Places MikeInSanFrancisco Wants to Go

Explore the largest pure gypsum deposit in the world, and go dune sledding while you're at it.

An abandoned saucer-shaped monument in the Bulgarian mountains.

Perfectly preserved ancient monastery in an impossibly dramatic location on a rocky island in the Atlantic.

This abandoned Navy base was transformed into an off-grid alternative living community for thousands of people.

These remote Florida islands have a history of sea turtles and sunken treasures, and one of the world’s largest coastal brick fortresses.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

Welcome to old Florida, where a 1940s mermaid show is still enchanting visitors.

This attraction was abandoned after the Chornobyl disaster.

Finale of "William Tell Overture" can be heard as drivers pass over grooves in the road.

This lower Manhattan bar is set up in an old bank vault that rests beneath a skyscraper that hides even more historic splendor.

A nearly 500-year-old sculpture depicts a man eating a sack of babies, and no one is sure why.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

The one-stop shop for all of your superhero (or evil arch-nemesis) needs.

A book collector's dream, this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine.

Walk 2,300 feet above the ground on the "Troll's Tongue."

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

An acoustic anomaly with a mysterious cause sits in the heart of Tulsa.

A fifth-century temple improbably built into the side of a cliff.

This beautiful natural train tunnel is said to grant the wishes of visiting lovebirds.

New York City's smallest piece of private property.

Order scoops of pandan, lychee, and black sesame at this family-run institution.

Surreal riveted sea forts once protected the Kent shores from German attack.

Tubing through a cave lit with glowworms is a magical underground experience.

The remains of diamond fever taken over by the desert.