The secret marvels of the world

This ‘tongue of rock’ sits 700m above Ringedalsvatnet and can be reached via a 12-hour hike from the village of Skjeggedal  (Trolltunga – Tyssedal, Norway)

• Lonely Planet’s Secret Marvels of the World is a compendium of the world’s most wonderful sights 
• It details a cave in Mexico with four-metre-thick crystals, rainbow-coloured trees and  a 'toilet fountain'
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Lonely Planet’s Secret Marvels of the World is a compendium of the world’s weirdest and most wonderful sights, that really do have to be seen to be believed. From a grassless golf course to a cave that looks like Superman’s lair, and from multi-coloured eucalyptus trees to a lunchbox museum, its pages are a celebration of the mysterious, mesmerising and downright bizarre.

Here are revealed a few of the 360 extraordinary places the book features.

Cave of the Crystals - Chihuahua, Mexico

The cave lies 300 metres down and contains staggeringly huge crystals - some four metres thick

Superman's lair? You'd be forgiven for wondering if movie fiction had become fact while gazing upon the Cave of the Crystals in Mexico.

The cave lies 300 metres down and contains staggeringly huge crystals - some four metres thick.

Scientists say some of the crystals are 500,000 years old - and it's only scientists that are allowed to visit. 

Ha’iku Stairs – Hawaii, USA

The stunning views at the top gave rise to the steps being nicknamed the Stairway to Heaven

This flight of 3,922 steps, the book reveals, reach up to the top of Oahu’s jaw-dropping Ko’olau Mountain Range.

It says: ‘In a plotline straight from Lost, the stairs were created in 1943 to provide access to a top-secret radio facility.’

The stunning views at the top gave rise to the steps being nicknamed the Stairway to Heaven.

Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees – Hawaii, USA

Hawaii's Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees can be found at mile marker seven on Maui’s Hana Highway and also at the nearby Ke’anae Arboretum

This painted forest, Secret Marvels of the World says, is simply ‘extraordinary’.

It can be found at mile marker seven on Maui’s Hana Highway and also at the nearby Ke’anae Arboretum.

The book explains that the trees’ amazing hues come about thanks to sections of bark shedding at different times during the year.

Salvation Mountain – California, USA

Salvation Mountain was the life’s work of Leonard Knight - his mission was to share his religious fervour with the world, spelling it out in paint on his mountain

Salvation Mountain, the book says, ‘is a living prayer in a desolate wilderness’ that is ‘at once so unique and so out of place that you must enter it’.

It continues: ‘It was the life’s work of Leonard Knight… his mission was to share his religious fervour with the world, spelling it out in paint on his mountain’.

He began building the 50ft high mound, which can be found near the town of Niland, in 1967 - and was still working on it when he died in 2011. It’s thought that around 100,000 gallons of paint was used.

Abandoned Ghost Ship – Kentucky, USA

Launched in 1902, the ghost ship had various roles over the years before it was abandoned, including as a U-boat hunter in World War 1 and a tour boat in New York

There are few sights in Kentucky as spooky as the abandoned Sachem.

The rusting 186ft boat can be found south of the Ohio River in Petersburg, stuck in a muddy bank in desolate vegetation.

Launched in 1902, it had various roles over the years before it was abandoned, including as a U-boat hunter in World War 1 and a tour boat in New York.

It’s only accessible by kayak via the Ohio River and the Taylor Creek tributary.

El Peñón de Guatapé – Antioquia, Colombia

Visitors can reach the summit of El Peñón de Guatapé via 649 steps wedged into a crack on one side

There are few boulders quite as dramatic as this 650ft behemoth, near the town of Guatape.

Visitors can reach the summit via 649 steps wedged into a crack on one side.

The climb is well worth it, with Secret Marvels of the World describing the view from the top as ‘show-stopping’.

It can be reached by bus from Medellin.

Cementerio de Trenes – Uyuni, Bolivia

The Great Train Graveyard came to be after the collapse of the mining industry in the 1940s in Bolivia

Eerie is the only word to describe the Great Train Graveyard, which sits on the southwestern outskirts of Uyuni, near the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.

Secret Marvels explains how the trains came to be abandoned: ‘In the 19th century, British engineers built railway lines to connect Uyuni to Pacific ports, but the collapse of the mining industry in the 1940s and tensions with Chile meant that the trains were abandoned and left to rust.’

The best way of reaching it is by taxi.

Tanks of Flamenco Beach – Culebra, Puerto Rico

The tanks at Flamenco Beach are remnants of American military exercises that took place between the 1930s and 1971

Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra is a wonderful place to soak up some rays – but it has a surreal, dramatic edge thanks to two rusty graffiti-covered tanks that sit in the sand.

They are remnants of American military exercises that took place between the 1930s and 1971, when local protests led to their discontinuation.

Culebra can be reached by ferry from Fajardo on the Puerto Rican mainland.

Catacombes de Paris – Paris, France

The bones of around six million people lie beneath the streets of Paris in 280km of dank passageways

It’s chic above, but downright spooky below.

The bones of around six million people lie beneath the streets of Paris in 280km of dank passageways.

