Category
Nature
35 places
- Central ParkA designed landscape laid out from 1856 across the middle of Manhattan — lakes, meadows and bare rock, none of it accidental.Park
- High LineA freight viaduct saved from demolition and planted as a walkway, opened in 2009 above the West Side streets.Park
- Hyde ParkThe largest of the central royal parks, with the Serpentine lake, swimming and the soapbox corner for speakers.Park
- Kew GardensBotanic gardens on the Thames with Victorian glasshouses, a treetop walkway and the world's largest seed collections.UNESCOPark
- Regent's ParkJohn Nash's park ringed by terraces, with a rose garden, an open-air theater and the zoo along its northern edge.Park
- New York Botanical GardenA garden of 1891 in the Bronx, holding a Victorian glasshouse and a stand of forest never cleared for the city.Nature
- Uçhisar CastleA rock outcrop hollowed into a fortress, the highest point in Cappadocia and visible from every valley.Castle
- Greenwich ParkA hilltop royal park above the old naval buildings, with the city skyline framed from the observatory terrace.UNESCOPark
- Washington Square ParkGreenwich Village's square under a marble arch, public since 1827 and still the neighborhood's stage for musicians and chess players.Park
- Hampstead HeathRough parkland in north London with swimming ponds and the view over the city from Parliament Hill.Nature
- SideTemples of Apollo and Athena standing on a promontory at the end of the town's main street.Ancient Site
- BüyükadaThe largest Princes' Island: no private cars, wooden mansions, and a monastery on the southern hill.Landmark
- Love ValleyThe tallest and most improbable of the fairy chimneys, best seen at first light from the rim.Nature
- TermessosA Pisidian city a thousand meters up, never taken by Alexander, now inside a national park.Ancient Site
- Red ValleyIron-stained rock that turns scarlet at sunset, with hidden churches along the walking route.Nature
- PaşabağTwin- and triple-capped cones, one of them hollowed into a hermitage for Saint Simeon.Nature
- Düden WaterfallsThe lower fall drops straight off the cliff into the Mediterranean; the upper one runs through a cave.Waterfall
- House of the Virgin MaryA small stone chapel on Bülbül Mountain, a pilgrimage site for Christians and Muslims alike.Religious
- AlaçatıStone houses and blue shutters on the Çeşme peninsula, with reliable afternoon wind for surfers.Landmark
- OlymposRuins tangled in laurel along a stream, with the eternal flames of Chimaera on the ridge above.Ancient Site
- ÇeşmeA Genoese castle above a harbor town, with thermal springs and clear water on either side.Beach
- Devrent ValleyNo churches and no houses — only eroded shapes that the guides name after animals.Nature
- Gülhane ParkThe outer garden of Topkapı, opened to the public and famous for its April tulips.Park
- PhaselisThree harbors joined by a paved avenue, with pines running down to the water.Ancient Site
- Konyaaltı BeachSeven kilometers of pebble beach with the Beydağları rising straight out of the sea behind it.Beach
- Pierre Loti HillA cable car up to the café where the French novelist watched the Golden Horn.Viewpoint
- ModaA seaside promenade and the bookshops, meyhanes and record stores behind it.Landmark
- Emirgan ParkThree restored pavilions among terraces that hold the city's largest tulip festival each April.Park
- HeybeliadaPine slopes and the shuttered Halki seminary, quieter than its larger neighbor.Landmark
- Çamlıca HillA hill above the Bosphorus, looking back across both continents at once.Viewpoint
- Yıldız ParkThe wooded grounds of Abdülhamid II's palace, climbing steeply from the Bosphorus road.Park
- Belgrad ForestOak and beech woodland north of the city, threaded with Ottoman aqueducts and reservoirs.Park
- BebekA sheltered bay of moored boats and waterfront cafés under the second bridge.Landmark
- Yoros CastleA ruined Byzantine fort where the Bosphorus opens into the Black Sea.Castle
- Gençlik ParkRepublican-era pleasure grounds around an artificial lake, laid out on drained marshland.Park