Must-sees of the World (By your experiences)

General
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A few more european recommendations, especially to all my american fellow efourians:

The National Railway Museum in York.

  • Sometimes, museums are too quick, you feel like you’ve done it all in half an hour. Not the case here. If you’re an anglophile train fanatic with a penchant for steam engines like me, you could probably spend a week in here without ever wanting to leave. Seriously, there are a lot of great museums out there, Natural History Museum in London is another, but this one is so jampacked with greatness it just boggles the mind.

Oxford- It’s just a lovely place. Beautiful scenery, buildings, music, nice places to eat, rivers, the Blackwell book store, The Covered Market, a lot of history to ingest. Not too big. My only regret is not doing more when I was there, I’ll surely be going back.

My favorite big european cities that I’ve been to would have to be London, Copenhagen and Krakow, in that order.

London is pretty self-explanatory. As long as you’re good with a huge city and having to wipe the dirt of your skin at the end of every day, there is something for everyone here. Almost feels redundant making a list, there is literally thousands of activities to comb through. I always start my day with London Pride on tap and a full english at The Silver Cross.

Copenhagen was a surprise to me, not usually a fan of big cities but I’ve spent quite some time there as one of my good friends lived and worked there for many years. Great food, lots of things to see and do, but it still feels cozy. A very easy place to be in, more tourist friendly than a lot of other places in Scandinavia. I’m sure the fact that I’ve spent my time there in an actual house instead of a hotel contributes greatly to my positive experience with it, but I will still recommend it highly. The Danish are famously good at enjoying life.

Krakow was perhaps the biggest surprise. Eating at a 5-star hotel in a marble room with a fireplace and your own personal waiter at a lower cost than going to Mcdonalds in Norway was pretty mind-boggling. A lot of bang for your buck, and keep in mind Poland used to be a superpower so there is a lot of history there, both ancient and a lot of more recent 20th century history. If you like ecclesiastical architecture, Poland is the country for you, they have more churches than people over there.

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If you are into nature/wildlife, the Galapagos Islands are incredible. It is a bit of a hike to get there, you have to take 3 flights, a boat, and a bus at minimum. As it’s basically one giant protected area, you also need to hire a local tour guide as a requirement for entry. But it’s so worth it, you see animals you never thought you could see in person, from giant rays to sharks to turtles and fish, and it’s not like you see that over the course of your trip–no, you see them all together at one snorkeling spot.

Despite the islands being relatively famous, the challenging entry requirements mean that it isn’t super touristy. Absolutely worth the effort to check out one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Just pack your sunscreen.

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23

The Racetrack Playa in Death Valley is the most extra-terrestrial place on earth. It’s nearly 3 square miles, with no vegetation and it’s completely flat. You can run in any direction and it feels like you’re not moving at all due to the lack of visual depth cues.

It also has some mysterious “sailing stones”.

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24

Best museum I have ever been to is the airforce museum in Dayton, Ohio. There is by far enough to see to spend an entire day there. If you do go make sure you go in the morning and sign up for the presidential area. It is a free first come first serve exhibit of old presidential planes that is great. I did not know about this the first time I went so I did make a specific trip back a few years later just to make sure that I saw this part.

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Thanks for your input. It’s one of those things that I just don’t know how it would impact people who didn’t experience it as Americans, ya know? I appreciate your family’s perspective too.

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Definitely on the list. My grandparents went there not too long ago and said it was their most expensive trip yet. Maybe I’ll wait a bit til I have more spare money

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Angkor Wat is quite impressive and worth visiting

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The places that awed me the most were:

Meteora, Greece: There used to be 24 Monasteries up on these giant rocks. Now only 4 are left. Amazing for hiking, history or just great sunsets.

Tokae Festival at Nara, Japan: Nara Park is an amazing place itself, but in Summer they hold this special light festival with tens of thousand of candles lit up every evening. Easily my favorite moment in Japan.

Heidelberg, Germany This place has amazingly beautiful old buildings, a very nice old town and a picturesque castle.

Bodø or further up north Norway. This was an amazing experience to go Dog sledding and seeing the northern lights.

