The Best (Free!) Tourist Attractions in the World, According to TripAdvisor

Tourist attractions are bonafide travel staples. According to Budget Your Travel, the average person spends $55 on admission fees for tourist attractions in the United States. So why not look for some free attractions on your next trip instead?

To help you get started, vacation rental company Casago put together a guide of the highest-rated free attractions in each U.S. state and each country worldwide, based on Tripadvisor data. 

Somewhat surprisingly, the highest-rated free attraction in the world is the Luc Vanlaere Harpist – Mini Harp Museum in Belgium. According to Casago’s study, a whopping 94.54% of Tripadvisor ratings for the museum were five stars. Based in Bruges, Belgium, the venue features regular 40-minute harp concerts by celebrated composer Luc Vanlaere.

Meanwhile, the United States is home to three of the top-rated free tourist attractions in the world. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is the second-highest-rated free attraction, with 92.85% five-star Trip Advisor ratings. Located in Daytona, Florida, it’s the world’s largest military aviation museum, with over 350 aerospace vehicles and missiles on display.

Other high-ranking U.S. attractions include Columbus, Georgia’s National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center (which ranked fourth), and Arlington, Virginia’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (which ranked eighth). Of course, monuments to lost lives are more than just photo ops, they are places to honor and remember those no longer with us.

Here’s the full list of the top 10 free tourist attractions in the world, according to Case:

1. The Luc Vanlaere Harpist – Mini Harp Museum (Bruges, Belgium)
2. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (Dayton, United States)
3. Horseshoe Falls (Niagara Falls, Canada)
4. The National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center (Columbus, Georgia, United States)
5. Lake Bacalar (Bacalar, Mexico)
6. The Golden Temple (Amritsar, India)
7. The Cerro Fitz Roy (El Chalten, Argentina)
8. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Arlington, Virginia, United States)
9. The Australian War Memorial (Canberra, Australia)
10. Lanta Animal Welfare (Ban Sala Dan, Thailand)

To read more and discover the top-rated free tourist attraction in your state, you can check out Casago’s full study here.