Wikivoyage:Destination of the month candidates

Here we determine which articles are featured on the Main Page as Destination of the month (DotM), Off the Beaten Path (OtBP) and Featured travel topics (FTT).

Nominate
You can nominate any article you would like to see featured. Any destination, region, itinerary or event that passes the "What is an article?" test is eligible for nomination.

However, before nominating, please check that the article follows these basic guidelines:
 * The nominated article should have an article status of guide or star. This includes having at least one good picture, and listings/headers/etc. that match our manual of style.
 * The nominated article must not have been featured since Wikivoyage became a WMF project in 2013.
 * See Previous Destinations of the month, Previously Off the beaten path, and Previous Featured travel topics to check.
 * If the article has been nominated previously but failed, any objections should be addressed before nominating it again.
 * Check the slush pile.
 * If you think a once-slushed destination is now ready to go, list it as new, but with a pointer to the slush pile entry.
 * The article should preferably be nominated 3 to 12 months before the intended feature date; ready to feature as is, or with edits that can be done well before featuring.

Well-known and/or popular destinations should be nominated as Destination of the Month, while more obscure destinations should be nominated for Off the Beaten Path. Featured Travel Topic includes travel topics, phrasebooks, itineraries, and other articles not part of the geographic hierarchy, as well as airports (as they are not usually destinations in their own right). Where applicable, you should propose a good time to visit the destination as a month to be featured.

The basic format of a nomination is as follows:

Add a nomination to the end of the appropriate section.

Discuss
You can comment on any nomination based on timeliness and adherence to the criteria above, just add a bullet point (*) and your signed opinion.

===Destination=== Great article and it's just luvvly-jubbly in the springtime. TravelNut 25:25, 31 Feb 2525 (UTC) * Looks nice, but shouldn't the Do section contain more than just quilting contests? ~

Please note that the following are not considered valid reasons to oppose a nomination:
 * "I don't like it." All objections have to be based on the guidelines above: poor formatting, missing information, etc.  Personal opinions, dislikes, etc. do not count.
 * "Wrong time of year." Articles are supported or opposed based on their content. Timing can be worked out later.
 * "Wrong type of place." Articles are supported or opposed based on their content.  Whether it's DotM or OtBP can be worked out later.

Select
If an article gets several comments in favor and none against for a week or so, it's eligible to be placed in an appropriate time-slot in the Upcoming queue. If the objections are relatively minor and are being worked on, add them to the Upcoming queue tentatively (add a question mark "?" after the article). Feel free to move the queue around or swap articles if it makes sense. If a nomination clearly does not make the grade and if the objections are not easily fixable, they go into the Slush pile.

Once a nomination has been scheduled, an appropriate banner image and text blurb must be selected. Go to Destination of the month candidates/Banners to start that discussion.

Archive
Discussions for previously selected destinations are kept in the Archive.

Schedule
The following queue should contain about the next few months' worth of upcoming destinations. Note that new DotMs are rotated in on the 1st of each month, OtBPs on the 11th and travel topics on the 21st.

Try to avoid two overlapping or back-to-back features from the same country, as well as long streaks of features from the same continent. It is customary to wait 24 months between articles from the same or nearby cities.

The schedule is not cast in stone. However, any change made to the schedule should have a compelling reason behind it, and should be effected as far in advance as possible of the article's scheduled term on the Main Page. In particular, unless absolutely necessary, we discourage nominee articles from being slushed or rescheduled after banners have been made for them, which usually happens 2–3 months before being featured.

Whenever an article becomes a current feature, it should be removed from the list, the discussion archived, and (when changing out Featured Travel Topics) a new month added to the end of the queue.

Next changes
Decisions regarding which images to use as the banners are made at Destination of the month candidates/Banners.

The section below provides an opportunity to see what the upcoming featured articles will look like on the Main Page using the banners that are currently most popular on the above page.

Updating
On the date of the scheduled change, the DotM, OtBP, or FTT should be changed as close to midnight UTC as possible. This can only be done by administrators. When the featured page is changed, please follow the following procedures to do so and archive content to the appropriate pages. At each stage, please double-check that you are correctly moving content. Several steps involves copy pasting of the file names of the Main Page banners – former, current, and next – so it can be useful to open those in tabs first.


