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Travel

You should definitely eat this pastrami before you die.

What Are the 1000 Foods to Eat Before You Die?

Written by a former New York Times restaurant critic, this tome will keep your appetite satisfied for a lifetime

The Panoramic Encyclopedia of Everything Elvis, located in Cornelia, Georgia.

The King’s Keepers: Five Quirky Locations for Finding Elvis Beyond Graceland

From Georgia to Connecticut, Elvis’ spirit lives on in unexpected places

The festival covers eight million square feet and uses over 1.9 million square feet of ice.

One of the World’s Largest Ice and Snow Carnivals Is Underway in China

The 31st Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival runs through February 25

Highclere Castle, home of the Earl of Carnarvon but perhaps more famous for its role as the setting for "Downton Abbey," is opening part of its grounds to overnight guests for the first time this spring.

Soon, You’ll Be Able to Spend the Night on the Grounds of Downton Abbey

Beginning February 13, interested parties can book a night (or two) in a lodge one mile from Highclere Castle, made famous by “Downton Abbey”

Valvika, Nordland Fylke, Norway.

Get Inspired

Make 2015 your year of travel

Small town travel, the Monuments Men, Chernobyl and Stonehenge were all among reader favorites in 2014

Our Top Stories of 2014

From weird red waterfalls to the pleasures of small-town America, these were the most read articles on Smithsonian.com this year

Edward Ranney, Viscas River Valley, 2001.

Stunning Black-and-White Photos of the Nazca Lines

Edward Ranney’s photographs of the famous Nazca Lines show the mysterious geoglyphs from an unusual angle—eye-level

People launch fireworks during the traditional celebrations of Parrandas in Remedios, Cuba, December 25, 2013.

Las Parrandas de Remedios: Bright Lights Shine in Cuba’s Oldest Festival

In the days before Christmas, Cuba erupts in a celebration of lights

A still from Ben Sturgulewski's travel drone video "Solstice."

The Most Beautiful Drone Travel Videos of 2014

2014 was the year of the aerial drone travel video—here are some of the best of the best

Going the distance: Evolution mavens in the Quantock Hills of England walked for some 3.5 billion years.

Evotourism ®

Evotourism: Great Places to Celebrate Evolution Around the Globe

From lemurs to Neanderthals, here’s our latest guide so you can travel the globe to enjoy what Darwin famously called “endless forms most beautiful”

Beware of this meat-eating Albertosaurus on the Royal Tyrrell Museum plaza.

Canada

Want to Excite Your Inner Dinosaur Fan? Pack Your Bags for Alberta

Canada’s badlands are the place to see fantastic dinosaur fossils (and kitsch)—and eye-opening new evidence about the eve of their fall

Guadalupe Peak and El Capitan: a landscape “lonely as a dream,” wrote Edward Abbey.

Evotourism ®

When Texas Was at the Bottom of the Sea

A hike to the “top of Texas,” the world’s most famous fossil reef, leads to a new sense of the sublime

“You could say that saving species is in my blood,” says Chris Darwin, a conservationist who lives in the mountains explored by his great-great-grandfather.

Evotourism ®

How Australia Put Evolution on Darwin’s Mind

The famous naturalist’s revolutionary theory first took shape not in the Galápagos but in the primeval Blue Mountains

Experience the magic of the holiday season on a historic train.

Six Historic Trains That Embody the Holiday Spirit

Trains have always been a part of holiday celebrations—so why not hop aboard this season? Here are six seasonally appropriate rides to consider

A Sea of Fog Completely Filled the Grand Canyon

Known as total cloud inversion, the weather phenomenon is quite rare—and spectacular

Prelorán left Argentina and eventually settled in Los Angeles. He's shown here during the filming of Casabindo in 1977.

Rescuing Jorge Prelorán’s Films From Storage And Time

The Smithsonian’s Film Archives is reintroducing the world to the influential work of the Argentine-American filmmaker

A brown bear in a private park near Brasov.

The Deadly Dilemma Facing Romania’s Brown Bears

Around the Carpathian Mountains, frustrated farmers and high-paying sport hunters are helping to set the highest bear hunting quotas yet allowed

Abandoned pool in Pripyat.

Haunting Drone Footage of Chernobyl Town

“Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl” shows a drone’s-eye view of the city nearly three decades after nuclear disaster

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