Dublin
The hugely impressive 707 hectares that comprise Dublin's Phoenix Park are not just a magnificent playground for all kinds of sport—from running to polo…
Must-see attractions in Western Europe
Grafton Street & St Stephen's Green
As the stronghold of British power in Ireland for more than 700 years, Dublin Castle has played a central - and often adversarial - role in the history of…
Dublin
Affectionately known as the 'Dead Zoo', this dusty, weird and utterly compelling museum is a fine example of the scientific wonderment of the Victorian…
Temple Bar
Its hilltop location and eye-catching flying buttresses make this the most photogenic of Dublin's three cathedrals, as well as one of the capital's most…
County Meath
At Ireland’s only permanent theme park you can ride Europe's largest wooden inverted roller coaster, Cú Chulainn. Just 45 minutes from Dublin city center,…
South Bank
It’s hard to imagine South Bank without the London Eye (officially named the lastminute.com London Eye after its current sponsor), the world’s largest…
Salisbury
Magna Carta on display in Salisbury Cathedral's Chapter House is one of only four surviving original copies. A historic agreement made in 1215 between…
Stonehenge
An ultramodern makeover at ancient Stonehenge has brought an impressive visitor centre and the closure of an intrusive road (now restored to grassland)…
Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória
Estremadura & Ribatejo
The extraordinary monastery of Batalha was built to commemorate the 1385 Battle of Aljubarrota (fought just south of here). Most of the monument was…
Wicklow Mountains
Wicklow's most visited attraction is this magnificent 64-sq-km estate, whose main entrance is 500m south of Enniskerry. At the heart of it is an elegant…
Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Alcobaça
Estremadura & Ribatejo
One of Iberia's great monasteries utterly dominates the town of Alcobaça. Hiding behind the imposing baroque facade lies a high, austere, monkish church …
Chartres
One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…
Tomar
Wrapped in splendour and mystery, the Knights Templar held enormous power in Portugal from the 12th to 16th centuries, and largely bankrolled the Age of…
St Davids (Tyddewi)
Hidden in a hollow and behind high walls, St David's Cathedral is intentionally unassuming. The valley site was chosen in the vain hope that the church…
Oxfordshire
One of the greatest stately homes in Britain, and a Unesco World Heritage Site, Blenheim Palace is a monumental baroque fantasy, designed by Sir John…
Oxford
With its compelling combination of majestic architecture, literary heritage and double identity as (parts of) Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, Christ Church…
East Cornwall
This magnificent manor, 2.5 miles southeast of Bodmin, offers a fascinating insight into Upstairs, Downstairs life in Victorian England. The house was…
Touraine
Villandry's six glorious landscaped gardens à la française are some of France's finest, with more than 6 hectares of kitchen gardens, cascading flowers,…
Southeast Wales
You could be forgiven for thinking that Caerphilly Castle – with its profusion of towers and crenellations reflected in a duck-filled lake – was a film…
Cambridge
In a city crammed with showstopping buildings, this is a scene-stealer. Grandiose 16th-century King's College Chapel is one of England’s most…
Blois
Seven French kings lived in Blois' royal château, whose four grand wings were built during four distinct periods in French architecture: Gothic (13th…
Golfe du Morbihan
Predating Stonehenge by around 100 years, the Carnac (Garnag in Breton) area is the world's greatest concentration of megalithic sites, with no fewer than…
Anglesey & the North Coast
Majestic Caernarfon Castle was built by Edward I between 1283 and 1330 as a military stronghold, seat of government and royal palace. Designed and mainly…
Oxford
At least five kings, dozens of prime ministers and Nobel laureates, and luminaries such as Oscar Wilde, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien have studied in Oxford's…
West Cornwall
Looming up in the middle of Mount's Bay and connected to the mainland at Marazion via a cobbled causeway, this abbey-crowned island is an unforgettable…
County Tipperary
The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland's most spectacular historic sites: a prominent green hill, banded with limestone outcrops, rising from a grassy plain…
The Dordogne
France’s most famous prehistoric cave paintings are at the Grotte de Lascaux, 2km southeast of Montignac. Naturally sealed and protected for millennia, it…
Isles of Scilly
Tresco's key attraction – and one of Scilly's must-see gems – is this subtropical estate, laid out in 1834 on the site of a 12th-century Benedictine…
Reims
Imagine the extravagance of a French royal coronation. The focal point of such pomposity was Reims’ resplendent Gothic cathedral, begun in 1211 on a site…
Skellig Ring
The jagged, 217m-high rock of Skellig Michael (Michael's Rock; like St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and Mont St Michel in Normandy) is the larger of the…
Le Marais, Ménilmontant & Belleville
Opened in 1804, Père Lachaise is the world's most visited cemetery. Its 70,000 ornate tombs of the rich and famous form a verdant, 44-hectare sculpture…
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal World Heritage Site
Snowdonia & the Llŷn
The preeminent Georgian engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in 1805 to carry the canal over the River Dee. At 307m long, 3…
York
York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in northern Europe, and one of the world's most beautiful Gothic buildings. Seat of the archbishop of York,…
Versailles
Amid magnificently landscaped formal gardens, this splendid and enormous palace was built in the mid-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV – the Roi…
Llŷn Peninsula
Set on its own tranquil peninsula reaching into the estuary, this fantastical collection of colourful buildings with a heavy Italian influence was…
Tarn
Lodged inside the Palais de la Berbie (built in the early Middle Ages for the town's archbishop), this wonderful museum offers an overview of Albi's most…
The West End
With more than 2300 European masterpieces in its collection, this is one of the world's great galleries, with seminal works from the 13th to the mid-20th…
Belém
Belém’s undisputed heart-stealer is this Unesco-listed monastery. The mosteiro is the stuff of pure fantasy: a fusion of Diogo de Boitaca’s creative…
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
Ghent
Art enthusiasts swarm the Sint-Baafskathedraal to glimpse The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (De Aanbidding van het Lams God), a lavish representation of…
Vaucluse
Orange's monumental, Unesco-protected Roman theatre is unquestionably one of France's most impressive Roman sights. It's one of only three intact Roman…
