Places maren Wants to Go

Modern design and unusual architecture make this mountaintop temple no ordinary Buddhist retreat.

A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.

"Bug Bug" Land, a natural park for beetle watching, still hasn't fully recovered from Fukushima's nuclear disaster.

Each year this Japanese temple overflows with scowling, bearded good luck talismans.

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

This Japanese national treasure was originally built in 593.

Japanese island famous for poison gas and fluffy bunnies.

The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

A collection of outdoor mystical statues paying homage to indigenous Australians and ecological stewardship.

The largest greenhouse in the world is home to over one million types of plants.

400-year-old garden, restored to beauty.

An Italian crevasse filled with abandoned buildings gives visitors a look at the world without humans.

This small town in the Netherlands has no roads but instead, miles of canals and over 100 bridges.

Peek through a transparent pyramid and drink in the mountain made of books.

Deep in the Thar desert, a temple crawling with thousands of holy rats.

A submerged archeological park still holds the wonders of a Roman Sodom.

An authentic replica of an Asian temple and garden hidden amongst the natural beauty of Hawai'i.

This black shoreline is made up of exploded lava particles.

The ghost town left by the worst nuclear disaster of all time is being taken over by nature and urban explorers.

The third-tallest statue in the world depicts the "Buddha of Infinite Light," complete with observation deck in his chest.

A Buddhist temple to honor insects that died for science.

A bronze statue dating back as far as 1252, still has remnants of gold on its right cheek from ancient gilding.

An exquisite tunnel of cascading flowers.

An unrealized dream to wirelessly electrify the entire Earth.