Though they have plenty of imitators, some landmarks stand in a category of their own. There’s only one true Eiffel Tower (sorry, Paris, Tennessee — yours doesn’t count), one Stonehenge (although Nebraska’s take, called Carhenge, is worth checking out), and one Great Pyramid (nice try, Memphis). But maybe you’ve already visited these legendary landmarks or are just interested in a less stressful, less crowded experience. Luckily, there are many appealing alternatives out there. Here are five of our favorite attractions which — while a little less famous than their counterparts — are well worth visiting in their own right.

Choquequirao – Peru 

Move over, Machu Picchu: The Incan ruins at this site high in the Andes mountains are three times larger than those at its much more famous cousin. Yes, Choquequirao — located around 30 miles away from Machu Picchu — is more difficult to access. But although the trek is longer and more physically demanding, Choquequirao (with a name meaning “Cradle of Gold”) receives fewer than 10,000 visitors a year. In contrast, Machu Picchu sees more than 1.5 million. 

Archaeologists only began excavating Choquequirao in the 1970s, and so far, only about a third of the site has been exposed. A long-promised cable car will eventually make Choquequirao more accessible and drastically increase the number of tourists — so channel your inner Indiana Jones and see it while it’s still untouched.

Herculaneum – Italy

Like Pompeii, this ancient Roman town near modern-day Naples is located in the Campania region of Italy and was likewise decimated by the catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Although both cities were destroyed, working-class Pompeii was blanketed in a relatively soft and shallow layer of ash and pumice, whereas the wealthy seaside resort of Herculaneum was preserved under 65 feet. This included a hard top layer that kept oxygen out, preserving wooden staircases, doors, and other organic materials. Pompeii’s earlier excavation led to its greater fame — and today is visited by around 3 million tourists a year. Modest Herculaneum, on the other hand, sees a mere 300,000 visitors on average.

Frenchmen Street – New Orleans, Louisiana

Anyone who’s ever heard of New Orleans is probably familiar with Bourbon Street. The street in the city’s French Quarter is rightly famous for its party atmosphere (particularly during Mardi Gras), restaurants and music venues, and historic architecture with wrought iron balconies. But locals and in-the-know visitors avoid the often out-of-control revelers on the city’s most famous street and head to Frenchmen Street instead. Once a hidden gem known mostly to residents, this street in the Seventh Ward has a short stretch in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood offering some of the best music New Orleans has to offer. At the southern end of Frenchmen Street, you’ll find the New Orleans Jazz Musuem.

Bruges – Belgium

If you’re looking for charming canals and medieval architecture with fewer crowds, this city in northwest Belgium is the place for you. No, it’s not Venice — nor does it need to be. Swans float on peaceful waterways, while sunny flower-bedecked squares sport grand churches, major museums, and restaurants offering the city’s famed chocolates, frites, and Belgian beers. If you still have your heart set on Venice, we recommend at least checking out some of the less popular spots nearby: Take the ferry to Chioggia, an authentic (and canal-crossed) Italian fishing village only 15 miles from the city.

Edge – New York, New York

If you’ve admired the city’s iconic skyline from atop the Empire State Building or sipped a sunset martini from the late, great bar at 30 Rock’s Rainbow Room, you’ve definitely experienced classic New York City views. For something completely different but no less breathtaking, head west to Hudson Yards, a more recent addition to Manhattan’s melting pot of neighborhoods. The high-end 28-acre development — located between Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea on the banks of the Hudson River — is where you’ll find Edge. Suspended 100 stories above the city, it’s the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere. The glass floor and angled glass walls allow visitors to feel that they’re actually floating above Manhattan. Real daredevils can buy a ticket for City Climb, strap on a harness, and scale up the side of the building. 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has earmarked more than 1,100 cultural and natural wonders as World Heritage Sites worthy of preservation. You’ve surely heard of landmarks like Stonehenge or Machu Picchu, but what about the lesser-known wonders closer to home? From a prehistoric site in Illinois once home to 20,000 people to the world’s largest non-polar ice field, check out these eight underrated UNESCO World Heritage Sites to visit in the U.S.

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park – Montana

Situated on the border of Montana and Alberta is the world’s first international peace park, commemorating the peaceful relationship between the U.S. and Canada. This UNESCO site — consisting of Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park and Montana’s Glacier National Park — was chosen for its ecological significance. In addition to a landscape that includes glaciers, prairie, and alpine forests, the park also features an abundance of distinctive flora and fauna. While most visitors are keen to catch a glimpse of the larger mammals — elk, grizzlies, and bighorn sheep, for example — there is also a rich variety of smaller creatures. Your chances of seeing the tiny pygmy shrew might be slim (it’s the size of a dime), but beavers, turtles, snakes, frogs, and several hundred bird species share this habitat with colorful lichens, ferns, and wildflowers.