 * 1) Update the featured articles on the main page by replacing the current 'banner' template section with those of the appropriate banner for the new DotM/OtBP/FTT found in the Next change section above.
 * 2) Update the Photo credits page with the banner's original image, title and attribution.
 * 3) Add the former featured article to the appropriate archive page: Previous Destinations of the month, Previously Off the beaten path, or Previous Featured travel topics.
 * 4) Remove Template:Featurenomination from newly featured article.
 * 5) For the former featured article, add the appropriate parameter to the pagebanner template (directly after the image filename) to label the page as having been featured previously.
 * 6) * For former DotMs, add: |dotm=yes
 * 7) * For former OtBPs, add: |otbp=yes
 * 8) * For former FTTs, add: |ftt=yes
 * 9) Archive the newly featured article's nomination. Simply cut-and-paste the nomination section of the newly featured article from this page to Destination of the month candidates/Archive.
 * 10) Update the Next change section above by adding the banner from the discussion page. View the table in the Schedule section above to determine what next month's change will be, then update the image and blurb in the "Next change" section with that found in the upcoming featured article's nomination.
 * 11) In the schedule, use and to strikethrough the newly featured article. Remove the row from the table if the newly featured article is the FTT.
 * 12) Archive the newly featured article's banner by cutting-and-pasting all banner suggestions and the associated discussion into Destination of the month candidates/Banners/Archive.

Windsor (Ontario)

 * Some work needed per comment. Ypsilon (talk) 18:41, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Needs work per your comment. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 22:11, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Košice

 * Support as nominator. Ypsilon (talk) 18:41, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Would be great to finally have our first Slovakian feature! -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 22:11, 21 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. Mrkstvns (talk) 15:15, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Yerevan

 * Very close per nomination. --Ypsilon (talk) 18:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Close per above. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 20:38, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Perth

 * Almost per nomination. --Ypsilon (talk) 18:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I haven't had the chance to properly read through the article, but it might be a good idea to solicit the opinion of, who has previously lived in Perth. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 09:37, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I'd prefer not to deal with this, honestly, unless there are very specific questions that require local input. I don't know Perth that well from the average traveller's perspective, especially these days. Graham87 (talk) 11:59, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
 * That's fair enough. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 08:37, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * One other thing I noticed is that the static maps look horrendous (no offense, sorry). I can't tell which goes where, with several major freeways like the Tonkin Hwy missing. I can't do much since I've never been to Perth, though. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 03:39, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

Manama

 * Almost per comment. Ypsilon (talk) 16:58, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Support oer nomination. Mrkstvns (talk) 12:54, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

Medan

 * Almost per comment. Ypsilon (talk) 16:58, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

Recife

 * Almost per comment. Ypsilon (talk) 16:58, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per nomination. Mrkstvns (talk) 18:48, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

Ath

 * Almost - pending minor fixes, mainly those dates. Ypsilon (talk) 19:37, 29 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Almost – per above. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 07:12, 30 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment — oops, I edited timestamps according to the above, but setting the year to 2024 instead of 2023, now corrected. That means that they need to be checked before the feature in August. –LPfi (talk) 11:18, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

Minot

 * Close per comment. Ypsilon (talk) 18:41, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

New England National Park

 * per my comment. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 06:02, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

La Tremblade

 * Support per nomination. --Ypsilon (talk) 18:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Presidente Prudente

 * Almost per nomination. --Ypsilon (talk) 18:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Yarrangobilly Caves

 * Almost – as the person who started and wrote much of the article, thanks for the nomination! I might add some geolines to it (am familiar with the trails), but I can't see anything much missing from when I was there. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 07:29, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for adding the paths! Could you annotate them as well, maybe in the mapframe description? Jpatokal (talk) 00:31, 4 April 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅, though in the listings instead. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 01:30, 4 April 2024 (UTC)

Sekigahara

 * Can't see anything that would prevent this from being an OtBP. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 12:07, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Article looks good & the site is important. Pashley (talk) 15:00, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The article is good. Having visited once, I can attest that the historical sites are really not geared for English-speaking visitors, but the article doesn't pretend otherwise and it's fine for a mildly interesting day trip. Jpatokal (talk) 06:01, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Support. Well, if there are few places to eat and drink and sleep, we can't list any more than there actually is :). I think we should run the Sekigahara in October for the re-enactment of the battle as we will probably already have one Japanese feature sometime next spring (Public baths in Japan as FTT). --Ypsilon (talk) 08:50, 10 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Not Yet With zero "Eat" or "Buy" listings, this article has not earned guide status. We should not be saying things like "some decent restaurants and cafes opened both in the battlefield and around the station". Instead, those restaurants and cafes should be given listings. Sekigahara's website shows that the city has numerous restaurants. Similarly "souvenir shops around town" should be given listings. Other encampments should also be given listings. They will not overwhelm the article and they provide deeper understanding of the battle, especially in an article that says you won't understand if you don't speak Japanese. The article also doesn't list much outside of the battlefield. No War Land? No cave? No mention of the Nakasendo post town (Sekigahara-juku)? How about the opportunity to don samurai outfits? I have been to Sekigahara numerous times. It wasn't really on my radar to edit, but maybe I can try adding things here and there to get it up to standard. ChubbyWimbus (talk) 14:59, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

