Ever dreamed of visiting some of the greatest natural wonders and culturally significant sites in the world?  We probably all have some ideas of what these significant places are and which ones we’re just dying to visit! UNESCO’s World Heritage Center has a list of 890 properties that they consider of having some outstanding universal value. These include 689 cultural, 176 natural, and 25 mixed sites around the world.

TripAdvisor, the travel website, did a survey of the World Heritage sites and found that more than 2,500 of the U.S. travelers who responded considered the following sites a “must-see” – a shorter, and perhaps, more manageable list:

Top 5 Historically or Culturally Significant Destinations in the World

1. Acropolis, Athens

2. Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls

3. Auschwitz Birkenau

4. Historic Center of Florence

5. Galapagos Islands

Top 5 Historically or Culturally Significant Destinations in the U.S.

1. Statue of Liberty

2. Grand Canyon National Park

3. Independence Hall

4. Yellowstone National Park

5. Yosemite National Park

Top 5 Environmentally or Naturally Significant Destinations in the World

1. Grand Canyon National Park

2. Galapagos Islands

3. Yellowstone National Park

4. Yosemite National Park

5. Redwood National and State Parks

Top 5 Environmentally or Naturally Significant Destinations in the U.S.

1. Grand Canyon National Park

2. Yellowstone National Park

3. Yosemite National Park

4. Redwood National and State Parks

5. Everglades National Park

Top 10 Places Every Traveler Should See in their Lifetime

1. New York City

3. Paris

4. London

5. Washington, D.C.

6. Athens

7. Venice

8. Cairo

9. Jerusalem

10. Florence

Which other places and cities would you add to these top 5 and top 10 lists?

photo by roblisameehan