Must-SeeWhere to Go in September
1111 places at their best in September, plus 9 festivals and seasons worth timing a trip around.
Festivals and Seasons in September
Must-See
Must-SeeNew England Fall Foliage
Whole hillsides of red and gold in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Drive the back roads and stay in a small-town inn.
Must-SeeOktoberfest
The world's largest beer festival, in Munich, from mid-September.
Worth a DetourBurning Man
A temporary city of art in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Tickets are hard to get, and you bring everything you need.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
If You're NearbyToronto International Film Festival
One of the world's biggest film festivals, in September, where Oscar races often begin.
If You're NearbyAt Their Best in September
Ranked by how worth the trip they are. Filter by kind of place, or switch between tiers.
Must-See
Must-SeeAlhambra and Granada
The Moors' astonishing hilltop palace, with free tapas in the town below. Book far ahead.
Must-SeeAlmaty and Charyn Canyon
A leafy city by mountains, near Kazakhstan's grand canyon and Big Almaty Lake.
Must-SeeAmalfi Coast and Capri
Pastel villages clinging to cliffs above the sea, with Positano, Ravello and the Isle of Capri.
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Must-SeeAmsterdam
Golden Age canals, the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh and Anne Frank's house. Book ahead.
Must-SeeAngel Falls and Canaima
The world's highest waterfall, nearly 3,000 feet, falling from a tabletop mountain. Reached by plane and canoe.
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Must-SeeArches and Moab
More than 2,000 natural stone arches, with Canyonlands next door and Moab as an adventure base.
Must-SeeAthens
The Parthenon above a chaotic modern city, with a superb museum, and tavernas of Plaka.
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Must-SeeBamiyan
The niches where giant Buddhas stood until 2001, and blue Band-e Amir lakes.
Must-SeeBanff and Lake Louise
Canada's first national park, where turquoise glacial lakes sit below the Rockies. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are the great views.
Must-SeeBarcelona
Gaudí's Sagrada Família, the Gothic Quarter and the beach, in Catalonia's lively capital.
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Must-SeeBay of Kotor
A walled Venetian town at the head of a fjord-like bay. Climb 1,350 steps for the view.
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Must-SeeBen Nevis and Glen Coe
Britain's highest peak above Fort William, near Scotland's most dramatic valley.
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Must-SeeBerchtesgaden and the Eagle's Nest
Königssee's fjord-like lake, and Hitler's mountaintop retreat.
Must-SeeBergen and Flåm Railway
Wooden Bryggen wharf, and the world's steepest standard-gauge train.
Must-SeeBerlin
The Brandenburg Gate, the Wall and Museum Island, in Europe's edgy, creative capital.
Bermuda's South Shore
Pink-sand coves and turquoise water, with the old British town of St. George's.
Must-SeeBig Sur and the Pacific Coast Highway
Highway 1 clings to cliffs above the Pacific for 90 miles, with redwood groves and coves along the way.
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Must-SeeBorobudur and Yogyakarta
The world's largest Buddhist temple, with Prambanan's Hindu spires.
Must-SeeBoston
Walkable, historic and full of firsts, from the Freedom Trail to Harvard.
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Must-SeeBrașov
A Saxon medieval city under forested Carpathian slopes, with its Black Church.
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Must-SeeBudapest
Grand Parliament, ruin bars and steaming Széchenyi Baths, on both sides of the Danube.
Must-SeeBuenos Aires
A grand European-feeling city of tango, steak, cafés and Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita lies.
Must-SeeBwindi Impenetrable Forest
Trek to see endangered mountain gorillas, an unforgettable encounter. Permits are limited.
Camino de Santiago
Europe's great pilgrimage walk, ending at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
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Must-SeeCapri and the Blue Grotto
A glamorous limestone island in the Bay of Naples, with its glowing sea cave.
Must-SeeCarthage and Sidi Bou Said
Hannibal's city, by a blue-and-white village above the sea.
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Must-SeeChamonix and Mont Blanc
The birthplace of alpine sport, with a dizzying cable car up the Aiguille du Midi.
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Must-SeeChicago
The birthplace of the skyscraper, on the shore of a lake the size of a sea.
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Must-SeeCinque Terre
Five colorful fishing villages on the Ligurian cliffs, linked by trails and a train.
Must-SeeCliffs of Moher and the Burren
Huge sea cliffs, and a strange limestone landscape.
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Must-SeeCrater Lake National Park
America's deepest lake, startlingly blue, in the caldera of a volcano that erupted 7,700 years ago.
Must-See
Must-SeeCusco and the Sacred Valley
The old Inca capital, with colonial churches on Inca walls, Sacsayhuamán, and the terraces of Ollantaytambo and Pisac.
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Must-SeeDelphi
The ancient oracle's mountainside sanctuary, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.
Must-See
Must-SeeDubrovnik
Marble streets inside huge sea walls. Walk the ramparts early, ahead of the cruise crowds.
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Must-SeeEdinburgh
A castle on a volcanic rock, the Royal Mile and the world's largest arts festival.
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Must-SeeElla and Nuwara Eliya
Tea hills and the Nine Arch Bridge, on one of the world's most beautiful train rides.
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Must-SeeFlåm Railway and Nærøyfjord
One of the world's steepest railways, down to a narrow fjord.
Must-SeeFlorence
The cradle of the Renaissance, with the Uffizi, Michelangelo's David and Brunelleschi's dome.
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Must-SeeGiant's Causeway and Belfast
40,000 basalt columns on the Antrim coast, with Titanic Belfast's museum nearby.
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Must-SeeGlacier National Park
Jagged peaks and turquoise lakes along the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Must-SeeGobi Desert
Singing dunes, flaming cliffs full of dinosaur fossils, and two-humped camels.
Golden Circle and Reykjavík
Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir, close to the world's northernmost capital.
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Must-SeeGrand Teton National Park
Jagged peaks rising straight out of lakes and meadows, just south of Yellowstone and easy to pair with it.
Must-SeeGreat Barrier Reef
The world's largest coral system, reached from Cairns and the Whitsundays.
Must-SeeGreat Wall of China
Thousands of miles of wall on mountain ridges. Mutianyu and Jinshanling, from Beijing, are the best.
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Must-SeeHa Long Bay
Thousands of limestone islands in emerald water, by overnight junk boat.
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Must-SeeHonolulu and Waikiki
Waikiki's famous beach, Diamond Head and the Pearl Harbor memorial, on Hawaii's busiest island.
Must-SeeHorseshoe Bend and Lake Powell
The Colorado River's famous 270-degree bend seen from a 1,000-foot cliff, near the red-walled boating paradise of Lake Powell.
Hunza and the Karakoram Highway
One of the world's wildest roads, with peaks at Hunza.
Must-SeeIguazu Falls
Hundreds of waterfalls on the Brazil-Argentina border, wider than Niagara and taller too. See both sides.
Inca Trail
Four days on stone paths, by cloud-forest ruins, ending at the Sun Gate. Permits sell out months ahead.
Must-SeeInside Passage
Alaska's great cruise route, past glaciers, whales and fjords and through old gold rush towns, from Vancouver or Seattle.
Interlaken and the Jungfrau
Waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen and Europe's highest railway station.
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Must-SeeIssyk-Kul and Karakol
A vast, high lake, with Karakol's trekking and Jeti-Ögüz's red rocks.
Must-SeeIstanbul
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and the Bosphorus, on two continents.
Must-SeeJasper and the Icefields Parkway
One of the world's great drives, 144 miles of glaciers and peaks between Lake Louise and Jasper.
Must-See
Must-SeeJesuit Missions of Trinidad and Jesús
Beautiful red-stone ruins of the Jesuit missions, nearly empty of visitors.
Kaieteur Falls
One of the world's most powerful single-drop waterfalls, usually with no crowds, on a day flight.
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Must-SeeKandy and the Hill Country
The Temple of the Tooth, and the Ella train through tea hills.
Must-SeeKashmir: Srinagar and Gulmarg
Houseboats on Dal Lake and Mughal gardens, with high-altitude skiing at Gulmarg.
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Must-SeeKruger National Park
One of Africa's great parks, and easily self-drive, with luxury private reserves next door.
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Must-SeeLa Paz
A high city in a canyon, crossed by cable cars, with witches' markets and Death Road biking nearby.
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Must-SeeLagoons of New Caledonia
One of the world's largest lagoons, with a heart-shaped mangrove.
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Must-SeeLake Garda
Italy's largest lake, with Sirmione's castle and Malcesine's cable car up Monte Baldo.
Must-See
Must-SeeLake Titicaca
The world's highest navigable lake, with the floating reed islands of the Uros and Taquile's weavers.
Must-SeeLauterbrunnen and Mürren
A valley of 72 waterfalls, with a car-free cliff-top village above it.
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Must-SeeLisbon
Old trams on steep hills, tiled houses, Belém and fado, with custard tarts on every corner.
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Must-SeeLoch Ness
Scotland's deep, dark, monster-haunted loch, with Urquhart Castle on its shore.
