A million years after everyone else, I’ve jumped on the Instagram bandwagon like the curmudgeonly, late-adopter I am. (You can follow me here).
But now that I’m there? I’m there, satisfying my never-ending wanderlust by following photographers from all over the world, gorging myself on back alley peeks into other countries and photos of food I don’t recognize.
Here are 10 of my favorite fascinating, colorful, I-want-to-go-there-now international Instagram accounts.
Top 10 Instagram Accounts for Wanderlust
London // @aladyinlondon
Let’s all live vicariously through this California expat who’s relocated to London (via Brussels, Providence, Paris, Prague, San Diego, and Nice) and visited 95 countries. Equally impressive to me: she left a career as a hedge fund manager to become a travel writer and consultant. I raise my tea cup to you, miss.
Hong Kong // @priboghani
Priyanka was born in Mumbai, grew up in Hong Kong, and earned her degrees in England (impressive, no?) She loves writing about “India, Hong Kong, humanitarian issues, my travels, my photography, literature and cricket.” Her instagram feed makes me homesick for Asia.
India // @mumbaipaused
Oversaturated and mysterious, these photos make me think of those hot, humid days when it’s 90 degrees and somehow overcast. They’re a fascinating peek into daily Indian life.
New Zealand // @hellopoe
I will race you – right now – to be Adrienne Pitts’ new BFF. The Kiwi photographer loves “travel, people, dogs, coffee.” (I’ll talk to her about considering cats instead of dogs). Her photos are color-filled, joyful, sweet.
Bahrain // @lovelyandcurious
I’m a pretty intrepid, experienced traveler and this instagram feed reminds me (daily) that OMG THERE ARE STILL SO MANY PLACES TO GO AND THINGS TO DO. Monkeys! Riding camels! Drinking water from gold chalices!
South Africa // @garethpon
Gareth Pon has a leg up on the rest of us because he’s a professional filmmaker and photographer who’s lived in Johannesburg his whole life. So let’s greedily eat up his insights (and amazing photos) of his country – like: what to eat, where to go, which graffitied walls to stand in front of.
North Korea // @dguttenfelder
What? There’s an Instagram feed of the most culturally isolated country in the world? FASCINATING. David Guttenfelder is the Associated Press chief Asia photographer, so he rather knows what he’s doing.
Germany // @sandrajuto
“Berlin’s got a pretty affordable cost of living, right? And I studied German in high school and I’m half German so moving there would be an good and obvious life choice.” These are the thoughts I have every time I look through Sandra’s Instagram feed. Can you blame me? Picnics in the park! Apartment buildings that look like this!
Finland // @nellahelsinki
Do you know anything about Finland? I know nothing. I’ve always assumed it was a variation on the Scandinavian theme (full of painfully attractive, industrious blonds, beautiful architecture, rugged coastlines). Apparently, there’s more to it than that – but it does have a lot of those, too.
Scotland // @alisonchino
Alison is living the life most of us dream of. She moved her family of six from Arkansas to Aberdeen, Scotland and now they spend their time going on hikes, drinking tea, and generally being as adorable as humanly possible. Let’s be her when we grow up, shall we?
Who are your favorite international Instagrammers? And if you’re on Instagram, leave a link to your feed in the comments so we can all be friends!
Awesome picks – glad to have found your blog!
I love Instagram and travelling so I'll check out these accounts. I write about travel too on my blog and I live in Lagos, Nigeria but my Instagram account (@lapesoetan) has very few pictures of where I live – probably because it's where I've lived all my life and am pretty jaded. I however put up lots of nail art pictures (which I love to bits!) and pictures of places outside Nigeria that I've visited. I recently went to Senegal so you'll find pictures of Senegal on my Instagram account. My Instagram handle is @lapesoetan Go check it out 🙂
@alexinwanderland is a lovely human being and her instagram feed will make you want to quit your day job and buy a one way ticket to wherever she is at the moment. Her blog, alexinwanderland.com, has the same effect. Thanks for sharing your favorites!
LOVE THIS. Thanks for sharing!
I've been trying to use Instagram more lately, so this post was great timing. I followed everyone here because they all seemed so great. My Instagram is @hmweasley, but I'm still pretty bad about actually posting there. Sometimes I completely forget that Instagram is even there.
I love @kellyoxford. She's hilarious.
Mine is @rhiannonfalzone
No, it's not. It's @rhiannon1219. Wow. I need more coffee. The first one is my Twitter.
Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions–makes me want to get out of this office and travel immediately!
LOVE this. I'm in love with how Instagram allows you to see the world through the eyes of so many different people. What an amazing tool!
One wee tiny thing, the lady in Helsinki is nellahelsinki (which I mention only so people can see her lovely photos. If you type it into Instagram with an e instead of an a in the middle you get bupkis).
Thanks for the head's up – fixed!
WOW! Thanks so much for featuring me with all these super talented folks. I do love me some instagram!
A few more favorites: @canvasoflight in Spain, @nicolehunziker in Switzerland, @mariannehope in Holland
Oh I LOVE these. Instagram is my favorite. Alison Chino is a longtime friend, so I am following her all over Scotland, too. I really enjoy @skimbaco's pics, she's always someplace new. I'm @sarabethjones on IG – mostly I'm in Arkansas, but headed to visit Alison in Scotland, jump over to Paris, and then Kenya for 3 weeks in June, so I'll have some traveling pictures then… 🙂
Loved this post! As a traveler (near and far), photographer (Nikon D80 and iPhone) and instagram-lover, I was so excited to see all these new peeps! I'm now following all your recs AND the ladies who've commented so far. Thanks for sharing! I'm at @heatherlambie . My most recent travel instagram pics include: Aspen, CO, Key West, FL, and Trinidad & Tobago, W.I.
Awesome! I followed a bunch from the list I didn't know and will go back through the comments later.
I love instagram. http://instagram/likeabirdstudios I am in the Chicago suburbs and take a lot of pictutes of my son and myself but a lot of nature as well 🙂
Love this post! Thanks for sharing these instagrammers! You can follow me @jmayburton; I post pics of arts, crafts and the Pacific NW.
I'm speechless! Thank you so much for this nice nomination, it really made my day. If you'll ever come to Finland I promise to show you the most beautiful places around. (:
I love instagram and have already been following a couple of this list… and have now promptly followed Everyone Else! Love them! I'm an American expat in London as well (via Philippines, DR Congo) and have loved following a lady in london for a while, just for that feeling of shared experience, plus her photos are gorgeous! 🙂 I instagram @kateofcourse
Funny! I wrote a similar post about my top 10 travel instagram accounts last week – http://www.littleobservationist.com/2014/04/16/10-instagram-accounts-love-travel/
Hello! Thanks for all these lovely instagrammers I'd totally be following! My username is: "aphazia".
I'm from Manila, Philippines, and I mostly post my artsycraftsy attempts and things I love but this inspired me to take more photos of the place I live in. 🙂 Let's be friends! 🙂
Hi there – I live on an organic farm in West Virginia and take photos of all aspects of farm life. http://instagram.com/braebankfarm
I'd love to follow other farms – especially small farms or international farmers.
Great choices, thanks for this!
I went to a workshop with Gareth Pon and @mzansigirl (a South African travel blogger) and it was amazing 🙂
Loved browsing through some of the others.
I'm @marcia0608 if you want to see my view on Jhb or you can look at #jhbscenes
Great list! I am@anamericaninrome for Instagram moments of life in Italy
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