The Traveler’s Bucket List: World Travelers Share Their Favorite Destinations
Posted on May 14, 2012 | 37 comments
What makes a destination "great"?
Is it the history, the food, the people, the land? Is it that one special thing you just can't see anywhere else on the planet? Maybe. But above all, I think the greatness of a destination is decided mainly by the individual. Travel is very personal. The places we visit and enjoy reflect who we are. One person dreams of spas in Las Vegas, another longs to trek through the Himalayas. We're all different, and that's what makes our individual travel adventures so unique.
I asked some travel bloggers if they would share with us some of their all-time favorite destinations. A hard choice for many, but I figure who knows the world better than those that travel for a living? If we're going to go looking for some places to start our next travel adventure, might as well take a pass on TripAdvisor and go straight to the experts for advice.
I think you'll see by the choices below just how personal travel can be. No two travelers chose the same destination. Nobody went on about how they loved some tourist hotspot or the eighth wonder of the world. Instead, the favorites below were chosen not for the "greatness" of the destination, but for the stories the destination helped to produce.
Enjoy! And much thanks to all those travelers for sharing!
Europe
Romania by Wanderlusting
Paris: Scenes From A Paris Market | Beer & Beans
Romania: Meeting Counts And Vagabonds In Transylvania | Wanderlusting
Ireland: Secret Spots | A Little Adrift
Iceland: A Photo Essay | Don't Ever Look Back
Turkey: The Mini-Easter Island | Chicky Bus
Austria: A Photo Tour Of Vienna | Grounded Traveler
Slovakia: Exploring The High Tatras | The Family Adventure Project
Finland: The Kvarken Archipelago | Around The World In Eighty Years
Asia
Borobudur, Indonesia by Yomadic
Oman: The Emerald Pools Of The Wadis | Snaps and Blabs
Japan: The Snow Monkeys | Idelish
Mongolia: The Modern Nomads Of The Gobi Desert | Otts World
India: Why Every Traveler Must Visit | Wandering Earl
Japan: A Quiet Walk In Kyoto | WalkingOn Travels
Nepal: Everest Base Camp | The Road To Anywhere
Bali: The Holy Water Of The Tirta Empal Temple | Act Of Traveling
Indonesia: Buffalo Soldiers Living For Death in Tana Toraja | Travels With A Nine Year Old
Thailand: I Kissed A Ladyboy . . . And I Liked It | Man On The Lam
Philippines: That's A Wrap | With Two Kids In Tow
Nepal: Top Three Sites in Pokhara | Hole In The Donut
Indonesia: Boroburur Sunrise Tour | Yomadic
Thailand: Chang Mai, The Loy Krathong Lantern Festival | The Dropout Diaries
Mongolia: Hustai National Park | Lydia Schrandt Photography
Australia, New Zealand, and The South Pacific
Australia by Livin On The Road
New Zealand: The Smells of Rotorua | Y Travel Blog
Australia: Swimming With Sea Lions | Livin On The Road
Australia: The Ayers Rock Base Walk | Wandering Photographer
North America And The Caribbean
Chicago by Nomadic Samuel
Cuba: Fast Facts For Families | Have Baby Will Travel
Canada: Lake Louise, Alberta | Traveling Canucks
United States: Chicago - A Photo Essay At Night | Nomadic Samuel
Grenada: An Introduction | The Professional Hobo
United States: Jekyll Island, Georgia | Amberr Is Me
Africa
South Africa by Green Global Travel
South Africa: Skukuza And The Londolozi Game Reserve | Green Global Travel
Tunisia: The Festival du Sahara at Douz | The Edventure Project
Botswana: The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | Travel 4 Wildlife
Central And South America
Colombia by Raising Miro
Peru: Beyond Machu Picchu | Time Crunched
Mexico: The Butterfly Reserve Of Michoacan | Living Outside The Box
Colombia: San Cipriano | Raising Miro
Panama: The San Blas Islands | Bodes Well
Peru: The Mysteries Of Dr. Cabrera's Stone Museum In Ica | Family On Bikes
Guatemala: The Real Magic Kingdom of Tikal | Discover. Share. Inspire.
Brazil: Rio With Kids | Viajando com Pimpolhos
Costa Rica: Glimpses Into A Ranchers Life | The Nomadic Family
If I missed you, and you would like to add your travel story to the list, just leave a comment or contact me. I'll be happy to include you. The more places we have to travel, the better!
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This is such a great resource and I very much appreciate being featured here as well. I have a lot of clicking to do to check out some of the destinations recommended by others
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Granada Quirky Travel Story
What a terrific list and great stories! Thanks for including ours too
with2kidsintow recently posted..Is There A Perfect Age For Children To Travel? Part 1
A wonderful round-up of inspiring posts on each of these regions! I have some reading to do now on some of my bucket-list countries. Thanks for including me here
Shannon O'Donnell recently posted..A Little Food…A Vegetarian Photo Guide to Burma (Myanmar)
Thanks for the mention! There are a lot of great posts listed here.
Dean recently posted..The delight that is Sticky Rice with Mango and how to cook it
Thank you for putting together this list and breaking it down in such a great easy format by continents/countries! What a fantastic resource for everyone, and it now seems clear I will need to update my bucket list...yet again!! Haha!!
Living Outside of the Box recently posted..Mexican All Inclusive Resorts are a great way to stay in Mexico without experiencing Mexico
It is a never-ending list - always evolving. Just keep traveling I guess and let it figure itself out.
