Must-see attractions in Western Europe

  • AMSTERDAM - OCTOBER 3: Van Gogh museum building outstanding with design architectured in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on October 3, 2015.; Shutterstock ID 415294189; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Van Gogh Museum POI

    Van Gogh Museum

    Amsterdam

    This wonderful museum traces Van Gogh's life and artistic development via the world's largest collection of his work. More than 200 canvases are on…

  • The Long Walk, the pathway leading to Windsor Castle is 2 1/2 miles long.

    Windsor Castle

    Windsor & Eton

    The world’s largest and oldest continuously occupied fortress, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers. Used for state occasions, it…

  • Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb

    Newgrange

    County Meath

    Newgrange is one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites in Europe, famous for the illumination of its passage and tomb during the winter solstice sun…

  • Picnic in Vondelpark in afternoon light.

    Vondelpark

    Amsterdam

    Attracting over 12 million visitors per year, Amsterdam’s favorite playground is the green expanse of Vondelpark, with its 116 acres (47 hectares) of…

  • TOULOUSE, FRANCE - JULY, 2018: The planetarium  in the City of Space 'Cite de l'espace', decorated as planet Earth; Shutterstock ID 1154206081; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
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    Cité de l’Espace

    Toulouse

    The fantastic space museum on the city's eastern outskirts brings Toulouse's illustrious aeronautical history to life through hands-on exhibits, including…

  • February 13, 2018: Queue of people waiting to enter the Anne Frank museum house, with a passing tour boat on the canal.

    Anne Frank Huis

    Western Canal Ring

    Visiting the Anne Frank Huis is one of Amsterdam's most profound experiences. Tragically, of the 107,000 Jewish adults and children deported from the…

  • Westminster Abbey.

    Westminster Abbey

    The West End

    A splendid mixture of architectural styles, Westminster Abbey is considered the finest example of Early English Gothic. It's not merely a beautiful place…

  • Rijksmuseum with tulips in Amsterdam..NOTE: dated image - "iamamsterdam" sign has been removed from outside museum.

    Rijksmuseum

    Amsterdam

    The Netherlands’ top treasure house, the Rijksmuseum (pronounced ‘rikes’), is among the world's finest art museums. With over 1.5km of galleries, it packs…

  • Looking up the hill at Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle

    Edinburgh Castle

    Old Town

    Edinburgh Castle has played a pivotal role in Scottish history, both as a royal residence – King Malcolm Canmore (r 1058–93) and Queen Margaret first made…

  • Wide shot of Eiffel Tower with blue sky, Paris, France.

    Eiffel Tower

    Paris

    There are different ways to experience the Eiffel Tower, from a daytime trip or an evening ascent amid twinkling lights, to a meal in one of its…

  • Tate Modern museum on the southern bank of the River Thames.

    Tate Modern

    South Bank

    One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…

  • Paris, France - August 13, 2016: The Pompidou Centre is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement. It houses the Public Information Library and the museum of Modern art.

    Centre Pompidou

    Paris

    Home to Europe's largest collection of modern and contemporary art, Centre Pompidou has amazed and delighted visitors ever since it opened in 1977, not…

  • France, Indre et Loire, Loire Castles, Chenonceau

    Château de Chenonceau

    Touraine

    Spanning the languid Cher River atop a graceful arched bridge, Chenonceau is one of France's most elegant châteaux. It's hard not to be moved and…

  • Steam rising off the hot  mineral water in the Great Bath, part of the Roman Baths in Bath, UK

    Roman Baths

    Bath

    Welcome to one of Northern Europe's most significant Roman sites. Today more than a million visitors a year come to see its historic finds, atmospheric…

  • Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, England

    Canterbury Cathedral

    Canterbury

    A rich repository of more than 1400 years of Christian history, Canterbury Cathedral is the Church of England’s mother ship, and a truly extraordinary…

  • MARCH 16, 2017: a stained glass window inside the Sainte Chapelle church.

    Sainte-Chapelle

    Paris

    Visit Sainte-Chapelle on a sunny day when Paris’ oldest, finest stained glass (1242–48) is at its dazzling best. The chapel is famous for its stained…

  • September 2016 - Paris, France- Le Louvre museum in daytime

    Musée du Louvre

    Paris

    It isn’t until you’re standing in the vast courtyard of the Louvre, with its glass pyramid and ornate façade, that you can truly say you’ve been to Paris.

  • London Natural History Museum

    Natural History Museum

    Kensington & Hyde Park

    With its thunderous, animatronic dinosaur, riveting displays about planet earth, outstanding Darwin Centre and architecture straight from a Gothic fairy…

  • The royal Chateau de Chambord in the evening, France. This castle is located in the Loire Valley, was built in the 16th century and is one of the most recognizable chateaux in the world.

    Château de Chambord

    The Loire Valley

    If you only have time to visit one château in the Loire, you might as well make it the grandest – and Chambord is the most lavish of them all, and the…

  • St. pauls cathedral with red double decker bus in London, United Kingdom

    St Paul's Cathedral

    London

    Sir Christopher Wren’s 300-year-old architectural masterpiece is a London icon. Towering over diminutive Ludgate Hill in a superb position that's been a…

  • Skulls and bones in Paris Catacombs

    Les Catacombes

    Paris

    It’s gruesome, ghoulish and downright spooky, but it never fails to captivate visitors. In 1785, the subterranean tunnels of an abandoned quarry were…

  • The Tower of London

    Tower of London

    London

    Few parts of the UK are as steeped in history or as impregnated with legend and superstition as the titanic stonework of the Tower of London. Not only is…

  • DUBLIN, IRELAND - FEB 15: The Long Room in the Trinity College Library on Feb 15, 2014 in Dublin, Ireland. Trinity College Library is the largest library in Ireland and home to The Book of Kells.

