When you think of a spy, the image of James Bond, neatly dressed and dapper, might immediately come to mind, but the actual life of a spy is far less glamorous. One of the most well-known spies in modern history was Nathan Hale, a young soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Hale posed as a Dutch schoolmaster and spied on the British successfully, before his capture and execution. The clandestine profession has evolved ever since. 

You might have a hard time getting a current spy to tell you about their day-to-day work, but there are several locations around the globe where you can walk in the footsteps of past spies. One of the best places to start is the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. It’s the largest public collection dedicated to spycraft in the world. And in Germany, a bridge between Berlin and Potsdam has become synonymous with the spy trade. The Glienicke Bride (also known as the “Bridge of Spies”) was the site of several prisoner exchanges of spies between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. From an espionage ship to a painfully obvious spy house, these are some of our favorite places to explore the world of spycraft.