History destinations

Egypt's sprawling, energetic capital on the Nile, packed with pharaonic treasures, medieval mosques and buzzing bazaars.

Home to the last surviving Wonder of the Ancient World, where the Great Pyramids and Sphinx rise at the desert's edge.

The world's greatest open-air museum, where the temples and tombs of ancient Thebes line both banks of the Nile.

Egypt's laid-back southern gateway, where feluccas drift past Nubian villages and granite islands in the Nile.

Egypt's Mediterranean second city, mixing corniche breezes and fresh seafood with faded cosmopolitan grandeur.

The old imperial capital: thousands of temples, geisha districts and bamboo groves.

A city rebuilt around a moving peace memorial, with the floating torii of Miyajima offshore.

Japan's first permanent capital, where free-roaming deer bow for crackers among giant Buddha halls.

Africa's diplomatic capital, a high-altitude city of grand museums, buzzing coffee culture and the continent's biggest market.

A medieval pilgrimage town of eleven churches hewn straight down into volcanic rock, a true wonder of the Christian world.

The 'Camelot of Africa', a former imperial capital crowned by a walled royal compound of seventeenth-century castles.

The ancient seat of the Aksumite Empire, where towering granite obelisks mark one of Africa's oldest great civilisations.

An open-air museum of the Silla kingdom — royal tombs, temples and a grassy old town.

Rwanda's scholarly southern hub, home to the national university and the country's finest ethnographic museum collection.

The sprawling, high-energy capital — colonial old town, mega-malls and the archipelago's food in one place.

Java's cultural heart, a gateway to the vast Borobudur and Prambanan temples and living batik traditions.

East Java's bustling port city and the springboard for sunrise treks up the surreal Mount Bromo.

India's sprawling capital, where Mughal forts and colonial boulevards give way to the tangled lanes of Old Delhi.

Home of the Taj Mahal, the white-marble mausoleum that is India's most iconic monument.

The rose-hued 'Pink City' of Rajasthan, packed with hilltop forts, royal palaces and bustling bazaars.

A palm-fringed coast of golden beaches, Portuguese churches and India's most laid-back nightlife.

The romantic 'City of Lakes', where white palaces seem to float on shimmering water beneath the Aravalli hills.

A Keralan spice port of Chinese fishing nets, colonial quarters and gateway to the tranquil backwaters.

One of the world's oldest living cities, where riverside ghats and dawn rituals line the sacred Ganges.

The dense, historic capital — Spanish-walled Intramuros, bayside sunsets and round-the-clock street food.

The country's southern hub, mixing Spanish heritage with whale sharks, waterfalls and island-hopping reefs.

Nepal's chaotic, captivating capital, where medieval temple squares and sacred stupas hide among buzzing bazaar lanes.

The valley's 'City of Beauty', an ancient Newar kingdom renowned for exquisite courtyards, metalwork and temple art.

A remarkably preserved medieval city of red-brick lanes, pottery squares and towering pagodas east of Kathmandu.

The atmospheric capital of tree-lined boulevards, a maze-like Old Quarter and steaming bowls of pho.

The high-octane southern metropolis, formerly Saigon, buzzing with motorbikes, markets and rooftop bars.

A lantern-lit former trading port, its UNESCO old town glowing with silk shops and riverside tailors.

The old imperial capital on the Perfume River, home to a walled citadel and riverside royal tombs.

The jewel of the Silk Road, where the turquoise domes and tiled madrasas of Registan Square glow gold at sunset.

A living museum of Silk Road trade, its old town dense with caravanserais, trading domes and thousand-year-old minarets.

A perfectly preserved walled oasis city, its Itchan Kala fortress packed with minarets, palaces and mud-brick lanes.

The remote Karakalpak capital hiding the Savitsky Museum's world-class trove of Soviet avant-garde art near the Aral Sea.

One of West Africa's great historic cities, a vast spread of rust-red roofs dotted with pioneering landmarks and gardens.

The only city spanning two continents, layering Byzantine domes, Ottoman palaces and grand bazaars along the Bosphorus.

The sun-drenched hub of the Turkish Riviera, pairing a Roman-era old harbour with long Mediterranean beaches.

Gleaming white travertine terraces of warm thermal water, crowned by the ruins of the ancient spa city of Hierapolis.

