1. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- Iron lattice tower constructed from 1887-1889, as the entrance to the World's Fair
- Initially it was criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design
- Now it is one of the most recognizable structures in the world
- 81 stories, it's the tallest structure in Paris
Featured in The Best of France
2. Louvre, Paris, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- Most visited art museum in the world
- World's largest art museum with approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century
- Originally a museum housed in the Louvre Palace
3. Sydney Opera House, Australia
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Multi-venue performing arts center in Sydney
- Often regarded as one of the world’s most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of expressionist 20th century architecture
- Opened in 1973
Featured in The Best of Australia
4. Colosseum, Rome, Italy
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- Oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome
- It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world today
- Construction began under the emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD) in 72
- The three emperors that were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius)
Featured in The Best of Italy
5. South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Grand Canyon National Park, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park
- The Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, is often considered one of the Wonders of the World
- The park received the second highest count of visitors of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Featured in The Best of Arizona
#1 in Best Attractions in the USA
#3 in Best National Parks in the USA
6. Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island, Australia
Best time to visit: Sept
Cost: $$
- Beach known for its crystal white silica sands and turquoise colored waters
- It is on an island only accessible by boat, seaplane, and helicopter from Airlie Beach, as well as Hamilton Island
Featured in The Best of Australia
7. Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- Prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, that consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 13 feet (4.0 m) high, seven feet (2.1 m) wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones
- The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice
- The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds)
Featured in The Best of England
8. Acropolis, Greece
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense
- Acropolises were used as religious centers and places of worship, forts, and places in which the royal and high-status resided
- Acropolises became the nuclei of large cities of classical ancient times, and served as important centers of a community
Featured in The Best of Greece
9. British Museum, London, England, United Kingdom
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- Public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in London
- Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence
- It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present
- The British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge
Featured in The Best of England
10. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral, known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation
- The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure’s weight
- It worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century
- By 1990, the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees
- In 2001, the structure was stabilized by remedial work which reduced the tilt to 3.97 degrees
Featured in The Best of Italy
11. Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: late April-May, Sept-early Oct
Cost: $
- Largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world, after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica
- Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration
- Its colors match most of those seen in the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#2 in Best Attractions in the USA
#2 in Best National Parks in the USA
#8 in Best National Parks in the World
#15 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#46 in Best Landmarks in the World
12. Magic Kingdom, Florida, United States
Best time to visit: Jan, Sept
Cost: $$
- The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake,
- The park originally opened on October 1, 1971, as "Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom", the first of four theme parks at the resort
- Its layout and attractions are based on Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and are dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters
Featured in The Best of Florida
#3 in Best Theme Parks in the World
#4 in Best Theme Parks in the USA
#10 in Best Attractions in the USA
13. Tivoli Gardens, Denmark
Best time to visit: March-May, June-Aug
Cost: $
- Amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, opened in 1843
- It is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken, also in Denmark, and Wurstelprater in Austria
- Tivoli is the most visited amusement park in Scandinavia and second-most popular seasonal amusement park in the world after Europa-Park
Featured in The Best of Denmark
14. Disneyland, California, United States
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $$
- Theme park opened in 1955, and the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney
- Since its opening, Disneyland has undergone expansions and major renovations, including the addition of New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country in 1972, Mickey's Toontown in 1993, and Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in 2019
Featured in The Best of California
#1 in Best Theme Parks in the World
#9 in Best Theme Parks in the USA
#13 in Best Attractions in the USA
15. Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Park internationally recognized for its cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity
- Almost 95 percent of the park is designated wilderness
- Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada
Featured in The Best of California
#1 in Best National Parks in the USA
#3 in Best Attractions in the USA
#5 in Best National Parks in the World
#11 in Best Landmarks in the USA
16. Disneyland Paris, Chessy, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $$
- Most visited theme park in Europe
- 4,800 acres compasses two theme parks, resort hotels, shopping, dining, an entertainment complex, and a golf course
- Opened in 1992
Featured in The Best of France
17. Niagara Falls, New York, United States
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States
- The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries
- Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York
Featured in The Best of New York
#5 in Best Attractions in the USA
