Eiffel Tower or Machu Picchu? The world's greatest landmark
10 November 2026 · Places
On GOATvs right now
- Machu Picchu #1 · Landmarks
- Colosseum #2 · Landmarks
- Eiffel Tower #3 · Landmarks
- Hagia Sophia #4 · Landmarks
- Taj Mahal #6 · Landmarks
- Petra #5 · Landmarks
- Pyramids of Giza #10 · Landmarks
- Great Wall of China #15 · Landmarks
- Machu Picchu vs Eiffel Tower 64% – 36%
- Colosseum vs Hagia Sophia 54% – 46%
- Taj Mahal vs Pyramids of Giza 52% – 48%
Lists of the world's great landmarks are everywhere, from travel magazines to bucket-list books, and most of them are put together by an editor. GOATvs builds its list a different way: two places side by side, you pick the one you think is greater, and the world's ranking of landmarks comes out of all those small choices. The box above shows where the leaders stand today and how three of the closest match-ups split. The full order is on our Top 100 landmarks list.
At the top, for now, is Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel built in the 15th century on a ridge high in the Andes of Peru. It was never found by the Spanish conquerors, and it became famous around the world after the American explorer Hiram Bingham wrote about it in 1911. Part of its pull is the setting: terraces and stone buildings on a saddle between two peaks, with cloud forest falling away on every side. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Its most famous rival is the Eiffel Tower. It was built by Gustave Eiffel's company for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, was meant to stand for only twenty years, and was criticised by many Parisian artists when it went up. It became the symbol of France instead, and it is one of the most visited paid monuments on Earth. Machu Picchu against the Eiffel Tower is the classic choice between a wonder of nature and history and a wonder of engineering, and it is the first match-up in the box above.
The Colosseum in Rome is right up with them. The amphitheatre was finished in the year 80 under the emperor Titus and could hold tens of thousands of spectators for gladiator fights and public shows. Its closest rival on the list may be Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, completed in 537 under the emperor Justinian. For nearly a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in the world, then for centuries a mosque, then a museum from 1935, and since 2020 a mosque again. Its dome changed what architects thought was possible.
In 2007 a worldwide public vote organised by the New7Wonders Foundation named seven New Wonders of the World: the Great Wall of China, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, the Colosseum and the Taj Mahal, with the Pyramids of Giza given an honorary place. Almost two decades later, all of them sit near the top of the GOATvs list too. Petra, the rose-red city carved into the cliffs of Jordan by the Nabataeans, and the Taj Mahal, the white marble tomb Shah Jahan built in Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, are both in the top group. The third match-up above sets the Taj Mahal against the Pyramids of Giza, the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing.
There are surprises too. The Great Wall of China, probably the most famous structure in the world by name, sits a little lower than you might expect, perhaps because a wall is harder to picture than a single building. Modern icons such as the Sydney Opera House and the Burj Khalifa hold their own against monuments thousands of years older.
These places move as people vote, so the order you see in the box may be different next week. If you have a favourite, pick your side in the match-ups above, and see how the world ranks cities and natural wonders on the full places list.
Vote: Machu Picchu vs Eiffel Tower