View of Sydney Opera House at night with lighting in Australia
Photo by: Diliff, Creative Commons

The Sydney Opera House is situated in Sydney, Australia. The opera house was made a part of the UNESCO, World Heritage Site in 2007 and is said to be the world’s most distinct 20th century buildings. It is also considered one of the most famous performing art centers in the world. The Sydney Opera House was built by an architect Jorn Utzon and also received the Pritzker prize in the year 2003. The synopsis of the quotation that was written on it said that the opera house is one of the masterpieces designed by this architect and will be considered the icon of the 20th century not only for this city but also for the country & continent of Australia.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House at Night – Panorama View
Photo by: IaRuth, Creative Commons

The Sydney Opera House is located on the Sydney Harbor, which is very close to the Sydney Bridge. The opera house serves as a venue for art performing center rather than just the opera theater. To name a few, it became a major presenting venue for Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony. It is maintained and administered by the Sydney Opera House Trust.

The interior of Concert Hall, which is the home of Sydney Symphony with 2,679 seats
Photo by: Jason7825, Creative Commons

The opera house has a concert hall with a seating capacity of 2,679 seats, the Opera Theater with a seating capacity of 1507 seats, a drama theater that can accommodate 544 seats, a play house, a studio, Utzon Room and a Forecourt. The opera house covers a total are of 4.5 acres. It is 605 feet long, 388 feet wide and is made up of concrete frame, precast and ribbed roof. Its construction got completed in the year 1973.

Sydney Opera House very dark at night
Photo by: Corey Leopold, Creative Commons

View of Sydney Opera House during the Day
Photo by: Corey Leopold, Creative Commons

View of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy

The leading tower of Pisa, also known as the Tower of Pisa, is a free standing bell tower next to the Church of the Italian city of Pisa. The Tower is located behind the church and is said to be the third oldest structure in Pisa. The tower was made to stand straight, however immediately after it was constructed, it started leaning towards the south east due to a weekly laid foundation and substrate that allows the foundation to change direction.

The total height of the tower is 186.27 feet from the ground towards the lower side and 186.02 feet on the higher side. Its width from the bottom is measured 13 plus feet and 8 plus feet from the top. The Towers total weight is 14,500 metric tons and has 296/294 steps.

The Tower Of Pisa was made over a period of 177 years in three different sections. The first floor was constructed in the year 1173 and it was in the year 1178 when the tower had the thirds floor, when the tower started to sink. The reason was that a three meter foundation had used unbalanced soil, which actually means that the design was flawed right from the beginning. Then the construction was halted for almost a century as the city was in continuous war and in the mean while, the soil got the time to settle in, else the tower was for sure to topple over. The tower also has a clock that was installed on the third floor.

Tourism can be an adventure of a lifetime, use Famous Wonders as a travel guide to find the top travel destinations to visit and plan your next great vacation trip. Famous Wonders contains a collection of pictures and information about the world’s wonders and many famous landmarks from popular cities around the world. Planning to travel and do sightseeing? Browse through the top 100 wonders of the world or navigate through the site to find the best tourist attractions by country & cities. Where will you go next?

Great Wall of China

Petra

Taj Mahal

Chichen Itza

Colosseum of Rome

Christ the Redeemer

Machu Picchu

Bali

Iguazu Falls

Amazon Rain Forest

Ngorongoro Crater

Great Barrier Reef

Angkor Wat

Victoria Falls

Forbidden City

Bagan Temples

Karnak Temple

Teotihuacan

Banaue Rice Terraces

Bora Bora

Acropolis in Parthenon

Potala Palace

Jerusalem Old City

Terracotta Warriors

Serengeti Migration

Pyramids of Giza

Nile River Cruise

Easter Island

Cappadocia

Galapagos Islands

Fjords of Norway

St. Peter’s Basilica

Egyptian Museum

Borobudur

Valley of the Kings

Hong Kong Harbor

Sistine Chapel

Alhambra

Louvre Museum

Canals of Venice

Versailles

Carlsbad Caverns

Mecca

Kathmandu City

Metropolitan Museum

Mount Everest

Emerald Buddha Tem.

Hagia Sophia

Pompeii

Kashmir Valley

Prague Old Town

Golden Temple

Amalfi Drive & Coast

Meenakshi

Chartres Cathedral

Mosque of Cordoba

Umayyad Mosque

Dubrovnik Old City

Uffizi Gallery

Grand Canyon

Golden Pavilion

Delphi

St. Basil’s Cathedral

Abu Simbel

St. Mark’s Basilica

Florence Cityscape

Kremlin

Varanasi & Ganges

Lijiang River

Shwedagon Pagoda

Sahara Desert

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Baalbek

Mont St-Michel

Topkapi Palace

Carnival in Rio

Stonehenge

Angel Falls

Yellowstone Nat. Park

Santorini

Petronas Twin Tower

Matterhorn

New York Skyline

Marrakesh

Eiffel Tower

Ladakh

Niagara Falls

British Museum

Burj Al Arab

Yosemite National Park

Ayers Rock

Château de Chambord

Temple of Heaven

Neuschwanstein Castle

Sydney Opera House

San Francisco Bay

Dead Sea

Portofino

Hermitage Museum

Banff National Park

Known for glitz, glamour, entertainment, debauchery, shopping and excess, the most populated city in the state of Nevada is the largest founded in the twentieth century, and is the gambling center of the United States.

