Mexico City’s Biblioteca Vasconcelos looks straight out of a sci-fi movie, its glass floors and steel-beamed stacks seemingly floating in mid-air. Spanning three city blocks, the massive building manages to make the whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling look tiny. It’s completely free and open to all, so anyone can come read, admire the architecture and get lost in the matrix-like shelves.

One in 14 Boston residents is a student, so it’s fitting that the city’s largest public library has so much going on. The BPL has a cafe, bar, tea room, and summer courtyard concert series. No library card is needed—just walk in and claim a desk in Bates Hall, with its barrel-vaulted sandstone ceiling, massive arched windows, oak bookcases and marble busts. Best of all? Not many know John Singer Sargent’s mural cycle on world religions is here, so you might have it entirely to yourself.

The New York Public Library has dozens of branches, but the one most people picture is the stately Schwarzman building, its marble steps flanked by the iconic stone lions named Patience and Fortitude. Free and open to all, this Beaux-Arts landmark is one of the city’s most beautiful public spaces and worth a visit whether you’re popping in briefly or settling in to write your magnum opus.

Tucked among redwoods, the Mill Valley Public Library feels more like a mid-century retreat than a civic building. Inside, grab a seat by the floor-to-ceililng windows framing views of towering trees, or maybe get cozy near the wood-burning fireplace in a handcrafted walnut chair. On sunny days, head to the deck overlooking redwood groves and a rushing creek.

Yale’s Beinecke Library is one of the world’s largest collections devoted entirely to rare books. Its six-story glass tower of 180,000 volumes is encased in translucent marble walls that filter sunlight to protect the collection, and create a warm, glowy effect when the building is lit from within at night.

In contrast to opulent libraries with vast collections, this humble library on the quiet Bahamian island of Eleuthera is memorable for its reading deck with sweeping water views and sea breezes that drift through open windows. Dating back to the 1870s, it still stands proud with bubble gum-colored walls—a hallmark of Bahamian government buildings—turquoise hurricane shutters and a white trimmed porch that makes the perfect shaded spot to crack open a new book.

In Rio’s historic center, the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura is like a cathedral for the written word. Opened in 1887, its Gothic Revival architecture, kaleidoscopic stained-glass skylight, and incredibly ornate three-story shelves hold the largest collection of Portuguese literature outside of Portugal. It's open to visitors for free, which is kind of unbelievable when you step inside.

Of Paris’ many libraries, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s Richelieu location takes the cake for its recently restored Oval Room—a skylit space lined with thousands of books and dozens of tables to read, write, or just hang out. Previously reserved for researchers, it’s luckily now open to all for free, with lots of family-friendly programming and activities that make a trip to the library feel like a treat for kids.

Just off Piazza Navona, Rome’s Biblioteca Angelica is one of the world’s oldest public libraries, open since 1609. It’s not the largest in the city, but come for the character and history. The grand reading room, with soaring ceilings, multi-tiered wooden shelves and that distinctly warm scent of old paper is something to marvel at. Plus it's free and open to visitors, so it's a great escape from the city’s chaos.

The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is made up of two buildings: the historic, Baroque Unter den Linden site, originally built in the 17th century, and the strikingly modern Potsdamer Straße building, designed in the 1960s, with soaring light-filled reading halls, which you might recognize from the Wim Wenders movie Wings of Desire. In addition to housing the world’s most significant collections of German literature, the library is also home to Mozart’s original scores as well as medieval texts, maps

The John Rylands Library in Manchester looks more like a neo-Gothic cathedral than a place to study. Opened in 1900 and now part of the University of Manchester, it’s one of the few university libraries in the UK open to the public. No need to book a tour, anyone is welcome to ogle at the soaring stone arches, intricate woodwork and atmospheric reading rooms.

In Taipei’s Beitou Park, the Beitou Library is a model of green architecture, built almost entirely from wood and designed to blend into its leafy surroundings. Shaded balconies overlook the park, and are perfect spots to read in the fresh air.

Of all places, In the middle of Seoul’s COEX Mall, the Starfield Library is an airy, light-filled space with towering bookshelves that stretch over two stories high, filled with thousands of titles. There is a big, bright open space in the center, with seating areas that make you completely forget you’re in a mall.

Part-library, part-urban farm, the VAC Library was designed to teach kids about the environment through hands-on exploration. Its wooden climbing-frame exterior hides shelves of books on aquaponics and more, with gardens and fish ponds to explore below.