The first caveat is best places to visit as per what we have visited and our preferences!
I had believed travel was for the privileged when I was young. While partly true, strong conviction and planning can overcome financial hurdles associated with travel. I have had the privilege to travel to around 50 countries with varied landscapes, culture and wildlife. Our choice of next destination is taken to maximize new experiences
Lonely planet, Conde Nast, USN come up with their own list, some annually and some periodically refreshing the trending ones
Here are our list of best places to visit in the world
The 25 best places to visit in the world
- Grand Canyon and Antelope canyon USA: For the sheer size that takes your breath away
- Niagara falls USA: For the volume of water gushing on your face on the boat
- Tambopata reserve, Amazon, Peru: For colorful macaws on claylick
- Salar-de-Uyuni and Altiplano region, Bolivia: For endless salt flats with giant cactii
- Strokkur Geyser Iceland: For the timed geyser shots that build up and shoot
- Ice caves and Diamond beach, Iceland: For the colors, falling ice chunks
- Swiss Alps, Switzerland: For the golf course like lawns and snow-capped peaks
- Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia: For the colors, tiered pools and forest
- Ancient ruins of Greece including Athens: For structures from one of the most ancient civilizations
- Sunset in Oia, Greece: For the blue-white landscape and pink bougainvillea flowers
- Cappadocia Turkey: For castle like structures caused by wind ersion
- Pamukkale cotton castle, Turkey: For the thermal pools and white layered steps
- Canyons of Petra, Jordan: For a feel of Bedouin times and the walk across siq
- Ancient mosques, madrasas of Uzbekistan at Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkhand: For the architecture, colors
- Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania: For the ecosystem inside an erstwhile volcano
- Masai Mara and Serengeti, Kenya and Tanzania: For witnessing great migration and feeling of a open zoo
- Valley of Kings and Egyptian temples, Luxor: For the intricate paintings on the tombs
- Ankor Wat and temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia: For the sheer size of the complex, the architecture and moats
- Ellora and Ajanta caves, India: For rock cut temples and paintings
- Chalukya and Hoysala temples including Belur, Halebidu, Aihole, Pattadakal, Badami, Hampi temples in Karnataka, India: For the finest architecture
- Backwaters and coasts of Karnataka and Kerala, India: For the riverside and coasts bleding with rainforests
- Temples of Tamil Nadu including Thanjavur, Madurai, Rameshwaram, India: For the gigantic size of pillared hallways and tall towered gopurams
- High altitude lakes of Ladakh at Tso- Moriri, Pangong Lake, India: For cold desert ecosystems
- Spring flowers in Japan including cherry blossom, Shiba Sakura, Nemophila at Hitachi seaside park, Wisteria in Ashikaga Park: For the variety and preservation across centuries
- Kyoto temples, mainly Kiyomizudera, Japan: For the size, rice reed roofs and tranquility
Close call and noticeable mentions: Next best places to visit
- Dzongs of Bhutan including Punakha, Tiger Nest: For the architecture
- Jade Lake, Tashkent: For the color of water and surrounding apricot bloom
- Ban Gioc falls, Vietnam: For the three tiered falls
- Kuang Si falls, Luang Prabhang, Laos: For the emerald waters amidst forests with trees
- Sigiriya rock fortress, Sri Lanka: For the shape of a lion and fortress on top
- Komodo island region including pink beach, Indonesia: For pink beach and red coral, in addition to Komodo dragons
- Temples of Besakih at Bali, Borobudur, Indonesia: For the layered complex covered with rice reed roofed temples
- Albatross colony, Dunedin: For the Otago peninsula views and the birds with largest wingspan
- Cusco region including Machu Pichu, rainbow mountains, Peru: For Incan architecture, colorful nature
- Glowworm caves, Te Anau : For the view of milky way at night on the boat and worms on cave walls
- Phobjikha during winter with black necked cranes, Bhutan: For the chatter early morning
- Taj Mahal, India: For the finesse in marble
- Roman runs, Italy: For the sheer expanse of ruins
- Pyramids of Giza, Egypt: For the huge structures dating 3000-4000 BC, times of Mahabharatha
- Karst mountains at Phuket Thailand and Ha Long Bay Vietnam: For green mountains emerging from the sea
Best places to visit on my wish-list which we would love to visit in future
- Igazu falls, Brazil and Argentina: Known to be much mightier than Niagara falls
- Lençóis Maranhenses, Brazil: For its pools in the desert dunes forming sandy waves
- Galapagos island, Ecuador: For diverse wildlife that are not scared of humans
- Patagonia icebergs, Argentina and Chile: For icebergs and mountains
- Antarctica and South Georgia islands: For emperor penguins, seals, boobies
- Svalbard, near Norway in Arctic circle: For Polar bear spotting
- Terracotta warriors, Xi’an: For the ancient army made of mud
- Great wall of China: For gigantic walls visible even from space
- Chichen Itza and Tikal Pyramids, Guatemala: For Mayan ruins
- National parks of Costa Rica: For diverse wildlife including tapirs, sloths
- National parks in Madagascar: For Lemurs, aye-ayes and other endemic species
- Yellowstone National Park, USA: For old faithful geyser, the colorful algae pools
- Bryce canyon National Park, USA: For the interesting rock formations
- Great barrier reef, Australia: For the sheer size of reefs
- Maldives: For the clear water, fishes and rays
We love landscapes, nature and wildlife, and find cities and museums boring. Places like Chicago, Miami, Oslo, Berlin, Brussels, beaches of Bali are underwhelming for us. Hence take our recommendations with that lens!