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Open Travel Guide

History guides

History guides by destination

Destination guides to the sites, museums and layers of the past that explain how each place came to look as it does.

Most places are more legible once you know the sequence of who built what and why. A single well-chosen museum early in a stay usually does more for this than a long list of monuments, because it supplies the chronology that everything else hangs on. From there the built environment starts to answer questions: why a street plan changes at a particular line, why one quarter is older than another, why a church sits on foundations that predate it.

Historic sites reward slower visits than their popularity suggests, and they are unevenly interpreted. Some have clear signage in several languages; others assume knowledge that visitors do not have, and a guide or a good audio tour makes the difference between a ruin and a place. Where a site is contested, whether a battlefield, a colonial building, a site of atrocity or a monument that has been removed or renamed, the interpretation on offer is itself part of the history, and reading more than one account before visiting is worthwhile.

Practically, archaeological sites often keep restricted hours, close for excavation seasons, and offer little shade or water. Access to some interiors is by timed ticket or limited daily numbers to protect fragile surfaces, and rules on photography vary. Small municipal museums may open only on certain days or seasonally.

History guides by destination

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua And Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts And Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Sao Tome And Principe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Taiwan

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor Leste

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad And Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe