Top 100 Natural Wonders of the World

1.Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

A 277-mile, mile-deep chasm exposing two billion years of rock in banded red ramparts — the planet's definitive canyon and arguably its most awe-inspiring single landform.

2.Mount Everest

Khumbu, Nepal

Earth's highest point at 29,032 feet, the ultimate symbol of altitude and aspiration; even glimpsed from a trekking lodge it dominates the imagination of every traveler.

3.Great Barrier Reef

Queensland, Australia

The world's largest living structure — 1,400 miles of coral visible from space, teeming with turtles, rays and 1,500 fish species across impossibly turquoise water.

4.Victoria Falls

Livingstone, Zambia

The largest sheet of falling water on Earth — a mile-wide curtain thundering into a gorge, throwing spray 1,300 feet high and earning its name 'the smoke that thunders'.

5.Iguazu Falls

Misiones, Argentina

275 cascades spanning nearly two miles of rainforest, crowned by the Devil's Throat — a horseshoe of roaring water that dwarfs Niagara and stuns first-time visitors.

6.Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Africa's highest peak, a snow-capped freestanding volcano rising 19,341 feet straight from the savanna — the continent's most recognizable silhouette and a summit bucket-list classic.

7.Serengeti

Tanzania, Tanzania

Endless golden plains hosting the Great Migration — nearly two million wildebeest and zebra moving in thunderous columns past lions, the greatest wildlife spectacle on Earth.

8.Galapagos Islands

Galapagos, Ecuador

Darwin's living laboratory of evolution, where giant tortoises, marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies show no fear of humans — a uniquely intimate, otherworldly wildlife encounter.

9.See the Northern Lights

Auroras ripple across polar skies in curtains of green and violet — a celestial phenomenon so transcendent it tops nearly every bucket list on Earth.

10.Uluru

Northern Territory, Australia

A colossal sandstone monolith glowing crimson at sunset in the Red Centre, sacred to the Anangu — Australia's spiritual heart and one of the planet's most iconic rocks.

11.Yosemite Valley

California, United States

Granite giants El Capitan and Half Dome tower over a glacier-carved valley laced with thundering waterfalls — the cathedral of American wilderness and rock climbing's holy ground.

12.Salar de Uyuni

Potosi, Bolivia

The world's largest salt flat — 4,000 square miles of blinding white that becomes a perfect mirror after rain, reflecting sky and clouds in surreal infinity.

13.Milford Sound

Fiordland, New Zealand

Sheer cliffs and waterfalls plunge into a dark fjord beneath Mitre Peak — Kipling's 'eighth wonder', perhaps the most photographed natural scene in the Southern Hemisphere.

14.Mount Fuji

Shizuoka, Japan

A near-perfect snow-capped volcanic cone revered for centuries in art and pilgrimage — Japan's sacred symbol and one of the most beautiful mountain forms on Earth.

15.Aoraki / Mount Cook

Canterbury, New Zealand

New Zealand's highest peak crowns a wilderness of glaciers and turquoise lakes under some of the darkest, most star-filled skies in the world.

16.Matterhorn

Zermatt / Valtournenche

The near-perfect pyramidal horn rising 14,692 feet above Zermatt — the most recognizable mountain in the Alps and an enduring emblem of Europe's high peaks.

17.Angel Falls

Canaima National Park, Venezuela

The world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, plunging 3,212 feet off a flat-topped tepui into jungle mist — a remote, primeval spectacle that inspired Pixar's 'Up'.

18.Torres del Paine

Patagonia, Chile

Three sheer granite towers spear the Patagonian sky above electric-blue lakes and glaciers — the dramatic centerpiece of one of the world's great trekking parks.

19.Amazon Rainforest

Brazil, Brazil

The planet's largest rainforest and richest ecosystem — a green ocean of biodiversity threaded by the mighty Amazon River, holding more life than anywhere on Earth.

