Eleven Port Cities from Acapulco to Batumi, West to East

Acapulco sits on a deep, semicircular bay on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 380 kilometers south of Mexico City. It has been a port since the early colonial period and is a port of call between Panama and San Francisco, so the trail starts at the westernmost harbor.

Callao is Peru's chief seaport, about 15 kilometers west of central Lima, and also hosts the country's main international airport. Its page records the earthquake and tsunami of 1746, which killed all but about 200 of its roughly 5,000 residents.

Arica is Chile's northernmost city, only 18 kilometers south of the Peruvian border, at the bend of the South American coast known as the Arica Elbow. The Azapa and Lluta valleys cut through the Atacama Desert here and supply citrus and olives for export.

Colonia del Sacramento faces Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata and works today as a ferry hub linking Uruguay with Argentina. Its historic quarter blends a Portuguese street plan with a later Spanish colonial grid, and it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

Punta del Este lies on the peninsula where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic Ocean. It stayed a small, undeveloped town until the 1940s, when it became one of South America's most prominent vacation destinations, with a winter population that swells many times over in summer.

Keflavík began as a fishing town in southwest Iceland, among basalt rubble fields. The Second World War brought an American airfield, and Keflavík International Airport, the country's largest, is now the main gateway serving Reykjavik.

Jamestown is the capital of the territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic. Before the port at Rupert's Bay was developed it was the island's only port, and many eighteenth century East India Company buildings survive and give it a Georgian character.

Saint Peter Port is the capital and main port of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Its page notes steep, narrow streets and steps on the slopes above the harbor, and a trading post or town on the site before Roman times.

Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point of the English Channel at about 34 kilometers, which makes it the closest French town to England. It is a major ferry port and has been linked to Folkestone by the Channel Tunnel since 1994.

Bodø lies on a peninsula between the Vestfjorden and the Saltfjorden, just north of the Arctic Circle, and is the second largest town in Northern Norway. It was named one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2024, alongside Bad Ischl and Tartu.

Batumi, the capital of Georgia's Autonomous Republic of Adjara, closes the trail on the Black Sea coast about 20 kilometers north of the Turkish border. Seaport industries such as shipbuilding and food processing sit alongside tourism, and since 2010 modern high rises have risen beside the restored nineteenth century Old Town.