We all know that well-known cities like Washington or Rome are built on seven hills. There are all kinds of legends and stories related to their early settlements. But it seems that this geographic characteristic is pretty common in Europe, since there are many more cities covering seven hills….

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Touring the beaches of South America will prove itself to be completely different than anything you’ve experienced anywhere else in the world. The beaches you have access to will all be beautiful and you won’t feel limited based on the hotel you choose to stay at or which island you can afford to fly to.

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In South America you’ll find yourself surrounded by warm waters, sandy beaches, and incredibly friendly people – some of whom may appear to be more scantily clad than others. The energy and culture on these incredible beaches comes not from the amount of money their visitors have, but from the people and cultures themselves.

Looking for a truly laid back experience? Check out some of these incredibly sexy South American beaches.

Ipanema – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Ipanema is an incredibly beautiful beach on Rio de Janeiro. Off the shores of the beach you’ll have stunning views of “Dois Irmaos,” aka the Two Brothers. The beach is incredibly beautiful – as are the sunbathers themselves.

Punta del Este – Uruguay

The beaches off the shores of Punta del Este are incredibly popular between the months of December and March – the peak summer months in South America. What was once a small sandy beach has grown into a bustling summer town complete with high rise hotels and incredible night clubs. Nearby you’ll find a few small fishing towns where those looking to sunbathe with a bit more privacy tend to flock.

Praia do Rosa – Santa Catarina, Brazil

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In the south of Brazil you’ll find Praia do Rosa, a bay beach lined with incredible sand dunes. What makes this beach special? Dozens of famous models find their way to NYC from Brazil, so the odds of seeing some beautiful bodies on the beaches here are pretty high.

Pichilemu – Chile

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Head towards Chile and you’ll find Pichilemu. The beach was first made popular by surfers and water sports enthusiasts. It slowly grew into an energetic destination for young travelers and is now incredibly popular both day and night.

Tayrona – Colombia

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Most tourists flock towards the beaches of Santa Marta in Columbia, but because of that same tourist traffic those beaches can be incredibly crowded and unpleasant. Those who really appreciate the beauty of a natural beach won’t mind taking a 20 mile ride up the coast to Tayrona National Park. There you’ll find undisturbed beaches with smaller crowds and breathtaking natural landscapes.

Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Copacabana is much more crowded than it was when Orson Welles made it popular in the movies but, even still, just hearing the name brings visions of sexy beach goers, blue waters, and warm sands. The beach is bigger than the one at Ipanema, but it’s also more crowded. Despite the crowds, though, you’ll find the people are friendly, energetic, and fun!

Mancora – Peru

The beaches at Mancora are well known amongst surfers because of their incredible waves. The beach is perhaps one of the most accessible in the entire country and is very popular amongst both locals and tourists from around the globe.

Fernando de Noronha – Brazil

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The beaches at Fernando de Noronha don’t exactly fit the mold when it comes to accessibility but once you see the beaches for yourself you’ll understand why. Most of the beaches in the area have been unspoiled by pollution and tourism, mainly because Noronha limits the number of visitors. If you’re lucky enough to make it to one of these islands you’ll have a beach experience you’ll always remember.

Choroni/Puerto Colombia – Venezuela

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Choroni and Puerto Colombia are the best access points to some of the best beaches in all of Venezuela. The beaches are hidden behind Henry Pittier Park where visitors can spend their days sunbathing before heading into town for an evening in the plaza.

Exploring the beaches of South America will give you the opportunity to see parts of the world you might not have ever considered while at the same time soaking in the sun and meeting new people. Work at least one or two of these beaches into your upcoming itineraries. You won’t regret the experience or the scenery!

Minutes away from the Great Barrier reef and close to the rainforests at the Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation, for the green-minded, Port Douglas is among the best places to visit on a first trip to Australia.

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Located on the coast of Queensland and just 70km North of…

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A road trip on the Pacific coast of California is the experience of a lifetime and ranks as one of the most indelible vacations one can have in America. The scenery is on par with the best on the continent and clement conditions between San Francisco and San Diego make the state ideal for a convertible cruise or more active forms of recreation. So strap on your shades and surf board and check out the best California beach towns to explore this summer.

Corona del Mar

Technically a neighborhood of Newport Beach, Corona del Mar contains some beautiful beaches on the edge of the San Joaquin Hills, lovely, older homes along the Pacific Coast Highway and an upscale mall.

Huntington Beach

With almost 200,000 people, Huntington Beach is a large community in Orange County. Almost 14 km of superb beachfront provides world class conditions for surfing, with numerous festivals throughout the summer months.

San Clemente

Another Orange County community with strong roots in surfing culture, San Clemente has over 65,000 people and a notable former resident in the late President Richard M. Nixon, who owned a grand coastal estate known as the “Western White House”.

Long Beach

With half a million people in Los Angeles County, Long Beach is more city than town and familiar to Snoop Dogg fans worldwide. Aside from the native rap star, “LBC” has museums, terrific recreation and of course, a great beach.