A breezy Aegean metropolis with a palm-lined waterfront, and the gateway to the magnificent ruins of Ephesus.

A whitewashed peninsula resort where a Crusader castle overlooks marinas, beach clubs and buzzing nightlife.

Turkiye's purpose-built capital, home to Ataturk's grand mausoleum and a superb museum of Anatolian history.

The sacred hill capital of the last Sinhalese kingdom, curled around a scenic lake and home to the Temple of the Tooth.

A beautifully preserved Dutch fort town on the south coast, its ramparts lined with boutique cafes and sweeping ocean views.

The heart of the Cultural Triangle, crowned by the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya and Dambulla's gilded cave temples.

A UNESCO-listed royal town on the Mekong, where saffron-robed monks, gilded temples and French villas set a timeless pace.

Laos's sleepy riverside capital, mixing golden stupas and socialist monuments with French bakeries along the Mekong.

The gateway to southern Laos, launching loops through coffee-growing highlands, thundering waterfalls and Khmer ruins.

The Afro-Brazilian soul of the country, where pastel colonial streets pulse with capoeira, drums and beach life.

The 'Venice of Brazil', a city of rivers and bridges beside colonial Olinda, with reef-sheltered beaches and frevo rhythms.

Brazil's purpose-built modernist capital, a UNESCO showcase of Oscar Niemeyer's sweeping white curves and grand axes.

Pakistan's cultural soul, a Mughal city of grand mosques, walled-city bazaars and the subcontinent's most storied food streets.

A fabled Karakoram valley of apricot orchards and ancient forts, ringed by some of the highest peaks on earth.

One of South Asia's oldest living cities, a frontier crossroads of storytellers' bazaars, forts and Gandharan treasures.

A dramatic UNESCO-listed peninsula where a basalt monolith towers over kite-surf lagoons and luxury resorts.

A historic southeastern bay town of colonial relics, waterfront markets and boat trips to idyllic Ile aux Aigrettes.

Taiwan's oldest city and culinary capital, packed with historic temples, forts and legendary street eats.

A former gold-mining town of lantern-lit stairways and teahouses clinging to a misty hillside.

Bahrain's cosmopolitan capital, stacking a 4,000-year-old harbour fort, a maze-like souq and glossy waterfront towers.

Bahrain's old royal capital, a UNESCO pearling trail of restored merchant houses, wind towers and traditional coffee shops.

A leafy inland town crowned by the 19th-century Riffa Fort, with valley views, a royal golf course and the F1 circuit nearby.

A pottery town built among thousands of Bronze Age burial mounds, where traditional kilns still fire clay wares by hand.

The imperial capital, where the Forbidden City, Great Wall and hutong lanes trace centuries of dynastic history.

Ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, guarded by the Terracotta Army and ringed by intact Ming city walls.

The Venice of the East, laced with canals, whitewashed water towns and exquisite classical gardens.

A windswept city on the Strait of Magellan and the southern gateway to Torres del Paine's granite towers.

The only town on remote Easter Island, where hundreds of monolithic moai statues stand guard over Polynesian shores.

A skyline of gleaming towers beside a Spanish colonial old town, all watching ships thread the famous canal.

Bangladesh's frenetic megacity, where Mughal forts, pink palaces and rickshaw-jammed lanes pulse with relentless energy.

The launch point for the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and last great refuge of the Bengal tiger.

The historic heart of the Spice Islands, a labyrinth of carved doors, sultans' palaces and turquoise Indian Ocean water.

The world's second-highest capital, cradling one of Latin America's best-preserved colonial old towns at 2,850 metres.

A graceful UNESCO-listed Andean city of blue-domed cathedrals, flower markets and cobblestone riverside lanes.

The historic heart of Macau, where Portuguese plazas, baroque church ruins and Chinese temples share cobbled lanes.

The UAE's culture capital, a heritage-rich emirate of museums, restored souks and Islamic art.

A green oasis city inland, famed for palm groves, ancient forts and a mountaintop resort.

The UAE's only emirate on the Gulf of Oman, a diving haven of mountains meeting the Indian Ocean.

Oman's historic interior capital, famed for its round-towered fort and a lively Friday goat market beside date plantations.

The laid-back northern capital, ringed by old-city temples, misty mountains and lantern-lit festivals.

