Seven Continents Seven Towers

There’s a key type of landmark that’s always guaranteed to draw in tourists, no matter where it is: an observation tower. Slender, gargantuan structures that dominate the skyline, allowing visitors from around the world to have a 360 view of entire cities. There’s so many great dedicated observation towers to choose from, but to narrow down our selection for a more unique list, we’ll be showing you one tower per continent – the tallest that each has to offer (in height order, of course).

The tallest tower in Asia is also currently the tallest tower in the world, and the second tallest structure overall after the Burj Khalifa. Completed in 2012 (after four years of construction) it stands at a truly dizzying 634m. Its primary function is for television and radio broadcast, as the previously used Tokyo Tower was no longer up for the task due to the influx of high-rise buildings surrounding it. The striking neofuturistic design has made it an instant hit with tourists, who flock to the multiple observation levels, marvelling at the glass spiral skywalk leading to the top, giving a view of the streets below. In anticipation for its opening, people waited in line for a week to get tickets, and trips to the top were fully booked for the first two months before anyone even set foot inside. In the first week alone, over 1.6 million people ascended the Skytree. The developers claim that it will be a catalyst for revitalisation in Tokyo, and that the advanced seismic-proofing technology involved in the design is a contribution to disaster prevention. A national vote was actually held in 2008 to choose the name, which “Skytree” won with around 30% of the votes. Interestingly, the height of the tower was specifically chosen to be easily remembered by local people. The tower stands in a district previously called Musashi, which also sounds like the height spoken in individual figures: 6 (mu), 3 (sa), 4 (shi).

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The stereotype of the USA is that they all believe bigger is better. Many see it as the place where oversized cars drive on huge roads, massive meals are consumed by large people, and goliath buildings fill far-reaching cities. If that’s in any way an accurate depiction of the US, then they must be very frustrated that they’ve been thoroughly outdone on that last point by their northern neighbour, Canada. The CN Tower in Toronto was both the world’s tallest free-standing structure and overall tallest tower in the world for 34 years, and remains as the loftiest free-standing structure in the western hemisphere. It’s a proud 553m-high symbol for all of Canada, and was even declared one of the modern seven wonders of the world. Similarly to the Tokyo Skytree, the CN Tower was created for the purpose of TV and radio communication, built by the Candadian National Railway to show the strength of Canadian industry. Construction started on Febuary 6th 1973, and was completed just over two years later. The cost of the tower was repaid within 15 years, and then went on to be the basis of a booming tourist district. Previously, it was the only major development along Front Street West, but it is now the centre of a newly developing entertainment area, proving its lasting value to the city.

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Whilst the whole of Russia is not in Europe proper, the city of Moscow is firmly within the continental boundary. Because of this, Russia’s monument to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution holds the honour of being the tallest structure in Europe (a title it has held for 49 years). Reaching 540m into the sky, Ostankino Tower was the first building on the planet to exceed 500m, and held the record for tallest free-standing structure until the CN Tower’s creation. Heralded as a masterpiece of Soviet engineering, the unique design by Nikolai Nikitin still remains impressive to this day. Once again, and unsurprisingly at this point, it serves as a communications tower. Unlike the previous two towers though, it has more decks for observation, with dozens of rings of decks and balconies winding their way up the knobbled facade. It was one of the first buildings to use a skywalk of glass panels to view the ground below, and was the highest one in existence until the Skytree came along. What really separates it from all the other cloud piercing observation towers however, is the fact that it feels so exclusive. Only around 20 people are allowed up at a time, making the trip to the top feel a bit more special, and allowing you to enjoy a peaceful view devoid of crowds busying the window space.

Confusingly, New Zealand is not technically on any of the seven continents of the world, but for the sake of making this list, we’ll be using the looser-defined region Oceania instead of just Australia. The Sky Tower is the defining point of Auckland’s skyline, rising up to 328m, granting it the title of tallest freestanding structure in the southern hemisphere. It can withstand earthquakes up to 8.0 in magnitude, and it’s uniquely equipped to deal with the blisteringly high winds it endures. Whilst structurally marvellous, it also boasts a unique and evocative design. The energy-efficient LED lights that cover the building add even more flair, regularly changing to colours from across the spectrum in recognition various organisations, charities and events. Many special charity events are actually held at the tower itself, such as the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation’s stair climb challenges, with the “Firefighters Sky Tower Challenge” being the most notable. Since opening in 1997, the tower has been lauded for its multitude of features for tourists. At the base of the tower resides the SkyCity Auckland casino complex, at level 50 there is the Sky Lounge,  and on level 51 you enter the main observation deck. Then, up on level 52, you’ll be able to experience New Zealand’s only revolving restaurant, which revolves 360 degrees every hour. On the floor above that is The Sugar Club restaurant, the SkyWalk, and the famous SkyJump (a 192m cable-guided fall where adrenaline junkies can reach up to 53 mph!). At the very top is the Sky Deck, which also gives access to the exterior antenna mast.

I must preface this entry with a caveat: you can no longer go up this tower as a tourist, so sorry about that. After construction was completed in 1971, the tower was open for the public for a mere ten years until it was closed off to visitors in 1981 for security reasons, despite being one of the biggest attractions in the area. Fortunately though, the Hillbrow Tower is still a great-looking piece of architecture from the outside, sporting an iconic top section and fantastic lighting by night, so it’s still a relevant attraction for anyone who visits Johannesburg. It still serves its original purpose as a – now all say it together this time – comminications tower! For 45 years it was the tallest structure and tower in all of Africa (measuring 269m in total height), and was for a brief time the highest-reaching construction in the southern hemisphere. It was built by South African Posts & Telecommunications (now Telkom) for 2 million Rand over a period of three years, and was originally named after former prime minister JG Strijdom until 2005 when it became known as Telkom Jo’Burg Tower. It continues to be an iconic landmark of the city alongside its counterpart tower, the Sentech Tower, which is just a fraction shorter but serves the same telecommunication purpose. For the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the tower was used to celebrate the event, having a humongous football affixed onto it.  It’s such a distinctive part of Johannesburg that it even became featured in the city’s official logo.

So, in making this list, I discovered that people in South America really just don’t care all that much about observation towers – there’s barely any of them! And none of them are within the top 50 tallest, either. Fortunately, Argentina pulled through for me, and gave us a great entry for this list – the Torre Espacial (also known as the Torre Iterama). It measures up at a nice round 200m tall, and has been a City Cultural Landmark of Buenos Aires since 2010. It was originally built in 1980 as a feature for the Parque de la Ciudad theme park, but the developer of the park went bankrupt. The construction of the tower persisted onwards despite this, and was finally opened up for business in 1985. It was then closed off again in 2003, but after extensive renovation it was re-opened in 2011, and it now looks better than ever. It features three observation decks, and has such a clear unobstructed view that it’s possible to see the coast of Uruguay, making this tower unique amongst this list for giving visitors a view of two different countries at once. Despite being smaller than the others featured above, it’s still very much worth the visit, and is perhaps more so due to the rarity of observation towers in South America.

Did you really think there would be something here? Of course not! There’s no towers in Antarctica! There’s not even anything manmade taller than two storeys! We know we’re great at finding interesting places to jet off to, but we’re not magicians. If you want to go to an observation tower at the South Pole, you’ll just have to wait another century or two like the rest of us.