Oceanside

A veritable city of 173,000 people in San Diego County, Oceanside has been a boom town since 1970. Location plays a major role in the city’s appeal, with a fabulous beachfront, pier and summer festivals.

Encinitas

About 150 km south of Los Angeles, Encinitas is a superlative coastal town of 58,000 people. The community is home to many celebs from various walks of life, from Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss to Ravi Shankar.

Laguna Beach

Known primarily as a community of artists and location for a number of films and television shows, Laguna has some of the most attractive beaches in the entire state of California.

La Jolla

La Jolla, a satellite community of San Diego, is one of the most idyllic places in all of California. The gorgeous scenery in and around the affluent town of over 40,000 features bluffs, canyons and gorgeous coastline. No wonder why so many household name celebs call La Jolla home.

Newport Beach

The Orange County community of Newport Beach is one of the wealthier in America, with beautiful oceanside villas up and down the coast. The town contains many great points of interest, of the natural and cultural variety.

Carlsbad

Another expensive zip code worth a visit, Carlsbad is in San Diego County and has a resident population over 90,000. Small enough to qualify as sleepy but large enough to contain many terrific attractions and some great beach action.

Ventura

Ventura’s 100,000 inhabitants are surfer-mad, as the town has some of the best wave conditions for the sport in California. Other points of interest include Channel Islands National Park and the historic Majestic Ventura Theater.

Santa Monica

Synonymous with posh, oceanfront real estate, Santa Monica has a beautiful pier and a downtown core that recently underwent a successful revamp in order to attract more visitors.

Malibu

What can you say about Malibu? The word alone conjures so many iconic visions of California. Even if the reality fails to live up to the impossible hype, no Pacific Coast road trip is complete without a visit to the 33.5 km strip of superb beachfront the community inhabits.

Santa Barbara

The main city of Santa Barbara County is a magnet for tourists, who come for postcard-perfect geography, heavenly Mediterranean weather and tidy Spanish architecture.

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A combination of mysterious rain forests, the amazing Great Barrier and featuring a beautiful beach, Palm Cove is definitely one of the most amazing destinations in Australia. Its breathtaking sights, countless attractions and tropical climate draw in vacationers from not just Australia, but all…

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We’re not sure why, but many of the lists of world wonders seem to be limited to structures and anomalies found above the ground. That’s probably why, back in 1989, CEDAM International decided to write up their own list comprised of underwater wonders.

The group, which is actually a non-profit to benefit divers who dedicate their time and skills to preserve and research the vast ocean, set out to find the seven most incredible underwater areas on earth. These are the choices they ultimately made.

7. Palau

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Formally referred to as the Republic of Palau, Palau is an island nation found approximately 500 miles away from the Philippines and is one of the smallest nations in the world. The reefs surrounding each of the islands are largely unexplored and house a myriad of incredible marine life species.

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Palau, also sometimes called Belau, is a hot destination for divers. If you have the opportunity to visit you’ll find yourself face to face with amazing reef sharks, jellyfish, barracuda, and more. The coral is amongst the most beautiful and colorful in the underwater world.

6. Belize Barrier Reef

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About 1,000 feet off the shores of Belize you’ll find the Belize Barrier Reef. The 186 mile long stretch of reef is actually only a portion of the even larger Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which stretches from Cancun all the way to Guatemala’s River Maya. As of today, only 10% of the enormous reef has been researched and documented.

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The Belize Barrier Reef is second in the world only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and is another incredible and highly sought after destination for divers from all around the world. The reef is home to more than 70 species of hard coral, 30 species of soft coral, more than 500 species of fish, and hundreds of additional marine life species classified as invertebrate.

5. Northern Red Sea

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Between Africa and Asia you’ll find a small inlet attached to the Indian Ocean now known as the Red Sea. The entire surface of the Red Sea spreads out over 169,000 square miles and consists of both deep trenches and shallow shelves.

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On these shallow shelves you’ll find a myriad of incredible invertebrate species, soft and hard corals, and other marine wildlife. There are no other tropical seas in the world any further north than the Red Sea.

4. Deep-Sea Vents

A deep-sea vent, also known as a hydrothermal vent, is a place in the surface in the earth where unusually heated water can be found. Most are found in areas where there are active volcanoes or ocean basins. Above ground you can find hydrothermal vents in places such as Yellowstone National Park.

When these vents are found in the sea they are also known as black smokers. The fluids in these vents have special chemical make-ups that support the life of several unique organisms including, but not limited to, clams, shrimp, and giant tube worms. Deep-Sea vents have been found around the Kermadec Arc in New Zealand, and along the Galapagos Rift in the East Pacific.

3. Galapagos Islands

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The Galapagos Islands can be found in the Pacific Ocean west of Ecuador and formally form the Galapagos Province. The islands themselves can all be found near the equator and each one is considered to be volcanic.

