Best ancient cities to visit worldwide

Cities are big, so allow three to four hours for a major one and a full day, better two, for Petra. Arrive at opening or in the last hours of the afternoon, since most sites have little shade, and carry water, a hat and shoes with grip for worn marble and uneven paving. A guide or audio guide makes sense of the first hour, and the site museum, often at the gate, holds the statues, mosaics and finds taken from the ruins.

The best examples in the catalogue include Pompeii and Ostia Antica in Italy; Ephesus in Turkey, where a complete Roman street runs down to the Library of Celsus and the theatre; Petra in Jordan, with its rock-cut Treasury and Monastery; Machu Picchu in Peru, on its ridge above the cloud forest; and Volubilis in Morocco, with mosaics still in place in its houses.