What’s on your bucket list? Are you an explorer devoted to uncovering sacred flashbacks to ancient civilizations? Or are you more interested in seeing how landmark tourism affects current cities? If you’re interested in the fusion of both of those ideas, you should add all of these ruins to that bucket list. 

1. Machu Picchu, Peru

We woke up at 3 am to board a bus to take us to a train station that transferred over to another bus that lunged us up a mountain to the passport stamp of Machu Picchu. The perilous trek up to the entrance of the mountain paid off with the instant sight of fog rolling over the ancient ruin. The Incan civilization spans back to the 15th century when locals lived amongst the treacherous rocks and sprawling greenery. The Incans abandoned the ruin in the 16th century following a Spanish conquest, and no one rediscovered the treasure until 1911. Today, Machu Picchu is deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the natural wonders of the world, given its monumental makeup and striking natural beauty. 

2. Sacsayhuaman, Peru

Machu Picchu isn’t the only ruin within Peru. Sacsayhuaman, or the capital of the Incan empire, was a citadel bordering Cusco. The Incan people erected this monument back in the 15th century as a place of worship for the god of thunder, Illapa. Later, the ruins shifted to a means of protecting against Spanish invaders. The fortress was built entirely of stones. The Incan people used stones that fit together like puzzle pieces, so they didn’t need any kind of sealant to keep the building stable. 

3. Stonehenge, England

The question boggling everyone’s mind about Stonehenge is how the monolithic rocks ended up in the middle of a field. How did ancient civilizations move tons of solid rock, without the help of technology or larger vehicles, into the middle of a field in a symmetrical circle? Stonehenge stretches back to the Neolithic ages, meaning 4,000 years ago. Citizens figured out a method to transport these sturdy rocks, and lay them on top of one another, paralleling a successful game of Jenga. While there are other stone circles across the globe, Stonehenge is the sole remaining lintelled (horizontal rock laying across a vertical rock) fixture in the world. 

4. Easter Island, Chile

A row of glorious human sculptures (Moai) line up along a stone path, seeming to guard and protect the area. Beyond the row of men, the heads of these stone creatures find themselves snug in the ground, looking out around their volcanic surroundings. The Moai sculptures symbolized important ancestors tasked with one job: looking over their people and casting a protection spell over them. According to lore, The Moai sculptures are direct relatives of the gods, who bestowed upon them protective powers. 

5. Teotihuacan, Mexico

Transport back to a timeframe between the 1st and 7th centuries (CE) for a look at the bustling MesoAmerican city of Teotihuacan. Sure, Teotihuacan witnessed large numbers of citizens and travelers, but historians have only uncovered so much of the ancient civilization. What they do know is the city experienced high volumes of trade along with intense worship ceremonies and rituals. Hinging on the worship aspect, the locals built two pyramids: the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon. The larger of the two, the Pyramid of the Sun, acted as a holy space for rituals and sacrifices. The smaller Pyramid of the Moon acted as a space to pay respects to the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan, a goddess of water, fertility, and creation. 

A road entitled The Avenue of The Dead creates a 1.5-mile pathway between these pyramids. Local lore claims The Pyramid of the Moon harbors a path to the underworld since it is located at the end of the Avenue of the Dead. 

6. Chichén Itzá, Mexico

Chichén Itzá, the ancient Mayan city, fuses Maya and Toltec elements into the ruin’s appearance. The centerpiece of the Chichen Itzá is a pyramidal building: El Castillo, a sacred building representing a place of worship dedicated to deities present in the Maya and Aztec belief systems. Aside from the pyramid, the cenotes draw attention to the ruin. The cenotes (collapsed sinkholes exposing water) served as grounds for human sacrifices during Maya rituals.  

7. Tulum, Mexico

Tulum is one of the newest cities constructed by the Maya people. Where it now serves as a time capsule back to the 13th and 15th centuries, Tulum used to operate as a trading port. Popular objects of trade included jade and obsidian. The central building within this walled city is El Castillo, or a castle that hangs over the sea’s edge, a perfect outlook spot. Although the castle stayed in place for over a thousand years, the natural weathering from the sea water deteriorated the structure. Because of that, experts suggest prioritizing Tulum before seeing other well-preserved ruins. 

8. Pompeii, Italy

Countless recording artists and visual artists take inspiration from the lost yet well-preserved city of Pompeii. In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted, spewing boiling lava across the nearby town of Pompeii. The ensuing lava mixed with debris destroyed the city, burning thousands of residents and submerging the beloved city below the flaming residue. Almost 2,000 years later, archaeologists stumbled upon crevices nestled into ash resembling human bodies. Since 2000 years does a lot for a decomposing human body, an archaeologist by the name of Giuseppe Fiorelli decided he would restore the space. He pumped the craters full of plaster to semi-recreate the scene of the disaster. 