#6 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#52 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
#59 in Best Landmarks in the World
18. Statue of Liberty, New York, United States
Best time to visit: April-June, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City
- The copper statue, a gift from the people of France, its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel
- The statue was dedicated in 1886
19. Universal Studios Japan, Japan
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- Theme park located in Osaka, opened in 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the second to open outside the United States
- The park is similar in layout to Universal Studios Florida and contains selected attractions from both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, in addition to a small number of unique attractions
- As of 2019, it is is the fifth-most visited theme park in the world and the third-most visited in Japan behind Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea
Featured in The Best of Japan
20. Plitvice - Upper and Lower Lakes, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Sept-Oct
Cost: $
- One of the oldest and largest national parks in Croatia, due to its outstanding and picturesque series of tufa lakes, caves, connected by waterfalls
- The park is famous for its lakes arranged in cascades
- The lakes are located along an important transport route and have always been a meeting place of occidental and oriental cultural influences
Featured in The Best of Croatia
21. Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, United States
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Park whose major feature is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters
- Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks
Featured in The Best of Utah
#3 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
#6 in Best Attractions in the USA
#13 in Best National Parks in the USA
22. Tokyo DisneySea, Japan
Best time to visit: Jan, July, Oct-Nov
Cost: $
- Theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, opened in 2001
- As of 2019, Tokyo DisneySea is the fourth-most visited theme park in the world and the second-most visited in Japan behind its sister park Tokyo Disneyland
Featured in The Best of Japan
23. Hampstead Heath, London, England, United Kingdom
Best time to visit: June-Aug, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Ancient heath in London, this grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, which rests on a band of London Clay
- The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate
Featured in The Best of England
24. Place des Vosges, 4th Arrondissement Paris, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- Originally named Place Royale, it is the oldest planned square in Paris
- It was a fashionable and expensive square to live in during the 17th and 18th centuries, and one of the main reasons for the chic nature of Le Marais among the Parisian nobility
Featured in The Best of France
25. The Zion Narrows Riverside Walk, Zion National Park, Utah, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: April-Nov
Cost: $
- Park located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions
- The park features a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity
- There are four life zones in the park: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest
- Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches
Featured in The Best of Utah
#7 in Best Attractions in the USA
#7 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
26. Europa-Park, Germany
Best time to visit: May-Sept
Cost: $
- Theme park in Rust, covering eighteen themed areas offering around one hundred rides, several shows, and thirteen roller coasters
- The park includes six hotels, a camping site, a tepee village, and a cinema
- Europa-Park is the second most visited theme park in Europe after Disneyland Paris
Featured in The Best of Germany
27. Trail of the Cedars, Glacier National Park, Montana, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: July-Aug
Cost: $
- Hiking trail accessible from Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park
- The .60-mile (0.97 km) path is paved and has a raised boardwalk in some sections
- Some of the cedars visible are over 80 feet (24 m) tall
- In the middle of the half loop is a waterfall that has carved through colorful rock to make a channeled stream
Featured in The Best of Montana
28. Tokyo Disneyland, Japan
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- Theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture
- It was the first Disney park to be built outside the United States and it opened in 1983
- The park was constructed in the same style as Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland in California
Featured in The Best of Japan
29. Laurel Falls Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, United States
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Nov
Cost: $
- Historic trail that ascends Cove Mountain, leading past Laurel Falls, one of the most popular waterfalls in the national park, en route to the summit of Cove Mountain
- Landmarks include the falls, old-growth forest, and the Cove Mountain lookout tower
- The tower used to be a fire tower, and is only one of four remaining former fire towers in the park
Featured in The Best of Tennessee
#7 in Best National Parks in the USA
#9 in Best Attractions in the USA
#21 in Most Surreal Attractions in the USA
#32 in Best Landmarks in the USA
30. Efteling, The Netherlands
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Fantasy-themed amusement park in Kaatsheuvel, featuring attractions that reflect elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables, and folklore
- The park was opened in 1952, and evolved from a nature park with a playground and a Fairytale Forest into a full-sized theme park
- It is the largest theme park in the Netherlands and one of the oldest theme parks in the world
Featured in The Best of The Netherlands
31. Golden Gate Bridge, California, United States
Best time to visit: Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean
- Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California
Featured in The Best of California
#2 in Best Landmarks in the USA
#8 in Best Landmarks in the World
#12 in Best Attractions in the USA
32. Lake Agnes Trail, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Small mountain lake in the Banff National Park, where a teahouse is situated along the eastern shore
Featured in The Best of Alberta
33. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $$
- World's largest coral reef system
- The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms
- This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps
Featured in The Best of Australia
34. Notre-Dame de Paris, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- Medieval Catholic cathedral widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture
- Contains relics such as the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross, and one of the Holy Nails
