Dream Destinations Around the World

Who knew? "The young tortoises make excellent soup," Darwin wrote. Nowadays, dining on the locals is frowned upon--as is even touching them. Many of the animals will let you get within arm's length, but don't make contact. Guides have the power to throw you off the islands.

Tour de France

The Grand Canyon (Getty Images) [enlarge photo] MORE DREAM TRIPS • Dream Trips 2004 MARCH 2005 ISSUE • Table of Contents • Dream Destinations Around the World • A Romantic Trip to Italy • Driving Mendocino County • How to Buy a Bikini in Rio • 50 All-Star Family Camps: The 2005 List • Ecolodges Let You Sleep at Night with a Clean Conscience • Milking Your Manicure • Spain's New Golden Age

Cheered on by crazed fans, rail-thin gladiators race for 2,000 miles up steep mountain roads and through pristine countrysides.

It's France's favorite summer pastime: a three-week trek that snakes through the heart of the country every July. While six-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong has yet to decide whether he'll chase another victory this year, his much-heralded success has turned Americans on to the spectacle that has riveted Europeans for decades.

Getting there Scores of bike-touring companies sell ride-and-watch packages, most quite expensive--a seven-day trip from VéloSport Vacations costs $4,395 (800/988-9833, velovacations.com). With prices like that, many spectators prefer to go the independent route. After all, the Tour de France is free. There are no tickets, no stadiums, no grandstands. The best way to follow the Tour's hopscotch route is by car. Try Auto Europe (autoeurope.com) or Kemwel (kemwel.com), which does short-term leases that can be cheaper than renting--a brand-new Peugeot with insurance starts at $740 for 17 days.

You made it The Tour changes course each year, so check the route (letour.fr) and plot a plan of attack. It's too exhausting to try to watch all 21 stages. Instead, pick a few key spots and soak up the atmosphere of the race. During one of the longer, flat stages that dominate the first week of the 2005 Tour, follow the locals to any number of roadside cafés and sip a chilled Côtes du Rhône while you wait for the racers to roar past. There are seven mountain stages this year; summit finishes at Courchevel on July 12 and at Saint-Lary Soulan on July 17 will best capture the Tour's passion. Arrive early and stake out a spot on a twisting switchback or a hilltop with sweeping views of the road. Or cycle the race route yourself; you're allowed to ride on the road up to 90 minutes before the pros arrive. There's no charge on international flights for toting a bike, though it'll count as a checked bag. Or rent a bike locally for around $30 a day. With the Tour entourage topping 4,000 racers, journalists, and officials, hotels fill up early. Check the two- and three-star family-run hotels in the Logis de France network for doubles starting at $65 (logis-de-france.fr/uk). One hotel we can specifically recommend: Le Coin Fleuri, which is near stage 12 at Digne-les-Bains and has a large garden that's perfect for a relaxing déjeuner (011-33/492-310-451, from $52).

Who Knew? Held since 1903, the race is now the world's largest annual sporting event. Last year's was watched--in person--by 15 million spectators.

Sydney Opera House

What is now an enduring symbol of the Harbour City was inspired by both Mayan temples and the tiled mosques of Iran.

But the Sydney Opera House is not simply a whimsical palace to be admired from afar--there are endless ways to experience the beauty of Danish architect Jørn Utzon's 1973 creation.

Getting there Flights to Sydney start at $1,000 from L.A., $1,300 from New York. Package deals are often the better value--from $1,399 including air from L.A. and eight nights' hotel split between Sydney and Melbourne (Qantas Airways, 888/505-6252, qantasusa.com). The Opera House sits on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour and is impossible to miss.