Cahokia Mounds – Illinois

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, located about 13 miles from St. Louis, was once the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. At its peak around 1150 CE, the population at the settlement site was about 20,000 people, larger than the city of London at the time. According to UNESCO, it is a “pre-eminent example of the cultural, religious, and economic center of Mississippian culture.” The biggest mound is Monks Mound, which is also the largest prehistoric earthen structure in the Americas. It stands about 100 feet tall and covers nearly 15 acres. The onsite interpretive center offers a look at what life would have been like in the Cahokia Mounds settlement.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument – Hawaii

Papahānaumokuākea is the only mixed heritage site in the United States, meaning that UNESCO recognizes it for both cultural and natural purposes. This collection of islands and atolls lies 155 miles northwest of the main Hawaiian islands and covers almost 140,000 square miles of ocean habitat. Papahānaumokuākea is home to one of the deepest coral reefs in the world and has an abundance of endangered wildlife, such as Hawaiian monk seals and black-footed albatrosses. The site is also significant to Hawaiian culture: This is where the Hawaiian people believe that life originated and where spirits return after death. At least two of the islands contain evidence of ancient human settlements.

Chaco Culture Park – New Mexico

This UNESCO site was a ceremonial and political hub for the Pueblo peoples of the Four Corners, from approximately 850 to 1250 CE. Chaco is of particular note for its distinctive architecture and the complexity of its buildings. That such buildings were constructed in the harsh desert climate is even more impressive. Visitors can still trace their way through the carefully engineered roads, which linked each site. From studying the remains at Chaco, archaeologists have learned much about the advanced social structure of Chaco culture. In 2013, that the Chaco Culture National Historical Park was also designated an International Dark Sky Park, meaning it is an ideal spot to camp out and enjoy a view of the stars undisturbed by urban light pollution.

La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site – Puerto Rico

La Fortaleza, now known as Santa Catalina Palace, is the home of the governor of Puerto Rico. It was originally built in 1540 as a fortress to protect the Spanish settlers of the small Caribbean island against raids from the local Indigenous population. Ironically, La Fortaleza was seized twice in its history, by the English in 1598, and by the Dutch in 1625. Through the centuries, additional fortified structures were added, and in 1983, UNESCO chose to recognize the site for its fantastic display of European military architecture, which has been adapted to its island location. A number of different styles — Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment — all chart the history of the nations that sought and ultimately failed to control Puerto Rico.

Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point – Louisiana

The name Poverty Point may come from a nearby 19th-century plantation, but the impressive series of monumental mounds in Louisiana date much further back. The five giant mounds and series of semi-elliptical ridges were constructed between 1700 and 1100 BCE. Archaeologists believe that the hunter-gatherer peoples used this area as a settlement but also as a ceremonial center. At one time, it was part of a vast trade network that expanded for hundreds of miles. Whereas many such sites have been redeveloped or heavily excavated, less than 1% of the land at Poverty Point has been disturbed, allowing visitors to appreciate its size and the work that went into building it.

Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay – Alaska

Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay National Parks combine with Canada’s Kluane National Park and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park to form a single UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering almost 38,000 square miles. The largest non-polar ice field in the world lies within the site’s borders, as do vast expanses of untouched forest, rugged mountains, and glaciers. Unsurprisingly, this wild land is a habitat for a variety of animal life, including caribou, grizzlies, mountain goats, and polar bears. Along the coast, visitors might spy humpback whales, porpoises, otters, and seals. Park management at both Glacier Bay and Wrangell-St. Elias work in partnership with local tribal management to protect both the natural and cultural heritage of the land and its people.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park – Hawaii

Hawaii’s second UNESCO World Heritage Site contains two of the world’s most active volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Their level of activity has created an ever-changing landscape that also acts as a haven for rare birds, which has led to the park’s International Biosphere Reserve designation. Access to the park changes according to the local volcanic activity, but during an eruption, visitors often flock to lookout points where they can see fiery magma colliding with the ocean water from a safe distance. Visiting the park during quieter times affords more opportunities for hiking and driving the backtrails, and to see the spectacular geological formations created by millennia of activity.

Australia might be known for the coastal charm of its major cities and small surf towns, but Coober Pedy decidedly bucks that trend. At first glance, this town — nestled in the sun-scorched expanse of the South Australian Outback — isn’t even entirely visible, giving new meaning to the term “hidden gem.” That’s because in Coober Pedy, the houses are built underground, carved into the soft sandstone that seems to stretch as far as the dry desert landscape. Below, explore the fascinating history behind this subterranean marvel that showcases Australia’s diversity beyond its most popular tourist destinations. 

A Gem of a Town

The first thing you’ll notice about Coober Pedy is its striking geographic isolation. Located in the middle of the South Australian desert, the town is about 500 miles from the next nearest major city center, with Alice Springs to the north and Adelaide to the south. 

