, sea stacks and volcanic craters; Iceland is a landscape photographer’s dream. Combine these otherworldly scenes with the Northern Lights and you have a truly awesome combination. The soft Arctic light of late winter and early autumn adds a particularly magical tint to the geological formations, as well as letting you explore this island at a time when few other tourists venture here. Come in late Jan-Feb, and you can seek out orcas, too.

When to go: February-March, September-October
Our top selling trip: Northern Lights photography vacation in Iceland, Coast and Ice
See all our trips: Iceland photography vacations
Read more: Iceland travel guide

2. Orangutans in Borneo

Photography tours head away from the crowds of Malaysian Borneo and venture into Indonesian Kalimantan, and Tanjung Puting National Park – home to 4,000 orangutans. Head out by boat and on foot to capture these curious primates on camera, along with proboscis monkeys, gibbons, hornbills and more. As an extra bonus, you’ll be accompanied by the director of the Orangutan Foundation.

When to go: October to November
Our top selling trip: Orangutan photography vacation in Borneo
Read more: Kalimantan travel guide, Orangutan vacations travel guide

3. Vietnam

Discover Vietnam through a lens. In the company of a small group, and led by an expert tutor-guide, you’ll tour Hanoi, with its French colonial-era architecture and colourful markets, before heading to Ha Giang, where you’ll photograph stunning rice terraces, and practise your street photography among the hill tribes. Finish by capturing a scenic cruise in the beautiful, tranquil Lan Ha Bay.

When to go: September or October
Our top selling trip: North Vietnam photography tour
Read more: Vietnam travel guide

4. Ladakh, India

Himalayan, Buddhist and on the Tibetan Plateau, the remote region of Ladakh is, in fact, part of India – and this beguiling combination of cultures and landscapes makes for a memorable photography vacation. Your Ladakhi guide will lead you to ancient clifftop monasteries, turquoise lakes, vast mountains and nomadic settlements, while your photo tutor will help you capture these gorgeous scenes on camera.

When to go: Midsummer
Our top selling trip: Ladakh photography tour
See all our trips: Photography vacations in India
Read more: Ladakh travel guide

5. Lofoten Islands, Norway

Chipped off Norway’s northwestern coast, and nudging into the Arctic Circle, these islands offer ice-packed fjords and snow covered mountains that glow beneath the sheen of the Northern Lights each winter. Timing is everything; Feb is a great month to see the lights, while offering enough golden daylight hours to capture the landscapes, before the snow has melted. May and June offer midnight sun and impressive birdlife.

When to go: February for the Aurora, or May-June for birdlife
Our top selling trip: Lofoten Islands winter photography vacation
See all our trips: Lofoten Islands special interest vacations
Read more: Lofoten Islands travel guide

Travel Team

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Call toll free

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rosy@responsibletravel.com

6. Polar bears in the Arctic

There’s loads to be said for Arctic scenery – freshly calved icebergs, mountain-clasped lakes, icy wilderness – but stick a bear in front of it, and everything scales up a notch or twenty. Polar bears are constantly on the hunt for seals and birds in the wide-open landscapes, so you could snap one swimming across a fjord or catch cubs tumbling down a hill. The cherry on top? The company of experienced polar photographers to share tips and tricks the whole way round.

When to go: May-August
Our top selling trip: Spitsbergen wildlife photography cruise
See all our trips: Wildlife cruises in the Arctic
Read more: Spitsbergen travel guide

7. Morocco

Join a photo safari of southern Morocco, led by an experienced adventure travel photographer, that immerses you in a flurry of colours, shapes and vivid landscapes. From Marrakech’s ancient medina to the UNESCO-listed Kasbah of Ait Benhaddou, the majestic Atlas Mountains to the vast, unknowable Sahara Desert, you’ll enjoy countless opportunities to hone your craft in landscape, portrait, architecture and street photography, with every participant receiving a one-on-one tutorial during the week.

When to go: May and October
Our top selling trip: Morocco photography vacation
See all our trips: Morocco vacations
Read more: Morocco travel guide

8. The Italian Dolomites

The Dolomites are just begging to be photographed – not only are their limestone heights impossibly steep and dramatic, and the – often clear – skies above them filled with stars, but when the sun does rise, photographers get treated to ‘enrosadira’ – the glow from the rising sun. This causes the white limestone to blush, bashfully and gloriously pink, making for some beautiful shots. Zooming in for a close up you can shoot church towers, deep blue lakes, and rustic farms.

When to go: June and October
Our top selling trip: Italy photography vacation in the Dolomites
See all our trips: Dolomites vacations
Read more: Dolomites photography travel guide

9. Greenland

At first glance, Greenland may seem like an icy, empty expanse, but eight days spent exploring its remote west coast will reveal otherwise. The combination of snow and mountains, beneath vast skies, makes for stunning black and white landscapes. Icebergs glow every shade of the autumnal light, and colourful houses stand guard over the bays. You'll be enchanted by frost, by Arctic sunrises, by hardy huskies and the Aurora Borealis.

When to go: August to September for summer scenes, or February to March for winter
Our top selling trip: Greenland photography tour
See all our trips: Greenland photography vacations
Read more: Greenland travel guide

10. Spain’s north or south

A photography vacation in Spain is about so much more than posing on beaches and Instagramming your tapas. Head to rural Andalucia, the Picos de Europa or the Pyrenees, in spring or autumn, to make the most of vibrant local festivals, ripe Mediterranean produce, whitewashed villages, dramatic mountains, rocky coastlines or Moorish architecture. This is a whole other side of Spain – and it’s a particularly photogenic one.

When to go: April to June, September to November
Our top selling trip: Photography vacation in Picos de Europa, Spain
See all our trips: Photography vacations in Spain
Read more: Picos de Europa Travel guide