Condé Nast Traveler magazine recently published its list of international Post Offices so unusual they’ve become tourist attractions in their own right. Not surprisingly, two of these postal landmarks are in the United States.
The Supai, AZ, Post Office at the bottom of the Grand Canyon receives mail by mule. Six days a week, 10 to 22 mules carry mail, food and supplies along a 9-mile trail, which takes roughly 3 hours downhill and 5 hours back up.
Postcards and letters from Supai receive a special “mailed by mule” cancellation. It is the last mail-by-mule route in the country.
The Hoolehua Post Office on Molokai in Hawaii is famous for its “post-a-nut” service. Visitors are encouraged to decorate and ship coconuts, which are plentiful and free of charge. Markers and art supplies are also free. The only cost is for shipping, which ranges from $13-$20. The program has mailed tens of thousands of coconuts since 1991.
Other noteworthy Post Offices include:
• Antarctica — southernmost Post Office. Port Lockroy on Goudier Island is staffed by a few postal clerks amid a colony of more than 3,000 gentoo penguins. About 70,000 postcards are mailed annually, with delivery times ranging from two weeks to a year.
• Norway — northernmost Post Office. Ny-Ålesund is located deep inside the Arctic Circle on the Norwegian island of Svalbard, one of the most extreme, windswept places on the planet. The settlement is also the northernmost permanent town and year-round station, with just a few dozen scientists and researchers.
• Vanuatu — the only underwater Post Office. This office lies 10 feet below the sea off Hideaway Island, part the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean. Divers and snorkelers purchase waterproof postcards and stamps on land, then swim 150 feet offshore to drop them in the submerged mailbox. Employees use special embossed cancellations instead of ink. About 100,000 visitors send mail here each year.
• China — the highest Post Office. The Tibetan Paradise Post Office sits at the north base camp of Mount Everest, around 16,730 feet above sea level. Visitors must bring oxygen and battle the cold, but the payoff is a postcard stamped from earth’s highest elevation.
• Slovenia — a rare Post Office in a cave. This underground office is set among the stalagmites and crystalline formations of the Postojna Cave, which stretches 15 miles and is more than 2 million years old. In operation since 1899, the facility has received more than 40 million visitors.
Condé Nast Traveler’s complete list is available on the magazine’s website.