Aboriginal peoples inhabited this land for thousands of years before Scottish explorer John McDouall Stuart arrived in 1858. The town’s modern history, however, only traces back to the early 20th century, when opal was discovered on the site. A 14-year-old named Will Hutchison stumbled upon the precious gemstones in 1915 while accompanying his father on an unsuccessful gold prospecting trip through the harsh Outback landscape. 

According to local history, some of the earliest people to move to the burgeoning community were soldiers returning from the trenches of World War I, bringing with them their knowledge of surviving in underground dugouts. Five years after the first opal discovery, a few hundred miners had moved in. By 1920, the town was officially named Coober Pedy, an Aboriginal term loosely meaning “white man in a hole.”

Underground Relief

It isn’t just opal mines that set Coober Pedy apart. The arid landscape is rocky and treeless, and its climate is unforgiving. On a summer day, temperatures can regularly soar to almost 130 degrees Fahrenheit — so hot that locals have claimed to see birds falling from the sky. Miners quickly adapted to the harsh conditions, seeking relief by excavating homes, churches, taverns, and even hair salons into the area’s soft sandstone hillsides. In the early days, this was done with little more than picks and shovels.

Underground, the temperatures are comfortable through the brutal summers and the cold winters, ranging from 66 to 77 degrees day and night throughout the year. The town estimates that about 50% of its 2,500-person population currently lives underground. The homes range from modest to mansion-esque in size, multigenerational in familial makeup and span more than 4,000 square feet underground. The rooms and corridors are often rounded at the ceiling instead of squared off, but otherwise have all the same comforts of a “normal” house: a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms.

Luckily, underground moisture isn’t a problem due to Australia’s status as the driest inhabited continent on Earth. Ventilation systems are simple for the dugouts, often consisting of just one oxygen shaft. The tops of these vents poke up out of the surface of the earth everywhere around Coober Pedy, and are sometimes the first sign of a dwelling underfoot. 

The Opal Capital of the World

Millions of years ago, this region was underwater. As the water receded, silica, a common mineral, descended with the lowering water tables and was deposited throughout the earth’s faults and fractures. In the time since, the silica solidified into mesmerizingly colorful opals, one of the rarest gemstones in the world due to the uncommon natural processes that create it. 

Coober Pedy’s opal mining industry has been a cornerstone of its economy, attracting miners from around the globe in pursuit of the iridescent gemstones and the lifestyle that mining success can provide. Mining numbers fluctuate, like every natural-resource rich area that experiences cycles of boom and bust. Today, Coober Pedy has about 100 active miners, and says it produces 85% of the world’s supply of opals, together with nearby Andamooka and Mintabie. 

Ongoing Adaptability

Living in such an arid, unforgiving environment necessitates innovative solutions — a task that, fortunately, the residents of Coober Pedy have met. Recently implemented sustainable practices include a new renewable energy plant in town. Water, however, remains a finite resource — challenges facing residents include the lack of a large natural reservoir, minimal rainfall to supplement it, and aging infrastructure. But Coober Pedy is also establishing itself as a major regional service center for the South Australian Outback, offering essential medical, educational, and leisure services in the area — and reasserting its history as a tiny town that can take care of itself. 

How to Visit This Tucked-Away Town

Travel options to Coober Pedy are, unsurprisingly, not as plentiful as Australia’s major cities, but with advance planning and a little patience, a trip to Australia’s final frontier is definitely possible — and will certainly be memorable.

There is indeed an airport in Coober Pedy, and regional airline Rex flies direct to and from Adelaide on certain days of the week. Charter flights are also available. Traveling to Coober Pedy by bus is another option, with daily trips from both Adelaide (about 11 hours) and Alice Springs (about eight hours). The scenic Ghan train has a Coober Pedy stop, but it’s about 25 miles outside of the town proper, and transportation the rest of the way must be arranged individually. There are no taxi services nor shuttle buses available in town, so renting a car is your best option when traveling to Coober Pedy. 

Given the Outback’s desert climate, make sure you check the seasonal forecast and plan accordingly. January and February are the hottest months, while July tends to be the coldest month, with temperatures dropping to the freezing mark. The temperatures are more regulated if you’re staying in one of the town’s underground hotels, such as the Comfort Inn Coober Pedy. If you decide to experience Outback camping or one of the town’s charming caravan sites, take weather into account.

Coober Pedy offers several interesting tourist sites throughout the town. Faye’s Historic Underground Home museum offers an inside look at an authentic dugout home experience, and there are several opal mine tours and experiences — including the opportunity to dig for your own opal — that are definite must-sees. If you’ve rented a car, make sure to schedule in a 30-minute drive to the Kanku-Breakaways Conservation Park, where colorful sandstone hills light up the landscape (try to see it at sunset). And finally, the surreal Moon Plain expanse is sure to transport you to an otherworldly experience.