Top 300 Places in the World

The world is divided below into continental regions, then countries – showing the Top 300 Places in the World I would like to see. Here is how the Top 300 Places in the World list breaks into continental regions:

• • • Top 200 Places of the United States
    • Top 13 Places of Canada
    • Top 7 Places of Latin America
    • Top 45 Places of Europe
    • Top 20 Places of Asia
    • Top 10 Places of Africa
    • Top 5 Places of Australasia

Obviously this list skews heavily on the side of the United States, followed by places in Europe. Please know this list in no way should be taken as a measure of value, but instead interest due to my proximity and personal culture. I know there is universal value spread equally across the world. If I grow in my ability to travel, I will definitely add more places around the world to better balance out this list.

I have seen 116 places on this list, across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (I have been to the places marked in bold font –  that is places in bold, not necessarily countries, regions, or states). How many places have you seen? What top places are on your list that should I reconsider adding to mine? Let me know in the comments section below.

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North America

1. United States

Northwest

Alaska

1. 1. 1. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Denali National Park and Preserve
      3. Katmai National Park and Preserve
      4. Sitka National Historical Park

Washington

1. 1. 1. Olympic National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Seattle
      3. Mount Rainier National Park
      4. North Cascades National Park

Oregon

1. 1. 1. Crater Lake National Park
      2. Portland
      3. Oregon’s Pacific Coast
      4. Columbia River Gorge

Idaho

1. 1. 1. Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
      2. Sawtooth National Recreation Area
      3. River of No Return
      4. Idaho Potato Country
      5. City of Arco and EBR-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor I Museum), Atomic City
      6. Nez Perce National Historical Park
      7. Shoshone Falls and Twin Falls

Montana

1. 1. • Glacier National Park (a World Heritage Site)

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Mid-Pacific

California

1. 1. 1. Yosemite National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Redwood National and State Parks (a World Heritage Site)
      3. Sequoia National Park
      4. Kings Canyon National Park
      5. San Francisco (including San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and nearby Rosie The Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park; Golden Gate National Recreation Area – part of the Central California Current, which is on the World Heritage Tentative List)
      6. Death Valley National Park and Preserve
      7. Joshua Tree National Park
      8. Channel Islands National Park
      9. Los Angeles (including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)
      10. Pinnacles National Park
      11. Big Sur Coast
      12. Monterey, Salinas, and California Mission Trail (including Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary – part of the Central California Current, which is on the World Heritage Tentative List)
      13. Inland Empire and California’s portion of old Route 66

Hawaii

1. 1. 1. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Haleakalā National Park
      3. Hana Highway
      4. Honolulu (Pearl Harbor – World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, ʻIolani Palace State Monument, Waikiki Beach and Waikiki Historic Trail, Diamond Head State Monument, and Polynesian Cultural Center)
      5. Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail

American Samoa

(U.S. Territory)

1. 1. 1. National Park of American Samoa
      2. Marine Protected Areas of American Samoa (National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa – formerly known as the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and Rose Atoll Marine National Monument and Wildlife Refuge) – World Heritage Tentative List

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Rocky Mountains

Wyoming

1. 1. 1. Yellowstone National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Grand Teton National Park
      3. Devils Tower National Monument

Colorado

1. 1. 1. Mesa Verde National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Rocky Mountain National Park
      3. Dinosaur National Monument
      4. San Juan Mountains
      5. Colorado Ski Country

Utah

1. 1. 1. Zion National Park
      2. Arches National Park
      3. Bryce Canyon National Park
      4. Great Salt Lake
      5. Salt Lake City
      6. Bonneville Salt Flats
      7. Capitol Reef National Park
      8. Canyonlands National Park
      9. Bears Ears National Monument

Nevada

1. 1. 1. Las Vegas
      2. Great Basin National Park
      3. Hoover Dam

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Southwest

Arizona

1. 1. 1. Grand Canyon National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Saguaro National Park and Tombstone
      3. Petrified Forest National Park (World Heritage Tentative List)
      4. Monument Valley
      5. Antelope Canyon
      6. Sedona Red Rock Country
      7. The Wave at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

