World's Top Adventure Trips

We’re living in a golden age of adventure. Never have there been so many people who want to see and experience the farthest corners of the world, and never have there been so many adventure-tour companies, of such high caliber, offering such a wide range of destinations and activities.

Adventure isn’t just about escaping into the wild, of course. It’s about engaging and committing yourself no matter what you’re doing. “People today have the mind-set of wanting to master things,” says Keith Walden of Virtuoso, a network of luxury travel agencies. “They want to go and dive in and learn and be hands-on.”

While the ongoing financial meltdown may have temporarily taken the wind out of adventure travel’s sails, the state of uncertainty only makes the quest for adventure all the more relevant. As I write in my new book, Extreme Fear, times of crisis have a way of deepening our sense of connection and purpose. After all, as far as we may travel, the real destination lies inside.

World's Most Beautiful Cities

Tight streets, a famous university and glimpses of parks, commons and courtyards dominate Cambridge, England. North of London, the city is accentuated by the River Cam and buildings both new and old, such as historic King's College Chapel and Cambridge University's modern Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

Larger cities are often just as beautiful. Tokyo, home to 50-story high-rises and traditional villas, is a favorite of Amanda Reynolds, member of the U.K.'s Urban Design Group, a collaborative body of architects, landscape architects and urban planners. But it's not just Tokyo's architecture that typifies its beauty. The city has a sense of structure and order as people smile and bow to each other, yet it explodes with energy as the narrow streets come to life with neon lighting after dark, she says.

Five of the World's Most Beautiful Cities:

1. Paris

2. San Francisco

3. Sydney

4. Florence

5. Cape Town

Machu Picchu, Barcelona church on threatened list

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 6, 11:49 am ET

NEW YORK – Peru's Machu Picchu ancient ruins, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona and a New Orleans elementary school are among the cultural heritage sites threatened by neglect or overdevelopment, a preservationist group said Tuesday.

The World Monuments Fund's watch list for 2010 includes 93 sites in 47 countries, ranging from Phajoding, a remote monastery in Bhutan, to the bridges along Connecticut's scenic Merritt Parkway.

"The 2010 watch makes it clear that cultural heritage efforts in the 21st century must recognize the critical importance of sustainable stewardship and that we must work closely with local partners to create viable and appropriate opportunities to advance this," World Monuments Fund President Bonnie Burnham said.

The monuments fund, dedicated to saving important landmarks around the world, said a new underground rail line in Barcelona will run perilously close to Gaudi's masterpiece, which was designed as an 18-tower church telling the tale of the Holy Family and has been under construction since the 1880s.

The World's Most Beautiful Castles

They may no longer be used for repelling enemy hordes or otherwise defending the kingdom, but these castles still have their rugged good looks.

More than 900 years old, Leeds Castle regularly received Henry VIII as a guest.

