1. Antelope Canyon, USA
Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew. The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí, or “spiral rock arches.”
2. The Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
The Phi Phi Islands are located in Thailand, between the large island of Phuket and the western Andaman Sea coast of the mainland. Classic beaches, stunning rock formations, and vivid turquoise waters teeming with colourful marine life – it’s paradise perfected.
3. Santorini, Greece
Santorini is perhaps the most fascinating and most talked about island of Greece in the Aegean. Only the name of the island is enough to unfold in mind pleasurable connotations, volcanic landscape, gray and red beaches, dazzling white houses, terraces with panoramic sea views , stunning sunsets, wild fun. All this, together with remnants of lost civilisations discovered in the volcanic ash justify the epithets with which visitors identify Santorini and fairly is called, magical, indescribable, astonishing.
4. Maldive Islands
The Maldives lies in two rows of atolls in the Indian Ocean, just across the equator. The country is made up of 1,190 coral islands formed around 26 natural ring-like atolls, spread over 90,000 square kilometers. These atolls structures are formed upon a sharp ridge rising from the ocean, making way for their secluded uniqueness.
Maldives has deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It is also a place full of character, where its people have long spent their days languishing in the very essence of idyll living. While it is the perfect place to sit on a beach and watch a sunset with a cocktail balanced on your hand, it is also a geographical marvel, knowing that there are thousands of fish swimming around the vivid corals just a few feet away from where you sit.
5. Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu stands 2,430 m above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.
6. The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500 miles) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.
7. Iceland
Fire and Ice offers a stunning portrait of this island of extremes, where some of Europe’s biggest glaciers cozy up to some of the continent’s hottest volcanic springs. Every season has its own unique charm and there are always opportunities to experience new things, discover beauty and be mesmerised by the freshness and colours of nature.
8. Bora Bora Island
Bora Bora emerged from the waters 3 millions years ago. Like all the other Polynesian islands, this volcanic island slowly sinking in the ocean. It currently presents particular geological characteristics ranging in between a high island and an atoll status. Island has unforgettable turquoise lagoon – where a multi-color aquatic fauna (sting & manta rays, sharks, tropical fishes) can be observed by outrigger canoe, boat or diving explorations. The coral reef includes a string of islets and gorgeous white sand beaches surrounding the main island.
9. The Wave, Arizona, USA
The Wave is a sandstone rock formation located in the United States of America near the Arizona and Utah border on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau. Nearly 200 million years ago, this region was a sandy desert where huge dunes migrated across the landscape pushed by seasonal winds. Prevailing winds of that ancient Jurassic time can be determined by examining the cross-bedding (layers) in the sandstone. What we see today are some of the original crossbedded dunes shaped into dramatic landforms and exposed by erosion from eons of runoff. The spectacular ribbons of various colors called Liesegang Bands, were formed by movement and precipitation of oxidizing materials such as iron and manganese by ground water. Thin veins or fins of calcite cut across the sandstone, adding another dimension to the landscape.
10. Petra, Jordan
Petra, the world wonder, is without a doubt Jordan’s most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction. It is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.
11. Moraine Lake, Canada
Moraine Lake is a glacially-fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside the Village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. The lake does not reach its crest until mid to late June. When it is full, it reflects a distinct shade of blue. The colour is due to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis.
12. Grand Canyon, USA
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. A powerful and inspiring landscape, the Grand Canyon overwhelms our senses through its immense size; 277 river miles (446km) long, up to 18 miles (29km) wide, and a mile (1.6km) deep. Nearly two billion years of the Earth’s geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.
13. Monument Valley, USA
Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. Monument Valley provides perhaps the most enduring and definitive images of the American West. The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures. Because of this, the area may seem quite familiar, even on a first visit, but it is soon evident that the natural colors really are as bright and deep as those in all the pictures. The valley is not a valley in the conventional sense, but rather a wide flat, sometimes desolate landscape, interrupted by the crumbling formations rising hundreds of feet into the air, the last remnants of the sandstone layers that once covered the entire region.
14. Carerra Lake
Shared by Argentina and Chile the deepest lake in South America is famous for its trout and salmon fishing. The waters of General Carrera Lake are beautiful, a glittering combination of emerald, turquoise, aquamarine and azure. The marble protrusions stretch along a beachside and are around 300 meters in length. The waters of the lake have slowly impacted upon the marble and, in their infinite patience, have created something of enormous, almost bewildering beauty. The rock manifests different tones which are dependent upon the natural impurities within the marble. Although the white banks, of immense purity are predominant blue and pink marble banks can also be seen due to the presence of other minerals within the rock.
15. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country’s prime attraction for visitors.
16. Iguazu Falls, Argentina & Brazil
Taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide with 275 cascades spread in a horsehoe shape over nearly two miles of the Iguazu River, Iguazú Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption which left yet another large crack in the earth. During the rainy season of November – March, the rate of flow of water going over the falls may reach 450,000 cubic feet (12,750 cubic m) per second.
17. Twelve Apostles, Australia
Witness the rugged splendour of the famous 12 Apostles, magnificent rock stacks that rise up majestically from the Southern Ocean on Victoria’s dramatic coastline. Created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland beginning 10-20 million years ago, the stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs.The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.
18. Meteora, Greece
Meteora is an area in Thessaly (Central Greece) and Kalampaka is the city underthe rock towers of Meteora. The thing that makes Meteora so special isthe monasteries on the top of the rock towers. The monasteries,the amount of peaks to climb and the paths for hikingbrings in Meteora the whole year many tourists.
19. Seychelles
Mother Nature was very generous with these 115 islands scattered in the Indian Ocean and has spoiled them rotten. Undeniably, the beaches are the big attraction, and what beaches: exquisite ribbons of white sand lapped by topaz waters and backed by lush hills and big glacis boulders. With such a dreamlike setting, the Seychelles is, unsurprisingly, a choice place for a honeymoon.
20. Tanah Lot, Bali
Tanah Lot, one of the most popular places of interest in Bali, is located on the coast of West Bali, at the village of Beraban in the Tabanan Regency. The temple Pura Tanah Lot, simple in its construction, is dramatic in its ocean-front location and is one of the main temples in the worship of Balinese gods. Tanah Lot has a long history in the world of tourism. The temple itself is built on a small promontory which is only accessible at low tide. During high water the rock takes on the appearance of a large boat at sea, such is its shape. Poisonous snakes live in the nearby caves to ‘guard’ the temple and contribute to the temple’s dangerous reputation.
21. Palawan Island, Philippines
Palawan has been included in the list of protected areas, thus becoming the biggest nature reserve in the world. Aside from snorkeling and swimming, Palawan Islands Philippines provides viable opportunities for underwater exploration. With all these attractions, you are sure to find yourself breathless with your Palawan vacation with all the nature’s beauty found in Palawan Island. Palawan is indeed a nature’s heaven place to visit.
22. Angel Falls, Venezuela
Angel Falls is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the world’s highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft). Angel Falls is one of Venezuela’s top tourist attractions, though a trip to the falls is a complicated affair. The falls are located in an isolated jungle, and a flight from Puerto Ordaz or Ciudad Bolívar is required to reach Canaima camp, the starting point for river trips to the base of the falls. River trips generally take place from June to December, when the rivers are deep enough for the wooden curiaras used by the Pemon guides. During the dry season (December to March) there is less water seen than in the other months (this can be clearly seen in the photos of the falls above).
23. Tianzi Mountains, China
Hundreds of waters and thousands of peaks are in the Tianzi Mountains. What an uncanny work of art by Nature. The highest peak of the mountains is 1262.5 meters above sea level. Around it is rolling ridges and peaks and high picturesque rocks. On the top of the mountains, one can have a bird ‘ s eye view of numberless inter winding hills and deep valleys of the Wulingyuan area as well as downpouring waterfalls and lofty old pines in drifting mists and clouds. There are different sights when seasons and weather change, Sometimes it is fine with blue sky, which gives one a sense of strength and vastness. Sometimes it is full or clouds and mists, which gives one a sense of mystery of if in fairyland.
24. Uluru, Australia
Ayers Rock/ Uluru, the world’s largest monolith and an Aboriginal sacred site is Australia’s most famous natural landmark. Visitors may wish to make the tough 1.6km ascent to the top or take a walking tour around the rock with an aboriginal guide , learning about its fascinating history with the Uluru people and its importance in dreamtime legend.
25. Hamilton Pool, Texas, USA
Hamilton Pool Preserve is a historic swimming hole which was designated a preserve by the Travis County Commissioner’s Court in 1990. Located 3/4 mile upstream from its confluence with the Pedernales River, Hamilton Creek spills out over limestone outcroppings to create a 50 foot waterfall as it plunges into the head of a steep box canyon. The waterfall never completely dries up, but in dry times it does slow to a trickle. However, the pool’s water level stays pretty constant, even during periods of drought.
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