Compare 576 Travel Destinations

The most culturally distinct city in America — where Creole and Cajun cooking, jazz, second-line parades, and a French-Spanish colonial heart create something you genuinely can't find anywhere else. The French Quarter's wrought-iron balconies, Frenchmen Street's nightly brass bands, and beignets at 3am at Café du Monde.

New York City needs no introduction — it's the cultural and financial capital of the world. Five boroughs, each with dozens of distinct neighborhoods, offering everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to $1 pizza slices. The subway runs 24/7, the energy is relentless, and there's genuinely something new to discover on every visit.

Newport, Rhode Island, is a 25,000-person harbor city on Aquidneck Island that doubled as the Gilded Age summer capital for the Vanderbilts, Astors, and Belmonts in the late 1800s. The Preservation Society of Newport County runs guided tours of seven mansions including The Breakers (Cornelius Vanderbilt II's 70-room summer cottage), Marble House, Rosecliff, and The Elms. The 3.5-mile Cliff Walk threads the cliffside behind the mansions, the International Tennis Hall of Fame is set in the Newport Casino, and the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals fill July and August. Bowen's Wharf and Thames Street hold the harbor restaurants and chowder bars.

Vietnam's premier beach resort stretches 6 km along the South China Sea — a crescent bay backed by mountains, the ancient Po Nagar Cham towers on a headland (2nd–17th century), and an island-hopping scene off Hon Mun Marine Protected Area with excellent snorkeling. The mud baths at Thap Ba and I-Resort are a Vietnamese spa tradition. Alexandre Yersin — the Swiss-French scientist who isolated the plague bacillus — lived and died in Nha Trang; his house and laboratory are now a museum.

Three waterfalls on the Niagara River between New York State and the Canadian province of Ontario — the American Falls (167 ft tall, 1,060 ft wide), Bridal Veil Falls (the small one separated by Luna Island, also on the US side), and the dominant Horseshoe Falls (167 ft tall, 2,600 ft wide) carrying 90% of the total water volume with the curve sitting mostly in Canada. Combined flow averages 750,000 gallons per second. Second-largest waterfall in the world by flow rate (after Inga Falls in DRC) but only 51st by height — the fame comes from being the largest in the inhabited Western world and the most accessible, drawing 12+ million visitors a year split roughly equally between US and Canadian sides. The falls erode upstream at about 1 ft per year (down from 3 ft historically due to flow control); the 7-mile gorge below is the path the falls have carved over 12,500 years since the last ice age. The Maid of the Mist boat tour has operated continuously since 1846 — the oldest tourist attraction in North America. Niagara also produces ~2.4 million kW of hydroelectric power, with treaty agreements diverting up to 75% of natural flow into the power stations at night and in winter. Closest airports: Buffalo Niagara (BUF, US side) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ, Canadian side).

French Riviera capital on the Bay of Angels — Promenade des Anglais along pebble beaches, Vieux Nice's socca and salade niçoise shops, Cours Saleya flower market, and Matisse and Chagall museums the artists themselves stocked. Monaco is 25 minutes away for €1.70. UNESCO winter resort town since 2021.

Mountain shrine town 140km north of Tokyo where Tokugawa Ieyasu — the shogun who unified Japan in 1603 — is enshrined at the gold-and-vermilion Toshogu mausoleum. The UNESCO-listed shrine complex sits in a cedar forest at 600m elevation, with cooler air than Tokyo year-round. Beyond the shrines, the Iroha-zaka switchback road climbs to Lake Chuzenji and the 97-meter Kegon Falls — Japan's most celebrated autumn-foliage drive. Stay overnight in town or in the nearby hot-spring hamlet of Yumoto for the deeper Okunikko experience.

Hokkaido's premier ski region, two hours by road from Sapporo's New Chitose airport. Four interconnected resorts — Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Niseko Village, Annupuri — share a single all-mountain pass on the slopes of Mount Niseko Annupuri, with the conical Mount Yotei staring across the valley like a small Mount Fuji. The 15+ metres of dry, light powder per season is the most reliable in the world, which is why an Australian and Singaporean expat scene has set up a year-round base. December through March is ski; July and August add hiking, rafting, and onsen-and-green-season pricing.

The cradle of Islam in Oman and the country's capital under the imamate from 1624, sitting in a date-palm oasis 1.5 hours inland from Muscat at the foot of the Hajar mountains. The town is dominated by Nizwa Fort, the giant 1668 round tower built to defend the falaj-irrigated oasis, and by its Friday goat market where Bedouin traders parade live animals around a circular auction floor while silversmiths hammer khanjar daggers in the adjoining souq. Half an hour up the switchbacks lies Jebel Akhdar, the green mountain whose terraced villages distil rosewater each April and May from the Damascene roses that bloom on the cliff edges.

Norway's fjords are nature at its most dramatic — sheer cliffs plunging into deep blue water, thundering waterfalls, and tiny villages clinging to narrow shores. Geirangerfjord and Sognefjord are the most famous, but the entire western coast is jaw-dropping. Bergen is the gateway city, and the Norway in a Nutshell route is the classic way to see it all.

Greenland's capital and largest city — population just over 20,000, more than a third of the territory — perches on a rocky peninsula at the mouth of one of the largest fjord systems on Earth, with Sermitsiaq mountain (1,210 m) rising directly across the bay. Founded by Hans Egede in 1728 as Godthåb ("Good Hope"), Nuuk holds the National Museum of Greenland, the country's best fjord boat tours, the Katuaq Cultural Centre, and a surprisingly Scandinavian-mild climate. Midnight sun late May to late July; long mild winters with regular aurora through April.

