Destinations (63)
Chicago is the largest city in Illinois, the third largest city in the USA by population, after New York and Los Angeles.
Nicknamed the "Windy City", the Windy City, lies in a vast plain along the shores of picturesque Lake Michigan, which serves as the backdrop of his spectacular skyline.
The city center is dotted with towering skyscrapers that reach even to the 108 floors of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America.
Bustling city, Chicago offers museums, dining and nightlife of international importance.
The numerous parks and miles of lakefront paths are a wonderful attraction for athletes, while shops and exclusive restaurants attract the sophisticated visitor.
Chicago is also the birthplace of jazz and blues modern: an excursion to one of the many clubs is a must.
An immense and mysterious country, a fascinating city that lives in suspended between an ancient culture, the chaos of the metropolis of today and the contradictions of development. Beijing, or "northern capital", has seven and a half million inhabitants, rising to nearly fifteen considering the entire metropolitan area.
Beijing, home of the 2008 Olympics, invites you to discover its historic buildings such as the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, and its historic Tiananmen Square. There are numerous excursions not to be missed, to discover the treasures of China, such as the legendary Great Wall of China or the terracotta soldiers of Xi'an.
Endless night, interspersed with a few days on the beach and excursion to the old town, the hippie markets and the many villages on the island: this is what you can expect in Ibiza, the most fashionable of the Balearic Islands.
Wait for the sunset on the beach of Playa d'en Bossa or San Antonio, then take a drink in the beach bar (kiosk) of the beach, so after supper (late) in one of the restaurants on the island, you're ready for the magical night in Pacha, in Space, nell'Amnesia or another of the many clubs on the island. But do not forget that Ibiza is also culture and history, so to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Moscow is a metropolis of contrasts violent billionaires and poor people, Mc Donald's, luxurious restaurants and dingy pubs, historical places of socialism and Orthodox churches, Soviet-style apartment blocks-nightmare and elegant buildings of the eighteenth century. The Moscow metro is in short everything: for a few rubles you can travel between stations decorated with crystal chandeliers and marble.
Moscow is everything and more, and even that's fascinating. It 'a gigantic city: the inhabitants are distributed over 1035 km square from the center to the endless and dingy suburbs. New bars, restaurants, night clubs open and close all the time: resist addresses only "historical".
From the twelfth century the Kremlin is the center of the city, where Ivan the Terrible and Stalin gave orders. Today, the Kremlin's walls protect some of the most precious treasures of the country.
What to visit
Red Square (with the Lenin Mausoleum, the State Historical Museum, the St. Basil's Cathedral and GUM, the department stores, 1,000 stores in a nineteenth century), The Kremlin (the towers, palaces, churches) , Arbat, a street of artisans, the Pushkin Museum, Gorky Park, the metro, the great avenues.
Salzburg, situated in a wide valley with a mild climate, crossed by the Salzach River, at the northern edge of the eastern Alps at the Bavarian border, is the capital of the province of Salzburg.
From the three hills that surround it (the Moenchsberg, the Kapuzinerberg, the Rainberg) enjoy panoramic sea views.
Known throughout the world as the birthplace of the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is famous also for the musical and cultural events that take place each year.
The city has a beautiful old town in the Gothic and Baroque (Italian-inspired) was added to UNESCO's list of Historic Heritage of Humanity. The city's cathedral (Salzburger Dom) is the most shining example of this style.
The cultural and artistic splendor of Salzburg is due in large part to the interests of the prince-bishops who ruled the fate of the city between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
What to visit
the Festung Hohensalzburg (Hohensalzburg Fortress): fort commissioned in 1077 by a bishop, now the largest intact fortress in Europe. E 'connected to the city by a funicular extremely characteristic.
Getreidegasse (Alley of Grains) with the birthplace of Mozart;
the Benedictine Convent of St. Peter;
Cemetery Petersfriedhof.
And again, the Residence and the Residence (Bishop's Palace), the Mozartmuseum, the Kapuzinerkloster, the Mirabell Palace.
Outside Innsbruck is a suburban palace, the Hellbrunn (Fontechiara), surrounded by formal gardens, fountains, water features and a zoo, active and much visited today.
The city looks like a mirage, built in the middle of the empty desert of Nevada.
E 'was founded by Mormons, who in 1885 had discovered here some artesian wells. Would never have imagined what would become: capital of gambling, Luna Park for every fun place to get married and divorced in a few hours without any problems. Spectacular The Strip, Las Vegas Boulevard where there are the largest casino-hotels.
