Ten places worth the trip, in 50 countries
Not the ten most photographed spots in each country — the ten that give you the widest, most useful picture of it. Cities, coastlines, ruins, mountains and the odd place most lists forget.
Photo: Karlheinz Klingbeil · CC BY 4.0
Almost every "best places to visit" list is the same handful of famous names in a different order. That is fine for daydreaming and useless for planning. It tells you nothing about whether two places sit three hours apart or three days apart, whether the season you have free is the season worth going, or what a week there actually costs.
This site takes a different approach. Each country gets exactly ten destinations, chosen so that together they cover the range of that country — a major city or two, the historic sites that justify the flight, a coastline, somewhere wild, and at least one place that rarely makes the shortlist but rewards the detour. Every one of them has a full guide behind it.
Each destination page covers the same ground: what is actually worth seeing, what to eat and where, which neighbourhood to sleep in, how to get around without a car (or why you need one), when to go, and a day-by-day plan you can follow or ignore. The country guides then show you how to string it all together.
Start here
Start with a country and work down to a destination, or jump straight into the full list if you already know roughly where you are heading.
A long, varied country of European-style cities, tango, wine and beef, the glaciers and mountains of Patagonia, whale-filled coasts and the colourful north-west.
Buenos Aires · El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier · El Chaltén and Fitz Roy · Iguazú Falls (Argentine side) and more
A vast island continent of surf beaches, coral reefs, red-earth deserts, rainforests, great coastal drives and lively cities, with a laid-back culture and the oldest continuous living cultures on earth.
Sydney · Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree · Uluru and the Red Centre · Melbourne and more
Vienna's imperial grandeur, Mozart's Salzburg, the lakeside village of Hallstatt, and an Alpine range running the length of the country.
Vienna · Salzburg · Hallstatt · Innsbruck and more
A continent-sized country of Atlantic beaches, Amazon rainforest, giant wetlands, waterfalls, colonial gold towns and Afro-Brazilian culture, with some of the warmest people and liveliest music in the world.
Rio de Janeiro · Iguazu Falls · Salvador · The Amazon and Manaus and more
A small country with some of the greatest monuments in Asia, riverside towns, islands and a layered, human history.
Angkor Archaeological Park · Siem Reap and Tonle Sap · Phnom Penh · Battambang and more
The Rockies' turquoise lakes, Vancouver's mountains-to-sea setting, Old Quebec's French colonial streets, and Niagara Falls thundering over the border.
Banff & Lake Louise · Jasper National Park · Vancouver · Whistler and more
A long, thin country from the Atacama Desert to Patagonia, with wine valleys, volcanoes, Easter Island and some of the best hiking on Earth.
Santiago · Valparaiso · San Pedro de Atacama · Torres del Paine and more
Beijing's palaces and Xi'an's buried army are only the classic opener. Karst rivers, thousand-metre sandstone pillars and villages that predate the printing press are just as strong a case.
Beijing · Xi'an · Shanghai · Guilin & Yangshuo and more
A vivid, welcoming country of two oceans, three Andean ranges, colonial towns, coffee farms and some of the world's best biodiversity, far safer and easier than its old reputation suggests.
Cartagena · Bogotá · Medellín · Guatapé and El Peñol and more
A small country with huge biodiversity: cloud forests, volcanoes, wildlife, surf beaches and a pura vida pace.
Arenal and La Fortuna · Monteverde · Manuel Antonio · Tortuguero and more
Dubrovnik's medieval walls, Split's living Roman palace, the turquoise cascades of Plitvice Lakes, and a thousand islands scattered down the Dalmatian coast.
Dubrovnik · Split · Hvar · Plitvice Lakes and more
Prague Castle and Charles Bridge, the fairy-tale town of Český Krumlov, spa colonnades in Karlovy Vary, and Moravian wine country beyond.
Prague · Kutná Hora · Český Krumlov · Karlovy Vary and more
The Pyramids of Giza, Luxor's temple-lined riverbanks, a felucca sail down the Nile, and Red Sea reefs among the best diving on Earth.
