For me it would be these places:
Inside (Sweden): The Church in Rök in the province of Östergötland in the south of Sweden, were the famous “Rökrunstenen” (Rök Rune-stone), the most famous rune-stone in all of Sweden. Also the snowy mountains in province of “Dallarna”, where me and my family go to ski almost every year.
Outside:
The Masai Mara Safari in Kenya.
The Colosseum and Venice in Italy.
Acropolis and The Island of Santorini in Greece.
Geyser locations in Iceland.
The Eiffel Tower in France.
Sorry of these picks outside of the first and third one seemed a bit too typical lol. Me and my family have (so far) only been to the “normie” famous places in the world, though we’d love to see that change soon.
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Inside America: Crater Lake National Park.
Outside America: Watching Icebergs in Cape Spear, Newfoundland.
Sölden, Austria and Antofagasta, Chile
Monument Valley in Arizona and Utah
Edit: I should add Toruń, Poland too.
Inside: Yellowstone National Park. Absolutely breathtaking.
Outside: Georgetown, Cayman Islands. The sea is so crystal clear. Panama Canal was wonderful too. Such an amazing feat of engineering.
Seeing the Southwest from the comfort of the Southwest Chief Amtrak line was 10/10. Would do again.
Los Angeles was also way more fun than I expected. Might be my new favorite food city. Lots of good nature. Hiking up to the Griffith Observatory was a treat. So many good views.
Internationally, my wife and I had a blast in Barcelona. It was a really laid back place for a pretty big city.
Inside the country: Grand Canyon, Sedona, French Quarter.
Outside of the country: Galapagos, Florence, Capri
Inside USA:
Kenai Fjords in Alaska
Ke’Anae Point on Maui.
Watkins Glen State Park in upstate New York.
Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park is very impressive but I would NEVER do that hike again.
Mount Rainier National Park
Outside USA:
Batu Caves in Malaysia
Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta
The old walled part of the city in Fez, Morocco.
Sydney, Australia, and also the Great Barrier Reef
It’s really hard to pick just one, in or out.
Inside America:
The top of Mt. Rainier
Carlsbad and Mammoth Caves
Glacier NP
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Outside America
The Cathedrals in Strasbourg and Koln
The DMZ in Korea
The Atacama desert in Chile
Stalin’s museum and railcar in Georgia
Downtown Berlin
Inside the country would probably be the Grand Tetons. Yellowstone was cool too, but I felt like we spent more time driving around there then anything and the springs/geysers didn’t interest me as much as the mountains.
Outside would probably be Queenstown, New Zealand. The NZ Great Walks down in that region are absolutely breathtaking and unbelievable. I wish I could have done the Milford Track, but it’s a four day thing and you have to get reservations for it well in advance. The Kepler and Roteburn where both phenomenal though.
Lucerne, Switzerland is also up there.
Grand Canyon.
Also liked the Pacific Ocean, since I’ve lived all my life on the east coast.
Venice, Italy.
Also liked London.
Inside: Yellowstone, Uncompahgre Wilderness, Ah-She-Sle-Pah Wilderness, Grand Canyon, Arches, Death Valley and the Fish Lake Valley, Sylvania Mountain Wilderness, Bright Star Wilderness, Haleakala, Chaco Canyon, New York City, Chicago especially by the Lakeshore, Lake Michigan on the Michigan side, Mount Washington in winter, Yaquina Head, or Mammoth Cave
Outside: Ngorongoro Crater, Saint Peter’s Basilica, The Serengeti, Gspaltenhornhutte in Switzerland, Lugano, Rome, Paris, London, Henley on Thames Royal Regatta, Grubisbalm in Switzerland up the mountain from Vitznau toward the Rigi Kulm.
That is a tough one.
The US is more location based but if I had to pick one place, I would probably pick the USVI – St. John in particular. The beaches are second to none. I have a lot of love for KC, Chicago, a lot of towns in Colorado, Key west, etc., as well.
Outside – The coolest was probably the Pantheon in Italy. You walk through the small streets in between buildings, then get to this massive, 2000 year old structure, that is in incredible shape.
Other notables – St Marks Basilica (Venice), Eiffel Tower & Moulin Rouge in Paris, Mayan Ruins (my favorite were in Belize, like the Jaguar Temple), The Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke, Ponchos Backyard (the original) in Cozumel, The Surfin Burrito in Cancun, The Magic Fountain and Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (careful, crime is bad there), The markets in Madrid, The market and science museum/aquarium in Valencia, I love renting a golf cart and spending the day going around isle Mujeres, Willie T’s at Norman Island, Anegada is a really cool place to visit, the Road to Hana in Hawaii.
I am sure there are more, but that is my rather random list of some of my happy places.
Inside US.
A couple secret New England beaches that you have to hike to. One you can just hang out for the day with about 500 frolicking seals all around you.
Camping on Isle Au Haut in Maine. You gotta get dropped of by the mail boat. It’s remote.
Ben and Jerrys “stockholder meetings” in the 1980s.
Outside US:
Tulum around 1990.
Downtown Montreal in the nighttime in winter.
Westman Islands in Iceland (and lots of Iceland hikes)
A couple secret cenotes in QR, Mexico.
Inside the US it was probably Zion national park of Bryce Canyon national park.
Outside the US was probably Elbow Cay in the Bahamas, it was beautiful.
By the way: good post OP! Going to be looking at while thinking about my travel plans.
For natural beauty:
Inside:
– Enchanted Rock State Park in Texas
– Gila National Wilderness in New Mexico
– desert hills near Kingman Arizona
Outside:
– Various spots in the desert north of Haditha Dam Lake in Anbar province Iraq
– Loch Ness in Scotland (yes, *that* Loch Ness)
– Isle of Skye in Scotland
For manmade stuff:
Inside:
– Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth Texas
– (all the) Smithsonian museums in Washington DC
– the international sections of Epcot at Disney in Orlando Florida
Outside:
– Globe Theater in London
– The British Museum in London
– Victoria & Albert Museum in London
Inside:
-The Grand Canyon
-The Redwood and Sequoia forests
Outside:
-Pompeii
-Versailles
-Chartres Cathedral
-Suzhou, China
Inside the US:
The Grand Canyon. Redwood forests in California. Inside the White House. The Ben & Jerry’s factory.
Outside the US:
The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Les Halles market in Avignon. St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
I’ve been to Australia and Italy and those were 2 of the coolest trips i’ve ever been on. I still have a sealed bottle of wine from a tuscany winery. Trying to find the right time to pop it open.
Inside: Bristol Bay Area of Alaska, the High Sierra, Canyonlands
Outside: New Zealand
Never left the US, but the coolest place I’ve ever been by far was the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde.
Inside the US for me is definitely the Las Vegas Strip. Gambling aside, it’s like the Dubai of America with all of the crazy billion dollar architecture and over the top stuff. Especially at hotels like the Wynn and the Bellagio.
Inside US:
Hard to choose between the Western national parks. (Grand Canyon, Arches, Glacier)
Outside US:
The [Wieliczka Salt Mine](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine) near Krakow, Poland. It was so much cooler than I thought it would be.
Waimea Canyon State Park (Kauai, Hawaii) aka the Grand Canyon of the Pacific is the most beautiful place I’ve been to. Hawaii as a whole is gorgeous.
Hawaii and fiji
USA: Gettysburg National Battlefield Park.
RotW: Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, Australia.
Inside: Mount Washington
Outside: Louvre, Aran Islands