One million visitors or more
Sites that receive one million visitors or more per year (excluding those without entry regulations, eg. cities).
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Aachen Cathedral | Visited by more than 1 million believers and tourists every year (Aachen Tourism website 2025); 1.17 million (2017) | |
| Acropolis | Over 8.4 million people visited the Acropolis of Athens, home to the Parthenon and other ancient Greek monuments, in 2023. In 2022, Acropolis welcomed 3 million visitors. / 1.475 million (2016) | |
| Amphitheater of El Jem | "Every year, over one million people visit it." (Carthage magazine, 2021) | |
| Amsterdam Canal Ring | In 2023, the number of visitors to the museum rose significantly over the previous year, reaching around 1.2 million. Despite the annual increase, attendance did not catch up yet with the peak in visitors recorded in 2019, before the impact of the COVID- / Anne Frank House 1.266 million (2017) | |
| Ancient Kyoto | Kiyomizu Temple (5 Million annually), Nijo Castle (1,776,000 (2015)) | |
| Ancient Nara | Nara's Todaiji (2.5 Million) | |
| Angkor | 1,023,688 foreign tourists (2024) / 2019 (record year) - 2.2 million foreign visitors (6.6 million total visitors) / 2.2 million (2016) | |
| Auschwitz Birkenau | In 2023, over 1.67 million people visited the Auschwitz Memorial. / 2.1 million (2017) | |
| Bagan | About 3.4 million tourists visited the ancient city of Bagan in central Myanmar's Mandalay region in 2024 / "Myanmar's renowned archaeological site Bagan welcomed over 2 million tourists including more than 10,000 foreign tourists this year" (2023) | |
| Beijing Central Axis | Forbidden City (Palace Museum): Visitors (2023): ~9.3 million (daily-capped) | |
| Borobudur | approximately 1.3 million tourists visited the temple in 2024 / 3.8 million (2016) | |
| Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks | Banff National Park saw 4.28 million visits in 2023/24, the busiest year on record. / Banff National Park: 4.06 million in 2016/17 | |
| Cape Floral Region | more than 1,702,995 tourists visiting the park between December 2023 and January 2024 / Table Mountain Cableway got over 1 million visitors in 2015/2016 | |
| Central Highlands | Adam's Peak: 2 million | |
| Champaner-Pavagadh | Pavagadh Hill: "These temples are visited by over 22 lakh visitors annually with 1 lakh devotees visiting daily during navaratri fair." | |
| Changdeokgung Palace Complex | "Of the four palaces, Gyeongbok attracted the most visitors, with 2.97 million, followed by Changdeok with 897,000, Deoksu with 703,000 and Changgyeong with 475,000." January to June 2016 (1/2 year) | |
| Chichen-Itza | Chichén Itzá was also Mexico's top archaeological site in 2023, with 2.33 million tourists, / 2,107,410 (2016) | |
| City of Bath | Visitor numbers to the Roman Baths have grown by 25% from 851,854 in 2022 to 1,061,240 in 2023. // The Roman Baths 1,093,856 (2016) | |
| Cologne Cathedral | 6 million yearly | |
| Edinburgh | Edinburgh Castle 1,904,723 (2023) / Edinburgh Castle 1.8 million (2017) | |
| Ephesus | a record number of visitors in 2024, a total of 2.7 million / 2.2 million (2023) | |
| Everglades | In 2023, Everglades National Park welcomed a total of 810189 visitors / 1.018 million (2017) | |
| Florence | Uffizi Galleries, one of Florence's most iconic cultural institutions, attracted approximately 5 million visitors in 2023 / Galleria degli Uffizi: 2.010.631 (2016) | |
| Fort and Shalamar Gardens | Our interventions in the World Heritage Site of Lahore Fort since 2016 have been instrumental in increasing visitor numbers from 1.6 million in 2016 to about five million in 2019. (Aga Khan dev fund) / "The number of tourists increased from 1.554 million visitors in 2016 to 2.64 million in 2017." (Mission Report 2018) | |
| Fortified City of Carcassonne | nearly 4 million visitors flock here every year! (official website 2025) / more than 3 million visitors annually | |
| Genbaku Dome | The total number of visitors to the museum since April of last year reached 2,003,718 on Feb. 15, according to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. (2024) / Hiroshima Peace Museum - 1.739 Million (2016) | |