These are some of the places I am really happy to have seen in my life. I hope you found some spots you didn’t have on your list yet. :blush:

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29

Death Valley on a Saturday night against Alabama is the all time greatest site :blush:

More serious, riding bikes through the hills of Hautvillers is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Doing a helicopter tour of the waterfalls on the big island of Hawaii too.

Also the Saint Chapelle chapel is one of the most stunning churches I’ve ever been in. It is a must see if you go to Paris.

Edit: I don’t know how I could forget the cliffs of moher and dingle peninsula

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30

This is normally the first thing I recommend to people. Flåm in Norway is a pretty famous tourist destination, my favorite part of this place is the Ægir restaurant with on site brewery. I’m sure there are a handful of medieval towns in Germany and Belgium where you’ll get beer as good as the ones they have on tap here, but you won’t find anything better. An underrated option is to go in winter: the hotel right next to Ægir is much cheaper and much more available then and as long as you do the touristy stuff like Flåmsbanen before 3 PM you get all the same views, and this place at night in winter is magical, totally abandoned. They serve the best norwegian christmas buffet I’ve ever had (and I say that as a Norwegian christmas food fanatic) with their own delicious Aquavit to go with it.


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First, Yellowstone, hands down #1. Then, Badlands, South Dakota. Backpack in and stay at least one night. It is the most eerily quiet and mysterious places I’ve ever been. There is NO water to be found, and no you can’t filter the silt water so be prepared. With the grasslands, caverns, sod table plateaus, stunning buttes and pinnacles, bison, pronghorn, coyotes, prairie dogs, and no sign of human presence with only game trails to follow, it gives you a true experience. And with all the fossils exposed from erosion, you feel like you are passing through a time capsule. It’s a type of beauty I’ve never experienced before, and the eeriness is just truly unique and like nowhere I’ve been in any of my hiking or backpacking excursions. Then you can camp a bit in the Black Hills, hang out in Deadwood and visit the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, gamble some, and THEN go see Crazy Horse and Rushmore, and maybe head down into Custer. Oh, and hit Wall Drug just to get the bumper sticker. If you don’t like lots of tourists, it’s still a very remote part of the US. Unique experience and maintains the whole Wild West feels in the territory of all the Indigenous People that came before and some of whom remain. But if you drive in from the east, Hwy 90 has to be the most NON scenic 3 hours I’ve ever driven! Nothing. There.

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32

Disney World was awesome, especially if you go when Christmas decorations are up. The parks have so many hidden and not so hidden references to the Disney movies and tv shows. Highly recommend

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The Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest. Shown is the Banff Hotel on the shore or Lake Louise. The lake freezes over in the winter and you can walk across.
I was invited to speak there in the 1980s and fell in love with it.

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I’m sure it’s lovely, but it screams this:

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35

Off the top of my head some, a few places that I have visited over the years that I recommend:

-Mt. Fuji, Japan
There is a beautiful hike around Lake Kawaguchi, which is beside one of the surrounding towns in the foothills of this iconic volcano. The best time to visit is in the spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming. Lots of other cool places in Japan, but is the most memorable for me.

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-Hallstatt, Austria
This small town is nestled in the mountains of Austria and to my memory was only accessible by a train-to-ferry connection. It has become a little touristy but it is still a very charming and picturesque location with an impressive historic salt mine tour, and a very cut off from the world feel.

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-Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hawaii
This park is home to one of Hawaii’s famous black sand beaches, very remote location on the back side of Maui. A treacherous drive across the island from the side with all the hotels and whatnot, but well worth it. One of the more otherworldly feeling places I have ever seen.

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36

Makes me cry every time. A big hole in my home-away-from-home. Still worth it. If you do go to NY, get a real NY pizza (somewhere NOT in manhattan. Those pies are all touristy crap. :stuck_out_tongue: My humble new yorker opinion, that is totally true. :wink:

Also cool to see in the USA, the Grand Canyon. it’s huge, and really gives you a sense of your place on this wonderfully amazing mud ball.

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Did you know they finally figured those out? Pretty cool, and kinda extra terrestrial still, BUT I’ll let you discover on your own. :alien: :vulcan_salute: :new_moon:

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Scotland and Ireland.

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