20.Ha Long Bay

Quang Ninh, Vietnam

Thousands of jagged limestone karst islands rise from emerald waters in a dreamlike seascape — Vietnam's signature wonder and a UNESCO masterpiece of erosion.

21.Yellowstone National Park

Wyoming, United States

The world's first national park sits atop a supervolcano, erupting Old Faithful and steaming the rainbow-ringed Grand Prismatic Spring amid herds of bison and wolves.

22.Sossusvlei

Namib-Naukluft, Namibia

Towering rust-red dunes — among the tallest on Earth — surround the ghostly white clay pan and dead camelthorn trees of Deadvlei, a surreal desert masterpiece.

23.Mount Denali

Alaska

North America's highest peak at 20,310 feet, rising with greater base-to-summit relief than Everest above sweeping subarctic tundra teeming with grizzlies and caribou.

24.Plitvice Lakes

Croatia, Croatia

Sixteen terraced lakes in vivid turquoise and emerald cascade into one another over travertine barriers and waterfalls — Europe's most beautiful chain of lakes.

25.Ngorongoro Crater

Tanzania, Tanzania

The world's largest intact volcanic caldera forms a natural amphitheater sheltering tens of thousands of animals, including the Big Five — a self-contained Eden of wildlife.

26.Niagara Falls

New York, United States

Three thundering falls hurl more than 3,000 tons of water per second over a 167-foot drop — North America's most famous and most-visited waterfall.

27.Perito Moreno Glacier

Patagonia, Argentina

A three-mile-wide wall of blue ice advances into Lake Argentino, calving skyscraper-sized chunks with thunderous cracks — one of the few advancing glaciers you can watch up close.

28.Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Hunan, China

Thousands of sheer quartzite sandstone pillars pierce the mist, inspiring the floating mountains of 'Avatar' — a vertical forest of stone unlike anywhere else on Earth.

29.Banff and Lake Louise

Alberta, Canada

Glacier-fed lakes glow electric turquoise beneath snow-capped peaks in Canada's first national park — the postcard image of the Rocky Mountains.

30.The Dolomites

South Tyrol / Veneto

Pale limestone spires and jagged towers blaze pink at sunset (the Enrosadira) above alpine meadows — the most dramatic and beloved range in the Alps.

31.Sahara Desert

Morocco, Morocco

The largest hot desert on Earth — an ocean of golden dunes and endless horizons where camel caravans and star-blazing nights define the romance of wilderness.

32.Okavango Delta

Botswana, Botswana

A river that vanishes into the Kalahari, fanning into a labyrinth of channels and islands that draws elephants, lions and hippos — Africa's pristine inland water wilderness.

33.Geirangerfjord

Møre og Romsdal

Sheer 5,000-foot walls and free-falling waterfalls like the Seven Sisters frame Norway's most spectacular fjord — a UNESCO icon of glacier-carved grandeur.

34.Cliffs of Moher

County Clare, Ireland

Atlantic waves crash 700 feet below Ireland's most dramatic sea cliffs, stretching five miles along the Wild Atlantic Way — windswept, vertiginous and unforgettable.

35.Table Mountain

Cape Town, South Africa

A flat-topped massif draped in its 'tablecloth' of cloud rises straight above Cape Town and two oceans — a New7Wonder of Nature and the city's defining landmark.

36.Pamukkale

Denizli, Turkey

Cascading white travertine terraces filled with steaming turquoise thermal pools form a 'cotton castle' on the hillside — one of the most surreal landscapes in the world.

37.Son Doong Cave

Phong Nha-Ke Bang

The largest cave on Earth, so vast it holds its own jungle, river and clouds beneath 600-foot ceilings — a hidden subterranean world only recently explored.

38.Komodo National Park

East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Home to the world's largest lizard — the Komodo dragon — across rugged islands ringed by pink beaches and electric coral reefs in the heart of the Coral Triangle.

39.Antarctica

Antarctic Peninsula

The last great wilderness — colossal icebergs, calving glaciers and rookeries of penguins under endless polar light, the ultimate expedition for serious adventurers.

