"Wonder meets wanderlust in an extraordinary new travel book. Created by the founders of AtlasObscura.com, the vibrant online destination and community with over 3 million visitors a month, Atlas Obscura is the bucket-list guide to over 700 of the most unusual, curious, bizarre, and mysterious places on earth" --

Discover wonder."A wanderlust-whetting cabinet of curiosities on paper."- New York TimesInspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura is a phenomenon of a travel book that shot to the top of bestseller lists when it was first published and changed the way we think about the world, expanding our sense of how strange and marvellous it really is.This second edition takes readers to even more curious and unusual destinations, with more than 100 new places, dozens and dozens of new photographs, and two very special features: twelve city guides, covering Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Cairo, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Moscow, New York City, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Plus a foldout map with a dream itinerary for the ultimate around-the-world road trip.More a cabinet of curiosities than traditional guidebook, Atlas Obscura revels in the unexpected, the overlooked, the bizarre, and the mysterious. Here are natural wonders, like the dazzling glow-worm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can sit and drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M. C. Escher-like stepwells in India.Mind-boggling events, like the Baby-Jumping Festival in Spain-and no, it's not the babies doing the jumping, but masked men dressed as devils who vault over rows of squirming infants. Every page gets to the very core of why humans want to travel in the first place: to be delighted and disoriented, uprooted from the familiar and amazed by the new. With its compelling descriptions, hundreds of photographs, surprising charts, maps for every region of the world, and new city guides, it is a book you can open anywhere and be transported.But proceed with caution: It's almost impossible not to turn to the next entry, and the next, and the next.

“The Second Edition of Atlas Obscura is a hefty book but one that the world traveler in your life will love. There are hidden gems with over 100 more places added from the original. Travel through Budapest, Moscow, Tokyo, and more with the turn of the page and showcase all the curiosities this world holds.” — The Daily Beast

“Beholding hundreds of off-the-beaten-path gems, this book is a treasure chest of wanderlust where readers are transported to places they’re certain to have never encountered.” — Marie Claire

“The second edition of “Atlas Obscura” is a gift so enthralling that it may draw the recipient into a kind of extended trance. Crammed fore-to-aft with “the world’s hidden wonders,” this collaboration by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton features mesmerizing photos, maps, drawings, info and addresses. On one page there’s a Thai monk standing in saffron serenity in a village temple built of brown and green beer bottles; on another a bust of Vladimir Lenin, erected in 1958 by Soviet scientists who made it to Antarctica’s “Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.” If you can get there (the authors have advice about that), you may find, depending on the weather, only the top of the tyrant’s head poking from the snow.”  — Wall Street Journal

"Satisfy your wanderlust and plan your next travel adventure with the help of this brilliantly illustrated guide." —Car and Driver Magazine

Vorwort
The bestselling book that celebrates wonder all around the world and in our backyards, now in an updated second edition with more than 120 brand-new destinations to explore, new city guides, and a full-colour gatefold map.

Autorentext

Joshua Foer is the cofounder and chairman of Atlas Obscura. He is also the author of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, a bestseller published in 33 languages, and a forthcoming book about the world's last hunter-gatherers.

**Ella Morton **is a New Zealand-born, Australia-raised, Brooklyn-based writer, focusing on overlooked aspects of history and culture. After covering consumer technology at CNET she hosted Rocketboom NYC, a web show about New York’s quirkier people and places. Her most popular interview was a chat with Cookie Monster on the set of Sesame Street. Ella was associate editor at AtlasObscura.com, where she wrote about such topics as tobacco smoke enemas, Victorian streaming music services, and the etiquette of marrying a ghost.

Dylan Thuras is the cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura. He is also the coauthor of The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid. 

Inhalt
CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION ... ix

EUROPE

Great Britain and Ireland . . .  2
ENGLAND / IRELAND / NORTHERN IRELAND / SCOTLAND

Western Europe . . .  22
AUSTRIA / BELGIUM / FRANCE / GERMANY / GREECE / CYPRUS / ITALY / NETHERLANDS / PORTUGAL / SPAIN / SWITZERLAND

Eastern Europe . . . 74
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA / BULGARIA / CROATIA / CZECHIA / ESTONIA / HUNGARY / LATVIA / LITHUANIA / MACEDONIA / POLAND / ROMANIA / RUSSIA / SERBIA / SLOVAKIA / UKRAINE

Scandinavia . . . 99
DENMARK / FINLAND / ICELAND / NORWAY / SWEDEN 

ASIA

The Middle East . . . 114
IRAN / IRAQ / ISRAEL / PALESTINE / LEBANON / OMAN / QATAR / SAUDIA ARABIA / SYRIA / UNITED ARAB EMIRATES / YEMEN

South and Central Asia . . . 125
AFGHANISTAN / BANGLADESH / BHUTAN / INDIA / KAZAKHSTAN / KYRGYZSTAN / NEPAL / PAKISTAN / SRI LANKA / TURKEY / TURKMENISTAN

East Asia . . . 145
CHINA / HONG KONG / TAIWAN / JAPAN / NORTH KOREA / SOUTH KOREA

Southeast Asia . . . 168
BRUNEI / CAMBODIA / INDONESIA / LAOS / MALAYSIA / MYANMAR / PHILIPPINES / SINGAPORE / THAILAND / VIETNAM

AFRICA

North Africa . . . 186
EGYPT / MAURITANIA / MOROCCO / SUDAN / TUNISIA

West Africa . . .  196
BENIN / BURKINA FASO / CAMEROON / GABON / GHANA / MALI / NIGER / NIGERIA / SENEGAL / SIERRA LEONE / TOGO

Central Africa . . . 206
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC / CHAD / DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO / REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

East Africa . . .  208
ETHIOPIA / KENYA / RWANDA / SOMALIA / SOUTH SUDAN / TANZANIA

Southern Africa . . . 213
ANGOLA / BOTSWANA / MALAWI / MOZAMBIQUE / NAMIBIA / SOUTH AFRICA / SWAZILAND / ZAMBIA / ZIMBABWE

Islands of the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans . . . 220
MADAGASCAR / SEYCHELLES / SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION, AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA OCEANIA

Australia . . . 226

New Zealand . . . 240

Pacific Islands . . . 245
FIJI / MARSHALL ISLANDS / FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA / GUAM / NAURU / PALAU / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / SAMOA / SOLOMON ISLANDS / VANUATU

CANADA

Western Canada . . . 256
ALBERTA / BRITISH COLUMBIA / MANITOBA / NORTHWEST TERRITORIES / NUNAVUT / SASKATCHEWAN / YUKON
Eastern Canada . . . .267
NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR / NOVA SCOTIA / ONTARIO / PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND / QUEBEC 

USA

West Coast . . . 276
CALIFORNIA / OREGON / WASHINGTON

Four Corners and the Southwest . . . .296
ARIZONA / COLORADO / NEVADA / NEW MEXICO / TEXAS / UTAH

Great Plains . . . 311
IDAHO / KANSAS / MONTANA / NEBRASKA / NORTH DAKOTA / OKLAHOMA / SOUTH DAKOTA / WYOMING

The Midwest . . .  319
ILLINOIS / INDIANA / IOWA / MICHIGAN / MINNESOTA / MISSOURI / OHIO / WISCONSIN

The Southeast . . . 338
ALABAMA / ARKANSAS / FLORIDA / GEORGIA / KENTUCKY / LOUISIANA / MISSISSIPPI / NORTH CAROLINA / SOUTH CAROLINA / TENNESSEE / VIRGINIA

The …