Khujand

 * Comment - I'd imagine a city of almost 200,000 inhabitants would have a few more places to Drink and Sleep worth listing? --Ypsilon (talk) 19:21, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Comment: I was going to say something similar to Ypsi – surely a city of that size has more establishments than what's on the page as of typing this? -- SHB2000  (t &#124; c &#124; m) 23:05, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

El Hierro

 * Some work needed per comment. --Ypsilon (talk) 19:21, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

Churches in Antarctica

 * as nominator. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 10:43, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment: We have plenty of travel topics nominated, and the travel topics have potential for new articles, with itineraries, and thematic articles such as these. Shall we allow geographic travel topics to run as DoTM and OtBP? /Yvwv (talk) 14:38, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
 * If the alternative is to run a destination article that hasn't been updated since before the pandemic, I think such flexibility is preferable. Otherwise, probably not. Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:47, 20 January 2023 (UTC)
 * I'd be open to featuring this in Off the beaten path, because it doesn't get much more OtBP than this. Jpatokal (talk) 02:55, 20 January 2023 (UTC)

Voyages of James Cook

 * Support as nominator. As this article is about several journeys, unlike the Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation which was about just one, I don't think it's necessary to rewrite it as an itinerary, it's good as it is. Ypsilon (talk) 19:46, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment: We tend to look for major anniversaries for historical articles. Cook's second voyage was made from 1772 to 1775, which is 250 years ago. Not sure whether there will be any public events to attend, however. /Yvwv (talk) 13:38, 3 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Put on hold? - This is a clean article with guide status, entirely written by established Wikivoyagers so I went ahead and nominated it for FTT some time ago. Now I'm scanning Commons for banner material for March's and April's featured articles, and looked more closely at the article to see which exact destinations the article is about. At that, I noticed that there are no POIs from New Zealand (see also Talk:Voyages of James Cook), and that part of the world is too important not to include. There are Mt Cook and the Cook strait but there must also be quite a few monuments of him, but the question is which of them are the most notable and should be included in the article? --Ypsilon (talk) 16:20, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
 * I have added some NZ POIs and listings for the two replica Endeavour's which are afloat (UK and Australia). There are now three NZ listings - two are of the beaten track and one is a more central statue, but I am not sure if it is the most notable memorial. AlasdairW (talk) 22:46, 11 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks, and I also added the Cook strait and mountain. --Ypsilon (talk) 09:28, 21 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Slush? The article is not good to go. It has no yes votes, and has not improved nearly 5 months past nomination. We should consider slushing. /Yvwv (talk) 16:32, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Let's wait for a week or two, I just brought the issues to light and there's a good chance that we have editors familiar with Cook and NZ who can help. Ypsilon (talk) 16:41, 31 January 2024 (UTC)


 * Support I think it is now in reasonable shape, although more could be done. We should also check that the places listed in the article are mentioned in the city articles which are linked in the listings. AlasdairW (talk) 23:21, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