    Old Library & Book of Kells

    Grafton Street & St Stephen's Green

    Trinity's greatest treasures are found within the Old Library and the incredible Long Room is one of the most photographed rooms in Dublin, for good…

  • Grounds of Rodin Museum sculpture garden.

    Musée Rodin

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    Even if you're not an art lover, it is worth visiting this high-profile art museum to lose yourself in its romantic gardens.

  • BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - FEB 9, 2014: The Titanic visitor attraction and a monument in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Opened in 2012, this is the Titanic sign in front of the entrance.

    Titanic Belfast

    Belfast

    The stunning, star-shaped Titanic Belfast is the city's number-one tourist draw. Standing majestically at the head of the slipway where the Titanic was…

  • ST AUSTELL, ENGLAND - JULY 2, 2019: Eden Sessions music concert at Eden Project eco visitor attraction in Cornwall, England.
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    Eden Project

    South Cornwall

    Looking like a cross between a lunar landing station and a James Bond villain's lair, the gigantic hemispherical greenhouses of the Eden Project have…

  • Dusk view of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the banks of the River Thames in London

    Shakespeare's Globe

    South Bank

    Seeing a play at Shakespeare's Globe – ideally standing under the open-air "wooden O" – is experiencing the playwright's work at its best and most…

  • JULY 30, 2012: Model sailing boats in the pool in front of Luxembourg Palace in Luxembourg Gardens.

    Jardin du Luxembourg

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    This famous inner-city oasis of formal terraces, chestnut groves and lush lawns has a special place in Parisians' hearts. 

  • Great Court, British Museum, Bloomsbury, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

    British Museum

    The West End

    With almost six million visitors trooping through its doors annually, the British Museum in Bloomsbury, one of the oldest and finest museums in the world,…

  • Viking settlement at Skara Brae, Orkney islands, Scotland, Uk

    Skara Brae

    Orkney

    Predating Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza, extraordinary Skara Brae is one of the world's most evocative prehistoric sites, and northern Europe’s best…

  • PARIS, FRANCE - JULY 08, 2016 : French Mausoleum of Great People of France - the Pantheon in Paris. France.; Shutterstock ID 573291478; Your name (First / Last): Daniel Fahey; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Panthéon POI

    Panthéon

    Latin Quarter

    Elegant and regal in equal measure, the massive neoclassical dome of the Left Bank's iconic Panthéon is an icon of the Parisian skyline. Louis XV…

  • Le Mont Saint-Michel tidal island in beautiful twilight at dusk, Normandy, France
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    Abbaye du Mont St-Michel

    Mont St-Michel

    Mont St-Michel's one main street, the Grande Rue, leads up the slope – past souvenir shops, eateries and a forest of elbows – to the star attraction of a…

  • France, Paris, Seine River banks listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, musee d'Orsay

    Musée d’Orsay

    St-Germain & Les Invalides

    Musée d’Orsay may not be quite as famous as the Louvre—though it’s located a mere 10-minute walk away—but this Left Bank museum holds its own in its…

  • Coastal cliffs near the Slieve League in County Donegal.

    Sliabh Liag

    Southwestern Donegal

    The Cliffs of Moher get more publicity, but the cliffs of Sliabh Liag are higher. In fact, these spectacular sea cliffs are among the highest in Europe,…

  • Durham Cathedral

    Northeast England

    Monumental Durham Cathedral is the definitive structure of the Anglo-Norman Romanesque style, a resplendent monument to the country’s ecclesiastical…

  • A view of Warwick Castle and the River Avon, Warwick, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

    Warwick Castle

    Warwickshire

    Founded in 1068 by William the Conqueror, stunningly preserved Warwick Castle is Warwick's main attraction.

  • Church of the Jacobins aerial panoramic view, a Roman Catholic church located in Toulouse city, France
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    Couvent des Jacobins

    Toulouse

    With its palm tree vaulted ceiling, the Couvent des Jacobins is one of Toulouse’s oldest and most recognizable buildings

  • UK, Scotland, Glasgow, ceiling in St Mungo cathedral

    Glasgow Cathedral

    Glasgow

    Glasgow Cathedral has a rare timelessness. The dark, imposing interior conjures up medieval might and can send a shiver down the spine. It's a shining…

  • May 18, 2018: Exterior of the Rembrandt House Museum in the old Jewish quarter of Amsterdam.

    Museum het Rembrandthuis

    Amsterdam

    Housed in Rembrandt's former home on lively Jodenbreestraat, this evocative museum provides an unparalleled insight into one of the Netherlands’ greatest…

  • JUNE 18, 2017: Visitors seated on the shore of Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park.

    Hyde Park

    Kensington & Hyde Park

    One of London’s best parks, Hyde Park spreads itself over 142 hectares of neat gardens, wild expanses of overgrown grass and glorious trees. As well as…