Beginning as a stopover to the pioneer trails to the west Las Vegas became a very popular railway town in the early twentieth century. As the railway was growing and the Hoover Dam was built all it needed is the legalization of gambling to be transformed into the advent of the casino-hotels for which Las Vegas is famous.

In the 1940s several hotel-casinos were built by the two-lane main road leading into Las Vegas from Los Angeles and became home to today’s ‘Strip”. Among other notable buildings from that period was also the Flamingo Hotel with it’s neon signs. In the 1950s the building continued to accelerate – The Desert Inn, the Sahara Hotel, the Sands Hotel, the Royal Nevada…. And the entertainment industry took off.

Entertainment became the reason to visit the city, and in the 1050s became the synonymous with the Rat Pack. Sinatra’s image of all-night singing, dancing, drinking and womanizing brought a new demographic to the Strip. As the Rat Pack charmed America, the Strip continued to expand.

There was a notable decline in tourism in the 1970s and the government decided to clean up their act. In the 1980s the Strip was reborn, the impressive Mirage was built, and the Treasure Island with it’s full scale pirate ship became the newest example of excesses available here.

Then in the 1990s the Excalibur was opened, as the medieval castle which also has non-gambling entertainment for children and the young at heart including court jesters performing in public areas.

The Luxor – a glass pyramid boasting a powerful beam of light shining from its top, as well as a full-scale reproduction of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Its atrium in the middle of the pyramid could hold nine Boeing 747s one a top of another….

This is Vegas today, and is definitely back!

WHAT IS IT
The gambling center of the US.

WHEN TO GO
It’s a year round center of entertainment of all kinds.

WHAT TO DO
Gamble, watch live entertainment shows, shop, eat at the finest gourmet restaurants, day trips to the Grand Canyon are also available.

WHAT IT IS KNOWN AS
Sin City or the entertainment capital of the world, the movies Ocean’s Eleven as well as CSI Las Vegas series were filmed there among many others…

The paradise lagoon famous for the 1980’s movie – The Blue Lagoon, is a beautiful unspoiled oasis near the town of San Antonio, Jamaica.

The emerald green waters of the lagoon are being fed by the mineral springs from the Blue Mountains, giving an astonishing feeling of a tropical paradise surrounded by lush and steep hills. While swimming, you can feel the variations of cold and warm streams of water surprising your body.

Even if there are parts where the water is so shallow that you can walk around in it, some parts are more then 50m (180 ft) deep.

There is a restaurant and a shop with a possibility of renting kayaks and diving equipment in the area and for those willing to have an unforgettable experience, the visit to the Somerset Falls is highly advised.

WHEN TO GO
The climate is pretty consistent throughout the year with daily temperatures around 30degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) during the day and around 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) during the night.

WHAT TO SEE
The Somerset Falls is a bit off the track, but is worth to see and to take a trip with a canoe down the clear falls and finally relax in this earthly heaven.

WHERE IS IT
Near Port Antonio – Jamaica

Huacachina is a small town – oasis, 5km from Ica, in southwestern Peru. The town is built around the small lake and otherwise completely sorrounded by desert.

It is an extraordinary settlement complete with palm groves, neatly clipped lawns, cafes and a population of over 100 people. It serves as a resort for the local Ica’s families and is an everyday increasing attraction for tourists that  come sandboarding on the nearby dunes.

The small town has restaurants and cafes, and also places to spend the night. Today you can swim and relax in the same place which over thousands of years saved hundreds of lives of weary travellers staggering in from the heath with their mules.

The local legends says that the oasis was created when the beautiful native princess was surprised at her bath by a young hunter. She fled away from him, leaving the pool to become the lagoon. The folds of her mantle, streaming behind her became the surrounding dunes, and the princess herself is said to live still today in the oasis as a mermaid.

A series of hundreds of geoglyphs known as the Nazca lines, are located in the Nazca desert in Peru.
The many figures represent from simple forms to much more complex drawings of animals and people, some of which stretch to up to 250m (900ft) in length.

Since the drawings are almost impossible to be recognized as coherent from the ground, the motivation and the way of building them by the people, were a subject to many speculations.

The drawings persist to the weather because of a very dry climate of the area, and stony ground which prevents the wind to cover them. The light color of the soil beneath the desert crust make a perfect canvas for the artists who during the centuries sent messages to the skies.