Officials were forced to move bones into the catacombs because the cemeteries above ran out of room for the dead.

Kolmanskop – Namib Desert, Namibia

Kolmanskop used to be a booming mining town - but now it's being eaten up by dunes

Kolmanskop used to be a booming mining town that featured a bowling alley, theatre and casino, Secret Marvels reveals – but it was abandoned in 1956.

It’s now being eaten up by dunes.

It’s possible to explore the surreal interiors of the buildings, which can be reached in around 15 minutes by car from Luderitz, off the B4.

Drina River House – Bajina Basta, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Secret Marvels explains that Drina River House ‘seems to defy gravity on its rocky perch’ and is ‘vulnerable to flooding’

If you want completely undisturbed river views, this is the ideal spot – a tiny house marooned on a rocky islet on the Drina River.

Secret Marvels explains that it ‘seems to defy gravity on its rocky perch’ and is ‘vulnerable to flooding’, perhaps unsurprisingly.

It can be reached by car and is a three-hour drive from Belgrade.

Hang Nga Guesthouse – Dalat, Vietnam

Guesthouses don't come any weirder than this one, which was inspired by the surreal art of Salvador Dali

Warped walls, sculpted jungle vines and crooked stairs, welcome to the guesthouse that was inspired by the surreal art of Salvador Dali.

The beds, says Secret Marvels, ‘are cradled in cauldronlike chambers’, while ‘latticed windows look like spiders' webs’.

The exterior, meanwhile, resembles a melted candle.

Lake Kaindy – Tian Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan

Lake Kaindy is very popular with divers but is also an enticing sight from dry land. It was created by an earthquake in 1911

The Kebin earthquake in 1911 was responsible for creating this mesmerising lake, which sits 2,000 metres up near Kazakhstan’s border with Kyrgyzstan.

The event triggered a landslide in the Tian Shan mountains that created a natural dam – and the glassy 400m lake that drowned a forest.

Lake Kaindy is very popular with divers but is also an enticing sight from dry land. It can be reached by car on the A351 from Almaty.

The beach in a field – near Llanes, Spain

Playa de Gulpiyuri has 50m of sandy beach – but it’s actually in the middle of a field, around 100m from the sea

It’s a beach – but not as we know it.

Playa de Gulpiyuri has 50m of sand – but it’s actually in the middle of a field, around 100m from the sea.

A tunnel beneath the rocks channels water from the Cantabrian Sea into a cove, Secret Marvels says.

The beach is off the A8 road between Santander and Oviedo.

Carhenge – Nebraska, USA

Carhenge is made of 39 classic American cars in the exact formation of Stonehenge

Built by American artist Jim Reinders as a tribute to his father in 1987, Secret Marvels explains that it’s fast becoming a cult destination.

It is made of 39 classic American cars in the exact formation of Stonehenge.

The formation can be found just north of Alliance. 

Trolltunga – Tyssedal, Norway

This ‘tongue of rock’ sits 700m above Ringedalsvatnet and can be reached via a 12-hour hike from the village of Skjeggedal

As photo ops go, this takes some beating.

This ‘tongue of rock’ sits 700m above Ringedalsvatnet and can be reached via a 12-hour hike from the village of Skjeggedal.

For the intrepid, perching on the edge is a must.

Stromboli – near Sicily, Italy

Gregor Clark, writing in Secret Marvels, writes that ‘the volcano-lover in me had long felt drawn to this perfect cone floating in isolation at the Aeolian archipelago’s eastern edge’

Visitors who stay the night at Stromboli drift off to the sound of explosions from the volcanic crater above them.

Gregor Clark, writing in Secret Marvels, writes that ‘the volcano-lover in me had long felt drawn to this perfect cone floating in isolation at the Aeolian archipelago’s eastern edge’.

He describes visits where he watched molten rocks crash into the Mediterranean from 900m up and the glow of the volcano from a boat.

He adds that a decade after his first visit, ‘Stromboli’s magic still hasn’t worn thin’.

Coober Pedy Grassless Golf Course – South Australia

The lunar-like Coober Pedy golf course is too hot by day for some golfers. It can be reached by plane from Adelaide

It gets so hot at the grassless golf course at the mining town of Coober Pedy that some visitors opt to play at night.

It's an utterly bizarre lunar landscape that’s home to an 18-hole course.

Five flights a week connect Coober Pedy with Adelaide. The course can be booked from the Old Timers Mine.  

Toilet Fountain - Foshan, China

The Toilet Fountain in China is formed from 10,000 toilets, urinals and sinks. It took artist Shu Yong two months to create

Taking the pee? Many may think that artist Shu Yong certainly was when he assembled 10,000 toilets, urinals and sinks into a huge sculpture.

It took him two months to create.

If you're feeling flush, jump on a plane to central Guangdong and go to Shiwan Park in Foshan to view it.  

Lunchbox Museum - Georgia, USA

The Lunchbox Museum can be found in the backroom of an antiques shop in Columbus and boasts the world's largest collection of lunchboxes

Lunchbox lovers - eat your heart out.

The Lunchbox Museum can be found in the backroom of an antiques shop in Columbus and boasts the world's largest collection of lunchboxes.