Here, in alphabetical order, are eight places I’d like to see in 2013. All have interesting things happening in the weeks and months ahead.

Alaska

For reasons having to do with solar wind, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, the aurora borealis is supposed to be especially vivid in northern skies for the next few winters. Unfortunately, the skies are impossible to predict precisely, but Fairbanks is the favored starting point for many a northern lights itinerary.

In fact, the Fairbanks tourism people claim that if you stay three nights, you will have an 80 percent chance of seeing the northern lights. Winter and early spring visitors also will find the World Ice Art Championships (through March 31, icealaska.com). If you wait until summer, forget about the aurora and the ice art. But don’t worry. A two-hour drive from Fairbanks looms Mount McKinley, 20,320-foot-high star of Denali National Park.

Amsterdam

The scenic canals, widely available marijuana and legal red-light district get a lot of ink, but the best thing about Amsterdam might be its museums, and this is a great year for those. The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (rijksmuseum.nl, home to masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer and many others, is to reopen April 13, ending years of renovation. The Stedelijk Museum (stedelijk .nl), a world-class collection of contemporary art and design, reopened in September after a big upgrade and expansion. The Van Gogh Museum (vangoghmuseum.nl), which has sent much of its collection to the Hermitage Amsterdam through April 25, will reopen in May.

The Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk Museum and the Van Gogh Museum are all in the city’s Oud Zuid district, which also includes the upscale shopping street Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat. Meanwhile, the Anne Frank Museum (annefrank.org

) continues to tell the singular story of the Frank family.

Austin, Texas

It’s a college town, music town, river town and tech town, in constant renewal. For dinner, you might try Barley Swine (barleyswine .com), which emphasizes locally sourced ingredients and made GQ’s list of best new American restaurants in 2012. For movies, there’s Violet Crown Cinema (violet crowncinema.com), a four-screen downtown art house that mixes big movies with documentaries, foreign works and independent films; there’s also a bar and cafe. Oh, and the LBJ Presidential Library (lbjlibrary .org) has reopened after a yearlong renovation.

Ecuador

No, you can’t take a train to the Galapagos. But for several years now, management at Tren Ecuador (trenecua dor.com) has been working to restore the country’s railroad connection between Quito and Guayaquil to the south. Many segments along the verdant, Andes-adjacent route are already open: You can make an eight-hour round-trip between Quito and Machachi, an eight-hour round-trip between Quito and Boliche or a 10-hour round-trip between Quito and Latacunga that’s known as the Avenida de los Volcanes, because trains roll past Cotopaxi National Park (and its active volcano).

Some stations have added lodgings, museums and, of course, arts and crafts marketplaces. A complete Quito-Guayaquil passage might be possible by the end of the year. A luxury cruise train is expected to make four-day round-trips between the cities, with upscale lodgings, at an introductory price of less than $1,000 a person (assuming two per room).

Gettysburg

All year long, this part of Pennsylvania is staging events looking at the Civil War, including living-history presentations on the battlefield (April 20-Oct. 27) and a bluegrass festival (May 16-19). The busiest weeks will come in late June and early July, when local and national officials mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. A new Seminary Ridge Museum opens July 1 in a former soldiers’ hospital. Gettysburg is about a two-hour drive outside Washington, D.C.

Ireland

OK, it’s a big gimmick. But there’s something disarming about the Gathering, Ireland’s call summoning all travelers with Irish roots (or just Irish aspirations) to visit this year. For one thing, the promoters forthrightly admit that the country has “had its share of doom and gloom the last couple of years” and that this series of events (arts, sports, food, you name it) is a bid to turn the page. Check the venture’s website and you realize that many of these events happen every year, but you can’t help but be tempted: bike races in County Clare, and an a cappella singing contest in County Cork. Anyway, the promoters estimate that 70 million people claim Irish ancestry, yet only 6.4 million live there. More information: thegatheringireland.com.

Nashville

Go for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (countrymusichalloffame .org), which plans to double its size this year. Meanwhile, there are beloved venues such as the Grand Ole Opry (renovated after major flooding in 2010, opry.com); the Ryman Auditorium (which dates to 1892, ryman.com); and the Blue Bird Cafe, an intimate singer-songwriters’ venue where the careers of Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and many others have been launched (bluebirdcafe .com). The Hermitage Hotel (thehermitagehotel.com), a downtown fixture since 1910, gets praise from upscale travelers. For a fancy meal, the 32-seat kitchen-centric restaurant the Catbird Seat (thecatbirdseatrestaurant .com) on Division Street has been getting raves since opening in late 2011. For something more casual, try the Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden (thepharma cynashville.com).

South Korea

Can 11.1 million tourists, mostly Chinese and Japanese, be wrong? South Korea doesn’t think so. That was the country’s tourist total in 2012 — a record. Probably the Korean singer Psy’s YouTube hit “Gangnam Style” didn’t hurt. (Gangnam is a posh, modern shopping area in the capital that one British journalist has called “the Mayfair of Seoul.”) American tourists arrive in a trickle, not a torrent, but the country is poised for tourism growth. Many infrastructure improvements were made for the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, about 3 1

2 hours south of Seoul by high-speed rail. Besides the green mountains that surround Seoul and the hubbub of the city itself, there’s a 3.6-mile stream running through town. It’s called Cheonggyecheon, and it’s part of a linear park with a tranquil walking path that opened in 2005. Elsewhere, visitors can take the Dolsan Bridge to verdant Dolsan Island, explore the Itaewon nightlife district or Bukchon Hanok Village (a collection of traditional wooden homes near the Gyeongbok and Changdeok palaces) and browse the big department stores (Shinsegae, Lotte and Hyundai are three).