 | This page in a nutshell: Destination articles should not be created that are about bodies of water such as lakes or rivers, but it is common for an article about a land region to be named after a prominent body of water within that region (example: Lake Tahoe). |
This style guideline discusses the place of bodies of water, like rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas, in Wikivoyage.
We don't write destination guide articles about bodies of water—we write destination guides about destinations. Napaktulik Lake in Nunavut is probably a pretty (if buggy) place in the summer, and there are a few facts you could include in an article, but it's not a sensible destination article. Crucially, it would fail the basic criteria of What is an article?
Of course, bodies of water do factor into travel; to find out how to deal with them, keep reading!
Land regions
[edit]Some regions or for that matter towns are named after bodies of water. These articles aren't about water, they are about the inhabited area on and around the water, with all the sorts of things that make a destination article-worthy. For example, the Lake Tahoe region in California is named after the lake there, but it is about the towns, national parks, and ski resorts that ring the lake.
Transportation
[edit]Using bodies of water as transportation is a subject usually treated in the transportation section (Get in or Get around) section of destination guide. For example, ferry information for crossing the English Channel can be found on United Kingdom#Get in or France#Get in.
Sometimes the transportation system for a body of water may be too complex to be in a one or two destination guides, and a travel topic should be considered. For example, you won't find the complete description on how to get from Belem to Manaus via the Amazon River in Belem#Go next.
Attractions
[edit]Some bodies of water are attractions — things to "See" or "Do" in a city or region, and they are formatted like any other attraction, contained within a destination article. For example, the Seine River in Paris, or Lake Merritt in Oakland.
Sometimes it may be worth creating a redirect, for example from "Lake Merritt" to Oakland#Lake Merritt, but often this is not necessary since, even without the redirect, a search for "Lake Merritt" will turn up the Oakland article.
Itineraries
[edit]Bodies of water can also define paths for an itinerary. For example, Along the Yangtze River describes the cities along China's greatest river and how to travel between them. The mode of transportation doesn't have to be land-based. Canoeing the San Marcos River gives tips for a three-day canoe journey through Texas Hill Country. Rideau Canal covers traveling from Ottawa to Kingston both in the canal by boat, or along it by car or bicycle.
Travel topics
[edit]Bodies of water can also be travel topics. Cruising the Baltic Sea gives an overview of cruising around that body of water on a cruise ship, Boating on the Baltic Sea is the equivalent for those with small craft. Diving in South Africa has extensive information regarding good diving spots along the coast of South Africa.
Redirects and extra regions
[edit]Pages named after bodies of water might need to be redirected to point the traveler to the information they are likely to be seeking. Where the information on the body of water is fully contained within a single destination guide, simply redirect the page to that article. For example Taal Lake redirects to Taal Volcano.
Where the information on the body of water does not fit in a single region of the hierarchy Wikivoyage uses to orgainise articles, you can create an extra-hierarchcical region page referencing the destination guides, travel topics and itineraries associated with it. This is only worth doing if the resulting region article will be useful in travel planning. For example, the Great Lakes are on the Canada/US border and Lake Tai on the border of two Chinese provinces.