ENGLAND
Bamburgh Castle, Bamburgh, Northumberland. Fortifications have stood on this rocky outcrop near the North Sea since the 5th century. In the 12th century, King Henry II acquired the structure, and later it was snapped up by William Armstrong, a wealthy Victorian industrialist. Still owned by Armstrong's descendents, the castle has served as the location for several movies, including Roman Polanski's 1971 version of "Macbeth." After you tour the castle, which is open to the public from March to October, hop over to nearby Holy Island for a visit to Lindisfarne Castle. This stunner also overlooks the sea and is accessible only at low tide (the causeway connecting it to the mainland floods at high tide). 011-44/16-6821-4515, bamburghcastle.com, admission $10.75 (£7).
Leeds Castle, Maidstone, Kent. More than 900 years old, this moated castle regularly hosted that much-married Tudor, Henry VIII. Its current success as one of England's most popular tourist attractions is due to the work of the blue-blooded Olive Wilson Filmer, who outbid William Randolph Hearst to buy the castle for $873,000 in 1926 (that's over $10 million in today's dollars). Filmer used the rest of her fortune to restore and beautify the structure and its surroundings. On the grounds are several mazes, a display on falconry, and a dog-collar museum. 011-44/16-2276-5400, leeds-castle.com, admission (valid for a year) $25.25 (£15). Budget Travel gallery: See the world's most beautiful castles
SCOTLAND
Eilean Donan, Dornie, Scottish Highlands. Planted on an island in the middle of a loch, Scotland's most famous castle looks as if it's been there forever. It does date back to 1220, but the original structure was destroyed in 1719 and lay in ruins for two centuries. In 1919, Lieutenant Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought it and began restoration. He was helped by the stonemason Farquar Macrae, who claimed to have seen in a dream how the original castle looked in earlier times. The castle was rebuilt according to Macrae's specifications; later, plans found at Edinburgh Castle proved his vision correct. The "new" castle was finished in 1932. 011-44/15-9955-5202, eileandonancastle.com, admission $7.75 (£5).
WALES
Beaumaris, Angelsey, Wales. The English king Edward I began raising this castle as part of his campaign to conquer Wales. Work began in 1295, but the castle had not been completed when the money ran out (as so often happened with castles), and it remains unfinished to this day. Castles are thick on the ground in North Wales: Within easy driving distance from Beaumaris, you'll find the major structures of Conwy, Harlech, and Caernarfon, as well as two small, romantic ruins, Dolbadarn and Dolwyddelan. But Beaumaris remains the most beautiful. 011/44-12-4881-0361, beaumaris.com, admission $5.75 (£3.70).
GERMANY
Neuschwanstein Castle, Hohenschwangau, Bavaria. Ludwig II of Bavaria -- a.k.a. Mad King Ludwig -- commissioned a set designer to create Neuschwanstein. Engineers broke ground in 1869, but King Ludwig didn't get much chance to enjoy his over-the-top palace. In 1886, as the castle was nearing completion, he died under suspicious circumstances; his body was found floating in a lake, with the body of his physician nearby. Despite this unhappy ending, Neuschwanstein remains the quintessential fairy-tale castle: It was a major inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland. 011-49/83-6293-9880, neuschwanstein.de, admission $13 (€9).
DENMARK
Kronborg Castle, Helsingør. Dating back to the 1420s, Kronborg is one of the best-preserved Renaissance castles, despite the various alterations it's undergone since then. Positioned next to a strait separating the Danish island of Sjælland from Sweden, it had great strategic power over the sea traffic -- not enough, however, to prevent the persistent Swedes from conquering it in 1658. Kronborg gained more lasting fame as the castle in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." 011-45/3392-6300, kronborgcastle.com, admission $16.50 (85 DKK).
FRANCE
Château de Castelnaud, Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, Dordogne. This impressive fortress, located on the limestone rocks above the Dordogne River, overlooks a former enemy, the Château de Beynac. During the Hundred Years' War, the English held Castelnaud and the French controlled Beynac, with both nations hoping to control this sensitive border region. These days Castelnaud is known for its Museum of Medieval Warfare, which includes reconstructions of giant crossbows and trebuchets, the huge slings used to hurl rocks at castle walls. 011-33/55-331-3000, http://www.castelnaud.com/fr/, admission $11 (€7.60).
Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, Orschwiller, Alsace. The hilltop position of this 12th-century castle, more than 2,000 feet above the Alsace plain, kept it safe for centuries. Destruction came in 1462 and again in 1633 after a siege by Swedish soldiers during the Hundred Years' War, after which it was overgrown by the forest and abandoned. Now it's a popular stop for tourists visiting the Alsatian wine region. 011-33/38-882-5060, haut-koenigsbourg.fr, admission $10.50 (€7.50).
ROMANIA
Bran Castle, Bran, Brasov. Both the keepers of Bran Castle and the Romanian Tourist Board are keen to emphasize links between Bran Castle and Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. The connections are tenuous, but there's no denying the spooky charm of this massive structure's many turrets and towers. Some of the furniture on display was owned by Marie of Romania, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria who turned down a proposal from the future King George V of England and married the king of Romania instead. 011-40/26-823-8333, http://www.brancastlemuseum.ro/, admission $4.25 (12 leu).
SWITZERLAND
Château de Chillon, Lake Geneva, Montreaux. As with most real estate, it's often location, location, location that makes all the difference with castles. On an island near the edge of Lake Geneva, Château de Chillon is no exception. Excavations here have turned up evidence of a Bronze Age settlement, but the castle as it now stands was created between the 12th and 18th centuries. Its popularity got a huge boost in 1816. That year, following a visit, Lord Byron published his long poem "The Prisoner of Chillon"; the work refers to the "seven pillars of Gothic mold" that stand in "Chillon's dungeons deep and old." 011-41/21-966-8910, http://www.chillon.ch/, admission: $11 (12 Swiss francs). - www.budgettravel.com