Our world is filled with indescribable beauty, both man-made and natural, and it’s hard to say whether a single lifetime would truly be enough to truly experience all of it. Most of us will probably never see everything that the world has to offer us, but it’s worth a shot! Here are 40 incredible places around the world that are definitely worth adding to your bucket list.
Some consider travel to be a luxury or even an unnecessary burden, while others consider it to be vitally important to living a fulfilled life. Still others don’t even have the opportunity to make that decision. But if you are afflicted with a case of wanderlust, you know that seeing the world’s sights can be a deeply moving and valuable experience.
My personal favorite is ecological tourism – climbing mountains, exploring deserts or simply in drinking in the sights of the countryside. However, you can’t deny the appeal of some of the man-made structures as well – from the epic, ancient grandeur of the Pyramids of Giza to the sunny charm of sea-side villages in Greece.
It’s a wonderful and beautiful world we live in, so make sure to see as much of it as you can before you kick the bucket!
No. 1 Yellowstone National Park (USA)
It was the wild plains of buffalo, bears, wolves and elk and the extraordinary natural art gallery of geysers, hot springs and scorched, bubbling earth that spurred U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant to create the world’s first national park in March 1872 and name it Yellowstone. Conservation efforts here would be replicated the world over, while the name Yellowstone itself would conjure up images of America’s Wild West. Today, it remains one of the most fabled spots on the U.S. map, and a Mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, who gush over its flora, fauna and geothermal unpredictability.
No. 2 The Sistine Chapel (Vatican City)
Four years in the making, Michelangelo’s interpretation of some of the Old Testament’s most powerful stories -- three each from the creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, and the story of Noah -- has become one of the iconic sets of images in Western art. While it was certainly the talk of the town in 1512, 501 years later, the Sistine Chapel is so renown it attracts as many as 20,000 tourists each day, who line up to take a peek at the world’s most visited room.
No. 3 Great Barrier Reef (Australia)
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is 2,600 kilometers (1,680 miles) in length and easily the largest living structure on earth. It’s also the only living thing visible from outer space -- though it’s best appreciated in person off the Queensland coast on one of the many dive trips or snorkel safaris. This massive underwater wonderland is composed of more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands that house a whopping 1,500 fish species, 30 species of whales and dolphins, six species of sea turtles and more than 215 species of birds. If you’re looking for the New York or Tokyo of the ocean, this is it.
No. 4 Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)
Spent your whole life looking at images of Egypt’s Great Pyramids and figured them to be in the middle of the dessert? Their proximity to modern Cairo may shock you. But the somewhat urban setting does not take away from the reality that these massive limestone beacons, and their guard cat, the Great Sphinx, are more than 4,500 years old (by most estimates) and still standing as the only surviving wonders of the ancient world. For modern day time travel, it doesn’t get much better than this.
No. 5 Grand Canyon (USA)
It’s one of the seven wonders of the natural world, but it doesn’t need any titles to impress; the numbers speak for themselves. The formidable Grand Canyon is 446 river kilometers (227 miles) long, up to 29 kilometers (18 miles) wide and 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) deep, and its walls offer a striking mosaic of geological colors and erosional forms that could put any museum to shame -- particularly when the colors change at sunrise and sunset. Add to the mix a few curtain-like waterfalls, Native American ruins and curious desert-dwellers, and you’ve got yourself a postcard-perfect vacation.
