The 20 Greatest Historical Travel Destinations

From the ancient ruins of Rome to the jungle temples of Cambodia, these are the places where history didn't just happen — it left monuments that still take your breath away thousands of years later.

  1. Colosseum, Rome, 72 AD

    Rome

    Italy

    Two thousand years of empire, art, and ambition
  2. Acropolis and Parthenon, Athens, 447–432 BC

    Athens

    Greece

    Birthplace of democracy, philosophy, and Western civilization
  3. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, Giza, 2560 BC

    Cairo

    Egypt

    Where pharaohs built monuments to outlast eternity
  4. Machu Picchu Citadel, Cusco Region, c. 1450 CE

    Machu Picchu

    Peru

    Lost city of the Inca, hidden in the clouds
  5. Angkor Wat Main Temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia

    Angkor Wat

    Cambodia

    The largest religious monument ever built
  6. Al-Khazneh (The Treasury), Petra, Jordan

    Petra

    Jordan

    The rose-red city carved from living rock
  7. Badaling Section, Great Wall, Beijing, China

    Great Wall of China

    China

    Ten thousand miles of stone spanning dynasties
  8. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

    Istanbul

    Turkey

    Where East meets West across three thousand years
  9. Fushimi Inari-taisha Torii Gates, Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoto

    Japan

    Imperial Japan preserved in temples, gardens, and ceremony
  10. Forum of Pompeii with Vesuvius, Pompeii, Italy

    Pompeii

    Italy

    A Roman city frozen in a single catastrophic moment
  11. El Castillo (Pyramid of Kukulcan), Chichen Itza, Mexico

    Chichen Itza

    Mexico

    Mayan astronomical genius built in stone
  12. Taj Mahal Main Facade, Agra, India

    Taj Mahal

    India

    A emperor's grief made eternal in white marble
  13. Stonehenge Trilithon Circle, Wiltshire, England

    Stonehenge

    United Kingdom

    A prehistoric mystery that has outlasted its builders by millennia
  14. Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), Versailles, France

    Versailles

    France

    Where the Sun King made grandeur the language of power
  15. Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine

    Jerusalem

    Israel

    Sacred to three faiths, contested across four thousand years
  16. Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones), Alhambra, Granada, Spain

    Alhambra

    Spain

    Islamic art and geometry perfected in palace and garden
  17. Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey

    Ephesus

    Turkey

    Rome's greatest city on the Aegean coast
  18. Karnak Great Hypostyle Hall, Luxor, Egypt

    Luxor

    Egypt

    The world's greatest open-air museum of ancient Egypt
  19. Mont Saint-Michel at High Tide, Normandy, France

    Mont Saint-Michel

    France

    A medieval abbey rising impossibly from the tidal sea
  20. Borobudur Temple from Above, Central Java, Indonesia

    Borobudur

    Indonesia

    The world's largest Buddhist temple, lost for a thousand years