-
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
Shinjuku is a whole city within the city; developed in the latter half of the 20th century, it's become widely synonymous with Tokyo itself. The breadth and scale are simply awesome – over three million people a day pass through the train station. To the west of the station is Nishi-Shinjuku, a planned district of soaring…
-
Rice Terraces
Longji's famed rice terraces have been luring travellers to the region for decades to witness some of China's most spectacular scenery. Rising to 1000m, they are an amazing feat of farm engineering on hills dotted with minority villages. There are two main areas to see: the Ping'an terraces, the most established of the…
-
Ladakh
Spectacularly jagged, arid mountains enfold this magical Buddhist ex-kingdom. Picture-perfect gompas (Tibetan Buddhist monasteries) dramatically crown rocky outcrops next to fluttering prayer flags and whitewashed stupas, while prayer wheels spun clockwise release merit-making mantras. Gompa interiors are a riot of golden…
-
Hatta
Fresh-air fiends escaping the car-exhaust-clogged Dubai streets and sticky humidity of the coast have long made a beeline to this enclave of Dubai emirate on weekends. Scattered with palm trees and cradled by the jagged contours of the Hajar peaks, Hatta is a chilled-out mountain retreat within easy reach of the city.…
-
Gili Islands
Floating in a turquoise sea and fringed by white sand and coconut palms, the Gilis are a vision of paradise. And they're booming like nowhere else in Indonesia – speedboats zip visitors directly from Bali and hip new hotels are rising like autumnal mushrooms. The lure of big tourist dollars tugs against the traditionally…
-
Ginkaku-ji
Home to a sumptuous garden and elegant structures, Ginkaku-ji is one of Kyoto's premier sites. The temple started its life in 1482 as a retirement villa for shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who desired a place to retreat from the turmoil of a civil war. While the name Ginkaku-ji literally translates as 'Silver Pavilion', the…
-
Forbidden City
Enclosed by 3.5km of citadel walls at the very heart of Beijing, the Unesco-listed Forbidden City is China’s largest and best-preserved collection of ancient buildings – large enough to comfortably absorb the 16 million visitors it receives each year. Steeped in stultifying ritual, this otherworldly palace was the…
-
Taj Mahal
Poet Rabindranath Tagore described it as 'a teardrop on the cheek of eternity'; Rudyard Kipling as 'the embodiment of all things pure'; while its creator, Emperor Shah Jahan, said it made 'the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes'. Every year, tourists numbering more than twice the population of Agra pass through…
-
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Rising majestically from manicured gardens and visible from the bridges joining Abu Dhabi Island to the mainland, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is an impressive welcome to the city. With more than 80 marble domes on a roof-line held aloft by 1000 pillars and punctuated by four 107m-high minarets, it's a masterpiece of…
-
Komodo National Park
Established in 1980, this national park is one of Indonesia's – if not the world's – greatest natural treasures. Within its 1817 sq km area are Komodo, Rinca and Padar Islands, as well as smaller islands and a rich marine ecosystem that affords divers unforgettable underwater adventures. Those who spot ora, snorkel or…
-
Pantheon
A striking 2000-year-old temple, now a church, the Pantheon is the best preserved of Rome’s ancient monuments and one of the most influential buildings in the Western world. Built by Hadrian over Marcus Agrippa’s earlier 27 BCE temple, it has stood since around 125 CE. And while its greying, pockmarked exterior might look…
-
Musée de la Vigne et du Vin
This museum is so outstanding that it’s worth planning your day around a two-hour tour. Assembled by a family that has been making Champagne since 1872, this extraordinary collection of century-old Champagne-making equipment includes objects so aesthetically ravishing that you’ll want to reach out and touch them. Among the…
-
Windsor Castle
The world’s largest and oldest continuously occupied fortress, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers. Used for state occasions, it’s one of the Queen’s principal residences; when she’s at home, the Royal Standard flies from the Round Tower.
-
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Appearing through the mountaintops like a mirage, Schloss Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. King Ludwig II planned this fairy-tale pile himself, with the help of a stage designer rather than an architect. He envisioned it as a giant stage on which to recreate the world of Germanic mythology,…
-
Museo del Prado
Welcome to one of the world's premier art galleries. More than 7000 paintings are held in the Museo del Prado’s collection (of which only around 1500 are currently on display), acting like a window onto the historical vagaries of the Spanish soul, at once grand and imperious in the royal paintings of Velázquez, darkly…