The World’s Top 15 Bucket List Trips Ranked

People’s dream travel goals can differ, with each person making their own list of places they’d like to visit and things they’d like to try. However, some adventures are popular with many and often appear on people’s travel wish lists. To find out which travel experiences are the most appealing, adventure travel company Skyhook asked 4,000 people from around the world about their travel preferences.

In the survey, participants chose their top three activities from a list of 15 common travel goals. Some of the options included climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, taking a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia in Turkey, going on an Antarctica cruise, traveling to space, and trekking with gorillas.

The top travel activity on people’s bucket lists worldwide is seeing the Northern Lights. Many travelers visit places like Iceland, Norway, Sweden, or Finland for a chance to witness this stunning display, often getting wake-up calls in the middle of the night when the sky lights up with green, pink, and purple colors. Some even stay in glass igloos to watch the show. Seeing the Northern Lights is especially popular among Gen Z, with 6 out of 10 people in this generation listing it as a must-do experience.

While the Northern Lights can sometimes be seen in parts of the United States like Alaska, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, and other northern states, a global geomagnetic storm in May made the aurora borealis visible in larger areas further south than usual.

Cruising to Antarctica was a popular choice for Baby Boomers, with 46% listing it as a top bucket list experience. These cruises, which offer the chance to see penguin colonies and humpback whales among ice glaciers, have become more popular in recent years. However, environmentalists have warned that stricter rules are needed to protect the continent’s wildlife from the impact of “last-chance” tourism.

The only U.S. location to make it into the top 15 bucket list activities was a trip to the Grand Canyon, one of the country’s most popular attractions, with over 6 million visitors each year. The Grand Canyon stretches 277 miles, with steep cliffs dropping more than a mile down to the canyon floor. Visitors come to admire the views from various lookout points (the South Rim being the most popular), camp in the national park, or raft the Colorado River, which runs through the canyon.

Top Bucket List Trips Ranked in 2024

here’s the top-ranked bucket list trips around the world, according to the Skyhook survey:

No. 1: See the Northern Lights

No. 2: Trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

No. 3: Visit the Galapagos Islands

No. 4: Climb Kilimanjaro

No. 5: Take an Antarctic cruise

No. 6: Explore the ancient city of Petra

No. 7: Everest Base Camp Trek

No. 8: Go on an African safari

No. 9: Dive the Great Barrier Reef

No. 10: Space travel

No. 11: Gorilla trekking

No. 12: See the Grand Canyon

No. 13: Ride in a hot air balloon above Cappadocia

No. 14: Visit Angkor Wat

No. 15: Surf in Indonesia

How many of these bucket list experiences have you checked off?

Published: 5th Sep 2024

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