9 must-experience virtual tours

By Samuel Smith
Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Updated: November 24, 2020 at 10:37 am

There’s never been a better time to make yourself comfortable, turn on your laptop and travel the world from the comfort of your couch.

First it was Google Maps, then it was Street View. Now, virtual tours are taking the world by storm, allowing e-tourists to traipse through museums, galleries, national parks and even private homes (with owners’ permission, of course), from their living rooms.

With our world temporarily shrinking, now’s the perfect time to travel the globe from home.

Coming to your computer screen, direct from all 4 corners, here are some of the most impressive virtual tours you’ll have the pleasure of laying your eyes on.

1. The Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Lace up your hiking boots and embark on a breathtaking tour of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Its main attractions include the Kīlauea and Mauna Loa active volcanoes.

Follow the expert lead of a real-life park ranger who grew up with the national park on her doorstep. The tour will have you navigating craggy lava tubes, exploring dense rainforest, peering over towering volcanic cliffs and flying above an active lava vent. You can even travel back in time to 1959, and view footage of the earth-shattering Kīlauea Iki eruption.

Experience it now.

Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Image: iStock

2. Museums of Vatican City

Musei Vaticani’s virtual tours are absolutely stunning, bringing you crystal-clear vision of 6 museums as well as the Sistine Chapel and its glorious ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512.

The Musei Vaticani’s virtual tours are all self-directed, so you can explore at your own pace.

For a fully immersive experience, perhaps you could pair your online adventure with a period-correct soundtrack. Claudio Monteverdi, anyone?

Experience it now.

The vault and dome over the Sistine Chapel. Image: Getty

3. The Kenai Fjords National Park

Alaskan park ranger, Fiona North, brings a once-in-a-lifetime tour to your keyboard with the Kenai Fjords National Park virtual experience.

Both guided and interactive, this tour encompasses gigantic fjords, icy glaciers and glassy meltwater lagoons. Hear your harness creak in the howling Alaskan wind as you descend below the surface of a 30-foot glacier. Climb down into the depths of a crevasse, ice-pick in hand, then jump into a kayak and slalom through icebergs.

Experience it now.

The Kenai Fjords National Park. Image: iStock

4. The Louvre

Though it’s currently closed to the public, you can still roam the halls of The Louvre from the comfort of your computer chair. Save your entry fee and splash out on some takeaway, then settle in for an educational, interactive experience.

The Louvre website offers a range of tours, taking you through exhibition rooms and galleries, as well as the building’s iconic façade. Explore The Louvre’s Egyptian antiquities collection, the remains of The Louvre’s moat, The Advent of the Artist exhibition or the Galerie d’Apollon.

Zoom in on individual pieces to learn more about their history.

Experience it now.

The Louvre. Image: Getty

5. Yosemite National Park

Virtual Yosemite is a ground-breaking interactive tour of Yosemite National Park, pioneered by virtual-reality photographer, Scott Highton.

E-trekkers can explore a mammoth 200 locations within Yosemite in unrivalled clarity.

Choose your own adventure, whether you’re witnessing dizzying views from the National Park’s famed cliffs, relaxing in fields of vibrant wildflowers or watching cascading waterfalls. Virtual Yosemite’s 360° interactive panoramas are all presented in high resolution, allowing you to zoom in and out, pan fully around and look upward and downward.

Experience it now.

Yosemite National Park. Image: iStock

6. David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef

This virtual tour will have you plunging headfirst into the Great Barrier Reef: Australia’s aquatic, technicolour dreamscape.

Thankfully, a diving licence is not required, and your tour guide for the day will be none other than Sir David Attenborough himself.

Join Attenborough and his unmistakeable dulcet tones on an up-close, interactive tour of one of the most beautiful, complex and fragile ecosystems in the world. See the spectacular creatures who call the reef home, find out about its fascinating structure and, most importantly, learn about the crucial steps we can all take to save it.

Experience it now.

The Great Barrier Reef. Image: Getty

7. Australian Maritime Museum HMB Endeavour

Immerse yourself in the magnificent Australian-built replica of James Cook’s ship, online.

Get your sea legs ready for an amazingly realistic tour of the Australian National Maritime Museum’s HMB Endeavour replica. The stunning vessel (based on the original Endeavour – the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia in 1770) is currently moored at Sydney’s Darling Harbour, but has circumnavigated Australia 3 times, sailed to Europe and America too.

This self-guided virtual tour will have you experiencing life on the sea as Cook and his men did back in 1768. Explore the upper and lower decks and Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse in crisp, high-definition. All the while, learn how science has changed and how we still use the knowledge achieved during Cook’s incredible journeys today.

Experience it now.

The HMB Endeavour in Sydney. Image: Getty

8. Kakadu National Park

World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is a natural haven, brimming with wetlands, rivers, rainforest and towering sandstone escarpments. Here, you can spot crocodiles, turtles and more than 280 bird species. The area is also rich in Indigenous culture and history, with Aboriginal rock art dating back 20,000 years.

While travel to Kakadu is out of the question for now, you can still experience this natural wonder on your computer screen with Kakadu National Park’s virtual tour.

Experience 360-degree views of the Arnhem Land escarpment, cruise along Twin Falls, admire the rock art of Ubirr or take a virtual dip in the Gunlom Plunge Pool.

Experience it now.

Jim Jim Falls over the Arnhem Land escarpment. Image: Getty

9. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognisable landmarks and is also a place of deep spiritual importance to the Anangu people. Their Tjukurpa, or law, explains both how Uluṟu was formed and how it should be cared for today.

Ranger-led activities in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park are currently on hold, but you can still walk around – and learn about – the iconic sandstone monolith online.

In collaboration with Google Story Spheres, Uluru-kata Tjuta National Park’s series of virtual tours combines clear, 360-degree visuals with immersive audio, letting you experience desert birdsong, stories told by traditional owners of the land and, of course, the beauty of the outback.

Experience it now.

Uluru. Image: Tourism NT, Jackson Groves

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