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The steep walls of the Uncompahgre Gorge dwarf a climber after a long day on the cliffs.

How Do You Create the World’s Biggest Ice Climbing Park?

With nearly 200 different routes and 17,000 vertical feet of terrain, Ouray Ice Park is a haven for ice climbers and the “ice farmers” who bring it to life

The museum has generated controversy over gentrification of Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

Age of Humans

Imagining an Alarming Future at Brazil’s Museum of Tomorrow

The ambitious museum looks at where humankind is headed—and asks how they’ll live in a post-climate-change world

The highly regular spacing of fairy circles in Australia becomes visible in dense vegetation. The grasses in the foreground of the image are patchy as they rebounding from fire.

New Research

Mysterious Fairy Circles Have Been Found in Western Australia

Once thought to exist only in Namibia, circles spotted 6,200 miles away are helping sort out how these odd features form

"Hurlyburly" is artist Orly Genger's latest site-specific art installation using woven lobster rope.

This Massive Installation in an Austin Park Is Made of Over a Million Feet of Recycled Lobster Rope

“Hurlyburly” is artist Orly Genger’s latest woven creation

Journey to the Center of Earth

What Are You Flying Over? This App Will Tell You

Flyover Country uses maps and geology databases to identify features of the landscape as a plane flies over them, no Wifi necessary

A sauna on the lakefront for Sauna Day.

Europe

Explore Helsinki’s Private Saunas

Finland celebrates its first festival devoted to a steamy tradition

Belize's Lighthouse Reef Atoll surrounds the Blue Hole, a sunken cave system that is a haven for marine life and scuba divers.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Visit a Vertical Underwater Cave in Belize

The Great Blue Hole is the world’s largest natural formation of its kind

The Matterhorn is perhaps the most recognizable of the peaks that make up the Alps, and has a height of 14,692 feet.

Switzerland

Seven Surprising Facts About the Matterhorn

The towering peak that straddles Switzerland and Italy is full of secrets

Eric Oborski's passports. The thickest one, which he used from 1997 to 2007, contains 331 pages.

This Could Be the World’s Largest Passport

Meet the man who has filled over 1,400 pages of passport during a life of travel

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

Italy to Limit Tourists to Cinque Terre

It’s about to get harder to visit Cinque Terre—but that might be a good thing

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Even 500 Years After His Death, Hieronymus Bosch Hasn’t Lost His Appeal

A trip to the painter’s hometown reminds us how his paintings remain frightfully timely

Bison sculpture by Emily White, Big Timber Lodge

How to Maintain Your Garden Zen at the Philadelphia Flower Show

A Smithsonian gardener with a long history of touring the show gives tips

Ellis Emmett, diving between two continents in Silfra.

Europe

Dive Between Two Continents in This Frigid Fissure in Iceland

Filled with pure glacier water, Silfra is the only place on Earth where divers can touch two continental plates at once

Coober Pedy's Serbian Orthodox Church—owned by the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand—is just one of the city's otherworldly underground buildings.

Half of the Inhabitants of This Australian Opal Capital Live Underground

Unearth Coober Pedy, the Outback’s hidden city

The FIFA World Football Museum opened in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday.

Switzerland

These Five Objects Tell the Story of Soccer

Take an exclusive look inside the new FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich

A blooming Amorphophallus titanum corpse flower looms over visitors at the University of Basel botanical garden in November 2012.

What’s on Your Botanical Bucket List?

From rare orchids to grizzled desert plants, experts weigh in on which flora they most want to see before they die

This image was taken inside the Large Hadron Collider just a few months before its launch in 2008.

Switzerland

Inside the Atom Smasher at CERN

What you can see on a tour of the largest particle collider in the world

Andreas, one of the farmers at Eigeralp.

Switzerland

Live Like a Swiss Alpine Cheesemaker for a Weekend

Get a taste of life in the Alps without the commitment

In the late 19th century, Switzerland began making tourism posters to lure travelers to the country.

Switzerland

Top Destinations for the Cultural Traveler: Switzerland

Dogs of the St. Bernard Hospice during a walk organized by their trainers with tourists.

Switzerland

A Brief History of the St. Bernard Rescue Dog

The canine’s evolution from hospice hound to household companion

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