New Mexico

1. 1. 1. Chaco Culture National Historical Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Taos Pueblo (a World Heritage Site)
      3. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      4. White Sands National Park (World Heritage Tentative List)
      5. Santa Fe (plus nearby Pecos National Historical Park)
      6. Roswell and the International UFO Museum

Texas

1. 1. 1. San Antonio (San Antonio Missions National Historical Park – a World Heritage Site)
      2. Hill Country (Cowboy Capital of the World and Texas bluebonnets)
      3. Austin
      4. Dallas-Fort Worth
      5. TEXAS Outdoor Musical at Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Oklahoma

1. 1. 1. Old Route 66
      2. Oklahoma City

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Great Plains

North Dakota

1. 1. • Theodore Roosevelt National Park

South Dakota

1. 1. 1. Mount Rushmore National Memorial
      2. Badlands National Park
      3. Custer State Park 
      4. Wind Cave National Park
      5. Deadwood

Nebraska

1. 1. 1. Chimney Rock National Historic Site
      2. Scotts Bluff National Monument
      3. Nebraska Sandhills

Kansas

1. 1. 1. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
      2. Monument Rocks-Kansas Badlands
      3. Dodge City
      4. Santa Fe Trail Shortgrass Prairie

Iowa

1. 1. 1. Amana Colonies
      2. Effigy Mounds National Monument
      3. Des Moines

Missouri

1. 1. 1. Saint Louis – Gateway Arch National Park (former Jefferson National Expansion Memorial)
      2. Kansas City
      3. Hannibal – Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum
      4. Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park

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Great Lakes

Michigan

1. 1. 1. Mackinac
      2. Sleeping Bear Dunes Country
      3. Michigan Riviera
      4. Isle Royale National Park
      5. Detroit and the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (MotorCities National Heritage Area)
      6. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
      7. Keweenaw National Historical Park
      8. Tahquamenon Falls Country

Wisconsin

1. 1. • Door County

Minnesota

1. 1. 1. Minneapolis-Saint Paul
      2. Voyageurs National Park

Illinois

1. 1. 1. Chicago (including: Chicago Early Skyscrapers – World Heritage Tentative List; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Frederick C. Robie House and Unity Temple – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)
      2. Land of Lincoln sites
      3. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (a World Heritage Site)

Indiana

1. 1. 1. Indiana Dunes National Park and State Park
      2. Parke County Covered Bridges
      3. Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Race – Racing Country

Ohio

1. 1. 1. Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (World Heritage Tentative List)
      2. Serpent Mound State Memorial (World Heritage Tentative List) and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (World Heritage Tentative List)
      3. Cuyahoga Valley National Park

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Northeast

Maine

1. 1. 1. Baxter State Park
      2. Acadia National Park
      3. Penobscot Bay schooner sailing
      4. Maine Lobster Festival – Rockland

New Hampshire

1. 1. • White Mountains – Mount Washington

Vermont

1. 1. 1. Lake Champlain
      2. Green Mountains
      3. Stowe

Massachusetts

1. 1. 1. Boston (including Boston National Historical Park)
      2. Cape Cod National Seashore
      3. Pilgrim Memorial State Park
      4. Minute Man National Historical Park
      5. Salem
      6. Walden Pond State Reservation

Connecticut

1. 1. • Hartford (including the to be established Coltsville National Historical Park)

Rhode Island

1. 1. • Newport

New York

1. 1. 1. New York City (including: Statue of Liberty – a World Heritage Site; Ellis Island – World Heritage Tentative List; Brooklyn Bridge – World Heritage Tentative List; Central Park – World Heritage Tentative List; and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum – part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)
      2. Niagara Falls and Buffalo
      3. Adirondacks
      4. Erie Canal

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Mid-Atlantic

Pennsylvania

1. 1. 1. Philadelphia (including Independence Hall, Independence National Historical Park – a World Heritage Site)
      2. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings World Heritage Site)
      3. Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish Country
      4. Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Pocono Mountains

