Neuschwanstein
I couldn’t agree more about Pompeii, but I have to recommend Efes (Ephesus) higher as Voyager did above. You can see and imagine the magnitude of the life in the city better.
Other touristy things that I recommend:
climbing the dome to St. Peter’s
climbing the Eiffel Tower
taking the gondola up (part of the way) Mt. Blanc
going to a glass blower in Venice
Both of the ones I would have mentioned are upthread.
The Grand Canyon
Everyone should go there. At least once. I’ve been twice, once as a teenager. Then TheFella and I went one year. I got to watch someone’s mind be blown. I can’t describe it and photos don’t work.
Vietnam Memorial
I don’t have words.
The Grand Canyon
The Taj Mahal
The Eiffel Tower
Machu Picchu
Tikal
The Port Authority Bus Station (NYC)-lives up to its reputation!
The (now Free) Staten Island ferry
-Long island: strip mall after strip mall, endless traffic.
Kyoto.
Kyoto, Himeji Castle, Hiroshima (Japan)
Pagan temples, Shwedagon Pagoda (Burma)
Taj Mahal, Jaisalmer, Ellora Caves, Varanasi (India)
Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of Emerald Buddha) Bangkok
Xian soldiers, Beijing China)
Banaue Rice Terraces (Philippines)
Kala Patar, Mt. Everest (Nepal)
Lake Toba, Borobudur (Indonesia)
Taroko Gorge (Taiwan)
Hong Kong Harbor
Moorea, (Tahiti)
Waipio Valley, Hawaii
Grand Canyon. But in that area Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon are also great places to visit.
Yeah, my wife and I were really disappointed with how small it was, how far back we had to stand, and how we were not allowed to take photos (even from a distance).
It’s been a long time since I’ve been there (so I can’t really remember the exhibits and such too well) but I do remember being extremely disappointed when I found out that it just sits in the middle of San Antonio’s city center with a bunch of trees surrounding it. Makes it look small and fake.
I was in that building about a week ago! Stood in the very room where he spent his time.
Can’t think about the whole scenario without being just totally bummed about the state of Egypt’s antiquities. They ain’t making Pharaohs no more, and one of the more important ones might have ended up as an ashtray holder when that museum closed. Sad twist of fate, but just so Niagara Falls in some way.
Gettysburg. Both the battleground and the town.
Yes, absolutely adored Bryce. But it’s not quite as massively hyped in the general culture as the GC and I think that’s the angle of the thread, the attractions and locations that everyone has heard about ass a must-see and which really are all that.
From those so far I am on with Eiffel Tower, Smithsonian Museums, Niagara Falls, the Arizona Memorial, Vegas, British Museum, Louvre (just not Mona)
The Bean, or rather, The Cloud Gate in Chicago is surprisingly…neat. I’m really not at all into most of the rest of the touristy stuff in my city, but that’s one I do enjoy taking people to. It’s kind on inexplicable, really. I mean, it’s a giant metal bean. But it’s neat.
I’ll also say Grand Canyon. I wasn’t too excited to go, having seen many, many photos of it before…
…but I was speechless when I got there. You have NOT seen the Grand Canyon if you have only seen it in video or photos, trust me. Seeing it in real life is a whole different thing. It stuns you. Watching it on cam or in a photo still is just 2D, in a way, but when you’re there and it surrounding you and stretching as far as the eye can see, hundreds of miles in every single direction, your mind suddenly can fathom just how huge it really is. I couldn’t believe it.
Again, if you have only seen this in photos, I’d argue that you have never seen the Grand Canyon yet.
Maccu Pichu was mentioned above, but I second it. Doesn’t how many tourists are climbing around it, you can still get lost by yourself, even in the crowds–it’s that captivating.
Add the Galapagos. Albeit the number of tourists are limited, but most folks have heard about it from many TV shows. But once you get there…it’s even better.
Easter Island is an incredible place to visit.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is amazing. There was an eruption going on when we were there, but even with part of the park off limits due to the eruption it was an amazing, otherworldly experience.
I love it all. From Angkor Wat, to paddle boarding down the Brule River in northern Wisconsin, I love it. NYC to nowhere Wyoming. Sorrento, Sligo, Savannah, Sedona, Saigon. I have been to the tackiest places like Car Henge and the Corn Palace, and the most profound places like St Peter’s or the dunes at Mui Ne. It’s all awesome.
I can’t wait to see what’s next. Which is little Gasparilla island in FL on a boat next week.
Westminster Abbey.
I could have stayed there all day, since it seemed as if everyone I ever studied about at school is interred there.