NPR or National Public Radio is a media non-profit based in Washington DC, which covers a wide range of topics—from politics to nature to pop culture. (I’m a big fan of their Tiny Desk series.)
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If you enjoy culture, you’ve probably tuned in a few times. NPR staff regularly cover some of the world’s most heavy-hitting stories, acting as investigators for the people. And while they don’t cover travel regularly, the NPR staff are no strangers to hitting the road to uncover some of the world’s coolest stories.
In fact, they’ve encountered some memorable adventures during their work trips. If you enjoy NPR and want to see what staff get up to when they’re on the road, here are some of the sites and experiences that stood out during reporting trips from 2025.
Travel destinations and experiences that NPR staff enjoyed
The destinations listed here were taken from an NPR article published in December 2025. The piece covers some of the destinations that reporters visited while they conducted research for their articles.
I’ve listed out the destination, along with articles that writers who visited the site later wrote. I promise, you haven’t heard of most of them.
Top travel destinations chosen by NPR writers—for anyone who likes the obscure
- Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, Louisiana – chosen by Jennifer Vanasco
- Bodi State Historic Park, California
- International UFO Museum and Research Center, Roswell, New Mexico (How the Roswell ‘UFO’ spurred our modern age of conspiracy theories by Terry Gross)
- World’s Largest Chest of Drawers, High Point, North Carolina
- Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary, Del Mar, California
- Shigeko Kubota Video Art Foundation, New York, New York
- Boardmanville Trading Post, Glamis, California
- Paisley Park, Chanhassen, Minnesota
- The Delta Blues Museum & Red’s, Clarksdale, Mississippi (Exploring the birthplace of the Blues by Chris Bentley and Peter O’Dowd)
- Thorne Miniature Rooms, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois (2 Rooms, 24 Tiny Galleries: Chicago’s New Mini Art Fair by Lauren Frost)
If you want to dive in, check out the original article on NPR. The list also includes additional picks in the categories of outdoor experiences, towns worth exploring, and festivals that you’ll want to visit twice. The festival section is definitely worth a gander.