Loire Valley
Hundreds of Renaissance chateaux, with Chambord and Chenonceau, among vineyards.
Must-SeeLondon
One of the world's great cities, with the Tower, Westminster, free museums and the West End.
Must-SeeLos Angeles
Hollywood, the Getty, Santa Monica and Venice beaches, and a food scene from every corner of the Pacific.
Must-SeeLourdes
The grotto where Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary, one of Catholicism's great pilgrimages.
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Must-SeeMaasai Mara
Big cats, and the wildebeest river crossings from about July to October.
Must-SeeMachu Picchu
The Inca citadel on a cloud-forest ridge, among the world's great sights. Timed tickets are limited.
Must-SeeMadrid
The Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen, a royal palace and great late-night tapas.
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Must-SeeManaus and the Brazilian Amazon
Jungle lodges and river trips from a rubber-boom city with a famous opera house.
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Must-SeeMarseille and the Calanques
France's oldest city, with white limestone sea inlets on its edge.
Must-SeeMatera
Ancient cave homes carved into a ravine, among the world's oldest lived-in towns.
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Must-SeeMauritius's Beaches
Le Morne mountain above a lagoon with an optical illusion waterfall.
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Must-SeeMexico City
One of the world's great cities, built on Aztec ruins, with Frida Kahlo's house, a stunning anthropology museum, and tacos everywhere.
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Must-SeeMont-Saint-Michel
A medieval abbey rising from a tidal bay on the Normandy coast.
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Must-SeeMontreal
French-speaking, bohemian and full of food, from bagels to smoked meat, with an old port and huge summer festivals.
Must-SeeMontserrat
A sawtooth mountain with a Benedictine monastery and its Black Madonna, near Barcelona.
Must-SeeMonument Valley
The red sandstone buttes of every Western movie, on Navajo land; see them at sunrise or with a Navajo guide.
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Must-SeeMount Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha
A sacred mountain, and the world's largest stone Buddha, carved into a riverside cliff.
Must-SeeMount Etna
Europe's tallest active volcano, with lava fields and craters above Sicily's coast.
Must-SeeMount Kilimanjaro
Africa's highest point, at 19,341 feet, a non-technical but tough climb.
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Must-SeeMount Rushmore
Four presidents carved into a granite mountain in South Dakota's Black Hills, with Badlands National Park nearby.
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Must-SeeMunich
Bavaria's capital, with beer halls, great art, and Dachau's memorial nearby.
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Must-SeeMycenae, Epidaurus and Nafplio
Agamemnon's citadel, a perfect ancient theater, and a lovely Venetian port town.
Must-SeeNapa and Sonoma Valleys
America's most famous wine country, with vineyards and fine dining an hour north of San Francisco.
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Must-SeeNazca Lines
Giant figures drawn in the desert about 2,000 years ago, best seen from a small plane.
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Must-SeeNiagara Falls
Three waterfalls on the Canadian border; the boat into the spray of Horseshoe Falls is the one thing not to skip.
Must-SeeNiagara Falls, Ontario
The Canadian side gets the full-on view of the Horseshoe Falls.
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Must-SeeNormandy D-Day Beaches
Omaha Beach, the American cemetery and the Bayeux Tapestry.
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Must-SeeNorwegian Fjords
Geiranger and Nærøyfjord are among the world's great views, by boat or road.
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Must-SeeOlympic National Park
Three parks in one: glacier-capped mountains, the mossy Hoh Rain Forest and wild Pacific beaches with sea stacks.
Must-SeeOxford and the Cotswolds
Dreaming spires and old colleges, with honey-stone villages close by, and Blenheim Palace.
Must-SeePacific Coast Highway
California's Highway 1, one of the world's great road trips: redwoods, cliffs, sea lions and surf from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Must-SeePalace of Versailles
Louis XIV's staggering palace and gardens, with the Hall of Mirrors, a short train from Paris.
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Must-SeePantanal
The world's largest tropical wetland, and the best place to see jaguars.
Must-SeeParamaribo
A wooden Dutch colonial center, where a mosque and a synagogue stand side by side.
Must-SeeParis
The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre-Dame and a thousand cafés. The world's most visited city, and it earns it.
Must-SeePhiladelphia
Where the Declaration and the Constitution were signed, with a great food scene around it.
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Must-SeePompeii and Naples
A Roman city frozen by Vesuvius in 79 AD, near chaotic, wonderful Naples, the home of pizza.
Must-SeePorto
A granite riverside city, famous for port wine lodges, and a tiled train station.
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Must-SeePrague
A largely intact old city, with Charles Bridge, the castle, and an astronomical clock.
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Must-SeeProvence
Avignon's papal palace, Roman Arles and Orange, the Pont du Gard, and purple lavender fields in early summer.
Must-SeePunakha and Thimphu
Bhutan's most beautiful dzong, and a capital with no traffic lights.
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Must-SeeQuebec City
North America's only walled city north of Mexico, with stone streets, a castle-like hotel and a real French feel.
Must-SeeQuito
The best-preserved colonial center in Latin America, high in the Andes, close to the Equator line.
Must-SeeRedwood National and State Parks
The tallest trees on Earth, some over 370 feet, in misty groves along California's far north coast.
Must-SeeReykjavík
The world's northernmost capital, with Hallgrímskirkja, music and thermal pools.
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Must-SeeRiga
The world's greatest concentration of Art Nouveau buildings, and a huge market.
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Must-SeeRing of Kerry and Killarney
A classic coastal loop, by Killarney's lakes and the Dingle Peninsula.
Must-SeeRio de Janeiro
The most spectacular city setting anywhere, with Sugarloaf, Christ the Redeemer, Copacabana and Ipanema.
Must-SeeRoad to Hana
Maui's famous rain-forest road: 620 curves and 59 bridges past waterfalls, black sand and bamboo forests.
Must-SeeRome
The Colosseum, the Pantheon and 3,000 years of history, with some of Europe's best street life.
Must-SeeSabah and Mount Kinabalu
Southeast Asia's great climb, with Sepilok's orangutans and Sipadan diving.
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Must-SeeSan Francisco
Hills, fog, the Golden Gate and one of the country's best food cities.
Must-SeeSan Pedro de Atacama
The world's driest desert, with geysers, salt flats, flamingos and superb night skies.
Must-SeeSan Sebastián and Bilbao
A perfect bay, with Europe's best pintxos bars, and the Guggenheim's titanium curves nearby.
Must-SeeSantorini
Whitewashed villages on a sunken volcano's rim, with Oia's famous sunsets. Very crowded in summer.
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Must-SeeScottish Highlands and Skye
Glencoe, Loch Ness and the wild Isle of Skye, on the North Coast 500.
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Must-SeeSigiriya and the Cultural Triangle
A palace on a giant rock, with Dambulla's cave temple and Polonnaruwa's ruins.
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Must-SeeSouth Coast and Jökulsárlón
Skógafoss, black sand at Vík, and icebergs drifting to Diamond Beach.
Must-SeeSplit and Hvar
A city living inside a Roman palace, with island-hopping to party Hvar.
Must-SeeSt. Pierre
French bakeries and euros, a short ferry from Canada, with a Prohibition-era past.
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Must-SeeStonehenge and Avebury
The mysterious stone circle, with the far larger Avebury ring nearby.
Must-SeeTakayama
A preserved merchant town in the Japanese Alps, with morning markets and sake.
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Must-SeeTerracotta Army and Xi'an
Thousands of life-sized clay warriors, in the old Silk Road capital.
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Must-SeeThe Cotswolds
Honey-stone villages, like Bibury and Bourton-on-the-Water, in rolling countryside.
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Must-SeeThe Dolomites
Pale, jagged peaks that glow at sunset, with superb hiking and skiing and a Tyrolean feel.
Must-SeeThe French Riviera
Nice, Cannes, Antibes and hill villages like Èze, along a glamorous blue coast.
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Must-SeeTre Cime di Lavaredo
Three limestone towers, the emblem of the Dolomites, circled by a famous day walk.
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Must-SeeTuscany and Siena
Rolling hills and hill towns, with Siena's shell-shaped square, San Gimignano's towers and Chianti.
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Must-SeeUluru
A giant, sacred red rock in the desert, sacred to the Anangu people. Don't climb it; it's banned.
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Must-SeeVancouver
A glassy city between mountains and the sea, with Stanley Park, fine Asian food and skiing an hour away.
Vatican Museums and St. Peter's
Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Book the museums ahead.
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Must-SeeVenice
A city of canals and palaces on a lagoon, with St. Mark's and the Grand Canal.
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Must-SeeVolcanoes National Park
Dian Fossey's mountain gorillas, on steep bamboo slopes. Permits are costly.
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Must-SeeWashington, DC
Monuments, the Capitol and the world's largest free museum complex, all on one great lawn.
Must-See
Must-SeeWindsor Castle
The world's oldest and largest lived-in castle, a short trip from London.
