I recently came across the top 25 landmarks of the World, as voted for on Trip Advisor. As you will see from my earlier blog, on the “The Top Worldwide Holiday Destinations”, I am a little sceptical about these top lists and also always take Trip Advisor with a pinch of salt. That said this is about people voting, rather than just unspecified visitor numbers, and it contains some pretty special places. I thought it might be a good idea to do a quick rundown of the top 10 (10 to 6 this week) and an idea of how it might be built into a holiday – just ask Putney Travel for further advice!
10 – The Main Market Square – Krakow
The city is an architectural gem and lively city. It can easily be combined with sombre Auschwitz and the extraordinary Wieliczka Salt mines for a long weekend or if you want to stretch your legs make it a week and add on time in the beautiful Tatra Mountains which reach up to 2500m.
9 – Ancient City Walls – Dubrovnik
This is one of my favourite cities and the roofs, walls and sea combine perfectly. It is ideal for a city break any time of year or if you have a bit more time, and it is between May and October you could stay a bit longer. In this instance get a car and explore inland to Mostar, along the coast southwards to Montenegro and the awesome Kotorfjord and jump on a ferry across to the car-free Elaphiti islands, or Korcula a bit further away
8 – St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
There is so much to see in Rome and this is clearly one of the highlights. If you are travelling independently the best advice is to get there early to try to avoid the crowds, some group tours will have private arrangements in place. How long to stay? This is difficult to say except that with the layers of history, not to forget the modern culture and the food, it takes a lot more than a weekend to see the city.
7 – Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood, St Petersburg
This onion-domed church stands out among the many neo-classical monuments throughout St Petersburg, of which the most famous is probably the Winter Palace. The most magical time to visit is mid-summer during the “white nights”, when it never gets dark, but for something different try a mid-winter visit with the frozen rivers and deep snow. St Petersburg has enough treasures itself to warrant a number of days visit, it can be easily combined with contrasting Moscow or you could include it as part of a cruise on the Russian waterways where you also get a flavour of rural Russia.
6 – Great Cathedral and Mosque. Cordoba
The “mezquita” is regarded as the greatest mosque built by the Moors in Andalucia and it was converted into a Cathedral following the reconquest in 1236. Cordoba is a charming city and well worth a few days in its own right. When combined with Seville and Carmona there is enough to occupy a week or go the whole hog and include the last piece of the Moorish triumvirate – Granada – possibly the pueblas blancos (white towns) and Ronda for a glorious two weeks exploring Andalusia’s treasures. Spring or autumn would be best.
Top 5 Travel Landmarks to follow next week.
by TMS