Right to access in the Nordic countries

 * Support as nominator. Ypsilon (talk) 18:41, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Quite different from most travel topics we have. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 02:44, 30 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Support. I think the article covers most relevant issues and it may be eye-opening for people from countries where the tradition is different (such as England and the USA). However, I'd like to hear from travellers not familiar with the concept: is there something that should be clarified? –LPfi (talk) 08:59, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * [edit conflict] The time slot in July is nice, as it's in the berry and mushroom season (which will continue through September) and also a common vacation time in Europe, with good hiking weather locally. –LPfi (talk) 09:30, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * As an outsider, I've found this concept pretty easy to understand when I visited Norway a few years back (and should find it relatively easy when I visit Iceland and Finland next year), but that's also because it's a bit more lax here than it is in the UK or US and accidentally trespassing won't get you into much issues (unlike some places where you can legally be shot). -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 09:05, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * (and as a side note, I so wish this concept applied everywhere instead of just the Nordics) -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 09:42, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Support. As Scotland has more recently introduced some broadly similar rights with the Outdoor Access Code about 20 years ago, I found the article easy to understand and got a good grip also on what is different. I would like to see some links to definitive advice on access - government websites or possibly walking clubs etc. It would also be good to know who is responsible for enforcing these rights - to who do I report the farmer shouting "get off my land!". AlasdairW (talk) 21:50, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * There is no definite advice, as these right aren't codified in law (other than as a side effect of other legislation). Government websites, walking clubs etc. do give advice, but they are not "official sites/primary sources" on the issue, so whatever they say should instead be included in our article, to the extent we see it as important.
 * For the same reason nobody is enforcing those rights. If a farmer tells you to get off some specific part of their land, you should comply, as they probably have good reason. On the other hand, if you don't and they threaten you, then you can take them to court for illegal threats, or they could take you to court for causing damage to their crop.
 * It seems this aspect of the rights should be explained more clearly in the article. One thing that I see difficult to convey, is how well this works in practice, through nearly everybody's respect for the rights, and most people behaving. There is little reason for a landowner to patrol their forest in hunt of hikers. This can be seen in court cases being very rare – no hikers or berry pickers try to test the limits.
 * –LPfi (talk) 07:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Did this help? –LPfi (talk) 09:37, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks that helps. The question on enforcement came because the Scottish code has been challenged by landowners, although the traditional access that it was codifying rarely was. As this is a topic touching on legal areas, I think we should either have a strong disclaimer in the lede ("consult a lawyer for advice"), or link to other sites which give similar advice. For example, these tourist office pages appear to support what we are saying: Visit Sweden, Visit Norway and Visit Finland. This helps to protect WV and editors from being sued if something is wrong. It also helps readers unfamiliar with the ideas to see them expressed in different words elsewhere. AlasdairW (talk) 22:12, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Support. This is an excellent travel topic! Excellent to see support for this nomination from locals as well. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 16:39, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Flight baggage

 * Support as nominator. Ypsilon (talk) 18:41, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Needs work. There is redundancy, dead links and some details that should go into By air sections in country articles. Some of these latter might be left as examples, but then worded as such, with hints on generalisability. –LPfi (talk) 07:53, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Needs work per LPfi. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 08:08, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Ohlone Wilderness Trail

 * Support --Ypsilon (talk) 15:46, 27 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Neutral lacks a mapline/geoline which has become somewhat standard for featured articles albeit unwritten. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 08:09, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Comment: Sorry I didn't respond to this one earlier. I wrote this article some time ago, and before featuring it, I would like to reread it and proofread it. I would note that my knowledge of the route is limited as although I've hiked some parts of the route, I have never hiked its entirety. I will get to reviewing these things as soon as I can. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 01:25, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * By any chance, if you get the time, could you also add a geoline using geojson.io? There's a little (somewhat wordy) tutorial here. SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 07:02, 12 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Hello, I will take a look at this, although I have to say this would be the first time I would try geojson. I don't think I have time currently, but in a couple months I should have time to create the mapline. It's definitely a helpful resource for an itinerary, so I agree it would be great to have. --Comment by Selfie City (talk) (contributions) 16:41, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Worst case scenario, you can draw the route geojson.io and paste the code on User:SHB2000/Ohlone Wilderness Trail (yes, in my userspace) and I'll handle it from there. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 20:18, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Actually, I just discovered that the dynamic map already contains the trail, it appears on the dynamic map when you open its menu (in the upper right corner) and tick the "Hiking" box. Is there some way to have it displayed on the map by default, that'd probably be faster than drawing/coding the trail from scratch? --Ypsilon (talk) 10:54, 18 February 2024 (UTC)


 * My understanding is that geolines have never been a requirement for featuring. However, I agree that they make hiking itinerary articles better, so I have connected the relevant Wikidata item with OpenStreetMap and added a mapshape template to the article. Assuming I've done it correctly, once everything has had a chance to sync we should hopefully see the geoline in the article's map. —Granger (talk · contribs) 15:33, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. That's more time-effective than drawing it from scratch and hosting it locally. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 07:07, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I would want some more information about what you can expect from the campsites and whether there are some facilities along the route. If this is clear for locals, the info should go into some hiking/park travel topic, and that article should be referenced for the info. –LPfi (talk) 20:10, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree more information is needed about the campsites. Do they have potable water? Non-potable water? Toilets of any kind? Are campfires allowed? If so, are there permanent firepits, and is there a feasible way to obtain firewood? Which ones require reservations, and how can they be reserved? Maybe SelfieCity can help clarify. —Granger (talk · contribs) 04:44, 3 April 2024 (UTC)

Western food in Asia

 * Support per nomination. --Ypsilon (talk) 18:56, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Support. Excellent and surprisingly comprehensive. Jpatokal (talk) 00:37, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Support. Pashley (talk) 03:14, 3 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Definitely an excellent article for what is otherwise a niche topic, at least in the Anglosphere. -- SHB2000  (talk &#124; contribs &#124; meta) 06:55, 3 April 2024 (UTC)