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Must-SeeYellowstone
Half the world's geysers, plus bison and wolves you can actually see.
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Must-SeeYogyakarta and Prambanan
Java's cultural capital, with towering Hindu temples and Mount Merapi nearby.
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Must-SeeZermatt and the Matterhorn
The world's most famous peak, above a car-free village.
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Worth a DetourAbisko and Kebnekaise
The King's Trail, Sweden's highest peak and some of Earth's best aurora skies.
Worth a DetourAcadia National Park
Granite coast, carriage roads and Cadillac Mountain on Maine's Mount Desert Island.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourAletsch Glacier
The Alps' longest glacier, in full view from Eggishorn and Bettmerhorn.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourAlsace and Colmar
Half-timbered villages on a wine road, with Strasbourg's huge cathedral. Superb at Christmas.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourAntelope Canyon
A narrow slot canyon of swirling, glowing sandstone near Page, Arizona. Entry is only with a Navajo-led tour.
Worth a DetourAntietam National Battlefield
The bloodiest single day in American history, on quiet Maryland farmland that still looks much as it did in 1862.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourArequipa and Colca Canyon
A white-stone city under a volcano, near one of the world's deepest canyons and its soaring condors.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourAsheville
An arty mountain city with Art Deco streets, excellent breweries, live street music and the Biltmore Estate next door.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourAstoria and Cannon Beach
Oregon's northern coast, with the huge Haystack Rock, Lewis and Clark's winter camp, and The Goonies' town.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBadlands National Park
Sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles in pink and tan layers, on South Dakota's prairie, with bison and bighorn sheep.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBatalha, Alcobaça and Tomar
Three great monasteries, including the Knights Templar's headquarters.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBay of Fundy
The world's highest tides, rising as much as 50 feet, with Hopewell Rocks and whale watching.
Worth a DetourBelfast
The Titanic's birthplace, with the museum where it was built, and the Troubles' murals.
Worth a DetourBentonville and Crystal Bridges
Walmart's hometown, now home to one of America's great museums of American art, free in a wooded ravine.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBlack Forest
Dark hills and cake, Baden-Baden's spas, and Freiburg.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBlue Ridge Parkway
America's favorite drive: 469 miles of mountain views along the crest of the Appalachians, without a stoplight or a billboard.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBologna and Emilia-Romagna
Italy's food capital: tagliatelle, Parma ham, balsamic vinegar and porticoes, with Ravenna's mosaics nearby.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBordeaux and Saint-Émilion
An elegant port city, in the world's most famous wine region.
Worth a DetourBoundary Waters Canoe Area
Over a million acres of lakes and forests with no roads, explored by canoe. America's most visited wilderness.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBrittany and Saint-Malo
A walled corsair port, wild coasts, and Carnac's thousands of standing stones.
Worth a DetourBryce Canyon National Park
An amphitheater of orange rock spires called hoodoos, best from the rim at sunrise. Easy to pair with Zion.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourBurgundy
Great wines around Beaune, with its famous tiled hospital, and Vézelay's abbey.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourCabot Trail
A coastal loop around Cape Breton Island, with Celtic music and fall color.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourCambridge
Old colleges and King's College Chapel, with punting on the River Cam.
Caño Cristales
The river of five colors, red with plants at its best from about July to November.
Worth a DetourCanyon de Chelly
Sheer red canyon walls sheltering ancient cliff dwellings, and Navajo families who still farm the valley floor.
Worth a DetourCape Cod
Dune-backed Atlantic beaches, lighthouses and lobster rolls, the classic New England summer.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourCarlsbad Caverns National Park
A vast limestone Big Room, one of the largest in North America, reached by trail or elevator, and hundreds of thousands of bats at dusk.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourChaco Canyon
The great ceremonial center of the Ancestral Puebloan world, with huge stone great houses in a remote desert canyon.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourChannel Islands National Park
California's Galápagos: five wild islands off the coast, with sea caves, foxes and whales, reached only by boat.
Worth a DetourChengdu and the Pandas
Giant pandas and fiery Sichuan food, with the Leshan Giant Buddha nearby.
Worth a DetourChoquequirao
Machu Picchu's sister, far larger and almost empty, reached only by a multi-day trek.
Worth a DetourCody and the Buffalo Bill Center
Buffalo Bill's town: five great museums under one roof, a nightly summer rodeo, and the eastern road to Yellowstone.
Cologne
A vast Gothic cathedral, with Roman remains and lively carnival.
Worth a DetourColorado Springs
Red-rock towers at Garden of the Gods, a cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak, the Air Force Academy chapel and the US Olympic museum.
Worth a DetourCooperstown
The Baseball Hall of Fame, in a lovely lake village. A pilgrimage for any fan, and pleasant even if you're not one.
Worth a DetourCopacabana and Isla del Sol
The Bolivian side of Titicaca and the sacred island of the Inca.
Worth a DetourCopper Canyon
A canyon system bigger than the Grand Canyon, crossed on the famous El Chepe train.
Worth a DetourCorfu and the Ionian Islands
A green Venetian island, with Zakynthos's famous Navagio Beach nearby.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourCornwall
Sandy coves and fishing villages, St. Ives and the Eden Project, with Tintagel's legends.
Corsica
A mountainous island with fine beaches, Napoleon's birthplace and the hard GR20 trail.
Worth a DetourCosta Brava and Dalí's Figueres
Rugged coves, medieval Girona, and Dalí's theater-museum.
Cotopaxi and the Avenue of Volcanoes
A perfect snow cone, and the crater lake of Quilotoa.
Cuenca
A handsome colonial city of blue domes, near the Inca site of Ingapirca and El Cajas's lakes.
Worth a DetourCumberland Island
Georgia's largest barrier island: 17 miles of empty beach, wild horses and the ruins of a Carnegie mansion, reached only by ferry.
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Worth a DetourDeath Road
A bike ride from high Andes to jungle on the world's most notorious road.
Worth a DetourDevils Tower
America's first national monument, a fluted rock tower sacred to the Lakota and other Plains tribes, ringed by an easy trail where prayer cloths hang in the pines.
Worth a DetourDharamshala and McLeod Ganj
The Dalai Lama's home in exile, with Tibetan monasteries under the Himalayas.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourDisneyland
Walt Disney's original park in Anaheim, an hour from central Los Angeles.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourDoor County
Wisconsin's Cape Cod: a thin peninsula of cherry orchards, lighthouses, fish boils and small harbor towns.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourDresden and Saxon Switzerland
A rebuilt baroque city, with the Bastei's rock bridge nearby.
Worth a DetourDuluth and the North Shore
A steep port city on Lake Superior, the start of a stunning road of waterfalls, lighthouses and agate beaches.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
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Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourFernando de Noronha
A protected island chain of spinner dolphins and Brazil's finest beaches. Visitor numbers are limited.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourFlight 93 National Memorial
A quiet Pennsylvania field where passengers fought back on September 11, 2001, with a Tower of Voices and a wall of names.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourFrench Pyrenees: Gavarnie and Pic du Midi
A vast glacial amphitheater, and an observatory on a peak with a cable car.
Worth a DetourGalway and Connemara
A lively music town, wild bogs and the Aran Islands.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourGeneva, Lausanne and Montreux
Lake Geneva's Alps views, with the romantic Chillon Castle, and Lavaux vineyards.
Worth a DetourGettysburg
The Civil War's turning point, and the field where Lincoln gave his most famous speech.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourGlendalough and Wicklow Mountains
A monastic round tower in a lake valley, an hour from Dublin.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourGoing-to-the-Sun Road
An engineering marvel through Glacier National Park, climbing to 6,646-foot Logan Pass above waterfalls and hanging valleys.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourGozo and the Blue Lagoon
A quieter island, with Ġgantija's temples older than Stonehenge, and a bright blue swimming spot.
Worth a DetourGros Morne and L'Anse aux Meadows
Newfoundland's fjords and bare mantle rock, and the only confirmed Viking settlement in North America.
Worth a DetourGuadalajara and Tequila
The home of mariachi, and of Tequila, the town and the blue agave landscape around it.
Worth a DetourGuanajuato
A colorful silver-mining city in a ravine, with roads running in tunnels under its streets.
Worth a DetourHadrian's Wall
The Roman Empire's northern frontier, striding over wild English hills.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourHarpers Ferry
A preserved 19th-century town where two rivers meet, site of John Brown's raid and a stop on the Appalachian Trail.
Worth a DetourHarriet Tubman's Eastern Shore
The tidal marshes where Harriet Tubman was enslaved and escaped, returning again and again to lead others to freedom.
Worth a DetourHawaii's Big Island and Its Volcanoes
Active volcanoes in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, black-sand beaches and manta-ray night snorkeling.
Worth a DetourHearst Castle
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's lavish 165-room hilltop palace, with a Roman-style pool and zebras on the hillside below.
Worth a DetourHeidelberg
A romantic red-sandstone castle above Germany's oldest university.
