Top Ten Natural Wonders
Made by the earth, not by anyone. Ranked by what they actually do to a person standing in front of them.
The top 10 natural wonders are Iguazu Falls, Perito Moreno Glacier, Grand Canyon, then Mount Everest, Victoria Falls, Great Barrier Reef, Pamukkale and Hierapolis, Giant's Causeway, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Lake Louise. They are ranked by what they do to a person standing in front of them, how reachable they are, and whether people come away glad they went.
Click on the name of each Wonder for more detailed information
- 1
Iguazu Falls
Argentina · South AmericaYou stand on walkways directly above roaring water that completely surrounds you and soaks you with spray.
Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world.
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- 2
Perito Moreno Glacier
Argentina · South AmericaYou can easily walk right up to the massive blue ice wall and hear it constantly cracking.
The Perito Moreno (Spanish: Glaciar Perito Moreno), Francisco Gormaz or Bismarck Glacier is a glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, and originated in the Magallanes Region in Chile, being also part of the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia.
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- 3
Grand Canyon
United States · North AmericaThe sudden, massive drop at the rim completely breaks your sense of scale in a way photos cannot.
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).
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- 4
Mount Everest
Nepal · AsiaEven from base camp the mountain fills the sky, and seeing the plume blow off the summit makes every photo of it feel small.
Mount Everest (known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā, in Sherpa as Chamolangma, and in Tibetan as Jomolangma/Čhomolangma is the highest mountain on Earth above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China-Nepal border at its summit.
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- 5
Victoria Falls
Zambia · AfricaThe massive curtain of falling water creates a heavy mist that rains upward and drenches you completely.
Victoria Falls (Lozi: Mosi-oa-Tunya, "Thundering Smoke/Smoke that Rises"; Tonga: Shungu Namutitima, "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River, located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the world's largest waterfalls, with a width of 1,708 m (5,604 ft).
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- 6
Great Barrier Reef
Australia · OceaniaPut your face in the water and the reef opens up in more colour and fish than you can take in at once.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 mi2). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
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- 7
Pamukkale and Hierapolis
Turkey · Middle EastWalking barefoot over the white terraces with warm water around your ankles feels like standing on another planet.
Pamukkale, (Turkish pronunciation: [pa.mukˈka.le]) meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing of thermal spring water.
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- 8
Giant's Causeway
United Kingdom · EuropeThousands of stone columns step down into the sea so neatly that it is hard to believe nobody built them.
The Giant's Causeway (Irish: Clochán an Aifir or Clochán na bhFomhórach) is an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province active in the region during the Paleogene period. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.
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- 9
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
China · AsiaThe sandstone pillars rise straight out of the mist, and from the walkways you look across at forests growing on their tops.
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (Chinese: 湖南张家界国家森林公园; pinyin: Húnán Zhāngjiājiè Guójiā Sēnlín Gōngyuán; lit. 'Hunan Zhangjiajie National Forest Park') is a national forest park located in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China.
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- 10
Lake Louise
Canada · North AmericaThe water is a milky turquoise under a glacier, and on a still morning the mountains sit upside down on the surface.
Lake Louise (named Ho-run-num-nay (Lake of the Little Fishes) by the Stoney Nakoda First Nations people) is a glacial lake within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Situated 11 km (6.8 mi) east of the border with British Columbia, Lake Louise is located 5 km (3.1 mi) west of the community of Lake Louise and the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1).
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Questions people ask
What is the number one of the natural wonders?
Iguazu Falls in Argentina. You stand on walkways directly above roaring water that completely surrounds you and soaks you with spray.
How many natural wonders are there on this list?
Ten are ranked, and 29 more are listed below them. They sit across 9 countries.
How were these natural wonders ranked?
On three things together: how much each one does to a person standing in front of it, whether an ordinary person can realistically get there, and whether people come away glad they went. Not on how famous they are.
When is the best time to visit the natural wonders?
Each one has its own months, shown against it in the list. The same place is not the same place in July and January, so the month matters as much as the choice.
The rest of the natural wonders
Worth the trip, just outside the ten
