Attractions
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Manhattan, New York, United States of America
One of the largest and greatest art museums in the world, covering 5,000 years of art: the Egyptian Temple of Dendur, European paintings including Re…
Travel tips in Americas
Historic sites
Palenque
Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
A Maya city set in rainforest in Chiapas, with the Temple of the Inscriptions, where King Pakal's tomb was found, and the Palace with its tower.
Natural features
Cochamó Valley
Cochamó, Los Lagos, Chile
Often called the Yosemite of South America: a valley of temperate rainforest, rivers and huge granite domes in northern Patagonia.
Tours and activities
Bioluminescent bays of Puerto Rico
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has three of the world's brightest bioluminescent bays, where tiny organisms glow blue when the water moves.
Natural features
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
Volcano, Hawaii, United States of America
Two of the world's most active volcanoes, Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.
Natural features
Exuma Cays and the swimming pigs
Black Point, The Bahamas
A chain of 365 cays with astonishingly clear turquoise water.
Natural features
Tortuguero National Park
Limón, Costa Rica
A park of canals and rainforest on the Caribbean coast, reached only by boat or plane, where green turtles nest on the beach from July to October.
Natural features
Salar de Uyuni
Potosí, Bolivia
The largest salt flat in the world, over 10,000 km² of white hexagonal crust; in the rainy season a thin layer of water turns it into a vast mirror.
Natural features
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Valley, California, United States of America
A glacial valley in the Sierra Nevada with granite cliffs such as El Capitan and Half Dome, and waterfalls including Yosemite Falls, one of the talle…
Natural features
Tayrona National Park
Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
Beaches and jungle where the Sierra Nevada mountains meet the Caribbean, with boulder-strewn coves such as Cabo San Juan.
Natural features
Viñales Valley
Viñales, Pinar del Río, Cuba
A green valley of tobacco farms and limestone hills (mogotes), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Natural features
Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A granite peak rising 396 m at the mouth of Guanabara Bay, reached by two cable cars via Morro da Urca, with views of Copacabana and Christ the Redee…
Natural features
Hanalei Bay, Kauaʻi
Princeville, Hawaii, United States of America
A wide crescent of sand on Kauaʻi's north shore, backed by green mountains with waterfalls streaming down them after rain.
Tours and activities
Cabot Trail, Cape Breton
Nova Scotia, Canada
A 298 km loop road around northern Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, with ocean cliffs, Acadian and…
Historic sites
Trinidad, Cuba
Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba
A perfectly preserved colonial town of cobbled streets and pastel houses, built on sugar wealth, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the nearby Valle d…
Historic sites
Cartagena old town
Cartagena de Indias, Bolívar, Colombia
A walled colonial port on the Caribbean, a UNESCO site, with colourful balconies, plazas and the San Felipe fortress.
Historic sites
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
Hanga Roa, Valparaíso, Chile
A remote Pacific island famous for its nearly 1,000 moai, giant stone figures carved by the Rapa Nui people.
Tours and activities
Ruta de las Flores, El Salvador
Juayúa, Sonsonate, El Salvador
A route of about 36 km through the coffee-growing mountains of western El Salvador, linking colourful colonial villages: Nahuizalco, known for wicker…
Natural features
Stanley Park, Vancouver
West End, British Columbia, Canada
A park of 400 hectares of rainforest on a peninsula next to downtown Vancouver, with the 10 km Seawall path for walking and cycling, beaches, totem p…
Natural features
Pacific Rim and Tofino, Vancouver Island
Tofino, British Columbia, Canada
Wild Pacific beaches, old-growth rainforest and surf on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Walks and treks
Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) trek
Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia
A 4 to 5 day trek through the jungle of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the Lost City, built by the Tayrona around 800 AD, with stone terraces re…
Natural features
Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland
Ilulissat, Avannaata, Greenland
A fjord choked with giant icebergs calved from Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the fastest glaciers in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Natural features
Baía dos Porcos and the Atalaia natural pool, Noronha
Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil
Baía dos Porcos is a tiny cove next to Sancho, with rock pools and views of the Dois Irmãos ('two brothers') rock peaks rising from the sea, one of t…
Tours and activities
Rideau Canal Skateway, Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
In winter the Rideau Canal through the middle of Ottawa freezes into the Rideau Canal Skateway, 7.8 km of ice from the National Arts Centre, next to …
Natural features
Marble Caves, General Carrera Lake
Aisén del General Carlos Ibañez del Campo, Chile
Caves and columns of marble carved by the waves of a glacial lake, reflecting the turquoise water in swirling patterns.
