Gates unlock a world of superb travel sightseeing and photo opportunities with monumental sights to take in around with world.
From Berlin's Brandenburg to Mumbai's Gateway of India and San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate, via Crete, Beijing's Forbidden city and Buckingham Palace Gates in London, a great gate will be worth the journey.
While some will be very familiar, some are perhaps lesser known, such as the Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) in Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, and the Iron Gates on the River Danube in Serbia and Romania.
Here are our favourites from near and far, both man-made and all natural.
Gateway of India, Mumbai
THE 85ft high structure on reclaimed land at the delightfully named Apollo Bunder – formally Wellington Pier – was completed in 1924 to mark the visit of George V and Queen Mary, the Emperor and Empress of India, 13 years earlier (the royals only saw a cardboard model of it).
While it is obviously linked to old British colonial rule – the last British troops to leave India at the end of the Raj in 1948 passed through it – today it’s a prime tourist site and very much a monumental symbol of India’s largest, and perhaps most extraordinary, city.
It’s made of yellow basalt and reinforced concrete and is a genuinely impressive sight, especially at night.
- More info: incredibleindia.org
Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun), Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
This 10ft high, 13ft wide monolith between La Paz and Lake Titicaca was carved from a single piece of rock by people of the pre-Columbian Tiwanaku culture, who flourished in the region between 500-950 AD.
The site in the Kalasasaya temple, within the Unesco-listed Tiwanaku archaeological complex, is a dizzying 12,549ft above
sea level and the stone is estimated to weigh 10 tonnes.
A smaller Puerta de la Luna (Gate of the Moon) is a few hundred yards away and has carvings of puma heads with fish mouths instead of the Sun Gate’s bird heads.
Both are believed to be part of Andean people’s cosmology beliefs.
- More info: minculturas.gob.bo
Golden Gate, San Francisco, California
Fact fans will know that the Golden Gate is the famously foggy strait which connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
It is of course spanned by the 1.7 mile long Golden Gate Bridge which opened in 1937. If it’s not the most photographed bridge in the world, it’s certainly in the Top One.
- More info: visitcalifornia.com
Buckingham Palace Gates, London
The main wrought iron gates and railings were made by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts, who received their royal commission in 1905.
A Worcestershire company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, they produced the gilded railings and the royal coats of arms surrounding the palace, which has been the monarch’s London residence since 1837.
The guild’s work epitomised highly-skilled British craftsmanship.
Crowds have gathered at the gates – 13ft wide, 16ft high and weighing four tonnes – in times of national celebration and the darker days of war and the birth or death of a member of the royal family.
While we are in the instant information age of Twitter and 24/7 TV and online news, it is still the tradition that an announcement notice of a royal birth, engagement or death is printed and attached to the railings.
- More info: visitlondon.com
Meridian Gate, Beijing
At 125ft high with two protruding wings it’s the largest and most imposing of the gates leading to the vast Forbidden City royal palace complex.
The five towers are in a concave layout to create the effect of a flying phoenix and the main central tower is 198ft long and 82ft in width.
Only the Emperor could enter via the centre arch, while the Empress was permitted on her wedding day.
Less cheerily, this was the place where corporal punishment was dispensed to palace officials who had displeased
the Emperor.
- More info: travelchina.org.cn
Iron Gates, Serbia and Romania
A contribution from Mother Nature, this two-mile gorge on the River Danube forms the border between Serbia and Romania.
The towering 1,640ft cliffs are best seen from a river cruise ship and the undoubted highlight is the rock sculpture of Decebalus, a king of Dacia who fought against the Roman Empire.
It’s not as old as you might think, being completed in 2004, but a great photo op at an impressive 180ft high. Should you be wondering, it’s the tallest rock relief in Europe.
- More info: serbia.travel romaniatourism.com
Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun), Madrid
A square at the very centre of Spain, it’s Kilometre Zero from where all radial roads in the country begin.
It’s also the location of the clock tower which rings at midnight on New Year’s Eve with locals traditionally eating a grape with each chime for good luck.
Puerta del Sol originated as one of the gates in the city wall in the 15th century and is named for the rising sun as it faced east. The square is also the site of the El Oso y el Madroño (The Bear and the Strawberry Tree) sculpture, which represents the city’s coat of arms.
- More info: esmadrid.com
Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium
First World War history weighs heavily here, with almost 55,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave commemorated.
They are all listed as Missing in more than three years of fighting in the Ypres Salient and their bodies have never been identified or found. The 30ft wide, 48ft memorial opened in July 1927.
The Last Post has been sounded at 8pm every night since, with the exception of the German occupation of Belgium in the
Second World War.
- More info: visitbelgium.com
Hot Gates (Thermopylae), Greece
Another natural entry, this was made famous by the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC when a vastly outnumbered force of Greeks, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, famously held off the invading Persian army for three days.
Modern day estimates say there were 7,000 Greeks (with around 300 Spartan elite) pitted against the 150,000-300,000 Imperial warriors of Xerxes in the strategic narrow pass between the mountains and the sea.
Prior to the battle, Xerxes sent an emissary to Leonidas suggesting the Spartans should surrender their weapons. The legendary two-word reply was “Molon labe – come and take [them]”. The name Hot Gates derives from the local sulphur springs and in Greek mythology it is the site of one of the entrances to Hades.
Today there is a small museum and a memorial to the Spartans and their king, but nothing remains of the battle site itself.
- More info: visitgreece.gr
Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
This vast structure began life in 1791 as a monument to Prussian might, then became a powerful symbol of a divided Berlin – and Germany – as it spent 28 years cut off from the West by the Wall.
The location is stellar, at the head of the mile long Unter den Linden boulevard and just a few yards from the Reichstag Building, with the spectacular glass dome designed by Sir Norman Foster.
Memorably, on June 12, 1987, on the western side of the wall by the gate, American President Ronald Reagan told the Soviet Union, and the watching world: “Mr Gorbachev – tear down this wall!”
Today, topped by the mighty Quadriga statue of the goddess of victory driving a chariot pulled by four horses, it stands proud as a symbol of the reunified Germany and is a must-see for any visitor to the great city that is Berlin.
- More info: visitberlin.de
Gates, Samaria Gorge, Crete
This spectacular eight-mile gorge forms a national park in the south west of the island. It’s a very popular tourist attraction, with walkers only allowed in during spring to autumn daylight hours.
The most famous part is the stretch known as the Gates, where the 980ft walls narrow to just 14ft.
In recent years the Gates have popped up on Instagram and Twitter as the Iron Gates, but locals say it’s definitely just Gates. Visitors may spot a rare kri-kri (Cretan goat).
- More info: visitgreece.gr
