Travel + Leisure published its list of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.
The list included such divergent locales as the Sacré-Coeur in Paris (10.5 million visitors), Beijing’s Forbidden City (12.83 million visitors), New York City’s Times Square (39 million visitors) and Disney World in Orlando (17 million visitors).
I looked through the list of 50 tourist traps and, surprisingly, I had been to a lot of them, namely The Strip in Las Vegas, Navy Pier in Chicago, Disneyland in Anaheim, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the British Museum in London, Pike Place Market in Seattle and, of course, the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (Hawaii attractions didn’t make the list.)
But I was more disappointed at all the places I hadn’t been to, including the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., Niagra Falls, the Great Wall of China, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
I mean, there are tourist attractions, the kind of places we like to avoid on vacation. Yet, it’s almost shameful to have never been there. Like flying all the way to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower. I mean, what’s the point?
It made me think about all the places I still haven’t been to — and I decided to start a list. I jotted a few places down I really want to visit in the next five years.
And I’d better get on it.
Here are a few:
• Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy
• Machu Picchu in Peru
• Yosemite National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Rome, particularly to visit the Colosseum
• Northern Lights in Alaska
• Malibu, Calif. (Yes, I actually want to see the famous surf break.)
• The White House in Washington D.C.
• Smithsonian in Washington D.C.
There are more, of course, but it’s a start.
Got any must-see places on your list?