Cairo & Giza · Luxor · Aswan · A Nile Cruise and more
The most visited country on earth, and one of the few where a two-hour train ride changes the landscape, the architecture and what is on the plate.
Paris · Provence & the Luberon · Nice & the French Riviera · The Loire Valley and more
Berlin's nightlife and history, Bavaria's castles and beer gardens, the Rhine's vineyard-lined valley and a serious food and craft culture beyond the stereotypes.
Berlin · Munich · The Romantic Road & Neuschwanstein · Hamburg and more
The Acropolis and Santorini's caldera, Crete's beaches and Meteora's cliff-top monasteries, island-hopping and ancient history in one country.
Athens · Santorini · Mykonos · Crete and more
A compact Central European country of Budapest's baths and bridges, wine regions, the great Lake Balaton and a proud, distinctive culture, at very fair prices.
Budapest · The Danube Bend · Eger · Lake Balaton and more
The Golden Circle's geysers and waterfalls, the South Coast's glacier lagoons and black beaches, and a Ring Road that circles an otherworldly landscape.
Reykjavik · The Golden Circle · The South Coast · Jökulsárlón and Vatnajökull and more
A subcontinent of Mughal monuments, Rajput palaces, sacred rivers, tropical beaches and Himalayan peaks, with a food, festival and railway culture all of its own.
Agra · Delhi · Jaipur · Varanasi and more
Bali's temples and rice terraces, Java's volcanoes and ancient stupas, and the wild islands of Komodo and Raja Ampat further east.
Ubud · Seminyak & Kuta · Yogyakarta & Borobudur · Mount Bromo & Tengger Semeru and more
Dublin's literary pubs, the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry, Galway's music-filled streets and a coastline carved by the wild Atlantic.
Dublin · Killarney & the Ring of Kerry · The Cliffs of Moher & the Burren · Galway and more
A small country that holds sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baháʼí Faith, plus Roman and Crusader ruins, desert craters and a lively Mediterranean coast.
Jerusalem · Tel Aviv-Jaffa · The Sea of Galilee · Nazareth and more
Rome, Renaissance Florence and Venice are only the opening argument. The case for Italy is that Sicily, Puglia and the Dolomites are just as strong and half as crowded.
Rome · Florence & Tuscany · Venice · The Amalfi Coast and more
Tokyo's density and Kyoto's temples, Hiroshima's history and Hokkaido's wilderness, bullet trains that make all of it easy to combine into one trip.
Tokyo · Kyoto · Osaka and Nara · Hiroshima and Miyajima and more
A small, stable and unusually welcoming country that holds Petra, the Wadi Rum desert, the best-preserved Roman city in the region and the lowest point on land.
Petra · Wadi Rum · Amman · Jerash and more
A small Mediterranean country with an outsized history: Baalbek, Byblos and Tyre, Crusader castles, Ottoman palaces, mountain villages, wine and one of the best cuisines in the Middle East — and a difficult present that visitors need to read up on.
Beirut · Baalbek · Byblos (Jbeil) · Qadisha Valley & the Cedars and more
The Petronas Towers, Penang's street-art lanes and hawker stalls, tea-covered Cameron Highlands, and island beaches from Langkawi to Borneo's coast.
Kuala Lumpur · Penang · Langkawi · Malacca and more
A huge, varied country with one of the world's great cuisines, thousands of years of Mesoamerican history, baroque colonial cities and coastlines on two oceans.
Mexico City · Oaxaca · Mérida & Chichén Itzá · Tulum & the Riviera Maya and more
A country of imperial cities, walled medinas, mountains, deserts and Atlantic beaches, with a food and craft tradition that has shaped much of the Mediterranean.
Marrakech · Fes · Chefchaouen · Merzouga and the Sahara and more
Amsterdam's canal houses, Kinderdijk's UNESCO windmills, Delft's blue-and-white pottery, and tulip fields stretching to the horizon each spring.
Amsterdam · Rotterdam · The Hague · Utrecht and more
Milford Sound's cliffs, Rotorua's geothermal fields, Queenstown's adventure sports, and a living Maori culture found nowhere else on Earth.