| Getbol, Korean Tidal Flats | "Every year, the 5 tidal flat visitor centers in the nominated property welcome 3,000,000 people" (Nomination text, p. 211) | |
| Granada | In 2023, over 2.6 million people visited the monument of La Alhambra in Granada, (Statista) / Alhambra: 2.4 million (2014) | |
| Grand Canal | The most frequently visited sites on the canal are: Slender West Lake at Yangzhou (3.2 million visitors in 2012), Suzhou (2.3m), Jiaxing-Hangzhou (1.3m), Nanxun (4.0m), the old city of Beijing (3.0m) and Taierzhuang (1.8m). (AB ev) | |
| Grand Canyon | 4.7 million visitors to Grand Canyon National Park in 2023 / 6.2 million (2017) | |
| Great Smoky Mountains | 12,055,376 visits to the park in 2024 / Over 11 million (in 2017) | |
| Great Wall | Badaling is believed annually to get 10 million visitors | |
| Gulf of Porto | Ce site est fréquenté par 1.1 millions de visiteurs sur une période s'étalant du mois d’avril au mois d’octobre 2012 (Periodic Reporting) | |
| Gusuku of Ryukyu | In addition to general visitors, students on field trips and tourists from visiting cruise ships are returning to Shuri Castle Park, with the number rebounding to around 1.44 million in fiscal 2023 / Shuri Castle: 1,875,000 (2015) | |
| Göbekli Tepe | "With an average of 1 million visitors annually, Göbeklitepe is one of Türkiye's most visited archaeological sites." (article Daily Sabah Feb 2025) | |
| Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago | In 2023, Ha Long Bay welcomed about 2.6 million visitors / one million in 1990 - 1991 (AB ev) | |
| Hawaii Volcanoes | Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, 1,620,294 people visited in 2023, / Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - 2.016 million (in 2017) | |
| Hierapolis-Pamukkale | 2 million two hundred thousand visitors in 2023 / Hierapolis of Phrygia, 1.8 million (2015) | |
| Hill Forts of Rajasthan | Amber Fort is the most visited tourist spot in the state attracting 2 million sight-seers in 2023-24 / Amber Fort attracts 1.4 million visitors a year (2007)(wiki) | |
| Himeji-jo | Himeji City announced that the number of visitors to Himeji Castle in 2023 was 1,479,567. / 2,867,051 (2015) | |
| Huangshan | The tourist influx is over 3 million (2023) / 3.3 million (2016) | |
| Iguacu | In Iguaçu National Park, the main thermometer of tourist activity, 2024 closed with 1.893.116 visitors // 1,642,093 people (2015) | |
| Iguazu National Park | On the Argentine side, meanwhile, they received 1,337,176 visits (2024) // visitation to Iguazu is now over one million a year (UNEP-WCMC) | |
| Imperial Palace | Forbidden City (Palace Museum) (Beijing, China). Visitors (2023): ~9.3 million (daily-capped) // Forbidden City: more than 14 million visitors annually | |
| Independence Hall | At Independence National Historical Park visitation numbers for 2023 reached 3,042,598 // 4.79 million (2017) | |
| Istanbul | rose from 3.7 million in 2019 to 13.6 million in 2022. // Hagia Sophia: 1.436.577 (2016) | |
| Itsukushima Shrine | This year, nearly 3 million tourists have visited the island (2023) // 2.6 Million Annually | |
| Jeju | 1,427,941 in 2022 // Ilchulbong Volcanic Cone recieved 1.2 million. | |
| Jiuzhaigou Valley | 5.1in the first half of the year (2024), Jiuzhaigou hosted 3.5 million visitors // 4 million visits in 2016 | |
| Kew Gardens | Kew Gardens, 2,273,976 (2024) // 1,477,117 (2016) | |
| Kii Mountain Range | In 2023, the World Heritage site attracted about 1.39 million tourists from abroad and Japan // Kii's Koyasan (1.2 Million) | |
| Kremlin and Red Square | In 2023, the Moscow Kremlin Museums welcomed 1 024 610 visitors. // 2.2 million at the Kremlin museums | |
| Kulangsu | attracting more than 10 million visitors per year (wiki 2025) (capped to 35000 per day) // The State Party indicates that Kulangsu has recently faced a sharp rise in visitor numbers, which increased from 5,748,500 in 2009 to 12,463,000 in 2014. (AB ev) | |
| Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra | Kyiv Pechersk Lavra attracted over a million tourists in 2011, reports the press service of the museum | |
| Maritime Greenwich | Royal Museums Greenwich 2,255,753 (2024)// Old Royal Naval College 1,477,117 (2016) | |
| Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor | received 11 million visitors in 2023, hitting a record-high number since its opening // In 2015, over 5 million people visited the site | |
| Meteora | "Roughly 2.5 million tourists from around the world are estimated to visit Meteora each year (source 2025) // Large numbers of visitors, around two million per year, flood the site (conventional forms of tourism mainly, but also partly related to religious, cultural, eco-tourism, and sports tourism) (Lyratzaki, 2007)" | |
| Mogao Caves | This year, the site is expected to receive a record 3 million visitors. (2024) // "received a record one million visitors so far this year" (Oct 2015) | |
| Mont-Saint-Michel | Annual visitor numbers have been stable at 2.8 million (2022) // between 2.4 and 2.8 million visitors per year (source 2015) | |
| Mount Sanqingshan | 23.95 million in 2019 // "After Mount Sanqingshan National Park (MSNP) was declared a WHS in 2008, tourist numbers have soared from 1.48 million in 2008 to 23.27 million in 2018" (see link) | |
| Mount Taishan | On August 5 (2024), the number of mountaineering tourists in Mount Taishan Scenic Area exceeded 5 million this year. // "Between 1996-2001, the total number of visitors stayed relatively stable at 2.1 million people per annum (with some 18,000 foreign tourists)." | |
| Namhansanseong | "The number of visitors has increased from less than one million per year to more than 3 million (2010)." - AB Evaluation | |
| Old City of Jerusalem | Western Wall, Temple Mount | |
| Olympic National Park | 2.9 million visitors to Olympic National Park in 2023 // 3.4 million (2017) | |
| Par force hunting landscape | 7.854 million (2003) | |
| Paris, Banks of the Seine | The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024. // 8.1 million visitors to the Louvre in 2017 | |
| Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro | Big numbers for Spanish museums in 2024: the Prado, with nearly 3.5 million visitors, breaks an all-time record. // Prado museum: 3.2 million (2019) | |
| Pilgrimage Church of Wies | Heute besuchen jährlich mehr als eine Million Menschen die Kirche (wiki de) | |
| Plitvice Lakes | Plitvicka jezera was the most popular national park in Croatia, having recorded approximately 1.45 million visitors in 2023. // Each year, more than 1 million visitors are recorded (wiki) | |
| Pompei | Nearly four million people visited the main Pompeii site in 2023 (BBC News) // 3.283.740 (2016) | |
| Pont du Gard | Visited by almost 1,000,000 French and foreign visitors every year (official website 2025) | |
| Prague | The Prague Castle attracted 54% more visitors year-on-year – a total of 2.192 million visitors (2023) // Prague Castle: 2,100,740 (2016) | |
| Prambanan | 2019: 2,326,122 Indonesian and 183,533 international visitors | |
| Pyramids (Memphis) | Egypt's Giza pyramid complex hosted 14.7 million tourists from around the world during 2023. | |
| Qutb Minar | Qutub Minar surpassed Agra Fort, attracting 220,017 foreign and 3.12 million domestic visitors in 2023-24, boosted by laser light shows. // 3,8950,000 | |
| Red Fort | over 2.1 million visits in fiscal year 2023 // 2,101,000 (2006) | |
| Rome | Overall, attendance at the Colosseum reached nearly 12.3 million in 2023 // Colosseum and Forum Romanum: 6.408.652 (2016) | |
| Royal Joseon Tombs | Around 2.36 million visitors went to see the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty in South Korea in 2023 // "More than 1.02 million people visited royal tombs of the Joseon scattered around Seoul and the nearby Gyeonggi Province during the same period." | |
| San Antonio Missions | The Alamo sees about 1.6 million visitors a year now, and expects an extra one million annual visitors by 2027 // Alamo: roughly 2 million (source 2014) | |