40.Guilin and the Li River

Guangxi

Mist-wreathed karst peaks reflected in the winding Li River compose the classic Chinese landscape painting come to life — scenery long called the finest under heaven.

41.Wadi Rum

Jordan, Jordan

The 'Valley of the Moon' — towering sandstone monoliths and red dunes that feel like another planet, beloved of Lawrence of Arabia and countless film crews.

42.Lauterbrunnen Valley

Bernese Oberland

A glacial U-shaped valley where 72 waterfalls plunge from sheer cliffs beneath the Jungfrau — the alpine idyll that inspired Tolkien's Rivendell.

43.Hawaii Volcanoes (Kilauea)

Big Island, Hawaii

One of the world's most active volcanoes, where glowing lava meets the sea and new land is born — a primal, fiery spectacle of Earth in creation.

44.Jiuzhaigou Valley

Sichuan, China

Multicolored lakes of impossible blue and turquoise, terraced waterfalls and snow peaks fill this fairy-tale alpine valley — China's most magical water landscape.

45.Lofoten Islands

Nordland

Jagged peaks plunge straight to white-sand beaches and red fishing huts above the Arctic Circle, lit by midnight sun and aurora — Norway's most photogenic archipelago.

46.Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

Vik, Iceland

Volcanic black sand, basalt-column cliffs and offshore sea stacks meet pounding North Atlantic surf — Iceland's most dramatic and otherworldly shoreline.

47.Vatnajökull Glacier

Southeast Iceland

Europe's largest ice cap conceals electric-blue ice caves and feeds the iceberg-strewn Jökulsárlón lagoon — a frozen wonderland atop active volcanoes.

48.Cappadocia

Nevşehir

A surreal valley of 'fairy chimney' rock spires and cave dwellings, most magical at dawn when hundreds of hot-air balloons drift over the lunar landscape.

49.Bryce Canyon Amphitheater

Utah, United States

A natural amphitheater filled with thousands of glowing orange hoodoo spires — the densest concentration of these rock pillars anywhere on Earth.

50.Mount Roraima

Canaima / Pacaraima

A vast flat-topped tepui rising sheer from the jungle into the clouds, hosting unique endemic life — the lost-world plateau that inspired 'The Lost World'.

51.Swiss Alps

Switzerland, Switzerland

Snow-crowned giants, glaciers and emerald valleys define Europe's quintessential mountain landscape — a panorama of peaks that set the global standard for alpine beauty.

52.Avenue of the Baobabs

Menabe, near Morondava

A row of ancient, towering baobab trees — some 800 years old — silhouetted against a fiery sunset on a red dirt road, Madagascar's iconic image.

53.Bwindi Impenetrable Forest

Southwest Uganda

Misty montane jungle sheltering nearly half the world's critically endangered mountain gorillas — trekking to sit among them is among the most profound wildlife encounters.

54.Pantanal

Mato Grosso

The world's largest tropical wetland — a flooded mosaic of unmatched biodiversity and the planet's best place to see wild jaguars, caimans and giant otters.

55.Mount Bromo

East Java, Indonesia

A smoking caldera amid a vast sea of volcanic sand, with sunrise views over a cluster of cones — Java's most mesmerizing and otherworldly volcanic vista.

56.Lençóis Maranhenses

Maranhão

Endless white sand dunes cradle thousands of crystal-clear rainwater lagoons in turquoise and emerald — a desert that fills with water, found nowhere else on Earth.

57.Monument Valley

Arizona / Utah, Navajo Nation

Towering red sandstone buttes and mesas rise from the desert floor — the defining image of the American West, immortalized in countless films.

58.Dead Sea

Jordan, Jordan

Earth's lowest land point and saltiest large body of water, where bathers float effortlessly amid mineral shores — a surreal, ancient natural curiosity.

59.Grand Teton

Wyoming

A wall of jagged granite peaks erupts 7,000 feet straight from the valley floor with no foothills — the most abrupt and dramatic mountain front in the Rockies.

