Kokyo Gaien National Garden is the broad, open “front yard” of the Imperial Palace, and one of the easiest green spaces to dip into when you’re near Tokyo Station…

The Getty Villa, in Pacific Palisades just north of Santa Monica, is the Getty’s coastal outpost devoted entirely to ancient Greece and Rome. Built as a meticulous…

The Golden Gai is a tiny pocket of old Tokyo hemmed in by Shinjuku’s neon and high-rises, and it’s one of the city’s most distinctive nightlife areas…

The Ancient Agora is where Athens feels most like a real, living city of the past rather than a collection of isolated ruins. Just below the northwestern slope of the Acropolis…

Scaligero Castle is the stone gateway to Sirmione, guarding the narrow neck of the peninsula that juts into Lake Garda. Built in the 13th century by the powerful…

Topkapı Palace is the place to go in Istanbul if you want to understand how the Ottoman Empire actually worked, not just how it looked in postcards. Spread…

Tokyo Tower, rising 333 metres over Minato’s Shiba Park, is one of those Tokyo sights that feels pleasantly old-school in the best way. Built in 1958 as a broadcasting tower…

The Cathedral of Cartagena de Indias, officially the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandría, is one of the key landmarks of the walled city and an easy point…

Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences is the place where the city’s modern face really comes into focus. Laid out along the old Turia riverbed, this vast complex by…

Boston Common is Boston’s front yard, a 50-acre patch of green right in the middle of downtown, framed by Tremont, Park, Beacon, Charles and Boylston Streets…

The Prague Astronomical Clock, or Orloj, is the star of Old Town Square and one of Prague’s defining landmarks. Mounted on the façade of the Old Town Hall, it’s…

The House of the Black Madonna (Dům U černé Matky Boží) is one of those places in Prague where you don’t just tick off a sight – you step into a whole design movement…

Vyšehrad is Prague’s quieter citadel, a hilltop fortress above the Vltava that feels worlds away from the crowds around Charles Bridge. It sits just south of the…

The Louvre is less a museum and more a small city of art: over 35,000 works on display spread across a former royal palace beside the Seine in central Paris. Expect to feel a bit overwhelmed at first – that’s normal.

Sacré-Cœur Basilica sits at the highest point in Paris, at the top of Montmartre, and is one of the city’s most visited landmarks. Built between 1875 and 1914, it’s…

Les Invalides is one of Paris’s most recognizable landmarks, its golden dome catching the light from almost anywhere along the Seine. Yet what makes it truly…

The Pioneer Air Museum in Fairbanks is one of those places that feels unassuming at first glance but becomes surprisingly absorbing once you step inside…

The University of Alaska Museum of the North, located on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, is one of those places that quietly surprises you with how…

Denali National Park in Alaska spans about six million acres, yet many visitors are surprised by how calm and open it feels once inside. Mountains, wide river…