28 Places to See Before You Die—the Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon and More
We've traveled the globe and compiled a "life list" of places to visit before taking the ultimate trip to the great beyond
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2008, Subscribe
Editor’s Note: We’ve since expanded our life list to 43 sites around the world for wildlife lovers, adventure seekers and those seeking just a respite from their busy schedules.
"We are all of us resigned to death: it's life we aren't resigned to," novelist Graham Greene once wrote. A growing number of Americans of all ages are embracing that idea by renewing a resolve to live life to its fullest.
Exhibit A is the recent popularity of "life lists"—itineraries of things to do and places to go before taking the ultimate trip to the Great Beyond. Bookstores brim with titles such as 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die and—for the high-minded—Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die. A cottage industry of Web sites has also popped up, enabling life list enthusiasts to exchange ideas ranging from learning Japanese to getting a tattoo. Now even Hollywood has gotten into the act, with the release this month of the film The Bucket List, in which two cancer patients, played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, break out of their medical ward and embark on a life list road trip that includes dining on expensive caviar and gambling in Monte Carlo.
Life list experts (yes, there are such beings) advise people not to set themselves up for disappointment by trying to accomplish too much. (When's the last time you completed your daily to-do list?) With the entire world to choose from, the maxim "so much to do, so little time" takes on added meaning.
To that end, the staff of Smithsonian—as diverse a group of travelers as you're likely to meet—put their heads together to come up with an exclusive list of 28 places the Smithsonian reader might wish to visit before ...it's too late. Some of the sites are portals into the past—ancient cities so well preserved that visiting them is like stepping into a previous century. Others feature feats of engineering or sublime works of art—or, in the cases of the Taj Mahal and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, both. Travelers can visit temples and churches so breathtaking they must have been built with divine inspiration. For the more adventurous, we offer rewards beyond mere sightseeing—from a three-day hike across the Grand Canyon to a ride along China's Yangtze River.
While all of these destinations beckon year-round, there are places where timing matters: many travelers are at a loss for words after witnessing the sun rise over Machu Picchu or seeing Iguazu Falls by the light of a full moon. And, appropriately, some of our sites now confront their own mortality—endangered by pollution or just worn down, like a few of us, by the passage of time.
Whether you visit only a couple of these destinations or all 28, your life will be enriched by the experience. And if along the way you want to gorge on caviar or get a tattoo, that's entirely up to you.
Portals into the Past
Walk the timeless streets and byways of ancient cities on three continents
– Mesa Verde
– Pompeii
– Tikal
– Petra
Feats of Engineering
The world's surviving architectural wonders hewed from stone and mortar beckon as ever
– Pyramids of Giza
– Taj Mahal
– Easter Island
– The Great Wall
A Matter of Timing
Choosing the right year, month or even moment can make all the difference
– Aurora Borealis
– Serengeti
– Iguazu Falls
– Machu Picchu
Triumphs of Vision
Come face to face with history's finest works of art and design
– The Louvre
– Zen Garden of Kyoto
– Uffizi Gallery
– Fallingwater
Scale New Heights
Don't just see nature's most spectacular sites—experience them
– Yangtze River
– Antarctica
– Mount Kilimanjaro
– Grand Canyon
In the Presence of Gods
Encounter temples so magnificent then could only have been built by divine inspiration
– Bagan
– Parthenon
– Angkor Wat
– Ephesus
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?
Visit these deteriorating or threatened destinations before they disappear
– Venice
– Amazon Rain Forest
– Great Barrier Reef
– Galápagos Islands
Subscribe now for more of Smithsonian's coverage on history, science and nature.
Comments (162)
+ View All Comments
As a person aged 14 it becomes really aparrent that in life there are choices as to quantity or quality. Should I spend ten years in a particular country or visit 100. Should I visit 1001 places before I die or spend a month at each of the 28 mentioned. I guess the purpose of life is to find a balance, all that considered practicalities come into play such as time and money. All the same it sound like a goal worth persuing - visit the smithsonians top 28 sites.