You made it To have a look from every angle, board a ferry at Circular Quay's Wharf 4 (dial 131-500 in Sydney, sydneyferries.info, from $14), or walk over to the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens (rbgsyd.gov.au, free). To actually get inside the Opera House, pay $17.50 for the standard tour (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except Christmas Day and Good Friday). A two-hour backstage tour takes you to usually off-limits areas like the orchestra pit, dressing rooms, and the stage, and includes breakfast (daily at 7 a.m., $107). There are performance packages available that combine a tour with dinner and a show in one of the opera house's five theaters (from $130). For details, call 011-61/2-9250-7250 or log on to sydneyoperahouse.com. Tickets to performances are rarely discounted (from $38). If you're desperate to see a sold-out show, hang around the box office that night and pester the attendants for any returned tickets. Inside the southern shell you'll find Guillaume at Bennelong, a superb restaurant where chef Guillaume Brahimi--trained in Paris by the famed Michelin chef Joel Robuchon--creates food worthy of the setting. Expect to pay about $70 each for a three-course meal, not including drinks, or $50 for a three-course pretheater prix fixe (011-61/2-9241-1999, guillaumeatbennelong.com.au). For something more casual, head downstairs to the lower concourse and try the popular indoor/outdoor Opera Bar (011-61/2-9247-1666, operabar.com.au, entrées from $13). Or have a cocktail at the Park Hyatt's Harbour Bar, overlooking the water on the opposite side of Circular Quay (7 Hickson Rd., 011-61/2-9256-1500, sydney.park.hyatt.com, drinks from $12).

Who knew? Up close, you'll notice the tiles are a pale gray rather than the brilliant white they appear to be in photos. Depending on the light, they can look soft pink, even gold.

Great Wall of China

Originally built to keep foreigners out, it's now the very thing that draws tourists in.

An astonishing testament to human ambition, ingenuity, and xenophobia, the Great Wall looks much like the scaly tail of a dragon. It drapes the mountains in sections for 1,500 miles, from the Yellow Sea to its curiously unceremonious and abrupt conclusion in the middle of the far-west Gobi Desert.

Getting there Beijing is the best gateway. Airfare starts at $700 from L.A. or San Francisco; it's $100 more from Chicago or New York. All U.S. travelers need a visa (china-embassy.org/eng, from $50). If you want a guided tour, hire one of the touts in Tiananmen Square (from $25 a day). Though it sounds sexist, always buy from a man: Those seduced by the pretty saleswomen speaking English may end up with trips guided by men who don't speak it well, whereas salesmen usually lead their own tours. It's far more fun to explore without guides, though. You can reach several sections by taxi.

You made it Like aerobics, the Great Wall offers the low-impact (Badaling), the high-impact (a trek from Jinshanling to Simatai), and the extreme (Huanghua Cheng). Badaling--a reconstructed portion with guardrails and a 360-degree amphitheater showing short documentaries on the landmark--is so popular and crowded that the entry fees doubled this year to $10 during peak summer months (it's a 40-minute cab ride from Beijing, from $50 round trip). Badaling's good for tourists with little time, but those wanting to see the ancient monument in its more authentic, decayed condition should consider the winding, rocky 6.2-mile Jinshanling-to-Simatai hike (90-minute cab ride, from $100 round trip). It'll take at least five hours, but it offers breathtaking views of the vast countryside from a series of parapets. Have the taxi drop you off at Jinshanling. It's easier to get a ride back to Beijing from Simatai, which is popular because there's a cable car to lift visitors to a higher perch. (Admission $3.75 at Jinshanling, $4 at Simatai.) For an even more unusual experience, head to Huanghua Cheng with some lightweight camping gear and sleep on the wall. There's no formal entrance for this section, but taxi drivers will know how to find it. (Ask your concierge to write Huanghua out in Chinese characters, and show it to the driver. One-hour ride, from $100 round trip with the cabbie waiting overnight.) Not comfortable trying that on your own? Hire William Lindesay, who leads hikes to more obscure parts of the wall (wildwall.com, weekends from $365 including transportation and lodging).

Who knew? The party line for years was that the Great Wall was one of the only man-made objects visible from space. After the Chinese sent their first astronaut, Yang Liwei, into orbit in 2003, reporters asked if that was true. "No," Yang said without hesitation, it wasn't visible. Intriguingly, many wrote with certainty that the Chinese government would force him to retract the comment. But Yang wasn't silenced, further evidence that China is changing. In fact, articles appeared in the government's English-language China Daily newspaper discussing the debunking of the myth.