Auckland · Wellington · Christchurch · Queenstown and more
Deep fjords carved by ice, colourful wooden harbours in Bergen and Ålesund, the midnight sun over Lofoten, and the northern lights above Tromsø.
Oslo · Bergen · Geirangerfjord · The Lofoten Islands and more
The West Bank holds Bethlehem, Jericho, Hebron and Nablus, together with some of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth, and offers unusually warm hospitality alongside a complicated present.
Bethlehem · Jericho · Hebron (Al-Khalil) · Nablus and more
Machu Picchu at sunrise, Cusco's colonial streets over Inca foundations, Lake Titicaca's floating islands and the Amazon's dense green canopy.
Cusco · Machu Picchu · The Sacred Valley · Lima and more
A tropical archipelago of dramatic seascapes, world-class diving, heritage towns and hospitable, English-speaking locals, at prices below its neighbours.
El Nido · Coron · Bohol · Cebu and more
A resilient country of beautifully rebuilt old towns, castles, mountains and forests, with hearty food, deep history and very good value.
Kraków · Warsaw · Gdańsk · Wrocław and more
Lisbon's hills and trams, Porto's port wine cellars, Sintra's fairy-tale palaces, and an Atlantic coast running from the Algarve to volcanic Azores islands.
Lisbon · Porto · Sintra · The Algarve and more
The Isle of Skye's jagged ridges, Loch Ness, Speyside's whisky trail, Stirling's battlefields and the ancient stones of Orkney.
Glasgow · The Isle of Skye · Cairngorms National Park · Loch Ness & Inverness and more
A country of wild safaris, dramatic coastlines, wine valleys, mountain ranges and cities with a moving history, with excellent infrastructure and very good value.
Cape Town · Kruger National Park · The Garden Route · The Cape Winelands and more
A compact, safe and endlessly interesting country where royal palaces, mountain temples, beaches, K-culture and some of Asia's best food sit within a few hours of each other by train.
Seoul · Busan · Gyeongju · Jeju Island and more
Europe's second most visited country, and the one where the difference between regions is greatest: Galicia and Andalusia share a passport and almost nothing else.
Barcelona · Granada · Seville · Madrid and more
A compact island packing 2,500 years of history, hill-country tea, wildlife safaris, surfing coasts and famously warm hospitality into a trip you can do in two weeks.
Sigiriya and Dambulla · Kandy · Galle · Ella and more
A Nordic country of clean, design-led cities, an archipelago of islands, medieval towns, forests and Arctic wilderness.
Stockholm · Gothenburg · Malmo · Uppsala and more
A small country of huge scenery, where scenic trains, cable cars and boats reach every valley and lake, and cities are clean, safe and walkable, at a price to match.
Zurich · Lucerne · Interlaken and the Jungfrau Region · Zermatt and the Matterhorn and more
Heritage overview — not a trip to plan
One of the richest heritage countries in the world, and one that most governments still advise against visiting. We describe its ten great historic places and what has happened to them, without offering a trip to plan.
Damascus · Aleppo · Palmyra · Krak des Chevaliers and more
East Africa's safari heartland: the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro, remote southern parks and a Swahili island coast, with some of the best wildlife viewing on earth.
Serengeti National Park · Ngorongoro Crater · Tarangire and Lake Manyara · Mount Kilimanjaro and more
Bangkok's temples and markets, ancient capitals at Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, and a coastline of limestone islands running from Phuket to Koh Samui.
Bangkok · Chiang Mai · Ayutthaya · Sukhothai and more
A country that straddles two continents and holds more Greek and Roman ruins than Greece and Italy, at a fraction of the price of either.
Istanbul · Cappadocia · Ephesus & Selçuk · Pamukkale & Hierapolis and more
London is only the opening chapter. Edinburgh's festival city, the Scottish Highlands, Snowdonia and Cornwall's coast make the rest of the book just as worth reading.
London · Edinburgh · Bath & the Cotswolds · Scottish Highlands & Isle of Skye and more
Too big to see in one trip and too varied to generalise about. The trick is picking one region and going deep rather than crossing the map.
New York City · Grand Canyon National Park · San Francisco & the California Coast · New Orleans and more
A country of karst seascapes, rice terraces, French-colonial boulevards, Chinese-style trading towns and some of Asia's most beloved street food.