9. Ellora Caves, India

Over in India, the Ellora Caves wrote a story about their impact on monks between 200 and 1000 CE. Thirty-four carvings etched into the side of a rock doubled as temples. Hindu monks called 17 of the temples home, Buddhist monks prayed in 12 of the sites, and the Jain monks had five assigned to them. Inside each of the sectors, the monks paid respects by carving statues or sculptures of their deities or gods. Religious people continue to visit the sacred space each year. 

10. The Acropolis of Athens, Greece

The Acropolis of Athens acts as an umbrella for four ruins spread throughout the nearby area. The iconic freestanding, pillared building, The Parthenon, stands defiant on the top of Acropolis Hill. Ancient Athenians built the attraction for Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and war. The Propylaea is a Doric fixture symbolizing the separation between the secular cityside and the religious cityside. The Erechtheion molds two temples together, honoring both Athena and Poseidon, the god of the sea. The last building in the Acropolis is the Temple of Athena Nike, the smallest piece of the Acropolis. The marble temple regards Athena as a victorious war goddess. 

11. Great Wall of China, China

Centuries ago, the Great Wall of China functioned as a defense mechanism. Piling through 15 regions of Northern China, the lengthy wall lived up to its name, expanding 13,171 miles. The pathway deterred northern tribes from invading the space, yet the obstacle couldn’t stave off its opponents. Today, over 5,000 miles of the historic barricade remain. Nonetheless, the wall succumbs to human foot traffic, so visiting the site makes for a double-edged trip. 

12. Petra, Jordan

Amidst the spray from the Red Sea and Dead Sea lay a ruin half-constructed, half-carved in Jordan. Petra was a meeting point between Egypt, Arabia (incense), and Syria back when it was considered Syria-Phoenicia. Configured out of red sandstone, the archaeological treat presents a pillared passageway into the Nabataean civilization. Within the red ruins are tombs and temples, perhaps the most notable being The Monastery, a jaw-dropping temple for King Obodas I, a Nabatean king. 

The temple displays a cut-out rectangular doorway in addition to rectangular windows, emphasizing the Nabatean architecture. The climb up to The Monastery reveals a spectacle full of steep red rocks cradled between craggy mountains. Donkeys also make this area home. 

13. Colosseum, Italy

As an effort to decorate Rome with a new kind of entertainment space, Emperor Vespasian instructed the Flavian people to build the elliptical arena. The carpenters of the building fashioned the space in Ancient Roman architecture, complete with columns and arched openings throughout. The largest-standing amphitheater held space for gladiator battles as well as animal sacrifices. Tourists today delight in witnessing the ancient Roman relic that exhibits the strength of that era's architecture. Though some of the colosseum withered away, the base of the monument stays sturdy. 

14. Giza, Egypt

A prideful Sphinx peers out from atop the Giza plateau, a limestone platform home to Egyptian mausoleums turned monuments. The Sphinx, a limestone-husked figure, unveils a human head modeled after the pharaoh Khafre atop a lion’s body. Legends believe the sphinx portrayed the Sun God and symbolized status. Three pyramids exist behind the mighty sphinx, each one dedicated to a different God: Khafre, Khufu, and Menkaure. 

On top of honoring different deities through these spiritual buildings, the pyramids worked as burial grounds. Like other features on this list, the pyramids are not immune to natural weathering. Today’s structures offer but a worn down echo of the original, pristine, gold-topped buildings. 

15. Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus endured plenty transfers of ownership, starting as an ancient Greek settlement, later becoming a branch of Roman government in Asia. During its heyday, the city oversaw trade between the East and the West due to its perch on the Mediterranean Sea. However, I’d consider its involvement in Christianity its top facet. Upon construction, Ephesus worshipped Artemis, the Earth goddess, much to the disdain of Saint Paul and Saint John. Desperate to win their attention, many dwelling in Ephesus converted to Christianity. The ancient Greek Temple of Artemis is the most sought-after destination in today’s version of Ephesus.

16. Angkor Wat, Cambodia

In 1150 CE, the Khmer King Suryavarman II completed the construction of Angkor Wat (the City of Temples), a temple serving Vishnu, the Hindu deity tasked with preservation. The size of the temple quadruples that of the Vatican City, making it the largest religious spectacle ever made. After a few years, the Hindu temple shifted into a Buddhist sanctuary. The sandstone temple system’s design echoes Mount Meru, a home to the Gods encapsulated by mountains and the sea. Five protruding towers allude to Mount Meru’s peaks. The high walls allude to the nearby mountains. The moat stream in front of the temple exemplifies the sea.