Posted by Louis on January 9,2013 | 09:00 AM
Brilliant list - more to be added to http://www.facebook.com/BeforeYouDieApp
Posted by Gemma Cocker on December 19,2012 | 06:51 AM
Awesome..must to learn to know for peoples like us to travel became fortune...expensive..thank you..for publishing good things
Posted by Saravanan on December 16,2012 | 03:49 PM
Would love to travel to all these places
Posted by sunny on October 4,2012 | 12:08 PM
Would love to travel to all these places
Posted by Socorro smith on September 17,2012 | 06:19 PM
The amazing Dead Sea must be there in the list
Posted by Sansaptak De on August 31,2012 | 02:15 PM
Here is a list of the places I've been and seen: Vatican City Sistine Chapel (Vatican Museum) Colosseum Cinque Terre Chichen Itza Tulum Poas National Volcano Park Taj Mahal Elephanta Caves Qutab Minar Agra Fort Humayan's Tomb Mahatma Ghandi's Gravesite French Quarter Niagara Falls Liberty Bell, Philadelphia Independence Hall, Philadelphia Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia Times Square Ellis Island Lincoln Memorial Washington Monument Route 66 Grand Canyon Bridgetown, Barbados U.S Capitol Statue of Liberty Brooklyn Bridge Accademia di Belle Arti Hollywood Walk of Fame Stone Mountain State Park St. Mark's Square I'm sure I'm missing some, but I can't think of them at the moment. Places I'd like to see: Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil Sydney Opera House CN Tower The Louvre Eiffel Tower Palace of Versailles Champ Elysses Machu Picchu and the Pyramids of Giza were on the list at one point, but I have since removed them.
Posted by Ms. Kay on July 20,2012 | 08:06 PM
Years ago the Illustrated London News (I believe) surveyed a number of architects and other notables (Including as I recall Prince Charles) and ran two articles on the selection of the greatest buildings in the world. The Taj Mahal was number two! Number One? It was a place of which I had never heard: Durham Cathedral. The next time in the UK, I took a train to Durham and visited it. The photos I have seen posted don't convey the sense of serenity and beauty within, nor the magnificence of its setting, the building rising magnificently above the river, sited there for defense. (For centuries as Walter Scott wrote, it was "half church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot.") It was worth the journey
Posted by EB Hook on April 21,2012 | 09:31 PM
Sureley the Banff National Park & Jasper National Park have to be on everyone's list!! Just look up "Morraine Lake" or "Lake Peyto". Simply breathtaking !
Posted by MisterG on March 21,2012 | 09:35 AM
Machu Picchu seems to make everyone's list. Peru is a fantastic place to visit. Miles of untouched beaches, amazing food (from the oceans, mountains and jungle regions) ... and the dollar goes a loooong way.
Posted by jbgrady on February 17,2012 | 03:11 PM
I have been to these:
Westminster Abbey
Bath
University of Oxford
Westminster Houses of Parliament (Big Ben)
British Museum
Tower of London
CN Tower
Niagara Falls
Old Montreal town
Sydney Opera House
Three sisters mountain (Sydney)
Melbourne Gaol
Great Ocean Road
Sigiriya
Dambulla Rock Temple
Temple of the Sacred Tooth, Kandy
Sri pada
Santhome Cathedral
Eiffel Tower
Notre Dame de Paris
Brussels Square
Vietnam veterans memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Capitol Building
Liberty Bell, Philadelphia
Independence Hall Philadelphia
KL Tower
Hong Kong island
Burj Al Arab
Would like to see:
Pyramids of Giza
Great Wall
Angkor Wat
Times square
Statue of liberty
The terracotta army
Taj Mahal
Sistine Chapel
Vatican city
Colosseum
Dome of the rock Jerusalem
Western wall tunnel Jerusalem
Mount of Olives
Stratford upon Avon
Stonehendge
Petra
Lourdes
Chitchen Itza
Hagia Sophia
Cochin house boats
Posted by Anita on February 7,2012 | 08:45 AM
I compiled a list of about 80 places. The ones marked * are the ones I haven't visited but would like to.
