A good city visit begins before the booking: with an understanding of the place, the practical arrangements and the people whose home it is. The Top 20 Things to Know Before Visiting and Touring series brings those questions together in detailed city guides, organised by country and then by city name.
Start with the country below, choose a city and follow its twenty short chapters. You can read from beginning to end or use the grouped contents to find a specific subject. The collection grows in batches of four; this directory links only to published guides and does not claim complete worldwide coverage yet.
Understand the place before planning the day
Explore history, geography, culture and practical questions in one readable route. Where official advice is against travel, the guide says so and provides a way to learn from home.
Afghanistan
The first country collection introduces four major cities. Travel advice checked 8 October 2026 (Singapore): the UK FCDO advises against all travel to Afghanistan, including organised tours. These guides provide cultural understanding and preparation questions; they do not recommend a leisure visit under current conditions.
| City guide | What you will understand |
|---|---|
| Herat | Citadel, Friday Mosque, Timurid heritage and manuscript art |
| Kabul | Bagh-e Babur, Murad Khani, crafts and the mountain city |
| Kandahar | Oasis geography, Durrani history, sacred sites and the Forty Steps |
| Mazar-i-Sharif | Shrine architecture, nearby Balkh and Central Asian connections |
Continue to the Afghanistan Travel Vocabulary Hub for city vocabulary and activities connecting precise language with geography, architecture and history.
Albania
The next country collection introduces four cities with different roles: an inhabited heritage centre, an Adriatic port, an inland route city and a base for regional archaeology. Choose a guide below, then continue through the Albania City Travel Guide Hub for practical and learning routes.
| City guide | Start here for |
|---|---|
| Berat | River, inhabited castle, neighbourhoods and Onufri Museum |
| Durrës | Urban archaeology, port connections and beach districts |
| Elbasan | Inhabited fortification, historical routes, craft and Summer Day |
| Fier | Apollonia, religious heritage, regional geography and the modern city |
Choose the question you need to answer
Before considering a journey: read the current travel-advice notice and the guide’s practical sections. Verify entry, health, payment, transport and access information for your circumstances. A historical account is not an operating timetable.
To understand the city: begin with its location and main historical relationships. Then choose one landmark and look closely at how its form, purpose and setting fit together.
For family or student learning: use a map, a properly labelled image and one authoritative source. Write one observation, one verified fact and one question. You can complete the activity without travelling.
For a future itinerary: keep a list of places of interest separate from confirmed arrangements. Do not treat a photograph, a map label or an old traveller’s experience as proof of present access.
Three connected ways to explore eduKateSG
| Collection | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Top 20 Things to Know Before Visiting and Touring | Understand a city’s setting, landmarks, culture and practical questions. |
| World City Vocabulary Directory | Learn words that help you describe places, compare evidence and write clearly. |
| Crazy Rich World | Explore the separate luxury, lifestyle and city-economy collection. |
For an example of the luxury branch, read Crazy Rich Shanghai: The Bund Hotels, Luxury Shopping, Michelin Dining and Art. Its scope differs from the practical and cultural preparation in this series.
How this directory grows
Countries are organised alphabetically by common English name. Within a country, published city links are listed alphabetically. Selection includes capitals and important regional, commercial or cultural centres; it is an editorial guide, not a population ranking. Additional major cities may be added as the country collection expands.
Every city keeps one main guide in this series. New batches are connected here and to the relevant existing country learning hub. Unpublished destinations are not presented as live links. Source checks are dated because travel conditions, permissions and operating information can change.