Worth a DetourHerculaneum
Pompeii's smaller neighbor, better preserved, with wooden beams and upper floors.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourHistoric Triangle
Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown: where colonial America began and where the Revolution ended.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourHuaraz and the Cordillera Blanca
The tropics' highest range, with the Santa Cruz Trek and the blue Laguna 69.
Worth a DetourHuntsville and the Space & Rocket Center
Rocket City: home of the Saturn V and Space Camp, with a real Saturn V rocket on display.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourIbiza
The world's clubbing capital, with quiet coves and a walled old town.
Worth a DetourIndiana Dunes National Park
Tall sand dunes and Lake Michigan beaches, with the Chicago skyline in the distance, an hour from the Loop by train.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourIquitos and the Peruvian Amazon
The largest city you can't reach by road, and the gateway to Amazon lodges and river trips.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourIsle Royale National Park
A wild island in Lake Superior with moose and wolves, reached only by boat or seaplane. One of the least visited parks.
Worth a DetourItaipú Dam
One of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams, on the Brazilian border, near Iguazu.
Worth a DetourIwokrama and the Rupununi
Rainforest and savanna with jaguars, giant otters and Indigenous-run lodges.
Worth a DetourJackson Hole
A Western town of elk-antler arches, at the gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, with some of America's steepest skiing.
Worth a DetourJacobite Steam Train and Glenfinnan
A steam train over the curving viaduct seen in the Harry Potter films.
Worth a DetourJekyll Island and the Golden Isles
Marshy Georgia islands with Driftwood Beach, the old millionaires' club on Jekyll and St. Simons' lighthouse and oaks.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourJotunheimen and Galdhøpiggen
The Home of the Giants, with Norway's highest peaks and the Besseggen ridge.
Worth a DetourJuneau
The only US state capital you can't reach by road, between mountains and the sea, with a glacier just out of town.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourKarlštejn Castle
The Holy Roman Emperor's castle, for his crown jewels, near Prague.
Worth a DetourKatmai National Park
Brown bears catch leaping salmon at Brooks Falls, the star of Fat Bear Week, on a remote Alaskan peninsula reached only by floatplane.
Worth a DetourKauai
Hawaii's greenest, wildest island: the Na Pali cliffs, Waimea Canyon and quiet beaches.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourKedarnath and Badrinath
Himalayan temples at the heart of Hinduism's Char Dham pilgrimage.
Worth a DetourKentucky Bourbon Trail
Tour the rickhouses and tasting rooms of Kentucky, source of about 95 percent of the world's bourbon, among horse farms and limestone springs.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourKutná Hora
A chapel decorated with 40,000 human skeletons, and a silver-town cathedral.
Worth a DetourLake Como
Grand villas and small ferries on a lake below the Alps, with Bellagio at its center.
Worth a DetourLake District
England's finest hills and lakes, the land of Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.
Worth a DetourLake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands
Palace islands with terraced gardens, on an Alpine lake shared with Switzerland.
Worth a DetourLake Tahoe
A deep blue alpine lake ringed by peaks: beaches and hiking in summer, ski resorts in winter.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourLandmannalaugar
Rhyolite mountains in every color, with hot springs, on the Laugavegur trail.
Lençóis Maranhenses
White dunes with blue rainwater lagoons, from about June to September.
Worth a DetourLexington and Concord
Where the American Revolution began on April 19, 1775, and where Thoreau, Emerson and Louisa May Alcott later lived.
Worth a DetourLittle Bighorn Battlefield
Where Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors destroyed Custer's 7th Cavalry in 1876. It's a solemn place on the open plains.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourLoch Lomond and the Trossachs
Britain's largest lake, with Ben Lomond above it, close to Glasgow.
Worth a DetourLongmen Grottoes
Over 100,000 Buddhas carved along a river, with the Shaolin Temple nearby.
Worth a DetourLongwood Gardens and the Brandywine Valley
The du Ponts' country: America's greatest garden, Winterthur's vast decorative arts collection, and the Wyeths' art.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourLyon
France's food capital, with Roman theaters, old silk-weavers' passages and cozy bouchons.
Worth a DetourMackinac Island
A car-free Victorian island in Lake Huron since 1898, with horse-drawn carriages, fudge and the Grand Hotel's 660-foot porch.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMálaga and the Costa del Sol
Picasso's birthplace, with the Alcazaba, and Spain's busiest sunshine coast.
Mallorca
Hidden coves, the Tramuntana Mountains and Palma's Gothic cathedral.
Worth a DetourMammoth Cave National Park
The world's longest known cave system, with over 400 miles mapped beneath Kentucky's hills, a World Heritage Site.
Worth a DetourManali and Spiti Valley
Himalayan adventure base at the start of the high road to Spiti's cliff monasteries.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMauna Kea
Hawaiʻi's highest and most sacred mountain, a summit above the clouds with world-class observatories, unforgettable sunsets and some of the clearest night skies on Earth.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMemphis and Graceland
Elvis's Graceland, the blues on Beale Street and the National Civil Rights Museum.
Mendoza
Malbec country, with vineyards below the snowy Andes and Aconcagua nearby.
Worth a DetourMesa Verde National Park
Whole villages built into cliff alcoves by Ancestral Puebloans 800 years ago. Ranger tours take you inside.
Worth a DetourMilan
Italy's fashion and business capital, with a marble cathedral and Leonardo's Last Supper.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMoab
Red-rock adventure capital and the base for Arches and Canyonlands, with Jeep trails, mountain biking and river rafting on the Colorado.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMonterey and Carmel
A world-class aquarium, the 17-Mile Drive past Pebble Beach and a fairy-tale village, at the north end of Big Sur.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMoselle and Eltz Castle
A fairy-tale castle in a hidden valley, above steep vineyard river bends.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMount Kailash and Manasarovar
The holiest mountain in four religions, circled on foot by pilgrims.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMount Rainier National Park
A glacier-covered volcano with wildflower meadows in late summer, a day trip from Seattle.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMount Shasta
A lone snow-capped volcano held sacred by local tribes and a magnet for seekers of every kind, with alpine lakes, wildflower meadows and the springs of the Sacramento River.
Worth a DetourMount St. Helens
The volcano that blew its top in 1980, killing 57 people, with a huge crater and a recovering blast zone to see close up.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMount Vesuvius
The volcano that buried Pompeii. Walk to the crater rim for the Bay of Naples.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourMykonos and Delos
A glamorous party island with windmills, a short boat from sacred, ruined Delos.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourNanga Parbat and Fairy Meadows
A high pasture beneath the world's ninth-highest mountain.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourNewport
Gilded Age summer palaces of the Vanderbilts and Astors, a clifftop walk and a historic harbor full of yachts.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourOlympia and the Peloponnese
The first Olympic site, with Mycenae and Nafplio's Venetian old town nearby.
Worth a DetourOoty and the Nilgiri Mountain Railway
A blue-hills steam railway up to a British-era hill station.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourOuro Preto and Minas Gerais
A gold-rush town of baroque churches, by the sculptor Aleijadinho. Inhotim's art park is nearby.
Worth a DetourOuter Banks
A 120-mile chain of barrier islands, from the Wright brothers' dunes down to the shipwreck museum, the free ferry and sandy old Ocracoke.
Worth a DetourPalermo and Monreale
Sicily's chaotic capital of street food and markets, with Monreale's golden cathedral.
Worth a DetourParaty and Ilha Grande
A cobbled colonial port and a car-free jungle island, between Rio and São Paulo.
Worth a DetourPeak District
Britain's first national park, with Chatsworth House and stone villages.
Península Valdés
Southern right whales, elephant seals and penguins, and orcas that beach themselves for prey.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourPictured Rocks and the Upper Peninsula
Painted sandstone cliffs above Lake Superior's clear water, best from a boat or kayak, in Michigan's wild north.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourPlymouth
Where the Pilgrims landed in 1620: a replica Mayflower, a living museum of their village and of the Wampanoag people.
Worth a DetourPoint Reyes
A wild peninsula an hour north of San Francisco, with a cliff-side lighthouse, tule elk, and a tunnel of cypress trees.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourPortillo and Valle Nevado
Southern-summer skiing at South America's best-known Andes resorts.
Worth a DetourPortofino
A tiny, painted harbor on the Italian Riviera, beloved of the yachting set.
Worth a DetourPotosí
Once among the richest cities in the world, thanks to silver mined from the Cerro Rico. Mine tours are grim.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourPristina and Decani Monastery
A frescoed 14th-century monastery, with a young capital nearby.
Worth a DetourPuebla
A tile-covered colonial city, the home of mole poblano and of the huge pyramid at Cholula.
Worth a DetourPuglia and Matera
Matera's ancient cave city, Alberobello's cone-roofed trulli, and whitewashed seaside towns.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourRainbow Mountain
Mineral-striped slopes above 16,000 feet, a hard day trip from Cusco.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourRock of Gibraltar
A limestone monolith guarding the Mediterranean, with Europe's only wild monkeys.