England and Wales:
1.British Museum
2.Cutty Sark
3.Greenwich Maritime Museum
4.Westminster Abbey
5.St Pauls Cathedral.
6.Brompton Oratory.
7.Buckingham Palace
8.Madame Tussauds
9.Tower of London
10.Cardiff town
11.University of Cambridge
12.University of Oxford
13.Bath (The Roman Baths)
Scotland:
Edinburgh Castle*
Canada:
14.CN Tower
15.Niagara Falls
16.Old Montreal Town
17.Ottawa City
U.S.A.
18.Capitol building
19.Vietnam Veterans memorial
20.Lincoln Memorial
21.Sears Tower
22.Lake Michigan
23.The Grand Canyon *
Golden Gate Bridge*
New Orleans*
Yellowstone National Park*
Times Sqaure, New York.*
Central Park*
Statur of Liberty*
India:
24.Taj Mahal*
25.Velankanni shrine
Qutub Minar*
Red Fort*
Elephanta Caves*
Hawa Mahal*
Sri Lanka:
26.Sigiriya
27.Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa
28.Galle Fort
29.Temple of the tooth relic, Kandy
30.Dambulla Rock temple
Nuwara Eliya
Jaffna
Australia:
31.Sydney Opera House
32.Jenolan caves
33.Seven Sisters
34. Bondi Beach
35. Manly Beach
36. Featherdale Wildlife Park.
37. Old Melbourne Gaol.
Uluru Rock*
The Great Barrier Reef*
France:
37.Eiffel Tower
38.Versailles Palace
39.Notre Dame cathedral
40.The Louvre
Arc de Triomphe.
41.Brussels Square
42.Bruges city
China:
43.The Great wall of China*
44.Hong Kong city
Middle East
Jumeirah Mosque*
Jumeirah Beach*
Wild Wadi Waterpark.*
Deira Gold Souk.*
Burj al Arab.
Kenya
Masai National park.*
Egypt
The Pyramids of Giza.*
Vietnam:
One Pillar Pagoda.*
Italy:
The Vatican*
The Colosseum*
Pantheon*
Sistine Chapel*
Russia:
St. Petersburg*
Cambodia:
Angkor Wat*
Nepal
The Kathmandu Valley*
Bangladesh
Chittagong*
Portugal:
Mosteiro dos jeronimos
Posted by JA on February 6,2012 | 05:21 AM
Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the latter is the most otherworldly place I've ever seen).
Gros Morne, Newfoundland (the primeval freshwater fjord called Western Brook Pond is staggering).
Copan, Honduras, and Quirigua, Guatemala (a fascinating shared Mayan history; with incomparable arrays of beautifully sculpted stelae).
Carlsbad Caverns (not only spectacular speleothems, but the unique spiraling exit of the bats -- always counterclockwise, viewed from above).
Arenal volcano, Costa Rica (in a resting stage now, but will return to daily booming and spewing, which can be viewed at rather close range).
Sequoia National Park (I thought going there might be ho-hum, since I'd seen photos of the big trees since childhood, but standing beside the giants was an awesome experience).
Yellowstone (here you might well be viewing the next global cataclism), and the Snake River, where basalt outpourings conceal Yellowstone's predecessor calderas).
Channeled Scablands of Washington (world's most gigantic ripples, from world's greatest deluge from burst glacial lake).
Topkapi Palace, Istanbul (the tiles alone are worthy of a pilgrimage).
Dervish Evi, Turkey (where the Whirling Dervishes perform their mesmeric religious ceremony to Medieval musical accompaniment and sonorous chants from Seljuk times).
Tadoussac, Baie Ste. Catherine, Quebec (where the belugas curiously examined us in our zodiac at very close range).
Posted by Larry Stout on January 15,2012 | 08:25 AM
I recommend the blue mosque in Mazar-E-Sharif, Afghanistan. I didn't go there by choice (haha) but once I was there, driving past a mosque constructed from Lapis Lazuli from a tactical vehicle was quite a sight to behold.
Posted by Brandon on January 10,2012 | 07:53 PM
+ View All Comments