Find a virtual escape

Right now, we could all use a little escape. And right now, you can travel the world from the comfort (and safety) of your home, thanks to a glut of new and not-so-new-but-not-previously-widely-used virtual tours and live streams from museums, cultural attractions, historic sites, national parks, zoos and farms, and so much more. Whether you have a travel itch in need of scratching, want to take advantage of an inside look at the world’s top museums while you can do so free, or just need a pleasant distraction, check out this plethora of virtual tours and live feeds that will take you somewhere else, if just for a little while.

Museums and Cultural Institutions 

• The Smithsonian
• The Guggenheim Museum
• The Met
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• The Whitney Museum of American Art
• The National Gallery of Art
• The J. Paul Getty Museum
• The British Museum
• Tate Modern
• The Louvre
• Musée d’Orsay
• The Palace of Versailles
• The Uffizi Gallery
• The Vatican
• Rijksmuseum
• Van Gogh Museum
• …and literally hundreds more

Attractions

• Take a walk along the Great Wall of China
• Explore Machu Picchu, the Pyramids of Giza, the Roman Colosseum, Taj Mahal, Easter Island, and more with various Google tools
• Visit the Kennedy Space Center virtually (and take advantage of their online education resources)
• Tour the street art of Bristol, England, including many works by Banksy
• Gaze at the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty in real time via live web cam
• Check off a Las Vegas bucket list item with a virtual tour of the Neon Museum
• Tour through some of Europe’s most famous castles, including Buckingham Palace and the Edinburgh Castle
• Also tour historic mansions from around the world
• If you’re a Whovian, you can take a peek inside the T.A.R.D.I.S. (it’s bigger on the inside!) on London’s Earl’s Court Road…
• …or take a stroll through Diagon Alley and ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, if you’re more of a Potterhead
• Enjoy Disney World and Disneyland virtually with these quasi-“virtual” rides (really just YouTube videos of recordings made by previous rebel riders)

National Parks

• Arches National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Everglades National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Kenai Fjords National Park
• Sequoia National Park
• Virgin Islands National Park
• Volcanoes National Park
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• …and all the rest via Google Earth

Nature

• Experience D.C.’s National Cherry Blossom Festival virtually while it lasts
• Also check out Macon, Georgia’s cherry blossom “Bloom Cam” and  the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden Virtual Tour
• Okay, fine, ALL the cherry blossoms
• Live stream the Northern Lights in Manitoba, or anywhere else in the world that can see the Aurora Borealis, during prime viewing season (right now!)
• Explore New Mexico’s otherworldly Carlsbad Caverns for hours at a time
• Climb to Everest Base Camp
• Watch the Niagara Falls in real time
• And also Yosemite Falls

Animals

• Watch the Atlanta Zoo‘s live “Panda Cam”
• Watch the penguins swim and play at Aquarium of the Pacific
• Watch a bald eagle mama and papa and their babies in this bird’s nest cam on private property in Decorah, Iowa
• Watch the Georgia Aquarium‘s beluga whale webcam
• Watch the Congo’s Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center’s gorilla live stream
• Watch the Houston Zoo’s gorillas, giraffes, rhinos, flamingos, and more via live stream
• Watch the wolf cams at the International Wolf Center
• Watch the brown bear cams at Katmai National Park in Alaska
• Watch the koala “cuddle train cam” at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary 
• Watch the Bella Hummingbird Nest in La Verne, California
• Watch the Monterey Aquarium‘s live web cams showing jellyfish, turtles, sharks, penguins, and more
• Watch live streams (and recordings of previous live streams) focusing on different habitats at the New England Aquarium every morning at 11 a.m. EST
• Watch the San Diego Zoo‘s apes, elephants, koalas, pandas, and more via live stream
• Watch the Sea Otters at the Seattle Aquarium
• Watch the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam
• Watch the live stream at Tembe Elephant Park in Mozambique
• Watch the Tennessee Aquarium‘s river otter “falls” cam
• Watch the “Puppy Playroom” at the Warrior Canine Connection
• Explore the plethora of live web cams at Explore.org for hundreds of more animal live stream options

Travel

• Take a virtual tour of the Great Barrier Reef with Sir David Attenborough
• Experience Japan–as in, the entire country–in a 360-degree VR tour of some of the tourism board’s selected highlights
• You can also experience Chile–again, the entire country–the same way
• Escape to the Caribbean twice a week with St. Lucia’s Instagram Live events 
• Pick a beach, any beach (or pier or boardwalk) in the U.S., and watch it on live web cam
• Or find your (new?) favorite beach in Florida and soak in the virtual vibes
• Take a virtual walking tour through New York City every day at 11 a.m. EST (some sessions are free while others are $5, and there are several different rotating themes)
• Experience all that Montreal has to offer virtually
• Ditto with the Windy City, Chicago
• Discover Puerto Rico through twice-weekly live streamed virtual activities
• If you’re a thrill-seeker, take this 360-degree virtual tour of “The World’s Most Dangerous Road“
• Check out these hotel webcams for live streams of amazing views from their properties, from beaches along the Pacific Coast to Old Town Jerusalem
• Virtually walk through the halls of Scotland’s Lord of the Isles 
• View 19 different live streams from Venice, Italy
• Maybe just escape this bloody planet and explore the surface of Mars instead
• Or keep an eye on Earth but from a VERY safe distance
• See literally anywhere in the world on Google Earth, and check out live feeds of major cities, regional parks, waterways, beaches, (eerily empty) tourist attractions, and more with EarthCam

Title image from Zack DeBoer of Sioux Falls.