Natural features
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
Ocampo, Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico
Each winter, millions of monarch butterflies migrate up to 4,000 km from Canada and the USA to fir forests in Michoacán, covering the trees in orange…
Natural features
Lake Atitlán
Panajachel, Sololá, Guatemala
A deep volcanic lake surrounded by three volcanoes and Maya villages, each with its own character: Panajachel is the hub, San Pedro is backpacker-fri…
Natural features
Baía do Sancho, Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil
Often voted the most beautiful beach in the world: a cove of golden sand at the foot of green cliffs, with clear turquoise water full of fish, turtle…
Natural features
Lençóis Maranhenses
Santo Amaro do Maranhão, Maranhão, Brazil
A vast expanse of white sand dunes dotted with turquoise and green lagoons that fill with rainwater, best from June to September.
Natural features
Monteverde Cloud Forest
Montes de Oro, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
A cloud forest reserve on the continental divide, misty and full of mosses, orchids and wildlife, including the resplendent quetzal.
Historic sites
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
A colourful colonial town of blue cobblestones on an islet, guarded by the massive Spanish forts of El Morro and San Cristóbal, a UNESCO World Herita…
Natural features
Perito Moreno Glacier
Santa Cruz, Argentina
A huge glacier, 5 km wide and 60 m high, in Los Glaciares National Park, which advances across Lake Argentino and calves icebergs with a roar.
Historic sites
Machu Picchu
Cusco, Peru
The 15th-century Inca citadel on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba valley, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Natural features
Baja California whale watching
Baja California Sur, Mexico
Grey whales migrate to the lagoons of Baja California to give birth from January to April.
Historic sites
Sacred Valley of the Incas
Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Peru
The fertile Urubamba valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu, with Inca terraces and towns: the fortress of Ollantaytambo, the Pisac market and ruins, …
Walks and treks
El Chaltén and Fitz Roy
Santa Cruz, Argentina
Argentina's 'trekking capital', a small village beneath the granite spires of Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre.
Historic sites
Copán Ruins
Copán, Honduras
One of the great cities of the ancient Maya, famous for having the finest sculpture in the Maya world.
Historic sites
Old Havana
La Habana Vieja, Havana, Cuba
The colonial heart of Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with four great plazas, baroque churches, crumbling and restored mansions, and 1950s Amer…
Natural features
Iguazú Falls (Argentine side)
Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina
The Argentine side has about 80% of the falls, with walkways over and under them.
Tours and activities
Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave
Belmopan, Cayo, Belize
A Maya ceremonial cave where you swim, wade and climb deep inside to chambers with pottery and the calcified skeletons of sacrificial victims, includ…
Historic sites
Cusco
Cusco, Peru
The old Inca capital, at 3,400 m, with Spanish churches built on Inca walls, a UNESCO site.
Walks and treks
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Cusco, Peru
The classic Inca Trail is a 4-day, 43 km hike on original Inca stone paths from Km 82 in the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, passing Inca ruins, cloud…
Natural features
Semuc Champey
Lanquín, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
A natural limestone bridge over the Cahabón River, topped by a series of stepped turquoise pools in the jungle.
Tours and activities
Bonaire National Marine Park
Bonaire, Bonaire Sint Eustatius and Saba
The whole coastline of Bonaire is a marine park, with some of the best shore diving in the world: yellow stones mark dive sites along the road.
Natural features
Corcovado National Park
Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
One of the most biologically intense places on earth, on the remote Osa Peninsula, with tapirs, all four Costa Rican monkey species, scarlet macaws a…
Natural features
Atacama Desert and San Pedro
Antofagasta, Chile
The driest non-polar desert in the world.
Natural features
San Blas Islands (Guna Yala)
Tubualá, Guna, Panama
An archipelago of about 365 small palm-covered islands on the Caribbean coast, governed by the indigenous Guna people.
Natural features
Manuel Antonio National Park
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
A small, popular park on the Pacific coast where rainforest meets white-sand beaches.
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