Places To See Before You Die -- No. 20 Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

You often hear about the grandeur of Angkor Wat, but nothing can quite prepare you for that special morning when you watch the saffron sun peek over the world's most audacious religious beacon and bathe the surrounding countryside in its sizzling glow. Spiraling out from Angkor Wat are as many as 200 other equally imposing temples constructed between the 9th and 15th centuries, which collectively comprise the largest-known pre-industrial settlement complex in the world. You'll need at least one battery-operated fan, two memory chips and three days to navigate the 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of the former Khmer Empire, and though it may be the most hyped set of ruins in the world, it wasn’t built to disappoint.