The ruined former royal capital, where crumbling brick prangs and a Buddha head cradled in tree roots endure.

Qatar's UNESCO-listed pearl-trading ghost town, its 18th-century ruins and lonely desert fort rising on the northwest coast.

The southernmost atoll city, a chain of causeway-linked islands with wreck dives, wetlands and WWII-era history.

The stately national capital, where Gothic parliament buildings overlook a canal that freezes into the world's largest skating rink.

North America's only walled city north of Mexico, a slice of old Europe crowned by a fairytale château hotel.

South Africa's energetic economic powerhouse, packed with creative districts, gold-rush heritage and big-city buzz.

South Africa's stately administrative capital, famous for streets that turn purple with jacaranda blooms every spring.

Tasmania's harbour capital, blending colonial history, a bold modern art museum and rugged island wilderness.

Australia's planned capital, a spacious garden city of national monuments, museums and lakeside institutions.

France's gastronomic capital, a Renaissance city of hidden passageways where two rivers meet.

France's rugged Mediterranean port, a sun-baked melting pot ringed by turquoise limestone calanques.

An elegant wine capital of golden 18th-century facades along the curving Garonne river.

A Franco-German crossroads of half-timbered houses and canals around a rose-hued Gothic cathedral.

A medieval abbey rising from a tidal islet, cut off and encircled by some of Europe's fastest tides.

A reinvented capital where Cold War scars, cutting-edge art and legendary nightlife share the same streets.

Bavaria's proud capital of beer halls, baroque palaces and the world's biggest Oktoberfest.

A lively Rhineland city defined by its twin-spired Gothic cathedral and easygoing beer-hall culture.

Germany's skyscraper-studded finance hub, balancing a glassy skyline with a reconstructed medieval core.

The baroque 'Florence on the Elbe', painstakingly rebuilt into a riverside skyline of domes and palaces.

A romantic university town of red-roofed houses beneath a ruined castle above the Neckar river.

An alpine town gateway to Neuschwanstein, the fairytale castle that inspired Disney's own.

The Eternal City, where ancient ruins, baroque fountains and Vatican treasures crowd every cobbled street.

A dreamlike city of canals and gondolas, where palazzos rise straight from the water.

The cradle of the Renaissance, packed with world-class art, Tuscan food and a marble-clad cathedral.

A raucous, sun-soaked southern city that gave the world pizza, beneath the shadow of Vesuvius.

A romantic Roman-era city of pink marble, home to a working arena and Juliet's fabled balcony.

A Tuscan university town famous the world over for its precariously tilting bell tower.

A UNESCO-listed old town of clan houses, colonial shophouses and celebrated street art and food.

A historic trading port layering Portuguese, Dutch and Peranakan heritage along a photogenic river.

A limestone-cradled former tin town reborn as a foodie haven of cave temples and old-town cafes.

Morocco's spiritual capital, home to the world's largest car-free medina and centuries-old tanneries and madrasas.

Morocco's stately seaside capital, pairing the Kasbah of the Udayas with wide boulevards and Roman-era ruins.

Heritage shophouses, temples and some of the city's best hawker food.

The soulful heart of Andalusia, alive with flamenco, orange trees and Moorish palaces.

A hillside city crowned by the Alhambra, Spain's most breathtaking Moorish palace-fortress.

Sun-drenched Costa del Sol gateway, birthplace of Picasso, with beaches and a hilltop fortress.

A postcard-perfect lake town of covered wooden bridges, ringed by snow-capped Alpine peaks.

Switzerland's charming capital, a UNESCO old town of sandstone arcades looped by the Aare River.

A world capital where royal palaces, riverside icons and 300-plus museums crowd both banks of the Thames.

Scotland's dramatic capital, a hilltop castle crowning a warren of medieval closes and Georgian squares.

The Beatles' home port, a maritime city of grand docks, football devotion and Merseyside pride.

The dreaming-spires university town of honey-stone colleges, hushed quadrangles and centuries of scholarship.

A serene university city where students punt along the Cam past willow-draped college backs.

An elegant Georgian spa town built in honey-coloured stone around steaming Roman baths.

A walled medieval city of Viking roots, a soaring minster and the crooked lanes of the Shambles.

The monumental capital, with free national museums lining the National Mall.