Worth a DetourRocky Mountain National Park
Trail Ridge Road climbs above the tree line to alpine tundra, two hours from Denver. Elk are everywhere in fall.
Worth a DetourRonda and the White Towns
A cliff-split town with its great bridge and old bullring, among whitewashed villages.
Worth a DetourRothenburg and the Romantic Road
A complete medieval walled town, on a road linking the Alps with Franconia.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourRoute 66
The old Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway; its best-kept stretch of diners and neon runs across Arizona.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSalta and Quebrada de Humahuaca
The colored Hill of Seven Colors and white-walled towns in the northwest.
Worth a DetourSalvador
The heart of Afro-Brazilian culture, with a colorful old town, capoeira and drums.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSan Diego
Mild sunny weather all year, Balboa Park and its famous zoo, and a string of laid-back beach towns.
Worth a DetourSan Juan Islands
Green islands in the Salish Sea, reached by ferry, with orca whale watching, kayaking and small friendly towns.
Worth a DetourSan Miguel de Allende
A pink-spired colonial town of cobblestones and art galleries, much loved by American retirees.
Worth a DetourSanta Barbara
The 'American Riviera', with red-tiled roofs and a Spanish mission between mountains and the Pacific.
Worth a DetourSanta Fe
Adobe buildings, galleries on Canyon Road and New Mexico's green-chile cooking.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSantiago de Compostela
The cathedral at the end of the Camino, said to hold the apostle James.
Worth a DetourSäntis and Appenzell
Painted village houses and cheese, with the Aescher cliff inn nearby.
Worth a DetourSão Paulo
South America's giant, with superb food and art and huge Japanese and Italian communities.
Worth a DetourSardinia
Some of the Mediterranean's clearest water, with the stone towers of the Nuragic people.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSaxon Switzerland and the Bastei
Sandstone towers linked by a stone bridge, close to Dresden.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSedona
Red rock buttes, easy hikes and a reputation as a spiritual retreat, two hours from the Grand Canyon.
Worth a DetourSegovia
A giant Roman aqueduct and fairy-tale castle, an easy trip from Madrid.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSequoia and Kings Canyon
Groves of giant sequoias, including General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth by volume.
Worth a DetourSeven Rila Lakes
A chain of glacial lakes, with Rila's Musala, the Balkans' highest peak, nearby.
Worth a DetourShenandoah National Park
Skyline Drive runs 105 miles along the Blue Ridge, with waterfalls and summit views just off the road.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSierra Nevada and the Alpujarras
Mainland Spain's highest mountains, with white villages on their southern slopes.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSkellig Michael
A monastery on a sea rock. Seen in Star Wars. Boats are few and booked early.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSnæfellsnes and Kirkjufell
Iceland's most-photographed mountain and the Journey to the Center of the Earth glacier.
Worth a DetourSnowdonia and North Wales
Wales's highest mountains, with Conwy and Caernarfon castles.
Worth a DetourSnowy Mountains and Kosciuszko
Australia's highest peak, and its ski fields at Thredbo and Perisher.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSpanish Pyrenees and Ordesa
Deep canyons beneath Monte Perdido, in Spain's oldest national park.
St. George's and the Royal Naval Dockyard
A 1612 English town and a huge old naval fortress.
Worth a DetourStrasbourg
A huge pink cathedral, half-timbered Petite France, and the European Parliament.
Worth a DetourStratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare's birthplace, and his company's great theaters.
Worth a DetourStromboli and the Aeolian Islands
Volcanic islands off Sicily. Watch Stromboli's eruptions at night from a boat.
Worth a DetourSucre
A dazzling white colonial capital, with dinosaur footprints on a quarry wall nearby.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourSwaminarayan Akshardham
The largest Hindu temple in the Western Hemisphere, hand-carved stone on a vast scale, opened in 2023 in Robbinsville, New Jersey, between New York and Philadelphia.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTaos Pueblo
A multi-story adobe village, continuously lived in for about 1,000 years by the Taos people, and a World Heritage Site.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTemple Square
The heart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, with the six-spired Salt Lake Temple, the domed Tabernacle and its famous choir, and free gardens and visitor centers.
Worth a DetourThe Dordogne
Prehistoric paintings at Lascaux, medieval villages, and a slow river with castles.
Worth a DetourThe Eastern Sierra and Mount Whitney
Highway 395 along the Sierra's wall, past the highest peak in the lower 48, Mono Lake's towers and Mammoth Lakes.
Worth a DetourThe Finger Lakes
Long glacial lakes, gorges and waterfalls in upstate New York, with America's best Rieslings.
The Hague and Delft
Girl with a Pearl Earring, and pretty Delft and its blue pottery.
Worth a DetourThe Hudson Valley
America's first great landscape: FDR's home, Gilded Age mansions, Sleepy Hollow and Dia Beacon, an hour from New York.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourThe Mississippi Delta and Clarksdale
The birthplace of the blues: the flat cotton lands of Highway 61, with juke joints, the crossroads and a real sense of history.
Worth a DetourTheodore Roosevelt National Park
Colorful North Dakota badlands where a grieving young Roosevelt ranched, with bison, wild horses and prairie dogs.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La
One of the world's deepest gorges, on the road to Tibetan Yunnan.
Worth a DetourTivoli: Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa
A Renaissance water garden, and an emperor's vast retreat, near Rome.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTofino and Pacific Rim
Wild surf beaches and old-growth rainforest at the far end of Vancouver Island.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourToledo
The walled city of El Greco and three faiths, a day trip from Madrid.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourToronto
Canada's biggest and most diverse city, with the CN Tower, great museums, and neighborhoods from around the world.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTriglav
Slovenia's national symbol and highest peak, a climb every Slovene is said to make.
Worth a DetourTrollstigen and Åndalsnes
A road of hairpins up a wall of mountains, by the Romsdalseggen ridge.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourTurin
Italy's elegant first capital, with the Egyptian Museum, the Shroud and chocolate.
Worth a DetourUtah Scenic Byway 12
An 'All-American Road' through red rock country between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef, with a narrow ridge called the Hogback.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourValley Forge
Where Washington's starving army wintered in 1777–78 and came out a real fighting force.
Worth a DetourValley of the Temples
Some of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere, at Agrigento in Sicily.
Worth a DetourVerdun and the Somme
The Western Front's great battlefields, with memorials, trenches and cemeteries.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourVictoria and Butchart Gardens
A tidy, flower-filled capital on Vancouver Island, famous for the Butchart Gardens and for whale watching.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourVoyageurs National Park
A water park on Minnesota's Canadian border, explored by boat, with houseboats, wolves and northern lights.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourWarner Bros. Studio Tour London
The sets, costumes and props of the Harry Potter films.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourWürzburg and the Romantic Road
A baroque palace at the start of Germany's famous drive.
Worth a DetourXiamen and Fujian Tulou
Vast round earthen houses, and Gulangyu's car-free colonial island.
Worth a DetourYasuní and the Ecuadorian Amazon
One of the most biodiverse places on Earth, with canoe trips and Indigenous-run lodges.
Worth a DetourYoho and Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls, just over the divide from Banff.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourYunnan and Lijiang
Canals and old towns, with Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shangri-La nearby.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourZagori and Vikos Gorge
Stone villages and arched bridges, by one of the world's deepest gorges.
Worth a Detour
Worth a DetourZakynthos and Navagio Beach
The famous shipwreck cove below white cliffs, plus sea turtles.
Worth a Detour
Worth a Detour
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyAlbuquerque
Home of the Balloon Fiesta, with an old Spanish plaza, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and a long tram up Sandia Peak.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyAlgonquin Park
Canoe country in the Ontario woods, with moose and wolf howls.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyAmerican Samoa
The only US national park south of the Equator: rainforest cliffs and coral reefs, in a living Samoan culture.
If You're NearbyAmicalola Falls
Georgia's tallest waterfall, tumbling 729 feet down a mountainside, and the traditional start of the Appalachian Trail.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyAnnapolis
A sailing town of brick streets on the Chesapeake Bay, home of the US Naval Academy.
If You're NearbyApostle Islands
21 islands in Lake Superior, with sandstone sea caves and old lighthouses, off the pretty harbor town of Bayfield.
If You're NearbyAppomattox Court House
The quiet Virginia village where Lee surrendered to Grant in April 1865 and the Civil War began to end.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyAspen and Vail
Colorado's best-known ski towns: Aspen's silver-mining Victorian streets and the much-photographed Maroon Bells, and Vail's huge Bavarian-style slopes.
If You're NearbyAssisi and Umbria
The hill town of St. Francis, and its great frescoed basilica, with Orvieto and Perugia nearby.
If You're NearbyAthens
America's great college music town, which gave the world R.E.M. and the B-52s, with a lovely old university.
If You're NearbyAtlanta
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthplace and church, the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola.
