Travel: Breathtaking PHOTOS from around the world

What was the world like in 2012? We bring you some of the best travel pictures from around the globe. Keep clicking.

A local miner talks with people atop a hill overlooking grasslands located around 200km (124 miles) south-west of the Mongolian capital city Ulan Bator.

Mongolia remains the least densely populated country on the planet at 1.7 persons per square kilometer. The population of just 2.7 million people are spread across an area three times the size of France, with two-fifths of Mongolians living in rural areas.

A scuba diver removes his equipment as he prepares to exit La Cueva de los Peces (Cave of the Fish) along the coast of Playa Giron, near the Bay of Pigs, 160 km south-east of Havana, in central Cuba. The Arab Spring, changes in US policy and economic reforms at home are driving a tourist rush that is giving communist-run Cuba one of its best seasons ever and stretching its ability to accommodate demand.

New and old buildings stand side by side on Fleet Street in London, a favourite haunt of Charles Dickens. The month of February marks an international celebration of the life and work of Charles Dickens on the bicentenary of his birth which falls on February 7. 

A girl walks on a disused railway track, through what is known locally as the "Tunnel of Love", in small town Kleven some 350km (217 miles) off western Kiev.

People sit on chairs in a flooded St Mark's Square at night during a period of seasonal high water in Venice November 1, 2012. The water level in the canal city rose to 140 cm (55 inches) above normal, according to the monitoring institute.

People walk past the Grand Mosque of Djenne, a UNESCO World-Heritage listed site, in Djenne. Nearly 10,000 annual tourists visited Djenne, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed town, in previous years. Since Mali's coup d'etat in late March, after which Islamist rebels took control of the country's northern two-thirds, less than 20 tourists have come to Djenne, according to the local tourism board.

A car attendant puts on his gloves in front of the Orient Express at the main railway station in Bucharest. The Venice Simplon-Orient Express train recreates the original Orient-Express route from Paris to Istanbul once a year with restored cars and luxury suites from the 1920s to accommodate tourists.

A tourist takes a photograph of ice formations at the Ice Castles at Silverthorne in Colorado. The Ice Castles at Silverthorne consists of man-made walkways, tunnels, and arches of ice with no supporting structures, some reaching up to a height of 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 metres). These formations are illuminated at night by 200 compact florescent lights.

A swimmer wades into the sea at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. On the final day of the London 2012 Olympics, the world looks ahead to Rio de Janeiro and Brazil who will host the 2016 Olympic Games..

The Statue of Liberty is seen in New York. The statue was closed for a year-long project that was the second phase of planned work to improve the visitor's experience and safety while touring the interior of the monument. Starting Sunday visitors will once again be able to climb to Lady Liberty's crown.

A Chinese tourist stands in a watchtower that is part of a section of the Great Wall of China that is decaying and overgrown with vegetation located near Xiang Shui Hu village, located 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Beijing.

Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the 6,400 km (4,000 miles) wall snakes its way across 11 Chinese provinces and draws millions of tourists every year, mostly to restored sections near the capital, Beijing. But away from the tourist trail, some parts of the wall are being allowed to crumble away.

A view shows La Ronda street in downtown Quito. Peppered with parks and crafts markets, Quito's status as a UNESCO world heritage site and its sweeping Andean panoramas have made this highland city an up-and-coming tourist destination. The main attractions of Quito, which caters for all tastes, are its colonial center, magnificent churches, cobblestone streets and quaint squares.

Women walk at the Chinese replica of Austria's UNESCO heritage site, Hallstatt village in China's southern city of Huizhou in Guangdong province. Metals and mining company China Minmetals Corporation spent $940 million to build this controversial site and hopes to attract both tourists and property investors alike, according to local newspaper reports.

The shadow of a woman is cast on the wall of a monastery as she looks on toward the Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal August 23, 2012. The Swayambhunath Stupa is a collection of shrines and temples.

An aerial view of the Burj Al Arab hotel is seen in Dubai.