The Top Historic 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.

Fushimi Inari-taisha Torii Gates, Kyoto, Japan Kyoto Castel Sant'Angelo at dusk, Rome, Italy. Rome Ruins of the Parthenon, seen from the southwest corner, at the Acropolis, Athens, Greece Athens The Great Pyramid of Khufu, Giza, 2560 BC Cairo Machu Picchu Citadel, Cusco Region, c. 1450 AD Machu Picchu Angkor Wat Moat Reflection, Siem Reap, Cambodia Angkor Wat Al-Khazneh (The Treasury), Petra, Jordan Petra Great Wall at Dusk, Beijing, China Great Wall of China Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul Cast of a sitting victim of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 CE, Pompeii, Italy. Pompeii El Castillo (pyramidd of Kukulcán) in Chichén Itzá Chichen Itza Taj Mahal, Agra, India Taj Mahal Winter solstice Stonehenge 2004 Stonehenge Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces), Versailles, France Versailles Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine Jerusalem Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones), Alhambra, Granada, Spain Alhambra Terrace Houses (Yamacev Evleri), Ephesus, Turkey Ephesus Valley of the Kings, Luxor West Bank, Egypt Luxor Cloisters of the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, in Manche department, Normandy, France. This picture was created by stitching 57 frames (3 different exposures sets of 19 frames) with Hugin, was rendered Mont Saint-Michel Borobudur temple Park, Indonesia: Open stupa at sunrise. Borobudur
  1. Fushimi Inari-taisha Torii Gates, Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoto

    Japan

    Imperial Japan preserved in temples, gardens, and ceremony
  2. Castel Sant'Angelo at dusk, Rome, Italy.

    Rome

    Italy

    Two thousand years of empire, art, and ambition
  3. Ruins of the Parthenon, seen from the southwest corner, at the Acropolis, Athens, Greece

    Athens

    Greece

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

    Cairo

    Egypt

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

    Machu Picchu

    Peru

    Lost city of the Inca, hidden in the clouds
  6. Angkor Wat Moat Reflection, Siem Reap, Cambodia

    Angkor Wat

    Cambodia

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

    Petra

    Jordan

    The rose-red city carved from living rock
  8. Great Wall at Dusk, Beijing, China

    Great Wall of China

    China

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

    Istanbul

    Turkey

    Where East meets West across three thousand years
  10. Cast of a sitting victim of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 CE, Pompeii, Italy.

    Pompeii

    Italy

    A Roman city frozen in a single catastrophic moment
  11. El Castillo (pyramidd of Kukulcán) in Chichén Itzá

    Chichen Itza

    Mexico

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

    Taj Mahal

    India

    A emperor's grief made eternal in white marble
  13. Winter solstice Stonehenge 2004

    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. Terrace Houses (Yamacev Evleri), Ephesus, Turkey

    Ephesus

    Turkey

    Rome's greatest city on the Aegean coast
  18. Valley of the Kings, Luxor West Bank, Egypt

    Luxor

    Egypt

    The world's greatest open-air museum of ancient Egypt
  19. Cloisters of the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, in Manche department, Normandy, France. This picture was created by stitching 57 frames (3 different exposures sets of 19 frames) with Hugin, was rendered

    Mont Saint-Michel

    France

    A medieval abbey rising impossibly from the tidal sea
  20. Borobudur temple Park, Indonesia: Open stupa at sunrise.

    Borobudur

    Indonesia

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