If You're NearbyAtlantic City and the Jersey Shore
America's first boardwalk, casinos and saltwater taffy, on the long sandy Jersey Shore.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBahá'í House of Worship
A lace-like white dome on the shore of Lake Michigan, the oldest surviving Bahá'í House of Worship in the world and open to people of every faith, north of Chicago.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBaltimore
The Inner Harbor, the National Aquarium, Fort McHenry and Maryland crab cakes.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBear Butte
A lone mountain on the edge of the Black Hills, sacred to the Lakota and Cheyenne, where the summit trail passes prayer cloths left by those who come to fast and pray.
If You're NearbyBears Ears and Natural Bridges
Red-rock mesas full of ancient dwellings and rock art, sacred to many tribes, with three giant stone bridges nearby. Four Corners is close.
If You're NearbyBeartooth Highway
A 68-mile road climbing to nearly 11,000 feet between Montana and Yellowstone, called the most beautiful drive in America by Charles Kuralt.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBend
A sunny high-desert town with many breweries, skiing on Mt. Bachelor and volcanic lava fields, at the edge of the Cascades.
If You're NearbyBent's Old Fort and Sand Creek
An adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, and, not far away, the site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre.
If You're NearbyBethel Woods (Woodstock)
The field in the Catskills where the 1969 Woodstock festival took place, with a museum of the festival and the 1960s, about two hours from New York City.
If You're NearbyBethlehem and Jim Thorpe
An 18th-century Moravian settlement that's now a World Heritage Site, and the old rust-belt steel town around it.
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBlack Canyon of the Gunnison
A narrow, sheer canyon so deep and dark that parts of it see just minutes of sun a day.
If You're NearbyBlenheim Palace
Winston Churchill's birthplace, and England's grandest baroque house.
If You're NearbyBlock Island
A small island of stone walls, bluffs and Victorian hotels, a world away from Rhode Island's mainland.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBoulder
A lively university town at the foot of the Flatirons, with some of America's best trails right off Main Street.
If You're NearbyBozeman and Big Sky
Montana's boom town: dinosaurs at the Museum of the Rockies, Big Sky's ski slopes and the gateway to Yellowstone.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBranson and the Ozarks
A theater-packed Ozarks town of country music, comedians and the Silver Dollar City theme park, among lakes and forested hills.
If You're NearbyBrasília
A planned 1960 capital shaped like an airplane, with Oscar Niemeyer's modernist buildings.
If You're NearbyBrighton
England's lively seaside city, with a pier and the fantastical Royal Pavilion.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyBuffalo
Half an hour from Niagara Falls, with Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House and the original Buffalo wings.
If You're NearbyBurlington and Lake Champlain
Vermont's small lakeside city: a walkable street, a bike path on the water, and Ben & Jerry's and the Shelburne Museum nearby.
If You're NearbyByodo-In Temple
A replica of a thousand-year-old temple in Japan, set against the green cliffs of the Koʻolau Mountains on Oʻahu, with koi ponds and a peace bell to ring.
If You're NearbyCádiz and Jerez
One of Europe's oldest cities, by the home of sherry and dancing horses.
If You're NearbyCahuita and Puerto Viejo
The relaxed Caribbean coast, with a distinct Afro-Caribbean culture.
If You're Nearby
If You're Nearby
If You're NearbyCanyonlands National Park
Vast canyons carved by the Colorado and Green rivers, with Mesa Arch framing the sunrise, in Utah near Moab.
If You're NearbyCapitol Reef National Park
A 100-mile wrinkle in the Earth's crust, with red cliffs, Fremont rock art and old Mormon orchards where you can pick fruit.
If You're NearbyCardiff and South Wales
The Welsh capital's Victorian fantasy castle, with Brecon Beacons nearby.
If You're NearbyCathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
One of the largest collections of mosaics in the world, about 41 million pieces of glass covering domes and walls, in St. Louis's Central West End.
If You're NearbyCave of Altamira
The Sistine Chapel of cave art. Visitors see an exact replica beside the cave.
If You're NearbyChapada Diamantina
Tabletop mountains, caves with blue water, and Fumaça Falls.
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If You're NearbyChapel of the Holy Cross
A modernist Catholic chapel built straight into Sedona's red rock in 1956, with a great cross-shaped window looking out over the buttes.
If You're NearbyCharlotte
A banking city with the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the U.S. National Whitewater Center.
If You're NearbyCharlottesville and Monticello
Jefferson's hilltop home and university, surrounded by Virginia wine country.
If You're NearbyChartres Cathedral
Perhaps the finest Gothic cathedral, with its original blue stained glass.
If You're NearbyChattanooga
A revived river city between mountains, with the steep Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and a great freshwater aquarium.
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If You're NearbyChimney Rock
Twin rock spires above an Ancestral Puebloan great house in southwest Colorado, where the moon rises between the pinnacles every 18.6 years.
If You're NearbyChincoteague and Assateague
An undeveloped barrier-island beach where wild ponies graze in the marsh.
If You're NearbyCincinnati
An Ohio River city with the Underground Railroad Freedom Center and chili served over spaghetti.
If You're NearbyCleveland
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Lake Erie and a top art museum that's free to enter.
If You're NearbyCocos Island
A remote, liveaboard-only island famous for schools of hammerhead sharks.
If You're NearbyCoeur d'Alene
A lakefront resort town in the Idaho Panhandle, with a floating golf green and a 25-mile lake.
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If You're NearbyColumbus
Ohio's capital, with brick-lined German Village, the Short North arts district and Ohio State.
Córdoba
A lively university city, with a Jesuit block and estates that are a World Heritage Site.
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If You're NearbyCowpens and Kings Mountain
Two Patriot victories in the Carolina backcountry that turned the war's Southern campaign and led to Yorktown.
If You're NearbyCradle of Humankind
The caves that hold some of our oldest ancestors, near Johannesburg.
If You're NearbyCraters of the Moon
A huge black lava sea with cinder cones and caves in Idaho. Apollo astronauts trained here.
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If You're NearbyCumberland Gap
The pass through the Appalachians used by Daniel Boone and some 300,000 settlers on their way into the American interior.
If You're NearbyDahlonega and Helen
America's first big gold rush town and an unlikely Bavarian village, in the North Georgia mountains.
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If You're NearbyDayton and the Air Force Museum
The world's largest military aviation museum, free, in the hometown of the Wright brothers.
If You're NearbyDeadwood
An 1876 gold rush town, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot at the poker table holding aces and eights, in the Black Hills.
If You're NearbyDenver
The Mile High City and gateway to the Rockies, with Red Rocks Amphitheatre in the foothills.
If You're NearbyDetroit
Motown, a revived downtown and the Henry Ford museum of American innovation in nearby Dearborn.
If You're NearbyDinosaur National Monument
A wall of about 1,500 dinosaur bones you can touch, and wild river canyons on the Colorado border.
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If You're NearbyDodge City and the Tallgrass Prairie
The Wild West's wickedest town, and the great Flint Hills, the last of the tallgrass prairie that once covered the plains.
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If You're NearbyDrumheller and the Dinosaur Badlands
A great dinosaur museum and a hoodoo-filled badlands, with Dinosaur Provincial Park nearby.
Dubuque, Field of Dreams and Amana
Eastern Iowa's best: the cornfield movie diamond, the Mississippi at Dubuque, and the old communal Amana Colonies.
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If You're NearbyEffigy Mounds and the Upper Mississippi
About 200 Native mounds, many shaped like bears and birds, high on the bluffs above the Mississippi.
If You're NearbyEl Santuario de Chimayó
An adobe chapel in the hills north of Santa Fe whose "holy dirt" draws pilgrims from far and wide, many walking for days to arrive on Good Friday.
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If You're NearbyEureka Springs
A Victorian spa town in the Ozarks, with winding streets, hanging hotels and a famous stone chapel nearby.
If You're NearbyEverest Base Camp, Tibet
Drive to the north face of Everest, by the world's highest monastery.
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If You're NearbyFairbanks
Alaska's interior city, one of the world's best places to see the northern lights, with hot springs and a midnight sun in summer.
If You're NearbyFallingwater
Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, built right over a waterfall in the Pennsylvania woods.
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If You're NearbyFlagstaff
A pine-forest mountain town on Route 66, gateway to the Grand Canyon, where Pluto was discovered at Lowell Observatory.
Fort Ticonderoga
A star-shaped stone fort on Lake Champlain, taken by Ethan Allen in 1775, whose cannons freed Boston.
If You're NearbyFredericksburg and Spotsylvania Battlefields
Four major battles in eighteen months, among them Chancellorsville and the Wilderness, around a handsome colonial town.
If You're NearbyGalena
A beautifully preserved lead-mining town in Illinois's hilly northwest corner, and home of Ulysses S. Grant.
If You're NearbyGalveston
A Gulf island of Victorian mansions, a Pleasure Pier and the story of the deadliest natural disaster in US history, the 1900 hurricane.
