Many travellers seek out landmarks for travel photography or things to see such as architecture, museums and art galleries, botanical gardens, caves, castles, temples, theme parks, cathedrals and historic monuments.

To avoid crowds, go to popular attractions as early in the morning as you can. Well-known attractions like the Roman Forum in Rome or Fushimi Inari Temple in Kyoto will be really crowded in the middle of the day, but if you arrive first thing in the morning when the other tourists are just waking up, you'll have much more peace and quiet while you explore. Not to mention better photo opportunities without other people getting in the way.

See also cultural attractions

• Architecture and novelty architecture
• Archaeological sites and ghost towns
• Lighthouses
• Literary travel and historical travel
• Museums
• Pioneer villages
• Nuclear and military tourism
• Old towns
• Religious sites
• Spas
• UNESCO Creative Cities
• Zoos

See also natural attractions

• Hot springs
• National parks in various regions
• Northern Lights and the Midnight sun
• Solar eclipses
• UNESCO World Heritage List, Geoparks Network and Biosphere Reserves
• Volcanoes
• Waterfalls
• Whale watching and wildlife watching

Records are things to be broken — they're the "firsts" in everything. This guide covers any records that can be tied to a particular place, including geographical records and man-made, developmental records.

For basically everything on Earth, there's a record: there is always going to be one northernmost point of land, one tallest building, and one hottest temperature ever reached. Such record-breaking points are scattered around the earth, and all they need is someone to find them. However, huge numbers of record-breaking locations have been discovered.

Therefore, records — especially world records — are often tourist destinations. This has become particularly true thanks to the Guinness Book of Records.