Lost Cities Where You Can Channel Your Inner Lara Croft ...

1. La Moskitia, Honduras

Thankfully, Spanish conquistadors never discovered the White City or its fabulous gold treasure. With the aid of Lidar, spacious plazas and buried pyramids dating back to a pre-Columbian culture that disappeared without leaving any other trace were revealed. Today this UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the world's most mysterious lost cities, in the Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve in north-eastern Honduras, offers wannabe Lara Crofts spectacular jungle tours, where you can watch hundreds of exotic bird species and other cute critters, or be entertained more sedately by traditional Garifuna dances.

2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Visit Ta Prohm's decaying temples and you'll feel like a tomb raider unearthing artefacts that will explain the Secret of Time. In fact, these temples formed the background to one of the Tomb Raider movies. Discovered by French explorer Henri Mouhot some 150 years ago, Angkor Wat is an amazing lost city; it's the world's largest single religious monument, dating to the Khmer Empire (9th to 15th century). At Beng Mealea, which is thankfully less crowded with tour groups, you'll be able to really soak up the mystical, jungle-cloaked atmosphere of the place and be an action heroine in your own right when you try to see as many of the buildings as is humanly possible in one day.

3. CIUDAD Perdida, COLOMBIA

South America is the favourite treasure-hunting ground for Professor Indiana Jones, action hero of several Spielberg movies. It takes an energetic trek through rainforest terrain of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains to get to the site of Ciudad Perdida, which means "lost city" in Spanish. Tilt your Indie Jones hat at a rakish angle, and take a deep breath, for you'll need to negotiate slippery trails, wade through icy rivers and trek up steep slopes before you'll reach the Tayrona Indian-built site. The complex dates back to between 500 AD and 700 AD and was abandoned upon the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. Sadly, it wasn't archaeologists who discovered the site in the 1970s, but modern day tomb raiders who stole whatever they could carry. Today, the impressive citadel is all that remains of what must have been once a stunningly beautiful city in the remote jungle of Colombia.

4. Petra, Jordan

The half built, half carved lost city of Petra in Jordan was once the capital of the ancient Nabataean kingdom. Famous for its rose-red sandstone rock face, Petra was a busy trading centre in the middle of the desert until a 6th-century earthquake destroyed its essential water system. Abandoned by settlers for centuries and partially buried under tons of sand, it was rediscovered by the Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt in 1812. Accessible only via the Siq, an elongated, narrow gorge, Petra also starred in a Hollywood movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

5. Choquequirao, Peru

If famous Machu Picchu is too crowded for you, visit Choquequirao instead. Located ca. 44 km from Machu Picchu, the cradle of gold, as Choquequirao is called in the local Quechua language, is almost deserted by comparison. Here you can indulge in Lara Croft daydreams and take plenty of selfies with the depopulated mountaintop city in the background. Created in the 15th century by Topa Inca Yupanqui, who was the son of empire builder Pachacuti, the lost settlement of Choquequirao served as a refuge and ceremonial site for Incan royals..

6. Persepolis, Iran

Although little remains of Persepolis' original grandeur, there is still plenty to see at this 6th-century site, which still boasts stairways, magnificent columns and doorways of the great palaces. Established in 518 BC, Persepolis served as the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. As a revenge act for the burning of Athen's Acropolis, Alexander the Great razed Persepolis to the ground in 331 BC.

7. Khmer Empire Site of Mahendraparvata, Cambodia

This 9th century site predates Angkor Wat by 350 years and is constructed on a monumental scale, compared to other lost cities of antiquity. Discovered also with the assistance of Lidar, the site comprises of several once densely populated cityscapes that are interspersed by colossal temples. City districts are linked by a complex network of roads that stretch all the way to Angkor Wat, located more than 100 km away.

So, my darling Lara Croft wannabes, in which city would you love an adventure?