Perched on the edge of a mesa, Paolo Soleri's utopian metropolis - located in the middle of the Arizona desert - looks lifted from a sci-fi film.

Topped with ceramic eggs, the stucco structure of Salvador Dalí's Catalonian home is an indulgent homage to surrealist experimentation.

This colourful mound in the Sonoran Desert is a proclamation of faith and love. Walk the hand-painted yellow brick road to Salvation's exuberantly painted 50-foot summit, crowned by the words "God Is Love".

A volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, Milos is publicised as the discovery site of the Venus de Milo - but we're most interested in discovering the Papafragas caves.

A geological wonder, the rainbow mountains of Gansu are rugged, multihued and majestic.

You've got algae to thank for the particularly pretty shade of pink for which Lake Retba is known.

Across this archipelago, vast swathes of land are populated with abstract geological forms, from coastline peninsulas to the weird and wonderful rock formations of the Quiraing.

At Pamukkale, ethereal limpid pools hang like white travertine terraces. Meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, its name couldn't be more in point.

Hitachi Seaside Park - with its marshmallow-pink kochia plants - gives us serious Dr Seuss vibes.

This coastal desert is one of the oldest and largest in the world; it's distinctive russet hue also makes it one of the most beautiful.