City from ancient history, Lisbon is one of the most modern cities and lives in Europe. Portugal's capital, Lisbon city with over 500,000 inhabitants, which become 3 million in the metropolitan area (a third of Portugal). After being European Capital of Culture in 1994, Lisbon has since been featured on the international agenda, culminating with the Expo 1998, with many events that have given impetus to a thorough modernization of architecture and at the same time to the revaluation of buildings and historical heritage.
The culture of Lisbon will attract you, the notes of Fado to the beauty of its buildings, the richness of museums to the vibrant cultural life of this jewel overlooking the ocean.
Cosmopolitan and multicultural Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Its origins date back to the thirteenth century when it was a fishing village built on the banks of the river Amstel (Amsterdam, hence the name, which means "dam in"). Also known as the "Venice of the North" for the abundance of channels and the beauty of luxurious buildings along them, Amsterdam invites you to stroll through its streets or turn them over by bicycle, Dutch style. But the city is also famous for shopping and nightlife, with its coffee shops and red light district.
Copenhagen (København) is the capital of political, economic and cultural center of Denmark, overlooking the narrow strait of 'Sound on the east coast of Sjoeland.
The city is home to nearly a quarter of the entire Danish population and offers several routes inside: through the Strøget (name used to indicate the paths that wind along the route that once connected the east and west), following channels up to Christianshavn in search of the Little Mermaid in the northern or strolling through the many parks (including the famous park where lies the hippie community of Christiania). The city now enjoys the new bridge that connects it to Malmoe.
London is the capital of Great Britain, as well as the most populous city in Europe, with over seven million inhabitants. Business, cultural and economic importance worldwide, has a long history: it was, in fact, founded in the year 43 AD by the Romans with the name Londinium. In 1666 a terrible fire destroyed much of the city, which was later rebuilt. The cultural offerings, including museums, galleries and theaters, where to watch one of the famous musical, is rich, just as many opportunities for fun. Crossed by the River Thames, is the official residence of the royal family
Cosmopolitan, colorful and efficiently. A weekend fashion and shopping city, rich in tradition that blends perfectly with the new trends. Enjoy the food that English will be the backdrop to your weekend.
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If you have to choose the most beautiful place of the world, which would be?
We launched an ambitious poll, for which we encourage you to vote your favourite :-)
Here is the link for vote: http://www.lastminutetravels.altervista.org/web/polls/2-most-beautiful-place-of-the-world.html
For the moment we put on the list these places, but if we miss something please let us know adding a comment.
Blue-domed Church in Santorini
St Basil Cathedral in Moscow
The Statue of Liberty in New York
Machu Picchu in Peru
The Taj Mahal in Agra ( India )
The Eiffel Tower in Paris
The Great Sphynx at Giza
The Chinese Wall in China
Uluru in the Northern Territory
The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen
Windmills at Kinderdijk ( Holland )
Agia Sofia in Istanbul, Turkey
Acropolis of Athens
Mount Fuji in Japan
Stonehenge in the English county of Wiltshire
Big Ben in London
Neuschwanstein in Bavaria
Mount Eden crater in New Zealand
Loch Ness in Scotland
Easter Island in the Polynesian Triangle
Christo Redemptor in Rio de Janeiro
Capitol Hill in Washington DC
Tower of Pisa
Al Aqsa in Jerusalem
Niagara Falls at the border of Ontario ( Canada ) and New York ( USA )
Angkor Wat at Cambodia
The Burj in Dubai
Bran Castle in Romania
Manneke Pis in Brussels
Mount Everest on the border of Tibet and Nepal
Mecca in Saudi Arabia
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
St Peters at Vatican City
Mont St Michel in France
Mount Rushmore in South Dakota
Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe
The Grand Canyon in Arizona
Nevado Mismi in Peru ( source of the Amazon River )
Auschwitz in Poland
The Great Buddha of Kamakura in Tokyo
Neptune and the Palace of Versailles in France
Cape of Good Hope in South Africa
Trevi Fountain in Rome
Petra in Jordan
Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
North Cape in Norway
Chichen Itza in Mexico
Inukshuk in Canada
Lascaux in France
Table Mountain in South Africa
They called it the "Paris of the East" in 1920 was a city of adventurers, gamblers, opium smokers, prostitutes, some dandies' debauched, gangsters, millionaires, child slaves forced to work for a handful of rice, missionaries.
