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Cartagena, Colombia

Photographers: Hemis/Alamy Cartagena is a city of bold images and complicated histories, as new book Cartagena Grace by Lauren Santo Domingo and Johanna Ortiz shows. The city’s UNESCO-listed Old Town may owe its look to the coffers of King Philip II of Spain, but it bristles with colours born entirely of its Caribbean coastline. Then there are the palenqueras: ladies in bright dresses of African design, who walk the streets posing for snaps, but whose origins lie in San Basilio de Palenque, a 17th-century village of runaway slaves that became the first ‘free’ town in the Americas. This shot brings these two sides of the city together with another icon: the voluptuous La Gorda Gertrudis by Fernando Botero, an artist who knows that true beauty comes from the shape of imperfect things. It is Cartagena in a nutshell: seductive yet with a depth that rewards the traveller who looks closer. © Hemis/Alamy. Cartagena Grace by Lauren Santo Domingo and Johanna Ortiz (£70; Assouline) is out now; eu.assouline.com

Churchill, Canada

Photographer: Dave Sandford The western shoreline of Canada’s Hudson Bay sees a huge build-up of polar bears in autumn, as they cluster around the water in anticipation of the ice thickening enough for them to fish. This area is one of the best polar-bear viewing spots in the world, but it now sees 40 fewer days of ice in a year than it did four decades ago, according to research by Polar Bear International. For visitors it’s an unmissable sight, but it’s also worth remembering the cost. These animals lose nearly a kilo of body weight every day that they’re on land and their hunt for food often brings them into conflict with townsfolk. This is why books like Remembering Bears, part of a series where some of the world’s best wildlife photographers donate their work to raise funds for conservation, is so important. As this shot shows: for all their fearsome strength, these are creatures that are living a very fragile existence. ©Dave Sandford/Remembering Bears. Remembering Bears by Wildlife Photographers United (Remembering Wildlife; £45) is out now; https://rememberingwildlife.com

Early spring, Iceland

Photographer: Pawel Kamionka One of the great joys of working at this magazine is seeing the annual entries for our Wanderlust Photo of the Year competition pour in. The judges gather, their forthright opinions are shared (in good spirits) and the winners are chosen. This incredible frozen landscape was sent in by Pawel Kamionka last year, and as you can see, it sets a high bar for this edition – “It evokes the raw beauty of Iceland out of season,” agreed our judges. Second only to leafing through thousands of travel shots is the sight of seeing you, dear reader, browse some of our favourites at Destinations: The Holiday Travel Show, where we run our annual gallery of the best entries from that year and invite you to vote on your top pick. We look forward to seeing you again in 2023, and we promise to make it as difficult to choose as always. ©Pawel Kamionka. Tickets are now available for Destinations: The Holiday Travel Show in Manchester (Central; 12–15 Jan) and London (Olympia 2–5 Feb) at DestinationsShow.com. See p150 for further details.