Hidden delights Our 24 travel finds of 2024

Guardian travel writers share their discoveries of the year, from Læsø to Lazio

- Nick Hunt, Sarah Baxter, James Gingell, Caroline Eden, Christopher Morris, Chris Moss, Paul Sullivan, Jane Dunford, Max Benato, Laura Hall, Kevin Rushby, Lois Pryce, Andy Pietrasik, Phoebe Smith , Ailsa Sheldon, Carolyn Boyd, Leah Pattem, Holly Tuppen, Phoebe Taplin, Monisha Rajesh, Joanne O'Connor, Vic O'Sullivan,

Unspoilt beaches and a turtle rescue centre in Turkey

Travelling down Turkey's Turquoise Coast, my wife and I stumbled on İztuzu beach by accident. Almost 5km of sand stretches in a slender spit between a river delta and the sea, ringed by high mountains.

In 1987 construction had started on a giant hotel complex. But İztuzu - now known as Turtle Beach - is one of the Mediterranean's most important breeding grounds for loggerhead turtles. An international campaign was launched, and the development plans were shelved. Now it is strictly protected. The beach was busy with sunbathers, but lying down is forbidden in the broad swathe of sand from which hatchlings emerge.

We visited the rescue centre that rehabilitates victims of boat collisions and fishing net entanglements, where loggerheads float in tanks of salt water. The principle of coexistence, which many see as at the heart of modern Turkishness, extends to marine life too. And the water felt lovely. Nick Hunt

The English east coast's (less blingy) answer to Cape Cod

Travelling to north Lincolnshire this year, I liked Cleethorpes more than I expected, and I liked Humberston Fitties very much indeed. Snuggled behind dunes, the Fitties is one of Britain's surviving plotlands - the informal, selfbuilt chalet camps that emerged in the late 19th century.

The Fitties is now a designated conservation area. It's not as makeshift as it once was but, well, there's something about it, a working man's Cape Cod with an outsider-ish air. Local-born Julie Connell remembers holidaying here in the 1970s: "My parents owned a chalet. In those days the lighting was by oil lamps. I can still remember the smell."