City in France, often referred to as the most beautiful city in the world.

A storybook resort in Slovenia's Julian Alps, set around a glacial lake. A small island crowned by a pilgrimage church, the country's only island, sits at its centre, while a medieval castle perches on a cliff above the shore against a backdrop of mountains.

Capital of Italy since unification in 1871 and, far earlier, the centre of the ancient Roman world and the Catholic Church. Astride the Tiber, it encloses Vatican City and endures as a global reference for art and antiquity.

San Francisco is a dynamic hub in the Bay Area of California where a rich heritage of progressive culture, artistic expression, and innovation converge with beautiful landscapes.

The most populous city in the United States, set where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic. A global capital of finance, media, and culture, it spreads across five boroughs and is known for landmarks from the Statue of Liberty to Times Square.

Former imperial capital of Japan for over a thousand years, set in a basin ringed by wooded hills. Some 1,600 Buddhist temples and hundreds of shrines fill the city — among them the gold-leafed Kinkaku-ji — alongside preserved geisha districts and a UNESCO-listed ensemble of monuments.

A city built across more than a hundred islands in a lagoon off the Adriatic, laced by canals and crossed only on foot or by boat. The seat of a once-mighty maritime republic, it centres on St Mark's Square and Basilica, the sweeping Grand Canal, and the marble Rialto Bridge.

South Africa's legislative capital, set beneath the flat-topped Table Mountain where the Atlantic meets the Cape Peninsula. Founded by the Dutch in 1652 as a supply station, it looks out to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and toward the Cape of Good Hope.

A coastal metropolis in Brazil set between forested mountains and the sea on Guanabara Bay, and the country's former capital. The colossal Christ the Redeemer statue looks out from Corcovado over Sugarloaf Mountain and the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, in a city renowned for its exuberant Carnival.

Capital of Austria and, for centuries, the seat of the Habsburg dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire. On the Danube, it stood at the heart of European music and diplomacy and now hosts several United Nations agencies.

Turkey's largest city, straddling the Bosphorus strait where Europe meets Asia. Once Byzantium and then Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, it is layered with monuments — the domed Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, and the labyrinthine Grand Bazaar.

An alpine resort town in the French Alps at the foot of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. A birthplace of modern mountaineering that hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924, it offers the soaring Aiguille du Midi cable car and the Mer de Glace glacier.

Highly developed, ultra-modern island city-state in Southeast Asia, located just north of the equator. It is a vibrant global financial and cultural hub, renowned for its lush green spaces, futuristic architecture and diverse, multi-ethnic society.

Capital of Argentina, founded on the Río de la Plata in February 1536. Long the country’s political, cultural, and economic centre, it is known for tango, historic neighbourhoods, and grand avenues.

Lugano is a sophisticated lakeside enclave where Swiss precision and financial stability seamlessly blend with a relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle and vibrant Italianate culture.

A city on the Ohio River in southwestern Ohio, nicknamed the Queen City. Known for its distinctive chili, riverfront ballparks, and 19th-century heritage, it grew as a major river-trade and brewing center.

A diverse, fast-growing city on the Hudson River in New Jersey, facing Lower Manhattan. Home to a waterfront financial district and views of the Statue of Liberty, it is one of the nation's most diverse cities.

A city in northwest England that was a crucible of the Industrial Revolution, once the world's great cotton-manufacturing capital. Linked to Liverpool by the first inter-city passenger railway, it is known today for its rival football clubs and an influential music scene.

Colonial city on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, founded in 1524 and among the oldest mainland European-founded cities in the Americas. Pastel houses and Baroque churches fill its streets below the Mombacho volcano, with a scatter of small islets just offshore.

Old city in southeastern Turkey, its honey-coloured stone houses cascading down a hillside above the vast Mesopotamian plain. Carved Artuqid-era architecture and a deep Syriac Christian and Muslim heritage layer its terraced, labyrinthine streets.

Capital of Japan since 1868, when the Meiji emperor moved the court from Kyoto to the renamed shogunal city of Edo. Seat of the emperor and the National Diet, it anchors one of the world's largest economies.

Capital of Ireland, founded as a Viking settlement on the River Liffey around the ninth century. Long the centre of English administration on the island, it became the capital of the newly independent Irish state in 1922.

A colourful port city on the Pacific coast of Chile, spilling down steep hills above its bay. A UNESCO World Heritage Site once called the 'Jewel of the Pacific,' it is famed for its maze of alleyways, vintage hillside funiculars, vivid street art, and bohemian, poetic spirit.

Seaside resort town on a barrier island off the southern New Jersey coast, founded in 1879 by Methodist ministers as a dry town, a status it still holds today. Known for its wide beaches, a lively boardwalk of arcades and ice cream shops, and a family-friendly character that sets it apart from rowdier shore towns nearby.