Top 10 Wonders of Asia - Candidly ranked by Howard Hillman

Top 10
Asia wonders

rankings you can trust

Click blue links to
read my web pages
on each wonder

Great Wall of China
Taj Mahal
Bali
Angkor Wat
Forbidden City
Bagan Temples & Pagodas
Banaue Rice Terraces
Potala Palace at Lhasa
Qin Terra Cotta Warriors
Borobudur

Brief decriptions

Great Wall of China

This defensive wall once ran across China. Its glory days were during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th and 17th centuries. Today, the Great Wall has become the travel icon of China.

Great Wall of China

Taj Mahal

The marbled Taj Mahal with its elegant dome and faultless symmetry is the most beautifully designed building in the world. The emperor built it as a tomb for his beloved wife.

Northern India.

Taj Mahal

Bali

Bali's picturesque rice terraces are legendary, as is its exciting culture, which includes internationally celebrated arts & crafts, music, dance and food.

Indonesia.

Bali

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is the majestic ruins of a complex of structures built in the 12th century. For reasons not fully understood, the Khmers abandoned it. It then lay hidden under jungle growth for centuries.

Cambodia.

Angkor Wat

Forbidden City

Two dozen Chinese emperors ruled their nation for almost 500 years from inside the Forbidden City. This imposing palace-fortress is well-preserved.

Beijing, China.

Forbidden City

Bagan Temples/Pagodas

Over 10,000 religious structures were built in Bagan in the 11th to 13th centuries. Many important ones have been preserved or reconstructed.

Myanmar (Burma).

Bagan Temples & Pagodas

Banaue Rice Terraces

These steep rice terraces are unequaled in height and vastness. They were sculpted with handtools over a two millennia period.

Philippines.

Banaue Rice Terraces

Potala Palace at Lhasa

The sizable Potala Palace was the winter political seat and still the religious center of Tibet. The building commandingly hugs the side of a steep hill overlooking Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Tibet, China.

Potala Palace at Lhasa

Qin Terra Cotta Warriors

The life sized pottery army called the Qin Terra Cotta Warriors was buried in underground vaults over 2000 years ago. They were not discovered until several decades ago. Thousands of baked clay figures were found.

China.

Qin Terra Cotta Warriors

Borobudur

This tall and wide religious stupa was constructed in the 8th century, then neglected and blanketed with wild greenery. Borobudur was uncovered in the 19th century.

Indonesia.

Borobudur