Walk Where History Was Made
These civilizations built things that should not have been possible. Temples aligned to the exact position of the sun on the solstice. Cities carved into cliffs. Roads that lasted two thousand years. They shaped the world you live in and left behind places you can still walk through today.
The pyramids are the most obvious answer. But Luxor is the real one — temples so vast they make the pyramids feel modest. A civilization that lasted three thousand years and left its mark on everything that came after.
3100 BC — 30 BC
Not just Rome. The empire stretched from Scotland to Syria and left roads, aqueducts, and cities that are still being excavated. Some of the best-preserved Roman sites are in places nobody expects — Libya, Tunisia, Jordan.
753 BC — 476 AD
A civilization that independently developed writing, astronomy, and mathematics. Their cities are scattered across the jungles of Mexico and Central America, many still being uncovered. Some of the most dramatic ruins you will ever walk through.
2000 BC — 1500 AD
While Europe was in its Dark Ages, Islamic civilization was advancing medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. The cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Isfahan still carry that weight. Walk them slowly.
750 AD — 1258 AD
Editor's Pick
Maya pyramids rising thirty metres above the jungle canopy. Howler monkeys in the trees at dawn. The sound of the jungle waking up around ruins that were abandoned over a thousand years ago. Tikal receives a fraction of the visitors that Machu Picchu does. It is equally extraordinary. Go at sunrise before the tour groups arrive.
Read Full GuideNorth Africa
Three thousand years of civilization in a single city. The temples are still being excavated.
Mediterranean
The best-preserved ancient Greek city in the world. Walk the marble streets where Saint Paul once preached.
Central America
Maya pyramids rising above the jungle canopy. Howler monkeys in the trees. Barely any tourists.
Middle East
A complete Roman city, almost entirely intact, sitting in the Jordanian hills. Almost nobody visits.
Central Asia
The city that Alexander the Great called the most beautiful he had ever seen. He was not wrong.
Pacific
887 stone statues, each one unique, built by a civilization that then vanished. Nobody fully knows why.
East Asia
The largest religious monument ever built. Still being reclaimed from the jungle in places.
South America
The Inca built it at 2,430 metres, abandoned it, and kept it secret for centuries. Go at dawn, before the crowds.
"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see."
— Winston Churchill