Hanoi · Ha Long Bay · Hoi An · Ninh Binh and more
Editor’s picks
A cross-section of what is on the site: a capital, a volcanic landscape you can walk on, an island archipelago, a Renaissance city and a ruined port that was one of the biggest cities in the Roman world.
Île-de-France, France
France's capital packs more world-class museums, monuments and neighbourhood restaurants into six square miles than anywhere else in Europe. It rewards walking more than ticking off a list.
Don't miss The Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and Sainte-Chapelle — three of Europe's great collections within one Métro ride of each other.
Explore Destination — ParisNevşehir, Central Anatolia, Turkey
A landscape with no real parallel: soft volcanic rock carved by wind and water into towers and cones, then carved again by Byzantine Christians into painted churches and underground refuges.
Don't miss A hundred hot-air balloons rising out of the valleys at dawn — and being in one of them.
Explore Destination — CappadociaAndalusia, Spain
A hillside city beneath the Sierra Nevada, holding the Alhambra — the finest surviving Islamic palace complex anywhere — and a tapas culture where the food still comes free with the drink.
Don't miss The Nasrid Palaces: honeycomb vaulting, carved stucco and courtyards designed entirely around water and light.
Explore Destination — GranadaUtah, United States
A concentration of canyon country unmatched anywhere: Zion's sheer red walls, Bryce's hoodoos, Arches' sandstone spans and Canyonlands' mesas, within a few hours of each other.
Don't miss The Narrows — wading up the Virgin River between sandstone walls 300 metres high and, in places, ten metres apart.
Explore Destination — Zion & Southern UtahTuscany, Italy
A compact city holding the densest concentration of Renaissance art anywhere, with Chianti, Siena and the Val d'Orcia within an hour of its walls.
Don't miss Brunelleschi's dome of 1436 — still the largest masonry dome ever built, and you can climb inside it.
Explore Destination — Florence & TuscanySoutheastern Anatolia, Turkey
A pilgrimage city of sacred carp pools and covered bazaars, twenty minutes from the site that pushed the start of monumental building back by six thousand years.
Don't miss Göbekli Tepe — carved stone enclosures raised around 9500 BC, before farming, pottery, metal or writing.
Explore Destination — Şanlıurfa & Göbekli TepeHow to use this site
The pages are designed to be read in this order. It takes about twenty minutes to go from "somewhere in Italy, maybe" to a route with dates on it.
The country guide is the strategic view — how the regions differ, how long you realistically need, which combinations of destinations work and which involve a wasteful amount of backtracking. Read this before you fall in love with a specific town.
Tip If your dates are fixed, read the "best time to visit" section first. It may quietly rule out a third of the country.
Use the ten-destination list on the country page. Each card shows the category — major city, coast, national park, off the beaten path — so you can build a trip with some variety in it rather than four cathedral towns in a row.
Tip A good rule: no more than one big city per week, and never two long transfers back to back.
This is where the practical detail lives — which neighbourhood to stay in, whether you need to book the headline attraction weeks ahead, what the transport actually costs, and how many days the place deserves.
Tip The suggested itinerary on each page is sized to the minimum stay that does not feel rushed. Add a day if you like slow mornings.
Come back to the country page for the seasonal breakdown and the daily budget bands, and read the relevant travel article for anything that cuts across countries — rail passes, national park reservations, or what a week really costs once you add food and entry tickets.
Tip Book flights last. Deciding the route first almost always turns out cheaper than shaping a trip around one cheap fare.
Planning help
The pieces that cut across countries — seasons, budgets, trains, and how to choose between two places that look identical on a map.
Planning
Most first European trips go wrong in the same three ways: too many cities, too little time in each, and a route shaped by a cheap flight rather than by geography. Here is how to avoid all three.
Transport
European rail is excellent and confusing — six national operators, three completely different pricing models, and a rail pass that is either a bargain or a waste depending on where you are going. Here is how to work out which.
Seasons
Southern Europe has one obvious peak season and one much better one. This is the month-by-month case for going in spring or early autumn — plus the handful of things that only happen in July and August.
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