New Jersey

1. 1. 1. Atlantic City
      2. Pine Barrens

Delaware

1. 1. • First State National Historical Park

Maryland

1. 1. 1. Baltimore
      2. Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
      3. Assateague Island National Seashore
      4. Annapolis

Washington DC

1. 1. • Washington DC

Virginia

1. 1. 1. George Washington’s Mount Vernon (World Heritage Tentative List)
      2. Colonial National Historical Park (Historic Jamestowne and Yorktown)
      3. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and the University of Virginia (a World Heritage Site), plus Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the Virginia State Capitol (World Heritage Tentative List)
      4. Colonial Williamsburg
      5. Shenandoah National Park, plus nearby Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park
      6. Appomattox Court House National Historical Park

West Virginia

1. 1. 1. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
      2. New River Gorge National Park

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South Central

Kentucky

1. 1. 1. Louisville and Bluegrass Country
      2. Mammoth Cave National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      3. Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
      4. Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park

Tennessee

1. 1. 1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Nashville
      3. Memphis

Arkansas

1. 1. 1. Hot Springs National Park
      2. Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and Testament: The Little Rock Nine Monument

Louisiana

1. 1. 1. New Orleans (including New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park)
      2. Bayous – such as the Barataria Preserve at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
      3. Poverty Point National Monument and State Historic Site (a World Heritage Site)
      4. Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Mississippi

1. 1. 1. Natchez
      2. Natchez Trace Parkway
      3. Indian Mounds of Mississippi
      4. Vicksburg National Military Park

Alabama

1. 1. 1. Civil Rights Movement Sites: Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery and 16th Street Baptist Church and Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham (World Heritage Tentative List)
      2. Mobile
      3. U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville

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Southeast

North Carolina

1. 1. 1. Outer Banks
      2. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill

South Carolina

1. 1. • Charleston
      • Congaree National Park
      • Reconstruction Era National Historical Park
      • Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor

Georgia

1. 1. 1. Savannah
      2. Okefenokee Swamp (World Heritage Tentative List)
      3. Atlanta (including Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park)
      4. Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

Florida

1. 1. 1. Everglades National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Biscayne National Park
      3. Dry Tortugas National Park
      4. Florida Keys (including John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park on Key Largo and Key West)
      5. Miami
      6. Saint Augustine (Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and Fort Matanzas National Monument)

Puerto Rico

(U.S. Territory)

1. 1. 1. San Juan: La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site – a World Heritage Site, and the rest of Old San Juan
      2. El Yunque National Forest

U.S. Virgin Islands

(U.S. Territory)

• • 1. Virgin Islands National Park
    2. Salt River Bay National Historical Park & Ecological Preserve

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2. Canada – Top Places East to West:

1. 1. 1. Newfoundland and Labrador: L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site (a World Heritage Site) and Gros Morne National Park (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Nova Scotia: Old Town Lunenburg (a World Heritage Site)
      3. Prince Edward Island: Prince Edward Island National Park and Charlottetown
      4. New Brunswick: Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rocks, and Fundy National Park
      5. Quebec: Old Quebec City (a World Heritage Site)
      6. Ontario: CN Tower and Toronto
      7. Manitoba: Polar Bears at Churchill
      8. Saskatchewan: Saskatoon and the Wanuskewin Heritage Park (World Heritage Tentative List)
      9. Alberta: Canadian Rocky Mountains Parks (a World Heritage Site)
      10. Dinosaur Provincial Park (a World Heritage Site)
      11. British Columbia: Vancouver Island’s Pacific Rim National Park and Victoria
      12. Queen Charlotte Islands: SGang Gwaay (a World Heritage Site), together with Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve (World Heritage Tentative List) and Haida Heritage Site
      13. Vancouver

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Latin America

3. Mexico

1. 1. 1. Maya Archaeological Sites of the Yucatán Peninsula: Chichén Itzá, Tulum, Palenque, etc.
      2. Mexico City and Teotihuacan

4. Peru

1. 1. 1. Machu Picchu (a World Heritage Site) and Great Inka Trail “Qhapac Ñan” (a World Heritage Site) and Cusco (a World Heritage Site)
      2. Amazon Rainforest
      3. Lake Titicaca and the Uros Floating Islands (World Heritage Tentative List)

