We all have them – a mental checklist of destinations and landmarks we'd love to see in real life. But it turns out much of the world has similar dreams.
British luxury travel company Kuoni looked at global search volumes for more than 115 sites in 219 countries to compile a list of the top bucket-list items across the world broken down by continents.
See a gallery of the full top 20 above.
Below is more on what made the top 10.
10. See the Burj Khalifa
It turns out hordes of people across the world would love the chance to ascend the world's tallest building, which towers over Dubai. Not only is it the 10th destination on the global list, but also comes in second for Asia and Africa.
The 828-metre Burj Khalifa – more than twice the height of the Empire State Building – is an architectural marvel and has held the Guinness World Record since 2010. It has a number of other world records, too, including tallest lift in a building (504 metres), most floors in a building (163) and the highest restaurant from ground level (441.3 metres).
Visitors can head up to level 148, 555 metres in the sky, to take in the unsurpassable panoramic views of the city from the outdoor terrace and lounge. Guided tours take you from here to the 360-degree observation decks on levels 124 and 125.
Meanwhile, on levels 152 to 154 is The Lounge (the world's highest at 585 metres above ground), where paying guests can sample drinks and canapés.
9. See Times Square
It has appeared in almost every movie and series ever set in New York City and tens of millions watch the ball drop every New Year's Eve, so it's no wonder so many people dream of stepping into Times Square.
The landmark is in Midtown Manhattan, formed by the intersection of Seventh Avenue, 42nd Street and Broadway, the world-renowned theatre district. Despite its unsavoury beginnings as a crime hub, it's since become known as a hive of tourist attractions and activity.
It was originally named Long Acre Square, but when The New York Times set up shop there in 1904, its moniker changed. It was the newspaper that began lowering a glass ball down its flagpole at midnight every December 31st, and ever since this tradition has got more sophisticated and elaborate each year.
Since the 1920s, at the advent of neon signs, it has also been a centre for flashy advertising and in the late 20th century building tenants even became required by law to display eye-catching signage, overall making this square a feast for the senses at the heart of New York.
8. Visit the Taj Mahal
This perfectly symmetrical mausoleum, featuring marble and inlay relief work with precious stones, is widely considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever made.
Set over 17 hectares in India's Agra Distract of Uttar Pradesh, the Taj Mahal was built over 16 years, between 1632 and 1648, and is complete with landscaped gardens, a mosque, museum and a reflecting pool. It was ordered by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal as a tribute to their love.
Today, it is considered to be the greatest architectural achievement in the whole range of Indo-Islamic architecture, as stated by Unesco, which designated it a World Heritage Site in 1983. Its arches and domes allow an interplay of light and shadow, the surrounding colours changing the building's hues as the days and seasons pass by.
It's open to visitors year-round except Fridays and night tours are available five days a month.
7. Visit Stonehenge
This ancient stone circle couldn't be further from the beacon of modernity that is Burj Khalifa, but Stonehenge is yet another feat of engineering that people all over the world want to see for themselves.
It's at the heart of a Unesco World Heritage Site that features a unique concentration of prehistoric monuments. It is not known what components were built first, but the earliest known construction was of a circular ditch with an inner and outer bank about 3,000BC, an early form of a henge monument that became one of the largest cremation cemeteries known in Neolithic Britain, as stated by English Heritage. The stone circle we see today came about in the late Neolithic period, around 2,500BC, and it was in the early Bronze Age that the many burial mounds were built nearby.
It was built using simple tools but sophisticated construction techniques that have not been seen on other prehistoric monuments before or since. It would have required careful planning and a team of hundreds to create, particularly considering the two types of stones used – sarsens and bluestone – were brought from 250km and 25km away, weighing up to five and 30 tons each, respectively.
It remains the only example of a lintelled stone circle like it that still exists to this day.
6. See the Northern Lights
People have had the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, on their bucket lists for millennia. This atmospheric phenomenon – which turns the night sky shimmering shades of blue, red, yellow, green and purple – was named aurora borealis by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in 1619, but the earliest record of it is believed to be a 30,000-year-old cave painting in France.
The night's sky might be its canvas, but it's actually the sun that causes an aurora, which happen in both the north and south poles (the latter is referred to as aurora australis), says Nasa. In simple terms, during a particular type of solar storm, the sun shoots bubbles of electrified gas at high speeds into the magnetic field lines at the poles and into the Earth's atmosphere where these particles interact with gases, resulting in one of nature's most stunning light displays. Oxygen creates green and red light, while nitrogen glows blue and purple.
This is happening 24 hours a day, every day, but onlookers have to be in the right place at the right time to see it in its full glory. This is usually between September and April, 9pm to 3am, when the sky is at its darkest.
The best place to go is in a 2,500km radius of the North Pole, the Tromso Geophysical Observatory in Norway says, but as explained by Kuoni's research people want to see it in the Nordic and Scandinavian nations.
5. Climb the Statue of Liberty
Yet another architectural marvel on this list is New York City's most famous lady. Formally known as Liberty Enlightening the World, the Statue of Liberty, which is located on Ellis Island, is a colossal 93 metre-tall statue that was a gift from France to the US to commemorate 100 years of the Declaration of Independence and the two nations' close relationship. It was completed and opened in 1886.
