Landmarks, museums, historic sites, parks and viewpoints that draw visitors to a city, with practical notes on planning a visit.
150 places · Updated November 12, 2026
Our top 3 attractions in North America
Attraction
The Art Institute of Chicago is a major encyclopaedic art museum on Michigan Avenue, with collections spanning thousands of years and a separate Modern Wing entrance on Monroe Street.
View details — Art Institute of ChicagoAttraction
Toronto's 553-metre communications tower on Bremner Boulevard, with a Glass Floor, an outdoor terrace, the higher Top level, a revolving restaurant and the seasonal EdgeWalk.
View details — CN TowerAttraction
Free choreographed water and light show on the 8.5-acre lake in front of Bellagio, with fountains set to music that run from the afternoon until midnight.
View details — Fountains of BellagioAttraction
The Getty Center is a hilltop art museum in Brentwood with European paintings, photography, sculpture gardens and wide views over Los Angeles, free with a timed reservation.
View details — Getty CenterAttraction
The Golden Gate Bridge is the 1937 suspension bridge across the mouth of San Francisco Bay, free to walk, with a Welcome Center and café on the city side.
View details — Golden Gate BridgeAttraction
INAH's Maya museum in the Hotel Zone, opened in 2012, with Quintana Roo's key archaeological finds and the San Miguelito ruins in its grounds.
View details — Museo Maya de CancúnAttraction
Mexico's national museum of archaeology and anthropology, a 1964 building in Chapultepec whose 23 halls hold the Sun Stone and treasures from every Mesoamerican culture.
View details — Museo Nacional de AntropologíaAttraction
Boston's encyclopaedic art museum on Huntington Avenue in the Fenway, with collections ranging from ancient Nubia and Japan to American art and late evening opening on Thursdays and Fridays.
View details — Museum of Fine Arts, BostonAttraction
The Smithsonian's flagship aviation and space museum on the National Mall, home to the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module.
View details — National Air and Space MuseumAttraction
Gothic Revival basilica on Place d'Armes in Old Montreal, known for its deep blue, star-studded vaults, its 1891 Casavant organ and the AURA evening light show.
View details — Notre-Dame Basilica of MontrealAttraction
Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the Space Needle at Seattle Center has an observation level at 520 feet and The Loupe, a revolving glass floor.
View details — Space NeedleAttraction
Opened in 1888, Stanley Park covers about 405 hectares of forest, beaches and lakes on the Downtown peninsula, circled by an 8.8 km stretch of seawall.
View details — Stanley ParkAttraction
The Met on Fifth Avenue is one of the world's great encyclopaedic art museums, spanning five thousand years of art from every corner of the globe.
View details — The Metropolitan Museum of ArtAttraction
A large campus of pavilions in the Warehouse District telling the American story of the Second World War, with restored aircraft, immersive films and a submarine experience.
View details — The National WWII MuseumAttraction
Vizcaya is James Deering's early twentieth-century bayfront estate in Coconut Grove, with a furnished Mediterranean Revival villa and formal Italian Renaissance-style gardens.
View details — Vizcaya Museum and GardensAttraction
Alcatraz Island is the former federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, now run by the National Park Service and reached only by ferry from Pier 33.
View details — Alcatraz IslandAttraction
A 140-metre suspension bridge 70 metres above the Capilano River, with treetop walkways, a cliffside path and rainforest trails, reached by a free shuttle from Canada Place.
View details — Capilano Suspension Bridge ParkAttraction
Free-to-enter public observatory on the slopes of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park, known for its astronomy exhibits, planetarium and views over Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign.
View details — Griffith ObservatoryAttraction
A collector's house museum built to evoke a Venetian palace, with a glass-roofed garden courtyard, paintings by Titian, Rembrandt and Sargent, and the empty frames left by the 1990 theft.
View details — Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumAttraction
The historic main square of the French Quarter, framed by St Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, the Presbytère and the red-brick Pontalba Buildings, with artists along its railings.
View details — Jackson Square