5. Brazil

1. 1. • Rio de Janerio

6. Cuba

• • • Havana

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Europe

7. United Kingdom

1. 1. 1. London
      2. Stonehenge and Bath
      3. Highlands and Lock Ness
      4. Edinburgh
      5. White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury Cathedral
      6. Portmeirion

8. Italy

1. 1. 1. Rome
      2. Venice
      3. Florence, Tuscany
      4. Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii
      5. Pisa, Tuscany
      6. Italian Lake District (especially Lake Como)
      7. Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre

9. Vatican City

• • • Vatican City

10. Spain

1. 1. 1. Barcelona
      2. Seville, Andalusia
      3. Córdoba, Andalusia
      4. Granada, Andalusia
      5. Costa del Sol, Andalusia

11. Greece

1. 1. 1. Athens
      2. Santorini
      3. Rhodes Town and Lindos on Rhodes
      4. Mycenae, Peloponnese
      5. Delphi

12. France

1. 1. 1. Paris
      2. Mont Saint-Michel
      3. Château of the Loire Valley (Château de Chambord, Château de Chenonceau, etc.)
      4. French Riviera – Côte d’Azur
      5. Chamonix and Mont Blanc
      6. Carcassonne

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13. Netherlands

1. 1. 1. Amsterdam
      2. Windmills of Kinderdijk

14. Germany

1. 1. 1. Neuschwanstein Castle
      2. Munich

15. Switzerland

• • 1. Matterhorn and Zermatt
    2. Chapel Bridge in Lucerne

16. Austria

1. 1. 1. Vienna
      2. Hallstatt

17. Turkey (counted under Europe; Russia counted under Asia)

• • 1. Istanbul
    2. Cappadocia
    3. Pamukkale and Hierapolis
    4. Troy

18. Norway

1. 1. 1. Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), Norwegian fjords
      2. Bergen (including the Bryggen – a Hanseatic League commercial building dock area – a World Heritage Site)
      3. Urnes Stave Church – a World Heritage Site

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Asia

19. India

1. 1. 1. Taj Mahal in Agra
      2. Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan
      3. Jaipur, Rajasthan – “The Pink City” (Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal “Palace of Winds”)
      4. Jodhpur, Rajasthan – “The Blue City” (Mehrangarh Fort)

20. Nepal

• • • Himalayas trekking

21. China

• • 1. Beijing (Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace)
    2. Great Wall
    3. Xi’an, Shaanxi (Terracotta Army Museum)
    4. Guilin (Li River Cruise of limestone mountain landscape and Cormorant Fishing)
    5. Hong Kong (Victoria Central Business District, Victoria Peak, Star Ferry, Temple Street Night Market, and Tai O Fishing Village)

22. Japan

• • 1. Tokyo
    2. Mount Fuji
    3. Kyoto
    4. Jigokudani Monkey Park

23-24. Israel (including Palestine)

• • 1. Jerusalem
    2. Sea of Galilee
    3. Bethlehem
    4. Dead Sea

25. Russia (counted under Asia; Turkey counted under Europe)

• • 1. Moscow
    2. Saint Petersburg

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Africa

26. Morocco

• • 1. Medina of Marrakesh World Heritage Site
    2. Erg Chebbi camel treking
    3. Atlas Mountains
    4. Old City and Medina of Chefchaouen “The Blue City”
    5. Medina of Essaouira World Heritage Site

27. Egypt

• • 1. Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx World Heritage Site
    2. Luxor (Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple – Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis World Heritage Site)

28. Tanzania

1. 1. 1. Serengeti National Park
      2. Mount Kilimanjaro
      3. Stone Town/Mji Mkongwe, Zanzibar

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Australasia & Antarctica

29. Australia

1. 1. 1. Sydney and the Blue Mountains National Park World Heritage Site
      2. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock)
      3. Great Barrier Reef
      4. Daintree National Park (part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site)

30. Rapa Nui/ Easter Island (Chile)

• • • Rapa Nui National Park

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Top World Cities

List of Countries with Overseas Territories