The Victoria Falls, also called Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") by those who live near the southern African phenomenon, are a waterfall span of 5,604 feet along the Zambezie river between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Though neither the highest nor the widest on earth, Victoria's more...

Dinner under the stars? Yawn. It's time for dinner under the sea. Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, an international conversation piece on the Maldive Islands, serves guests 270-degree panoramic views of blue waters and technicolored marine life from 16 feet below sea level. We more...

High in the Alpine Mountains of Bern, Switzerland, nestled amidst the natural wonders of the Grimselwelt, awaits the Gelmerbahn, a funicular railway that doubles as nature's most extreme roller coaster. With a gradient of 106%, the Gelmerbahn's single, open car will tote more...

Fifteen miles of oceanic border approximately 175 miles southeast of Rome calls itself the Amalfi Coast. Within that pocket of Italian paradiso, just 10 minutes from the town of Amalfi, lies a step beyond paradiso: the Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa. Secluded but not insular, more...

In 2007 Gásadalur, a village on the west side of Vágar in the Faroe Islands, had a population of 17. Vágar's mountainous terrain includes peaks to the north and east of Gásadalur that reach 2,400 and 2,345 feet respectively, so accessing the village was always somewhat laborious more...

Bathe in the steaming salt water of Blue Lagoon, Iceland's geothermal spa tucked into a lava field on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Water temperatures average 98 to 102 degrees F, and the steaming pools are rich in minerals such as silica and sulphur. Health and soul seekers flock more...

The Imlil Valley reigns in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, just over 35 miles south of Marrakech. Visitors on hiking trips often use the village of Imlil as a launching point for their trekking adventures, including an ascension of Mt. Toubkal, the highest mountain in more...

Cinque Terre. Five villages embedded into 7 miles of serrated cliffs between Levanto and La Spezia on the Italian Riviera. Lonely Planet terms the conglomeration of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore "higgledy-piggledy", but we think this decidedly more...

The most northerly of the escapist Whitsunday Islands off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia, Hayman Island sets the scene for luxury in its purest, most potent form. Its waters were first charted in 1770 by worldly British explorer, though it wasn't until nearly more...

The Colchagua Valley, just a few hours' drive south of Chile's capitol city of Santiago, has spent the past decade building a name for itself as a top destination for wine tours and tastings, particularly for those seeking fine Bordeaux varietals and Carmenère. Its immaculately more...

The Sedlec Ossuary is a chapel in Sedlec, Czech Republic whose interior decor--from artistic drapings to the furniture itself--consumes an estimated 40,000 to 70,000 human skeletons. The bones are from the many thousands who died during the 14th century's Black Death and more...

The only geological formation of its kind, Voidokilia Beach in Messinia, Greece is one of the most fascinating and beautiful in the Mediterranean Sea. Its sweeping semi-circle of fine sand--seemingly traced with a compass into a giant Greek omega letter--wraps around the more...

Summer in the Hamptons with Barbara Walters and Martha Stewart, winter in Tibet with the Dalai Lama. The Potala Palace has stood as the Dalai Lama's winter spiritual stomping grounds since the 7th century, though its current incarnation is a 17th century re-build of the original, more...

Along the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf the unparalleled opulence of Dubai extends to one of its premiere resorts, Atlantis, the Palm. Modeled after the Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas, the rising and sprawling near-city on the beach boasts a dramatic more...

The original Stari Most ("Old Bridge") in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina dated back to 1557, when it was built by Mimar Hayruddin at the behest of Suleiman the Magnificent. Under penalty of death, Hayruddin was ordered to erect the widest man-made arch in the world, an eventual more...

Guinness Approved as the world's largest swimming pool, this 3,280-foot long salt water stunner does not reside in Texas or Vegas. Its 250 million liters of water do not stretch along the white sandy coastline of Japan or one of the Arab Emirates. The crystalline waters of more...

Anne Rice fans--or, more likely, Brad Pitt fans--may recognize Oak Alley Plantation as the estate Louis called home in the big-screen adaptation of Interview with the Vampire. Minus the blood-stained upholstery and leftover southern belle snacks. But while the occasional more...

Thanks be to Leonardo DiCaprio for the Phi Phi Islands' surge to the surface of the International Map of Traveler Shangri-Las. After all, the grouping was more or less entirely unknown to the Western world up until 2000, when its second largest island, Ko Phi Phi Ley, served more...

Norway. A country of endless, oil-tinged riches, beautiful Nordic peoples, postcard-worthy landscapes 'round every bend, and the breathtaking, Mother-Nature-made skyscraper known as Pulpit Rock, or Preikestolen in Norwegian. In Forsand, Ryfylke, fifteen miles from Norway's more...