Cloud-forest valley studded with 60-metre wax palms, the world’s tallest.
Korea’s most dramatic mountains — granite spires, the Ulsanbawi ridge and a cable car — blazing red in autumn.
Eighth-century Buddhist temple of stone pagodas and painted halls, paired with the Seokguram grotto Buddha above it.
Canyon wall stencilled with hundreds of hands up to 9,000 years old — the oldest art in South America, and a UNESCO site.
Three tiny car-free islands off Lombok — turtles, reef bars and no traffic at all.
The planet's richest coral reefs.
Five original Viking ships raised from the Roskilde fjord, plus working boatyards.
Renaissance sea fortress at Helsingor — the Elsinore of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The 1843 amusement park that inspired Disneyland, with wooden roller coasters, lanterns and concerts in the heart of Copenhagen.
Lake city with a covered wooden bridge.
Granite-boulder islands in the Andaman Sea with some of Thailand’s clearest water and best coral.
Ruined former Siamese capital, UNESCO-listed.
Ancient city of the Sun and Moon pyramids.
Laid-back pair of jungle islands with clear water and cheap beachfront snorkelling.
Oceanic island off Borneo ranked among the best dive sites on Earth — turtles, barracuda tornadoes, reef sharks.
Historic fortress and the Crown Jewels.
St Petersburg’s onion-domed church, lined inside with 7,000 m² of mosaic.
Moscow’s historic heart: St Basil’s domes, the Kremlin walls and GUM.
Bronze Age Minoan palace outside Heraklion, legendary seat of King Minos.
The Parthenon and its temples on the rock above Athens — the birthplace of democracy, best climbed at opening time.
Two-stage cable car to Rio’s granite icon and its harbour-wide views.
Venture into the world's greatest rainforest.
Istanbul's six-minareted mosque.
The national dish — mud crab in a sweet-spicy tomato-chilli gravy, mopped up with fried buns.
The only walled city north of Mexico — cobbled streets, the Chateau Frontenac and a French-speaking old town that feels like Europe.
A 553-metre tower with a glass floor, a revolving restaurant and the EdgeWalk — a hands-free stroll around the outside rim.
Rock-cut cave temples in Maharashtra, crowned by the monolithic Kailasa temple.
Drift the palm-lined waterways by houseboat.
Seven kilometres of pure white silica sand in the Whitsundays, swirling into the turquoise Hill Inlet.
71-metre Buddha carved into a river cliff in Sichuan — the largest stone Buddha in the world.
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