If You're NearbyGarmisch and the Zugspitze
Germany's highest peak, reached by cogwheel train and cable car.
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If You're NearbyGlasgow
Scotland's biggest city, with Mackintosh's architecture and a great music scene.
If You're NearbyGolden Spike
Where the transcontinental railroad was joined in 1869, a remote spot in the Utah desert with working replica locomotives.
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If You're NearbyGrace Cathedral
A Gothic cathedral on San Francisco's Nob Hill with gilded doors cast from Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise and two labyrinths, one inside and one out, to walk in quiet.
If You're NearbyGran Sasso and Abruzzo
The Apennines' highest peak, above the vast Campo Imperatore plateau.
If You're NearbyGrand Staircase–Escalante
A vast, remote land of slot canyons, cliffs and fossils between Bryce and Lake Powell, on Scenic Byway 12.
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If You're NearbyGreat Basin National Park
A remote park with a glacier-carved 13,000-foot peak, ancient bristlecone pines, marble caves and very dark skies.
If You're NearbyGreat Falls Park
The Potomac crashes through a rocky gorge 15 miles from the White House, the great natural sight of the Washington area.
If You're NearbyGreat Sand Dunes National Park
North America's tallest dunes, 750 feet high, against the snowy Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with a seasonal creek to splash in.
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If You're NearbyHalifax and Peggy's Cove
A salty Atlantic port with a star-shaped fort, the Titanic's graves, and a famous nearby lighthouse.
If You're NearbyHannibal
Mark Twain's boyhood town on the Mississippi, the real-life St. Petersburg of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
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If You're NearbyHoge Veluwe and Kröller-Müller
A forest park you cross by white bicycle, leading to Van Gogh paintings.
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If You're NearbyHomer
The end of the road on the Kenai Peninsula, with a 4-mile spit, halibut fishing and fly-in bear viewing.
If You're NearbyHopewell Ceremonial Earthworks
Geometric earthworks built about 2,000 years ago in Ohio, aligned with the moon. World Heritage since 2023.
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If You're NearbyIberá Wetlands
Capybaras and caimans in a huge marsh, where jaguars are being brought back.
If You're NearbyIndianapolis
Home of the Indy 500 at the Motor Speedway, with a compact, walkable downtown.
If You're NearbyIron Gates and Đerdap
The Danube's great gorge, with Lepenski Vir's prehistoric village.
Ischigualasto and Talampaya
Moon Valley's rock forms, and some of the oldest dinosaur fossils anywhere.
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If You're NearbyIsle of Wight
England's holiday island, with the Needles and Queen Victoria's Osborne House.
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If You're NearbyJericoacoara
A sandy-street beach village among the dunes, famous for kitesurfing.
If You're NearbyJesuit Missions of Chiquitos
Painted wooden mission churches in the lowlands, with baroque music still performed.
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If You're NearbyJostedal and Briksdal Glaciers
Mainland Europe's largest glacier, with blue arms reaching valley floors.
If You're NearbyJurassic Coast
Durdle Door, and 185 million years of cliffs, with fossil-hunting on the beach.
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If You're NearbyKancamagus Highway
New England's best fall drive: 34 miles through New Hampshire's White Mountains, without a single gas station or hotel.
If You're NearbyKansas City
Barbecue, jazz in the 18th and Vine district and the National WWI Museum.
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If You're NearbyKatahdin and Baxter State Park
Maine's highest peak, the northern end of the Appalachian Trail, in a huge roadless wilderness.
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If You're NearbyKirtland Temple
The first temple of the Latter Day Saint movement, dedicated in 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio, east of Cleveland, and now shown on guided tours.
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If You're NearbyKuelap
The walled mountaintop city of the Chachapoya, reached by cable car, near the tall Gocta Falls.
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If You're NearbyLake Clark National Park
Bears on the beach, two volcanoes and turquoise lakes, a short bush-plane flight from Anchorage.
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If You're NearbyLake Placid
The village that twice hosted the Winter Olympics, and the 'Miracle on Ice', in New York's vast Adirondack Mountains.
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If You're NearbyLancaster County
Rolling farmland where Amish families still farm with horses and travel by buggy.
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If You're NearbyLassen Volcanic National Park
A little Yellowstone in Northern California, with steaming vents, mud pots and all four kinds of volcano.
If You're NearbyLeavenworth
A Bavarian-themed village in the Cascades, with lots of Christmas lights and great river and rock hikes nearby.
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If You're NearbyLincoln's Kentucky and Indiana
The log cabin Lincoln's said to have been born in, kept inside a marble temple, and the Indiana farm where he grew up.
If You're NearbyLittle Rock
Where nine Black students integrated Central High School in 1957, with Bill Clinton's presidential library and the Arkansas River running through town.
If You're NearbyLiverpool and Manchester
The Beatles' city, and football's great northern rivals.
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If You're NearbyLos Alamos and Bandelier
The secret wartime town where Oppenheimer's team built the bomb, beside Bandelier's cliff dwellings.
If You're NearbyLouisville
Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, and the gateway to bourbon country.
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If You're NearbyMacon
Home of the Allman Brothers, Otis Redding and Little Richard, with 1,000-year-old mounds and a famous spring of cherry blossoms.
If You're NearbyMadidi and Rurrenabaque
Community-run Amazon lodges in one of the world's most diverse parks.
If You're NearbyMadison
A lively college and capital city on an isthmus between lakes, with a great farmers market, cheese and Frank Lloyd Wright's home nearby.
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If You're NearbyManassas National Battlefield Park
Where the Civil War's first major battle ended any hope of a short war, and where Stonewall Jackson got his name.
If You're NearbyManu National Park
One of the most biodiverse places on Earth, from cloud forest down to the jungle.
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If You're NearbyMeteor Crater
The best-preserved meteorite crater on Earth, nearly a mile wide, in the Arizona desert. Apollo astronauts trained here.
If You're NearbyMillion Dollar Highway
A thrilling drive through Colorado's San Juan Mountains, with steep cliffs, no guardrails and old mining towns.
If You're NearbyMilwaukee
Breweries on Lake Michigan, the Harley-Davidson Museum and a winged art museum by Calatrava.
If You're NearbyMinneapolis
A city of lakes on the Mississippi, the Walker Art Center, and the Mall of America next door.
If You're NearbyMission Santa Barbara
The "Queen of the Missions", the best loved of California's 21 Spanish missions, with twin bell towers, a rose garden in front and the Santa Ynez Mountains behind.
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If You're NearbyMount Athos
A self-governing peninsula of 20 monasteries. Only men may land, but boats tour its coast.
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If You're NearbyMount Vernon
George Washington's home on the Potomac, 15 miles south of the city named after him.
If You're NearbyMyrtle Beach and Hilton Head
South Carolina's two seaside favorites: Myrtle Beach's 60-mile Grand Strand of boardwalks and golf, and quieter, leafy Hilton Head Island.
If You're NearbyMystic
A New England seaport town, with a great maritime museum and the world's last wooden whaling ship.
If You're NearbyMystras and Sparta
A Byzantine ghost city on a mountainside, near what's left of Sparta.
If You're NearbyNainital and Mussoorie
Popular Himalayan hill stations, with Nainital set around its lake.
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If You're NearbyNantucket and Martha's Vineyard
Two summer islands off Cape Cod: cobblestones and gray-shingled whaling houses on Nantucket, and gingerbread cottages on the Vineyard.
If You're NearbyNatural Bridge
A 215-foot limestone arch carved by Cedar Creek, once owned by Thomas Jefferson and carrying a highway across its top.
If You're NearbyNauvoo
The Mississippi River town built by Joseph Smith's followers, once one of the largest in Illinois.
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If You're NearbyNew Haven and Yale
Yale's Gothic campus, two great free art museums, and the coal-fired white clam pizza that America's pizza fans argue over.
If You're NearbyNew River Gorge
America's newest national park: a deep gorge with whitewater rafting and a famous arch bridge.
If You're NearbyNew Vrindaban and the Palace of Gold
A Hare Krishna community in the hills of West Virginia, home to the ornate Palace of Gold and its rose gardens, built by hand by devotees in the 1970s.
If You're NearbyNorth Cascades National Park
'The American Alps': jagged peaks, over 300 glaciers and the startling turquoise of Diablo Lake, along a spectacular summer highway.
If You're NearbyNuremberg
A medieval center, the Nazi rally grounds, and Germany's top Christmas market.
If You're NearbyOak Ridge
A secret city built in 1942 to enrich uranium for the atomic bomb, now part of the Manhattan Project park.
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If You're NearbyOcean City
Maryland's classic beach town, with a three-mile boardwalk, crab feasts and Assateague's wild ponies next door.
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If You're NearbyOklahoma City
A prairie capital with a deeply moving memorial, a cowboy museum and a canal-side nightlife district, on Route 66.
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If You're NearbyOld Cathedral of St. Louis
The oldest cathedral west of the Mississippi, finished in 1834 and still standing beside the Gateway Arch.