WHAT TO DO
Take a flight above the desert to have the best view of the drawings of the area. Take a walk with a guide through this vast and calm desert.

WHERE IS IT
Between the towns of Nazca and Palpa in Peru.

WHAT IS IT KNOWN FOR
The lines are belived to be a way people tried to communicate with travellers from out of space.

Cast your minds back to every holiday / vacation you have ever taken!! Is there a place that stands out from the rest? Is there a destination or specific holiday or vacation attraction that takes its place as your number 1 ‘Best Travel Destination’. If so, whether it be an awe inspiring historical monument, place of immense excitement, the most beautiful place you have ever experienced or simply a place that just ‘did it for you’, please participate in this international survey (more details at the bottom of the page) for the ‘Best Travel Destination’.

Below is the international survey for the world top 100 ‘Best Travel Destination”s based on holiday / vacation experiences.

1, Orlando (USA)	51, Toronto (Canada)
2, Sydney (Australia)	52, Great Wall (China)
3, London (England)	53, Agra (India)
4, Venice (Italy)	54, Edinburgh (Scotland)
5, Manhattan (USA)	55, Menorca (Spain)
6, Great Barrier Reef (Australia)	56, Luxor (Egypt)
7, Las Vegas (USA)	57, Monaco (Europe)
8, Cape Town (South Africa)	58, Hong Kong (China)
9, Rome (Italy)	59, New York (USA)
10, South Island (New Zealand Region)	60, Banff (Canada)
11, Grand Canyon (USA)	61, Sorrento (Italy)
12, Hawaii (USA)	62, Key West (USA)
13, Maldives (Asia)	63, Cancún (Mexico)
14, Niagara Falls (Canada)	64, Koh Samui (Thailand)
15, San Francisco (USA)	65, Nice (France)
16, Los Angeles (USA)	66, Machu Picchu (Peru)
17, Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain)	67, Yosemite National Park (USA)
18, Dubai (UAE)	68, Oahu (USA)
19, Paris (France)	69, Florida Keys (USA)
20, Singapore (Asia)	70, Guam (Pacific Islands)
21, Rio De Janeiro (Brazil)	71, Dublin (Ireland)
22, Bali (Indonesia)	72, Cumbria (England)
23, Auckland (New Zealand)	73, Vancouver (Canada)
24, Seychelles (Africa)	74, Ayers Rock (Australia)
25, Durban (South Africa)	75, Cayman Islands (Caribbean)
26, Bangkok (Thailand)	76, La Digue (Seychelles)
27, Whitsundays (Australia)	77, Amritsar (India)
28, Iceland (Europe)	78, St Pete Beach (USA)
29, Costa Del Sol (Spain)	79, Ibiza (Spain)
30, Cairns (Australia)	80, Adelaide (Australia)
31, Antigua & Barbuda (Caribbean)	81, Airlie Beach (Australia)
32, Melbourne (Australia)	82, Benidorm (Costa Blanca, Spain)
33, Mallorca (Spain)	83, Prague (Czech Republic)
34, Giza (Egypt)	84, Aberdare National Park (Kenya)
35, Lake District (England)	85, Cuba (Caribbean)
36, Barbados (Caribbean)	86, Paphos (Cyprus)
37, Abu Simbel (Egypt)	87, Valley of the Kings (Egypt)
38, Bahamas (Caribbean)	88, Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
39, Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt)	89, Isle of Man (Europe)
40, Madrid (Spain)	90, Chamonix (France)
41, Zermatt (Switzerland)	91, Cannes (France)
42, Algarve (Portugal)	92, Courchevel (France)
43, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)	93, Berlin (Germany)
44, Marbella (Spain)	94, Corfu (Greece)
45, Chichén Itzá (Mexico)	95, Iguassu Falls (Argentina/Brazil)
46, Masai Mara (Kenya)	96, Malta (Malta)
47, Bora Bora (French Polynesia)	97, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
48, Disney World (Florida, USA)	98, Miami Beach (USA)
49, Florence (Italy)	99, Vatican City
50, Puerto Banus (Spain)	100, Milford Sound (New Zealand)

How do I influence the ‘Best Travel Destination’ survey’?

The ‘Best Travel Destination’ survey is influenced from the ‘Traveleye Community’. There are two ways in which destinations are ranked:

1, You can influence the survey by writing travel reviews of the destinations you have visited. Each review requires a 1-5 star rating. This rating will contribute to the destination’s ranking. Click here to visit the travel reviews section of traveleye.com.

2, If you join register for a free ‘My Travel Eye’ page, you will get a ‘Best Travel Destination’ award to give away. Giving your ‘Best Travel Destination’ travel award away will give the relevant destination some good ranking points. You can also give travel awards for ‘Best Beach Destination’, ‘Best Ski Destination’, ‘Most Picturesque Destination’, ‘Best Entertainment Destination’, ‘Best Landmark Destination’ and ‘Most Romantic Destination’.