
Egypt: The Sites Are Spread Along One River
Egypt's monuments follow the Nile for 900 kilometres, which makes the transport plan the itinerary.

Egypt's monuments follow the Nile for 900 kilometres, which makes the transport plan the itinerary.

Dubai sells its skyline and keeps a nineteenth-century trading port two miles away that almost no visitor finds.

Barcelona's Modernisme is not one architect, and the buildings by the others are cheaper, emptier and frequently better.

Amsterdam has two attractions that sell out further ahead than almost anything in Europe, and the rest of the city needs nothing.

Istanbul's famous sights cluster in one square kilometre, and almost everything worth seeing beyond them is on the other side of the water.

London's famous buildings are mostly newer than they look, and the reasons for that are the interesting part.

Paris's landmarks make more sense once you know what they were built for, and several were built for reasons that surprise people.

Tokyo is a collection of cities rather than one, and choosing districts by what you want beats working through a sights list.

Rome's major sites have predictable rhythms, and arriving at the right hour changes them more than any ticket does.

Some London attractions justify their price several times over and some are famous for being famous.

Paris has a second tier of attractions that would headline most cities and are almost empty because of what stands next to them.

New York sells four paid views of itself at similar prices, and they show genuinely different cities.

Rome is three distinct cities stacked on the same ground, and separating them is the clearest way to plan a visit.

London's national museums are free, world-class and largely uncrowded compared to their ticketed equivalents elsewhere.

Paris's major sights cluster geographically, and visiting them in the order the map suggests saves hours of crossing the city.