With the summer sweltering, travel to higher, cooler altitudes to experience the best city views.

Find out the best places to rise above it all in your city with our interactive page.Inclined for Beauty

Where: Mononagahela Incline

The country’s steepest incline is climbable in the country’s oldest cable car that’s still in operation. So to see the best views of the city below, pay the meager $2 and hop onto the cars of the Monongahela Incline.

At the top of Mount Washington, peer back down for arguably the most scenic view of downtown, where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers combine into the Ohio River.

It’s a trip that is part nostalgia and part thrill, and is sure to elevate you above from the heat rising off the pavement.

Stop and View the Roses

Where: International Rose Test Garden

Located slightly above the city, the International Rose Test Garden is the oldest test garden still running, where new hybrids and species are planted and nursed to fruition.

Although the roses peak in late spring, the gardens are still blooming and offer up something besides your run-of-the-mill botanical space: a gorgeous view. Down the paths, downtown rises in the distance, offering an above-it-all view framed in gorgeous blossoms.

Dine Among the Giants

Where: XiX, Broad and Walnut Streets

Travel up to the 19th floor of the Park Hyatt to grab a meal at one of Philadelphia’s most luxurious restaurants, XiX.

Arched picture windows abound, and the location means that you’re nestled among the highest sites of the Philadelphia skyline. Pearls dangle from chandeliers and 36-foot round rotundas frame a dining experience that is nothing short of sophisticated. With a menu focused on seafood delicacies, the meals mix the height of elegance with deep-sea delights.

As you dine, you can also watch the latest spat of new and taller buildings rise along the Schuylkill.

Hang Over the Ledge

Where: The Stratosphere Hotel

The Strip can be kind of a hassle, especially in the height of the tourist season, so why not travel high above all of the visitors’ heads and into the Stratosphere Hotel?

If you’ve got cash to burn, stay in their suites and dine at their luxury restaurant up in the highest freestanding observation deck in the U.S. Or just gather friends and go for a few thrill rides in the 1,149 foot-high amusement park.

“Insanity, the Ride” is a huge arm that hangs you 64 feet over the edge and sets you spinning at a force of three Gs until you almost lose your lunch. You can also hop onto the “Big Shot,” which shoots you 160 feet into the air at 45 miles per hour.

Mission to Party

Where: Medjool

Rise above it all while enjoying fancy cocktails, Mediterranean tapas and North African delights at trendy restaurant Medjool’s Sky Terrace. Tucked inside the Mission District, the Terrace menu offers such delights as fried sumac-dusted calamari with red onions and lemons, chicken in an almond-pomegranate sauce and filo wrapped sea bass coupled with eggplant and roasted red pepper sauce.

Be sure to dress to impress (there is in fact a dress code), because after your luxurious rooftop meal with a view, you can head downstairs into the club. With world beats pumping late into the night, it’ll be an evening of scenic views, tasty treats and raucous dancing.

Fireworks Above It All

Where: John Hancock Observatory

Every Wednesday and Sunday until Labor Day, you can catch the fireworks display that takes place in the Navy Yard from the best vantage point in the city. The pyrotechnics feel really close, but without any soot or ash falling on your shoulders or barbeque.

The open-air skydeck rises 94 stories above the Magnificent Mile, so you peer down on the Windy City without having to fight the gusts.

After the fireworks, head down to the Signature Room, the restaurant and bar—located 1,000 feet up in the clouds—for some classic American fare. It’s truly what the the owners tout as “the restaurant Chicago looks up to.”