The 10 most incredible forests on the planet that look like they are from a film

Forests cover about a third of the planet’s land surface, but some are so extraordinary they seem made up. This selection mixes giants, oddities and landscapes that change with the seasons. They are all real and nearly all can be visited on foot, as long as you respect their rules.

1. Giant sequoia forest (California, USA)

Sequoia National Park is home to General Sherman, the largest living tree in the world by volume: around 1,500 cubic metres of wood and an estimated age of over two thousand years. Walking among giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) changes your sense of scale. They are fire-resistant, but recent megafires, more intense than usual, have killed a significant share of the largest trees.

2. Hoh Rainforest (Washington, USA)

In Olympic National Park, rainfall far exceeds 3,000 mm a year. The result is a temperate rainforest where moss hangs like curtains from maples and spruces. The Hall of Mosses is a short trail that looks like a fantasy set.

3. Arashiyama bamboo grove (Kyoto, Japan)

A path between bamboo stalks over ten metres tall that creak and sway in the wind. It is one of the most photographed places in Japan, so go at dawn to enjoy it without the crowds.

4. The laurel forests of Garajonay and Madeira

On La Gomera (Canary Islands) and Madeira survives the laurisilva, a humid forest of laurels, giant heathers and ferns that is a relic of the forests that covered southern Europe and North Africa millions of years ago. Garajonay National Park and the Madeira laurel forest are World Heritage Sites. On foggy days, water dripping from the leaves (“horizontal rain”) sustains the ecosystem.

5. Monteverde cloud forest (Costa Rica)

A forest wrapped in almost permanent cloud, with orchids, bromeliads, quetzals and overwhelming biodiversity. Its hanging bridges let you see the canopy from above.

Cloud forests depend on fog: small changes in the height of the clouds can transform them completely.

6. Białowieża (Poland and Belarus)

One of the last primeval lowland forests in Europe, a World Heritage Site since 1979. Centuries-old oaks, limes and ashes, plenty of deadwood and the European bison, saved from extinction thanks to animals reintroduced here.

7. The Crooked Forest of Gryfino (Poland)

Around 400 pines with their bases bent into a “J” shape, all pointing the same way. They were planted around 1930 and the origin of their shape still has no definitive explanation: growing techniques to obtain curved timber, snow when they were young or damage as they grew are some of the hypotheses.

8. Hallerbos, the blue forest (Belgium)

Near Brussels, this beech wood is covered every spring (usually between mid-April and early May) by a carpet of blue wild bluebells. Stick to the paths: trampling the flowers damages them for years.

9. Daintree (Queensland, Australia)

Considered one of the oldest tropical rainforests on the planet, with plant lineages dating back to the age of the dinosaurs. Here the forest literally reaches the sea, next to the Great Barrier Reef. It is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site.

10. Irati Forest (Navarre, Spain)

One of the largest beech and fir forests in Europe, in the Navarrese Pyrenees. In autumn, its ochre, red and yellow tones make it one of the most sought-after landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula. There are waymarked routes for all levels.

Before you go

• Check the rules: many of these forests have limited access, quotas or seasons.
• Stay on the trails. The soil of mature forests is fragile.
• Go outside peak season or early in the day: your experience will be better and the pressure on the place lower.

If you like places that look out of this world, carry on with the 10 places where nature is still extremely wild.