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A number of incredible wildlife species can be found on these islands, including the Galapagos land iguana, the marine iguana, the Galapagos green turtle, the flightless cormorant, and many more. Sadly, human beings have introduced several other species to the islands which now threaten the species that once thrived there naturally without fear of predators.

2. Lake Baikal

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Located in southern Siberia, the Russian Lake Baikal is commonly referred to as “the Blue Eye of Siberia.” Combine the water found in all of the Great Lakes in North America and you still won’t match the size of this incredible body of water.

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Believe it or not, Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, but it is not the largest. That honor is held by the Caspian Sea. Over 1,700 species of marine and plant life call Lake Baikal home and many of them are indigenous to the region.

1. Great Barrier Reef

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The Great Barrier Reef is well known for being the single largest system of coral reefs in the world. Located off of the coast of Queensland in Australia, the 1,600 mile reef is so large it can be seen from outer space.

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The entire reef is comprised of almost 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is responsible for protecting much of the reef, which scientists fear may soon begin to suffer immensely from fishing, tourism, and global warming.

The ocean world is deep and mysterious but, fortunately, it’s something we’re still able to explore. We hope you’ll be able to visit one of these incredible places one day – whether you’re a diver or not.

Though number ten in city population in the entire European Union, Vienna probably ranks much higher when it comes to tourist appeal, quality of civic life and historic attractions. The magnificent, ?ber-photogenic capital of Austria is beyond hyperbole, though we will unload a flurry of adjectives to sum up the city.

Home to Baroque and Art Nouveau palaces, modern masterpieces that house international organizations and innovative composites of old and new, Vienna is gorgeous to look at, point blank. If green space and recreation is up your alley, you can hardly improve upon what a city of Vienna’s size provides residents and visitors alike. No wonder then, that the term “livable” is so often associated with the city.

If you do go to Vienna, be sure to include these ten must-see attractions.

10. The Belvedere

A plush Baroque design built throughout the early 18th century for Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Belvedere contains all the fine ornamental details you would expect from a palace so grand. Dramatic halls, works of art, gardens and even a museum are just some of the sights in store for visitors.

9. The Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna

Open since 1365, the University of Vienna is to say the least, quite historic. With over 72,000 students, business is still good at the academic institution. The university’s botanical garden, while not as old, is one of the best in Europe.

8. The Leopold Museum

The Museumsquartier of Vienna is superbly laid out for lovers of culture. Among the gems in store is the Leopold Museum, with a fabulous collection of Austrian art from the first half of the 20th century that features such native masters as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.

7. The Kunsthistorisches Museum

Over 600,000 people pass through the Kunsthistorisches Museum every year. The fine arts and decorative arts museum is world class, with iconic works by Raphael, Vermeer, Brueghel, Rubens and Vel?zquez, among others.

6. MUMOK

The MUMOK, or “Museum MOderner Kunst”, is a recent incarnation in a long-line of hyper-modern museums to hit towns all over Europe. The difference though is that this brilliant facility actually has brilliant art to look at on the inside. Over 7,000 works in the permanent collection to be semi-precise, from Warhol to Picasso, Jasper Johns to Lichtenstein.

5. St. Stephen’s Cathedral

Vienna’s cityscape is replete with eccelsiastical masterpieces but St. Stephen’s Cathedral may be the one real must-see of the bunch. The Gothic Romanesque cathedral sits on the traces of a church built in the early 12th century and in addition to peerless physical beauty, has been at the heart of some of the most important events in Austria’s history. As such, St. Stephen’s is one of the few landmarks in Vienna that one can characterize as a genuine symbol of the city and indeed, the nation.

4. The Rathaus

The Rathaus is in effect, the city hall of Vienna. The Neo-Gothic wonder is no ordinary city hall however, not by most standards anyway. From the iconic tower to the Rathauspark, not to mention splendid interior, the landmark is terrific.

3. Hofburg Imperial Palace

The indelible home of the Hapsburg dynasty, the Hofburg was for a time, the most formidable seat of power in the world. The Imperial Palace certainly bears all the trademarks of such a lofty title, with interior residences, museums, a grand library, chapels and a national theatre all available to see on tour. Most famously, the palace was the birthplace of Marie Antoinette.

2. Sch?nbrunn Palace and Gardens

Yet another remarkable palace in Vienna, the Sch?nbrunn is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and peerless cultural symbol of Austria. The international body’s justification to include the complex as a heritage site rests on the Sch?nbrunn’s value as a peerless Gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art”. Indeed, as a “well preserved example of the Baroque princely residential ensemble”, as UNESCO puts it, you can’t get any better. The landmarks on site are ceaseless, from the world’s oldest zoo, the Tiergarten, to the vast sculpture garden.

1. Vienna State Opera House

Opera and Vienna go hand in hand and as a result, a trip to the city opera house is a must. The facility dates back to the mid-19th century and the opera company’s season is perenially sold out. All in all, performances embody the epitome of the genre and as such, a visit to Vienna would be totally incomplete without a night at the opera.

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