- A 2019 fire damaged the cathedral and the landmark is currently closed, but is to be reopened in 2024
Featured in The Best of France
#15 in Best Landmarks in the World
35. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
Best time to visit: late May-early June
Cost: $
- 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill of the foothills of the Alps in the very south of Germany
- King Ludwig II of Bavaria felt the need to escape from the constraints he saw himself exposed to in Munich, and commissioned Neuschwanstein Palace on the remote northern edges of the Alps as a retreat but also in honour of composer Richard Wagner, whom he greatly admired
- Construction began in 1869 but was never completed, and it was opened to the public shortly after King Ludwig II's death in 1886
Featured in The Best of Germany
#10 in Best Landmarks in the World
36. Central Park, New York, United States
Best time to visit: April-June
Cost: $
- Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan
- It is the most visited urban park in the United States, and is the most filmed location in the world
Featured in The Best of New York
#11 in Best Attractions in the USA
37. Sant Jeroni Summit Loop, Parc Natural de la Muntanya de Montserrat, Spain
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: May-June
Cost: $
- Toothlike clusters of towering rock in a mountain landscape with oaks, high plains and birds of prey
Featured in The Best of Spain
38. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
Best time to visit: April-June, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Largest art museum in the Americas
- It is ranked eighth in the list of most-visited art museums in the world, and is the second-most visited art museum in the United States
- Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments
Featured in The Best of New York
#2 in Best Museums in the USA
#3 in Best Museums in the World
#14 in Best Attractions in the USA
39. Spit Bridge to Manly Walk, Sydney Harbour National Park, Australia
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- National park renowned for its sheltered beaches, tranquil picnic spots, rich Aboriginal, colonial and military heritage, aquatic reserves and harbour islands
Featured in The Best of Australia
40. Buckingham Palace, London, England, United Kingdom
Best time to visit: Jan-May, Nov-Dec
Cost: $
- Buckingham Palace is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom
- Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the center of state occasions and royal hospitality
- It has been a focal point for the British people at times of national rejoicing and mourning
Featured in The Best of England
#36 in Best Landmarks in the World
41. National Gallery, London, England, United Kingdom
Best time to visit: March-May
Cost: $
- The National Gallery is an art museum in the City of Westminster, in Central London, founded in 1824
- It houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900
Featured in The Best of England
42. Palace of Versailles, France
Best time to visit: June-Oct
Cost: $
- Royal château in Versailles that is now a museum
- Village dating back to the 11th century, now a wealthy suburb of Paris
- Building the château and maintaining the court there was phenomenally expensive, but did a good deal to establish the dominance of French style and taste in the whole of Europe, giving French luxury manufacturing advantages
Featured in The Best of France
#30 in Best Landmarks in the World
43. Navagio Beach, Greece
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Navagio Beach, or Shipwreck Beach, is an exposed cove, sometimes referred to as "Smugglers Cove", on the coast of Zakynthos
- On 2 October 1980, the coaster MV Panagiotis, ran aground in the waters around Zakynthos Island on Navagio Beach during stormy weather and bad visibility
- Recently released court documents and photos relating to the incident back up the smuggler story, suggesting that Panagiotis was allegedly making its way from Turkey with a freight of contraband cigarettes headed for Italy
- The ship was abandoned and still rests buried in the limestone gravel of the beach that now bears the nickname Shipwreck
Featured in The Best of Greece
44. Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Italy
Best time to visit: Jan-April, Oct-Dec
Cost: $
- The Vatican Museums are the public museums of the Vatican City
- They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the most renowned Roman sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world
- Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century
- The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling and altar wall decorated by Michelangelo, and the Stanze di Raffaello (decorated by Raphael) are on the visitor route through the Vatican Museums
Featured in The Best of Italy
45. Key Summit and View of Lake Marian via Routeburn Track, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: Jan-Feb
Cost: $
- Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand
- It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand
- Fiordland was set aside as a national reserve in 1904
- The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889
Featured in The Best of New Zealand
46. Giant's Gate and Causeway Coast Circular, Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Walk difficulty: Easy
Best time to visit: June-Aug
Cost: $
- Area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption
- The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea
- Most of the columns are hexagonal, although some have four, five, seven, or eight sides
Featured in The Best of Northern Ireland
#10 in Most Surreal Attractions in the World
#16 in Best Landmarks in the World
47. Cascade Canyon Trail, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Best time to visit: mid May-late Sept
Cost: $
- National park that includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the valley known as Jackson Hole
- Along with surrounding national forests, the park constitutes part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems
Featured in The Best of Wyoming
#5 in Best National Parks in the USA
#15 in Best Attractions in the USA
48. Lotte World, South Korea
Best time to visit: March-May, Sept-Nov
Cost: $
- Major recreation complex in Seoul, that consists of a large indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island (on a lake) linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, an observation tower, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters
Featured in The Best of South Korea
49. Universal Studios Hollywood, California, United States
Best time to visit: April-May, Sept-Oct
Cost: $$
- Film studio and theme park in Los Angeles County
- It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use
- It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios sets and is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world
Featured in The Best of California
#6 in Best Theme Parks in the USA
#8 in Best Theme Parks in the World
#17 in Best Attractions in the USA