If You're NearbyOld North Church
Boston's oldest standing church, where two lanterns hung in the steeple warned of the British march on the night of Paul Revere's ride in 1775.
If You're NearbyOld Town Alexandria
Cobbled colonial streets on the Potomac, George Washington's hometown, just minutes from DC by Metro.
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If You're NearbyOmaha
A river city with one of the world's top zoos, the College World Series, Warren Buffett's hometown, and an Old Market of cobbled streets.
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If You're NearbyOsage Nation and Pawhuska
The Osage Nation capital, setting of Killers of the Flower Moon, and home of The Pioneer Woman's mercantile.
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If You're NearbyOttawa
Canada's capital, with a Gothic Parliament and great national museums, and the Rideau Canal, which turns into a skating rink.
If You're NearbyOuter Hebrides
White sand beaches and the Callanish Stones, at Scotland's Atlantic edge.
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If You're NearbyOxford and Tupelo
William Faulkner's literary college town, and the tiny two-room house where Elvis Presley was born.
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If You're NearbyPaklenica and Velebit
Canyons and Croatia's biggest mountain range, above the Adriatic.
If You're NearbyPalace of Fontainebleau
Eight centuries of French kings, and the room where Napoleon abdicated.
If You're NearbyPalo Duro Canyon and Cadillac Ranch
America's second-largest canyon, 'the Grand Canyon of Texas', and a line of spray-painted Cadillacs, near Amarillo on Route 66.
If You're NearbyParacas and the Ballestas Islands
Sea lions and penguins by boat, with a desert reserve on the south coast.
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If You're NearbyPensacola
Florida's white-sand Panhandle, with the Blue Angels and an amazing free naval aviation museum.
If You're NearbyPetrified Forest National Park
Fallen 225-million-year-old trees turned to rainbow-colored stone, on a colorful badland plateau beside old Route 66.
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If You're NearbyPicos de Europa
Limestone peaks close to the sea in green northern Spain.
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If You're NearbyPittsburgh
Three rivers, old inclines up Mount Washington for the view, and the Andy Warhol Museum.
Plains and the Jimmy Carter Sites
The tiny peanut-farming town that produced President Jimmy Carter, who came back to live here and is buried here.
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If You're NearbyPortland
Food carts, Powell's City of Books and rose gardens, with the Columbia River Gorge an hour away.
If You're NearbyPortland
A small port with one of America's best food scenes per capita, cobbled Old Port streets and the most photographed lighthouse in Maine.
Prince Edward Island
Red-sand beaches and farms, home of Anne of Green Gables and of lobster suppers.
If You're NearbyProvidence
A compact college city with a strong food scene and summer WaterFire bonfires on its rivers, near Newport's mansions.
If You're NearbyPuy de Dôme and the Auvergne Volcanoes
A chain of extinct volcanoes in central France, climbed by rack railway.
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If You're NearbyRaleigh and Durham
North Carolina's Research Triangle: free state museums in Raleigh and Duke University's gardens and chapel in Durham.
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If You're NearbyRehoboth and Delaware's Beaches
The "nation's summer capital" beach towns: Rehoboth's boardwalk, historic Lewes, and tax-free shopping.
If You're NearbyReno
'The Biggest Little City in the World', a casino town on the Truckee River, near Lake Tahoe and Virginia City's mining past.
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If You're NearbyRichmond
Virginia's capital on the James River, where Patrick Henry cried for liberty and the Confederacy had its capital, now a city of street art and great beer.
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If You're NearbyRoosevelt's Little White House
The modest Georgia cottage where Franklin Roosevelt came to swim, and where he died in 1945 while sitting for a portrait.
If You're NearbyRoskilde and Viking Ships
A fine museum of real Viking longships, with a royal cathedral.
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If You're NearbySacramento
California's capital, with Gold Rush-era Old Sacramento on the river and Lake Tahoe two hours east.
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If You're NearbySalem
Site of the 1692 witch trials, now America's Halloween capital, with a superb maritime art museum.
If You're NearbySalt Lake City
Temple Square, ski resorts within an hour and the gateway to Utah's national parks.
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If You're NearbySan Jose and Silicon Valley
The heart of Silicon Valley, with the Computer History Museum, the Winchester Mystery House and Stanford nearby.
If You're NearbySaratoga National Historical Park
The 1777 American victory that brought France into the war, often called the Revolution's turning point.
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If You're NearbyScotts Bluff, Chimney Rock and Carhenge
The great landmarks of the Oregon Trail, and a Stonehenge built of old cars, on the Nebraska High Plains.
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If You're NearbySemonkong and Maletsunyane Falls
A huge single-drop waterfall in the Kingdom in the Sky.
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If You're NearbySerpent Mound
The largest serpent effigy in the world, a quarter-mile earthwork snake uncoiling along a ridge in southern Ohio, built by ancient Native American peoples.
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If You're NearbyShiloh National Military Park
The two-day battle in April 1862 that showed America how terrible the war would be.
If You're NearbyShrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
A hilltop Catholic shrine above La Crosse, Wisconsin, with a stone church, a rosary walk, Stations of the Cross and a candle chapel on 100 wooded acres.
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If You're NearbySitka
The old capital of Russian America, with onion domes, Tlingit totems and bears in a rescue center.
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If You're NearbySleeping Bear Dunes
Towering sand dunes 450 feet above Lake Michigan's clear blue water, among Michigan's lovely wine-country towns.
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If You're NearbySouth Bend and Notre Dame
The famous Catholic university, with its Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus and a football stadium with a mystique.
If You're NearbySouth Padre Island
A long sandy Gulf island near Mexico, with warm water, a sea turtle rescue and famously busy spring-break crowds.
If You're NearbySri Venkateswara Temple
The oldest Hindu temple in the United States built by Indian immigrants, modeled on the great temple at Tirupati and a pilgrimage for Hindus across the country, in Penn Hills near Pittsburgh.
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If You're NearbySt. Louis
The 630-foot Gateway Arch, free museums in Forest Park and the Budweiser brewery tour.
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If You're NearbySun Valley and the Sawtooths
America's first destination ski resort, where Hemingway lived, and the wild Sawtooth Range nearby.
If You're NearbyTallulah Gorge
A two-mile canyon nearly 1,000 feet deep, with a swinging bridge over its falls, in the far northeast of Georgia.
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If You're NearbyThe Berkshires
Massachusetts's green western hills, with Norman Rockwell, Tanglewood, MASS MoCA and Edith Wharton's house.
If You're NearbyThe Catskills
New York City's old mountain escape, where Rip Van Winkle slept, with Kaaterskill Falls and the Woodstock festival site.
If You're NearbyThe Hamptons and Montauk
Long Island's wealthy beach towns, with white sand and mansions, ending at Montauk's old lighthouse.
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If You're NearbyThe Thousand Islands
Nearly 2,000 islands in the St. Lawrence River, with a heartbreaking castle and the namesake salad dressing.
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If You're NearbyThomas Edison's Laboratory
The West Orange lab where Edison worked for 44 years, with his desk, early films and a replica of the first movie studio.
If You're NearbyThorncrown Chapel
A soaring wood-and-glass chapel in the Ozark woods near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones and among the finest American buildings of its century.
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If You're NearbyTouro Synagogue
The oldest synagogue building in the United States, dedicated in 1763 in Newport, and the congregation to which George Washington wrote his famous letter on religious freedom.
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If You're NearbyTulsa
An oil-rich Art Deco city, and the site of the 1921 massacre of 'Black Wall Street', with a Bob Dylan Center and America's best new park.
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If You're NearbyValdez
A fishing port in a ring of snowy mountains, with a stunning road in, and Columbia Glacier's great ice cruises.
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If You're NearbyVarna and the Black Sea
Bulgaria's seaside capital, with the world's oldest worked gold.
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If You're NearbyVerona and Lake Garda
Romeo and Juliet's city, with summer opera in its Roman arena.
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If You're NearbyWashington Crossing
Where Washington crossed the icy Delaware on Christmas night 1776 and turned the war around.
If You're NearbyWeimar, Wartburg and Buchenwald
Goethe's town, Luther's castle and a concentration camp memorial.
If You're NearbyWest Point
The US Military Academy on a Hudson River bluff, America's oldest service academy, whose graduates include Grant, Lee, Eisenhower and Patton.
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If You're NearbyWilmington and Cape Fear
A handsome port on the Cape Fear River, with a battleship, a Riverwalk and beaches just over the bridge.
If You're NearbyWind Cave and Jewel Cave
Two of the world's longest caves under the Black Hills, with bison on the prairie overhead.
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If You're NearbyXochimilco
Colorful boats and mariachis on the Aztec canals in the south of Mexico City.
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If You're NearbyYorkshire Dales and Moors
Stone walls, waterfalls and heather, with the Brontës' Haworth nearby.
If You're NearbyYungang Grottoes and the Hanging Temple
Giant cave Buddhas, and a temple pinned to a cliff.
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