Places Edited by Samir S. Patel

The world's largest "Christmas tree" is illuminated by hundreds of lights stretching 2,000 feet up the slope of Mount Ingino.

An abandoned Ecuadorian prison that once held ex-presidents and notorious con artists is now a carceral museum.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

A shining sculpture made of 3,115 lights, the number of visible stars in the Northern Hemisphere.

Visiting dignitaries and Hollywood stars once stayed at this 1920s hotel, alongside ghosts that are said to haunt its corridors.

Over 100 million years ago, beach-bound dinosaurs left permanent marks on San Antonio's landscape.

The home of pigs, snakes, chameleons, and the alleged largest bunny in the United States.

The complex has been abandoned since the Croatian War of Independence, barring a stint as a set for 'Game of Thrones.'

Three abandoned missile silos are hiding in plain sight behind a suburban development in Maryland.

Crushed coral and crystals give the sand its signature coloration.

A whimsical village of unique treehouses resides in a Washington forest.

This striking icon of the disputed Republic of Artsakh caused a stir at a Eurovision Song Contest.

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

The inky volcanic sand leads to reefs teeming with aquatic life waiting to be discovered by snorkelers and divers.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.

Find out what it sounds like when doves cry at Prince's recording studio estate turned museum.

A hamlet full of permanent Christmas spirit holds one of the earliest theme parks in the United States.

Football field-sized microalgae production tanks on the Hawaiian coast create a stunning view from space.

This North Carolina store preserves a historic moment in America's movement for racial equality.

At just 25 inches at its narrowest point, it's one of the tightest streets in the world.

This deserted Gold Rush town is home to a Masonic lodge that, strangely enough, still holds meetings.

The longest non-mortared wall in the country is one man's tribute to his displaced Yuchi ancestor's five-year journey to her homeland.

A tribute to the intrepid explorer and his crew who perished in terrible conditions on an ill-fated expedition to the Arctic.

The site of the Wellington avalanche, one of the America's worst railroad disasters.