Atlas Obscura - Curious and Wondrous Travel Destinations

The definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders.

One of Carla Jenkins’s towboats, the “Bettye M. Jenkins,” sits at her dock in Vidalia, Louisiana on Oct. 6, 2019. Jenkins’s father, who built the boat, named it after Jenkins’s mother.

The Triumphs and Tribulations of Towboats on the Mississippi

“You ride the river and just hope you’re in the right spot when you need to be.”

by Kerry Graning

Place of the Day

Madame Sherri's Castle

Ruins of a lavish 20th-century estate haunt a New Hampshire forest.

On the Road in India With Atlas Obscura's First Journey Winner

Jenn Smith shares what it's been like so far to finally visit the country where she was born.

October 14, 2019

Solved: The Mysterious Origins of Your Coffee's Worst Nightmare

In London, Natural History Museums Confront Their Colonial Histories

Atlas Obscura Goods

Just Released! Our Second Edition Book

For Sale: A Cigar Puffed by Winston Churchill in 1953

The Forgotten Female Artist Whose Mardi Gras Fantasias Warped Reality

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Kraków-Płaszów Concentration Camp

At first glance, this area seems like just another city park, but the lush landscape hides a dark past.

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Montreal, Québec

Wooden Squirrels of Mount Royal Chalet

Its vaulted ceiling is home to a scurry of “squirrelgoyles.”

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Tavern Pachimon Wars

This bar is filled with Star Wars merchandise from around the world, all of it unlicensed knockoffs.

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Tlacotalpan, Mexico

Municipal Cemetery of Tlacotalpan

The graveyard displays the colonial Mexican and Caribbean architectural fusion that defines this city.

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Vero Beach, Florida

Pelican Island

This small island was the first National Wildlife Refuge ever created in the United States.

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Gastro Obscura

Covering the world's most
wondrous food and drink.

A mild moose milk cheese similar to Camembert.

Meats & Animal Products

Moose Cheese at the Elk House

A Swedish farm is the world's only producer of this rare, creamy delicacy.

Trappist Mango Treats

At Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist Abbey, monks turn local fruit into sinfully delicious goodies.

A bottle of Washington's whiskey.

George Washington’s Whiskey

Taste the white whiskey that the United States' first president once distilled and enjoyed at Mount Vernon.

Ingredients & Condiments

Mountain Maid Ube Jam

In the mountains of the Philippines, a convent raises funds with a sweet spread made from purple yams.

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Riverside, What the Burbs Could've Been

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Bug-Eating Adventures with The Bug Chef

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A Walking Tour of Hollywood Jazz History

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Cooking with Critters

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Guided Bug & Wine Pairing

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Exploring a Secret Fort

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Atlas Obscura - Goats in the Hood

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Bunk Up On the Battleship Iowa

$175 per person

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It Doesn't Want to Sound Good

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Why Renaissance Paintings Aren't as Green as They Used to Be

Once a brilliant hue, the pigment verdigris is now mostly brown.

Sabrina Imbler October 10, 2019

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For Sale: A Pink Temple to Temperance With a Dubious History of Debauchery

The rosy-hued house in Louisville, Kentucky, could be yours.

Jessica Leigh Hester October 9, 2019

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Biologists in Panama Eavesdrop on Manatees for Their Own Good

In the murky waters of Bocas del Toro, you can't see the manatees, but you can hear them.

Sabrina Imbler October 9, 2019

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The Gobi Desert Is a Red Sea of Chili Peppers

They dry in the sun every autumn in China's Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Reina Gattuso October 9, 2019

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The Many Pleasures of Sardinian Throat Singing

A fiercely unusual musical style from a fiercely independent island.

Dan Nosowitz October 8, 2019

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botanical illustration

These Stunning Botanical Images Are Blueprints of the Past

Two 90-year-old albums document what a 12-year-old photographer did on her summer vacation.

Anna Soper October 8, 2019

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Belize's Maya Drained Their Swamps to Make Farmland

Their wide-reaching wetland agriculture helped support the civilization.

Isaac Schultz October 8, 2019

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The 19th-Century Charts That Put the World's Waterfalls on One Impossible Landscape

Imagine the roar.

Jessica Leigh Hester October 8, 2019

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Australia's First Published Dictionary Was Dedicated to 'Convict Slang'

The "flash" language reflected the makeup of the British penal colony at the time.

Matthew Taub October 7, 2019

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