3. Take a bite of the Big Apple
Brooklyn, New York’s Dumbo neighborhood, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is one of more than two dozen 360-degree panoramics available to explore.
Getty Images
If wandering the streets of New York City sounds like a claustrophobic nightmare, you can experience loads of attractions through a screen.
ILoveNY360 is filled with iconic locations like the top deck of the Empire State Building and Times Square, as well as spots that mostly locals frequent, such as a community garden, convenience store and laundromat.
4. Walk through the Palace of Versailles in France
You don’t have to strain your neck to look up at the ceiling frescos in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. When you check them out virtually, you can zoom in to see more detail than is available in person.
COURTESY GOOGLE ARTS AND CULTURE
Bring the home of Louis XIV into yours as you tour the Hall of Mirrors, the Royal Opera and royal residences at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris. Navigate the same way you would another Google offering, Google Street View, using arrows to move around rooms and get closer to paintings, such as the 1683 ceiling fresco Figure of the Royal Magnificence, Immortality and Progress in the Fine Arts, by René-Antoine Houasse.
If you click on the info tags, you can learn more about each highlighted object. The controls are a little wonky, and you certainly don’t get the feeling of opulence and grandeur you’d get in person. But for housebound Francophiles, the tour is a nice next-best kind of visit.
5. Fly over the Taj Mahal in India
AirPano received rare permission to use its helicopter, outfitted with a panoramic camera, to fly above the Taj Mahal.
COURTESY AIRPANO
Because of strict security measures, it took months of paperwork and pleading with Indian authorities before photographers affiliated with AirPano, a Moscow-based photography group, were allowed to capture these aerial images of the Taj Mahal. Only birds flying over the iconic mausoleum had witnessed these breathtaking views — until now.
Listen to Indian music while you use your cursor for a click-and-drag exploration of the massive structure. To move to a different bird’s-eye view, sift through the pictures on the right side of the screen or click through the circles on the bottom.
You can even find details about the photographers’ long quest for access to the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The AirPano site also has cool, relaxing videos of gorgeous spots like the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Tokyo, which is viewed from above at night.
6. Go around the world on educational tours
The mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the Palatine Chapel, one of many in the Norman Palace in Palermo, Sicily, dates from the 12th century.
COURTESY ROAD SCHOLAR
These aren’t really virtual vacations, but they’re a taste of what you’d experience on a trip with Road Scholar, the nonprofit educational tour company for travelers 50 and older.