60.Moraine Lake

Banff, Alberta

Glacial rock-flour turns this lake an unreal cobalt blue beneath the ten jagged peaks of the Valley of the Ten Peaks — the jewel of the Canadian Rockies.

61.Giant's Causeway

County Antrim, United Kingdom

Some 40,000 interlocking hexagonal basalt columns step down into the sea — a geometric volcanic marvel wrapped in Irish legend on the wild Atlantic coast.

62.Atacama Desert

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

The driest desert on Earth — Mars-like valleys, salt flats, geysers and flamingo lagoons beneath the clearest, most star-filled skies on the planet.

63.Antelope Canyon

Page, United States

A narrow slot canyon of sculpted sandstone where shafts of sunlight beam through glowing waves of orange and gold rock — a photographer's dream.

64.Zhangye Danxia

Gansu

Striped 'rainbow mountains' banded in red, orange, yellow and green from 24 million years of mineral deposition — one of Earth's most colorful geological wonders.

65.Whitsunday Islands

Queensland

Pure silica sand swirls with turquoise tides at Whitehaven Beach amid 74 islands fringing the Great Barrier Reef — paradise from every aerial angle.

66.Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

Palawan, Philippines

A remote, pristine atoll at the heart of the Coral Triangle holding 360 coral species and walls of sharks and rays — among the world's finest dives.

67.Lake Bled

Upper Carniola

An emerald glacial lake cradling a tiny island church beneath a clifftop medieval castle and alpine peaks — Slovenia's storybook-perfect natural landmark.

68.Danakil Depression

Afar Region

One of Earth's hottest, lowest places — neon sulphur springs, salt flats and the bubbling lava lake of Erta Ale, a genuinely alien and hostile wonder.

69.Mauna Kea

Big Island, Hawaii

Measured from its ocean base it is Earth's tallest mountain; its summit hosts world-class observatories under the clearest, darkest, most star-blazing skies anywhere.

70.Chocolate Hills

Bohol, Philippines

Over 1,200 near-identical conical mounds turn cocoa-brown in the dry season, blanketing the landscape in a geological oddity found nowhere else.

71.Trolltunga

Vestland

A thin slab of rock juts horizontally 2,300 feet above a fjord lake — the 'Troll's Tongue', the most heart-stopping cliff perch in Norway.

72.Mont Blanc

Chamonix / Courmayeur

Western Europe's highest peak at 15,774 feet, a glacier-mantled massif towering over Chamonix — the cradle of mountaineering and alpine adventure.

73.Caño Cristales

Serranía de la Macarena

Blooming red aquatic plants turn this river into a flowing rainbow of crimson, yellow and green for a few months each year — the 'river of five colors'.

74.Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya

Africa's second-highest peak, a glacier-capped extinct volcano with jagged rock summits rising above moorland — a UNESCO-listed climbing and trekking icon.

75.Maldives Atolls

Indian Ocean

Hundreds of coral atolls scatter across turquoise lagoons over blinding white sand — the dictionary image of tropical paradise and overwater bliss.

76.Mount Rainier

Washington

A glacier-clad 14,411-foot stratovolcano looming over the Pacific Northwest, ringed by wildflower meadows — the most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous US.

77.Bay of Fundy

New Brunswick, Canada

Home to the highest tides on Earth — up to 50 feet — that sculpt flowerpot rocks and let you walk the ocean floor twice daily, a tidal marvel.

78.Annapurna Sanctuary

Gandaki

A high glacial amphitheater ringed by towering 7,000- and 8,000-meter Himalayan giants — one of the most jaw-dropping mountain basins reachable on foot.

79.Everglades

Florida

A vast 'river of grass' wetland sheltering alligators, manatees, panthers and 350 bird species — the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States.

80.Bora Bora

Society Islands, French Polynesia

A jagged volcanic peak rises from a luminous turquoise lagoon ringed by coral and overwater bungalows — the South Pacific's most idyllic island.