Location: Huangshan, China
When imagining Rivendell, the sylvan citadel of the elf lord Elrond, Tolkien supposedly thought of the mountainous valleys of Switzerland. TIME has an even more atmospheric suggestion: the mountains and glens of Huangshan, in central-eastern China. A hiker in Huangshan can be forgiven for thinking he has stumbled into the land that time forgot — its bumpy, strangely shaped peaks wreathed in mist and lush forests that plummet into impossibly steep gorges below. With myriad precarious mountain paths and a fog that sets in without notice, navigating Huangshan can be bewildering, even treacherous. Reachable only over bridges and narrow causeways, Rivendell, too, is kept safe by its dramatic surrounds.