It represents a woman with a crown, of which each spike represents rays of sunlight, holding a tablet inscribed with July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals, a nod to the date of American independence. A broken shackle and chains at her foot symbolises the end of slavery in 1865.
The monumental gift was designed in France by sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi with the help of civil engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, just before creating his tower. It was then shipped to America in 350 pieces and 214 crates, arriving in New York Harbor in June 1885.
To visit, travellers must take a ferry from Manhattan to the island and buy tickets to access the pedestal and crown. The torch is closed to the public. There is also a museum that tells the history of Lady Liberty and has a rooftop vista that offers some of the best views of the statue and harbour.
4. Visit Bora Bora
Not only is visiting Bora Bora, a small French Polynesian island in the South Pacific, number four on the world's bucket list, it's also second for the UK, Oceania and South America, and third for Asia.
It might only be 31 square kilometres and have a population of less than 10,000, but this paradisiacal atoll has much to offer tourists. It's known for its brilliantly turquoise waters, white-sand beaches, lush vegetation and five-star luxury resorts that often feature overwater bungalows, making it particularly popular among honeymooners.
The island was formed seven million years ago by a volcano and lies north-west of Tahiti, less than an hour's flight away. Anyone who arrives at the airport in Motu Mete is greeted with a flower lei and transferred by boat to their hotel, meaning the love affair begins right from the moment you step off the plane.
3. See the Mona Lisa
Thousands of spectators mill around Paris's Louvre Museum every single day to get a glimpse of this 500-year-old portrait in subdued hues of a very ordinary woman. The Mona Lisa is the work of Leonardo da Vinci and sits behind bulletproof glass since it's one of the world's most valuable paintings, with the Guinness World Record for highest insurance evaluation for a painting.
And yet most people are baffled by its significance, though experts agree it's a very realistic portrait that demonstrates Leonardo's superior skills, particularly his application of sfumato, a technique of blending the edge between colours for a soft transition.
Leonardo painted it when he was living in Florence some time between 1503 and 1519, the year he died. It's also called La Gioconda as many historians and scholars have posited the subject is Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo, yet the true identity remains a mystery, as does the meaning behind her inscrutable smile, perpetuating this endless fascination.
2. Get splashed at Niagara Falls
Getting splashed by Niagara Falls is the second most sought-after travel experience in the world. The second largest waterfall in the world, after Victoria Falls in Africa, it straddles the borders between New York in the US and Ontario, Canada. It has been a popular attraction for 200 years and a huge source of hydrothermal energy.
While it was previously famous as a site for dangerous stunts, such as tightrope walkers crossing the falls or daredevils rolling over them in barrels, it's now a tourist magnet thanks to its beauty and as a natural geological phenomenon.
It lies on the Niagara River and is made up of three separate waterfalls – Horseshoe Falls (or Canadian Falls), American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls – which span about 1,204 metres and gush approximately 70 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water every minute.
There are many ways to visit the falls, which are now surrounded by myriad tourist activities and attractions, from restaurants to hotels and an amusement park to casinos. Visitors can take a boat tour to see the cascading waters up close, while a helicopter ride offers a fantastic vantage point. You can also wander behind them, entering through one of several cave entrances and walking through a tunnel to see the waters plummeting right before your eyes.
1. Visit the Maldives
Visiting this South Asian island in the Indian Ocean tops bucket lists all over the world, with 121 countries searching for this travel experience the most out of those surveyed.
Similar to Bora Bora, the Maldives attracts tourists thanks to its image as an idyllic utopia. It's home to more than 1,000 islands, none of which is longer than 8km, grouped in a chain of 27 atolls. About 200 of these are inhabited, while 164 are populated with five-star resorts, with pristine beaches and clear waters, beachfront and overwater villas, all offering a slice of pure luxury. The rest are uninhabited or used for agriculture or other livelihoods.
The Maldives is also a conversation hotspot, with numerous initiatives for marine life and ocean protection. In 2011, Baa Atoll was designated as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, as it supports one of the largest groups of coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and is home to a globally significant biodiversity among its reefs. It also demonstrates a long history of human interaction with the environment, as stated by Unesco.
The full list of the world's top 20 travel bucket list experiences
- Visit the Maldives – Maldives
- Get splashed at Niagara Falls – US and Canada
- See the Mona Lisa – France
- Visit Bora Bora – French Polynesia
- Climb the Statue of Liberty – US
- See the Northern Lights – Iceland, Norway, Finland, Greenland and Sweden
- Visit Stonehenge – UK
- Visit the Taj Mahal – India
- See Times Square – US
- See the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – UAE
- Visit Pompeii – Italy
- Visit Sagrada Familia in Barcelona – Spain
- Visit Cinque Terre – Italy
- Visit Big Ben – UK
- Walk to Chichen Itza – Mexico
- Trek through the Himalayas – Bhutan, India, Nepal, China and Pakistan
- Visit Alcatraz – US
- Visit the White House – US
- Float on the Dead Sea – Israel and Jordan
- Admire the views at Yosemite – US
