The travel lockdown doesn’t mean that you can’t explore the sights and sounds of your dreams. Here are our top picks of virtual tours.
Museums
artsandculture.google.com
Tour top museums from around the world such as the Tate Modern (London), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) and the Uffizi Gallery (Florence). Through Google, you can easily wander the galleries of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which houses the world’s largest collection of paintings from the Dutch master. Or see up close the fine marble details of the Pergamon Altar at Pergamonmuseum in Berlin, considered by many to be the eighth wonder of the world.
Animal Wildlife
explore.org
Experience the wonders of nature when you go on a virtual tour of the animal kingdom from your couch. With Explore’s live nature cam network, you can take a vicarious journey and witness hummingbird nests in California or giant pandas playing in lush bamboo sanctuaries in Sichuan, China. You can even “be” at watering holes where elephants, giraffes, gazelles and other species converge to drink and bathe in Central Kenya, Africa.
World Heritage Sites
airpano.com
touristtube.com
Even in lockdown, you can still visit some of the most interesting landmarks around the world – from Angel Falls in Venezuela and the pyramids of Giza, Egypt to the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. With Airpano’s high-resolution aerial 360-degree photographs and videos, you can access exotic destinations such as Petra, an ancient rose-hued temple complex carved into the mountains of Jordan. Multi-service travel platform TouristTube also lets you travel vicariously to a multitude of hot spots, such as the ancient Italian city of Pompei and the Jatiluwih rice terraces in Bali.
Castles
hrad.cz/en
royal.uk
historyview.org
If royal residences are your thing, check out our picks of virtual castle tours. Explore Prague Castle, a thousand-year-old palatial and ecclesiastical residence with Romanesque and Gothic architectural styles; wander the Waterloo Chamber, Crimson Drawing Room, St George’s Hall and other staterooms of the 11th-century Windsor Castle, the oldest and largest occupied castle; and take a jaunt up the ramparts of Mont-Saint-Michel with its medieval towers and fortifications, where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the surrounding marshlands of Normandy.