Then here was founded the Chinese Communist Party, Mao put the basics of the Cultural Revolution, here were the bloody repression of Chiang Kai Shek, the Japanese occupation and the development of the dominance of the "Gang of Four".
Shanghai, for better or for worse, has always been a city laboratory, the hinge between China and the West, and remains so to this day, joining the Communist Party and the market economy, consumerism and political orthodoxy.
Shanghai is huge, with an intense traffic of cars and millions of bicycles, and has remained a unique cosmopolitan city, where you can feel the echoes of the past and you can see that China will be among the palaces of glass and signs lucicanti.
The Bund is the river (it is crossed by the Shanghai Huangpu), flanked by original buildings of foreigners, including the Peace Hotel, remained the same from the thirties, with an orchestra of elderly musicians playing (good) jazz of yesteryear.
Departs from the Bund Nanjing Lu, the most famous shopping street in China (you can find anything, also call it the Golden Mile. American way).
What to visit
The Shanghai Museum (bronzes, ceramics, paintings of incomparable beauty), the Garden of the Mandarin, the famous tea room Huxingting and the Temple of the Jade Buddha, the former French Concession with Huaihai Lu, the best place to shop; the tomb of the writer Lu Xun.
Everything works like clockwork, the streets are clean, orderly traffic, police inflexible with those dirty or makes noise. It is not Switzerland, Singapore, an island city-state in South-East Asia (in fact a main island and 55 smaller) and one of the economic tigers of Asia.
E 'connected in the north to the Malay Peninsula by a bridge; goes south, with smaller islands, towards Malacca.
It 'a real ethnic mix: Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, and then Armenians, Arabs, Indonesians and Europeans.
The port is the second in the world after Rotterdam, the financial market represents 24 percent of the country. The skyscrapers of glass block stand out the names of all the major multinationals.
But tourism is a respectable item in the budget of the country.
Old Times is the oldest part, built by the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, who bought the land in 1819 by the Sultan of Johore and did design and build to the north the city of business, strictly English. The buildings are all in Victorian style and Palladian.
The Chinatown is the cultural heart of Singapore and is full of restaurants and shops. Arab Street is famous for its batik fabric shops, for straw baskets and jewelery craftsmanship.
Little India is colorful and smells of spices: the main market is called Zhujiao Centre. Orchard Road is the major hotels and shopping centers.
The Sister's Island are great for divers, with their coral reef.
The Butik Timah Nature Reserve is the largest area where the rainforest to survive.
Bangkok is the capital of Thailand, formerly called Siam. Located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, near the Gulf of Thailand, and economic center of the country, Bangkok is undergoing an intense process of growth. At the dawn of its history, Bangkok was a small town portuario, called Bang Makok. Today it is the capital of a country among the most visited by tourists from all over the world, especially popular during the winter and the Christmas holidays.
Along with the traffic and pollution of a city overpopulated, here you will find fabulous Buddhist temples such as Wat Pho and Wat Arun, many historic buildings and palaces of ancient dynasties you detect a world of wonders. Discover the exotic charm of Bangkok!
Starting point for the trip to Thailand, Bangkok knows be a beautiful and rich oasis of calm (despite the first impact with traffic and smog). The hotels are hundreds, of every category and in every neighborhood (remember that the word "Soi" means off the main road, marked with a serial number). The district Ratanakosin, with the most ancient temples and the Grand Palace, is located east of the river (it is the oldest and the most full of things to see), while most of the hotels are concentrated in the nearby Banglamphu and in the neighborhood Khao San Road. Thon Buri was once the capital of Thailand, before the foundation of Bangkok, which is now part of, is located on 'the other side of the Chao Phraya River and is accessible by boat. Despite being one of the less touristy areas, is worth a visit for many khlong (channels) in the open, to go by boat, and the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), with its famous tower of 82 meters , in Khmer style. The exciting entertainment at night, in every sense, is finally assured by many clubs around the city.
What to visit
Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, Vimanmek Palace, National Museum, National Gallery, Sanam Luang, Suan Pakkad Palace, Lumphini Park (the largest public park in the city), Wat Po, Wat Mahathat, Wat Suthat, Wat Sa Ket (from the terrace eighty meters you can enjoy a beautiful view of Bangkok), Wat Traimit (with one of the most precious statues of Buddha), Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), Chinatown, the Chatuchak Market, the home of Jim Thompson, the Thieves Market (market of thieves), the bridge Rama IX. For those who love Thai massage the advice is to go to Patpong (not all massage centers are brothels)