Places monicaamiranda Wants to Go

The world's first zoo for microbes collecting the horrible and wonderful things living on and around us.

This historic Amsterdam bar used to accept sailor's monkeys as payment.

A floating cat sanctuary on an Amsterdam canal.

An Amsterdam street lined with antique shops each one dedicated to a different obscure collection.

The bizarre visions of H.R. Giger, tucked away in a Swiss medieval city.

This statue pays tribute to the iconic musician in the place where he recorded his final studio album.

The tallest outdoor elevator in Europe rockets passengers on a dizzyingly precarious ride to the top of a mountain.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

The largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world.

This aromatherapy shop and mini-museum cofounded by the Sigur Rós frontman documents Icelandic history through scents.

This volcanic cave lake is essentially hard proof that Iceland is the most magical place on Earth.

This verdant, tree-lined Reykjavik graveyard is both enchanting and eerie.

Puffin enthusiasts flock to Europe's largest seabird cliff, which over one million birds call home.

Surrounded by ash fields in Iceland, an impossibly verdant valley looks like something out of a fairytale.

This mountain fissure hides a secret path to a secluded mossy grotto within the rock itself.

A sulfuric martian landscape that looks far better than it smells.

This fairytale-like structure is the last turf church ever constructed in Iceland.

A trio of hidden hot tubs takes advantage of Iceland's natural geothermal vents.

The largest whale museum in Europe allows visitors to walk among life-size giants.

Every summer local children form "pysja patrols" to save young birds that have wandered from their nests.

A little-visited waterfall in an otherworldly landscape.

If a glacial river suddenly diving into a sheer chasm via a dramatic, multi-stage waterfall isn't peak Iceland, it's certainly close.

A winding, blood-red tunnel of hardened lava navigable by foot.

An encyclopedic collection of mammal penises.