| Schönbrunn | Insgesamt stiegen die Besucher-Zahlen von rund 3.159.000 im Jahr 2022 auf ca. 4.348.000 im Jahr 2023. // 3.800.000 (2017) | |
| Selimiye Mosque | In 2023, we estimate that around 5 million tourists visited Selimiye Mosque. // Nearly 3 million people come to visit the historical mosque every year (see link) | |
| Singapore Botanic Gardens | receives about 4.5 million visitors annually (wiki 2025) | |
| South China Karst | Guilin Lijiang River Karst (2,096,000 visitors in 2012) | |
| St. Petersburg | Hermitage: 2,812,913 visitors (2022) // 4 million (2016) | |
| Statue of Liberty | The Statue of Liberty was visited by 3.74 million people in 2023 // the Statue of Liberty was visited by 3.14 million people in 2022 | |
| Stonehenge | 1,363,252 (2024) // 1,381,855 (2016) | |
| Sydney Opera House | more than 10.9 million visitors a year (off website, 2025) // It attracts more than 8 million visitors a year (2016-2017) | |
| Taj Mahal | The Taj Mahal receives 7 to 8 million visitors every year (including both domestic and foreign), according to the mausoleum's official website. // 8 million (2017) | |
| Teide National Park | Teide was the most visited national park in Spain in 2022, having welcomed more than four million people. // 4.079.823 (2016) | |
| Teotihuacan | Teotihuacán welcomed approximately 1.7 million domestic and international visitors in 2023. // It is the most visited archeological site in Mexico, receiving 4,185,017 visitors in 2017 (wiki) | |
| Tongariro National Park | About one million people visit Tongariro National Park each year. (off website 2025) // Of the 1 million annual visitors to the national park, large numbers of visitors do short walks within or on the fringes of the park (see link) | |
| Tower of London | Tower of London, 2,902,385 (2024) // 2,741,126 (2016) | |
| Trang An | "The property received a total of just over one million visitors in 2011" Nom file | |
| Vatican City | 6.76 million visitors in 2023 // Musei Vaticani: ca. 6.8 million (2019) | |
| Venice and its Lagoon | Palazzo Ducale: draws around 1.4 million visitors annually (2023) // 1.276.127 (2015) | |
| Versailles | About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. (wiki) // 7,527,122 (2015) | |
| Vienna | Jährlich kommen über 6 Millionen Besucher in den Dom (off website) // Stephansdom receives about 3 million visitors a year | |
| West Lake | Each year, the scenic area receive more than 30 million visitors. (wiki) // 20 million a year! (AB ev) | |
| West Norwegian Fjords | Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord receive more than one million visitors a year. (Nom file) | |
| Westminster | Westminster Abbey, 1,717,296 (2024) // Westminster Abbey 1,819,945 (2016) | |
| Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines | In 2024, the number of visitors increased by 13% compared to the same period in 2023, when the mine hosted 838.7 thousand people. Surpassing the million-visitor mark two weeks earlier than in the previous year. // The Wieliczka Salt Mine in August said it attracted 1.4 million visitors in the first seven months of this year and was on track to set its all-time annual record in the number of visitors. (Oct 2018) | |
| Works of Antoni Gaudí | In 2023, the Sagrada Família received 4.7 million visitors // Sagrada Familia 4.56 million (2016) | |
| Wulingyuan | Zhangjiajie Number of visitors: 15.917 million // Millions, 1.4 million in summer alone | |
| Yellowstone | the park experienced its second-biggest visitation year in history, with 4,744,352 visitors (2024) // 4.1 million (2017) | |
| Yosemite National Park | In 2023, Yosemite National Park welcomed a total of 3.9 million visitors // 4.3 million (2017) | |
| Zollverein | 1.5 million (2017) |
Suggestions?
Do you know of another WHS we could connect to One million visitors or more?
A connection should:
- Not be "self evident"
- Link at least 3 different sites
- Not duplicate or merely subdivide the "Category" assignment already identified on this site.
- Add some knowledge or insight (whether significant or trivial!) about WHS for the users of this site
- Be explained, with reference to a source