Mexico's culinary capital and a UNESCO World Heritage city. Famous for mole, mezcal, indigenous markets, Day of the Dead celebrations, and nearby Monte Albán ruins.

A small UNESCO town on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid — at 3+ million years one of the oldest lakes on earth, deep enough (288m) and clear enough that you can read the church bells underwater near shore. The hillside Old Town spreads from the lake harbour up to Tsar Samuel's 10th-century fortress through cobbled lanes lined with 30+ medieval Byzantine churches. The Church of St. John at Kaneo, perched on a clifftop above turquoise water, is the icon image of North Macedonia. Add the lake-edge St. Naum monastery boat trip, the underwater Bay of Bones archaeological site, and the highest concentration of Byzantine fresco art in the Balkans — at a third of Croatian-coast prices.

Hawaii's most populated island packs Waikiki Beach's surf, Pearl Harbor's history, the North Shore's legendary winter waves, Hanauma Bay's snorkel reef, and Diamond Head's crater hike into one island you can drive around in a day. Honolulu's Chinatown is unexpectedly great for food and art.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (2014) — the world's largest inland delta, 15,000 km² of wetlands where the Okavango River ends in the Kalahari rather than reaching the sea. The paradox season: floodwaters from Angolan rains peak in June–August, making Botswana's dry winter months the wildlife spectacle. Mokoro canoe safaris, luxury fly-in camps (Mombo, Vumbura, Duba Plains), Big 5 game plus African wild dogs, and Maun as the MUB gateway town.

Japan's subtropical island chain has a culture distinctly its own — the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879) left Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site rebuilt after its 2019 fire, and a cuisine defined by champuru stir-fry, awamori liquor, and the "Okinawa diet" that helped create one of the world's highest concentrations of centenarians. The Kerama Islands 30 minutes by ferry have water clarity among the finest in Asia. The US military controls 30% of the main island's land area — a geopolitical reality woven into daily life.

Olympic spans 922,000 acres on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and packs three separate ecosystems into one park, none of them connected by interior roads. The Hoh Rain Forest on the west side gets 12 feet of rain a year and grows moss-draped Sitka spruce cathedrals. The 73-mile Pacific coast strip holds Ruby Beach, Rialto with its sea stacks, and Shi Shi. The interior alpine zone tops out at 5,200-foot Hurricane Ridge with views from the Olympics back across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island. Lake Crescent and Sol Duc Hot Springs are the natural bases, the park is 2.5 hours from Seattle including a ferry, and the coast stays open year-round.

Orlando is the theme-park capital of the world — Walt Disney World's four parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom) cover 25,000 acres southwest of the city, while Universal Orlando (three parks including the new Epic Universe opening 2025) sits closer in. Beyond the parks, downtown Orlando wraps around Lake Eola with its swan boats and weekly farmers' market, ICON Park's 400-foot wheel anchors International Drive, and the Kennedy Space Center is an hour east. The metro is enormous (2.7M), the airport is one of the busiest in the US, and theme-park strategy (FastPass, park-hopper, off-season vs holiday weeks) is its own discipline.

Osaka is Japan's kitchen — a city that lives to eat. Dotonbori's neon-lit food street, takoyaki (octopus balls) stalls, and the finest street food culture in Japan define this boisterous, working-class city. The Osakans are famously friendly and funny, the castle is impressive, and Universal Studios Japan is a massive draw for families.

Norway's capital sprawls around the Oslofjord — harbor saunas, an opera house you can walk up, Vigeland's 200 stone and bronze sculptures, and the new Munch Museum. Eye-watering prices but Nordic lifestyle at its most refined. The Bergen Railway (one of the world's most scenic) departs from here for the fjords.

The gateway to Morocco's south and the Hollywood of Africa — Atlas Studios is the largest film studio in the world by area. Gladiator, Game of Thrones, The Mummy, and Lawrence of Arabia were all filmed within an hour's drive of here, most at the UNESCO ksar of Aït Benhaddou 30km west. Restored Kasbah Taourirt anchors the town; the High Atlas is behind you, the Sahara ahead. Calm, low, and built of rammed earth the same colour as the surrounding desert.

The Outer Banks are a 200-mile chain of barrier islands off North Carolina, strung from the wild horse beaches of Corolla in the north through Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Hatteras, and ferry-only Ocracoke. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (198 feet, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States) anchors the middle of the chain, the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills marks the spot of the first powered flight in 1903, and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore protects 70 miles of undeveloped Atlantic beach. This is a quieter, fishing-and-family vacation coast, not a boardwalk-and-arcade one.

Northern Thailand's backpacker mountain town, 762 curves from Chiang Mai (bring motion-sickness pills). Dawn hot-air balloons over karst ridges, the Pai Canyon, Mo Paeng Waterfall, Shan Chinese villages, and fire shows at the walking-street market. Cool year-round, but the burning season February to April turns the air hazardous — plan around it.

Sicily's capital is one of the Mediterranean's great cities — 2,700 years of Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman, and Spanish layers have created an extraordinary palimpsest. The Cappella Palatina (1143) is the world's finest example of Arab-Norman architecture. Ballarò Market has operated for over 1,000 years. The 8,000 mummies of the Capuchin Catacombs are the world's most striking memento mori.