The 10 Most Awe-Inspiring Natural Landscapes, According to Reddit

Earth Day is today (not to mention it’s Apartment Therapy’s Green Week!) and the great outdoors is top of mind. Wherever you are around the world, it’s a time to reflect on and appreciate the planet’s natural beauty. And if you’re yearning to see landscapes beyond your backyard, look no further: Reddit has you covered.

The extremely popular (read: 19.7 million members) subreddit called EarthPorn is a “community of landscape photographers and those who appreciate the natural beauty of our home planet,” according to its description. But one quick glance at the landing page that’s filled with breathtaking images and passionate Redditors, and you know it’s true. 

So to celebrate, we rounded up the most popular landscape photos in 2020 that’ll make you feel like you’re actually there. Get ready for some intense wanderlust, folks:

This photo snagged the top post on the subreddit with 67.1K upvotes, and it’s easy to see why. Thanks to another Redditor, the names of the four lakes spotted in Norway are: Stuvdalsvatnet, Tridalsvatnet, Fjerddalsvatnet, and Tennesvatnet.

Taken last summer, this shot of Athabasca Falls looks straight out of a fairytale (and this Redditor agrees). Welp, this waterfall has officially been added to my list of places to go.

Redditor NathanielMerz posts many pine trees in South Korea on his account, and this one takes my breath away (and apparently everyone else’s on r/EarthPorn). The way the tree is leaning above the mountains covered in fog with the warm glow of sunlight hitting its branches is mesmerizing.

This haunting, beautiful beech is famous in the Netherlands, declared the Dutch “Tree of the Year” in 2019 and currently running for European election “Tree of the Year.” It’s also tied to the infamous story of “The Gang of Black Kate,” which you can read more about here.

I can say from experience that photos don’t usually do the Rocky Mountains justice, but I think this shot might be the exception. The way the sunrise is creeping in from the east and is bouncing off the water is remarkable.

This photograph captures the frozen methane bubbles of Abraham Lake in Alberta, Cananda, with a clear shot of the mountains ahead. “Winter is the best time of year to go visit Abraham Lake, because that’s when the freezing ice traps methane bubbling up from the bottom of the lake to create these frozen bubbles,” Redditor nickphys writes.

Everybody loves a good supermoon, especially one like this in a picture-perfect position over the Three Fingers mountain in Washington. A supermoon is when the moon reaches the closet point to Earth in its orbit on the same day that it’s a full moon, which explains its increased size and brightness.

This famous glacier is part of the Los Glaciares National Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s most known for its ability to change and increase in size, which is uncommon for most glaciers. And it sure is pretty to gaze at.

This photos captures the water, the mountains, and the sky, all in one. “I snapped this on the fourth day of the 8-day Cordillera Huayhuash Trek,” the Redditor wrote. “This was the second of the two 5,000+ meter mountain passes that we had to conquer that day. Those few hours of pain will thankfully leave a reward that will stick with me forever.”

Captured with a drone, this elevated view of nature in East Java, Indonesia, captures the waterfall, active volcano Semeru, and the sun-kissed sky. My favorite detail: the puffs of smoke rising from the volcano.