Thanks so much for including my spiritual home, Pokhara, Nepal. The longer I travel, the more I realize that my favorite places in the world are almost defined by the experiences I have with locals by immersing into the culture.
Barbara Weibel recently posted..PHOTO: White-faced Capuchin Monkey in Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica
Yikes! There are even some blogs on here I'm not familiar with -- time to do some bucket list spring cleaning. Thanks for the mention too!
Raymond @ Man On The Lam recently posted..The Holy Grail of Hokey: Inside The Holy Land Experience (Part One)
Hey Justin, thanks for the inclusion.
..and, thanks for throwing my productivity out the window, as I will be spending the next few hours reading all of these articles
Nate @yomadic recently posted..A Dangerous Method for Planning Long Term Travel
Consider it a vacation Nate. Instead of traveling in your usual blogging neighborhood, you can now branch out! Thanks for being included!
Nice list,
but Africa got some little love, very unjustified, cause it's still such divers unexplored continent.
It's tougher to travel (at least parts of it) , yeah, but isn't that it's charme, be a bit of a Livingstone again?
Conrad recently posted..Popular Posts
Yeah! That was surprising! No one knew what I was doing with this post. I just asked them for their favorite destination and the sent me a link. I think Africa is just less traveled, which probably makes it full of fantastic experiences.
Heaps of inspiring posts here
Sophie recently posted..Alex and the Chocolate Factory: how to make chocolate
WOW! Some great places (and now blogs) to check out... I find it really hard to decide what's top of my list but my kids would up and move to Morocco (or Cambodia, or India or actually pretty much any of the places we've travelled) any day so I'll submit a little taster of that! http://www.lettersfromthelarmours.com/?p=418
Kirsty recently posted..Letter with a song
I would love a post on either of those places Kirsty? Both high on my list. Glad to know your kids liked them as well.
Great list as ever Justin! The worlds just got too much to offer. If you'd like to add a little something from the treasure trove that is the Slovakian High Tatras, we'd love to offer: http://www.familyadventureproject.org/2011/08/shell-be-coming-around-mountains.html
Stuart recently posted..Whale watching or whale eating in Iceland?
Thanks! Solvakia - perfect! I'm putting it in now!
I'd love to be added for anything Montreal related!
Send me a link for your favorite destination. I'd be happy to add it.
Wow - What a great list and resource! Whew. Very cool.
Just one teensy thing: You have my article about Grenada (Caribbean) listed as "The Traveling Hobo".....I'm "The Professional Hobo"! (Somehow hanging on to that shred of "professionalism" makes me feel credible. LOL!
Nora - The Professional Hobo recently posted..How Responsible is a Leap of Faith?
HA! Of course the mistake I make is leaving out the word "professional"! Thanks Nora! It appears I have started to use the word "travel" so much it is starting to replace everything else in my vocabulary!
"It appears I have started to use the word "travel" so much it is starting to replace everything else in my vocabulary!"
Ah yes. It's an occupational hazard. I understand!
Nora - The Professional Hobo recently posted..How Responsible is a Leap of Faith?
Thanks for letting me share Vienna. Looks like a ton of other good places to read about too.
Andrew recently posted..Biergartens – From Practical to Cultural
Wow - that's today over with. I think my hand will be numb from all that clicking on posts!! What a great list!!
Tracey - Life Changing Year recently posted..We Broke The Rule About Not Taking Anything From Yosemite!!
AH!!
Now my extremely long bucket list just got longer!!!!!
Jim O'Donnell recently posted..Fort Aguada India
Got your Finland post in here Jim. Great stuff!
Thank you so much for including our favorite place on earth, the Kgalagadi Transfontier Park.
I can't wait to visit some of the other places featured on this list.
Cristina recently posted..Four Animal Facts: The Spotted Hyaena
Woaw! What a fabulous Bucket List and so many Blogs and posts to discover! #loveit
We are a brazilian family and have a Family Travel Blog with posts in Brazil and worldwide. It´s a pitty there´s no post about Brazil in your Central & South America List.
Here´s our little post (in portuguese - but fortunately, we have Google translate) about Rio de Janeiro with kids!: http://viajandocompimpolhos.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/rio-de-janeiro-com-criancas-dicas-e-roteiros-para-a-familia/
Um beijo!
@viagempimpolhos
Sut-Mie | Viajando com Pimpolhos recently posted..Restaurante premiado kid friendly? Tanta dos chefs Astrid e Gaston!
You're right! I added your post! Thanks!
Awesome list with many places I would love to see and many I've had the pleasure to visit and fall in love with. Here's a place I'd recommend everyone go to http://www.lydiaschrandtphotography.com/?p=736 also in Mongolia, but infrequently visited.
Lydia recently posted..Places that Pay Money for Photos
Thanks for all these great blogs about so many wonderful destinations and specially about Nepal as i am planning to visit it some time from now.
Rayna Miller recently posted..Fatcow Coupon
You guys have a very comprehensive list here. We have been to some and would love to visit others...So far we miss one place especially probably because we had to leave only after a week but it was Koh Tao, Thailand. More on that spot on our blog below.
Martin Pietrzak recently posted..Trip Pulse: KoTao – Paradise and a must have on your round the world itinerary!
Thanks for including Green Global Travel! Really enjoyed the other links as well.
Mary @ Green Global Travel recently posted..DESTINATIONS: Meeting the Local Wildlife On Kangaroo Island, Australia
Thank you so much! I'm late for the party but Like a Bump on a Blog (by amberrisme) is humbly grateful for the shoutout!
What a great list! My wanderlust to travel more broadly is increasing daily!
“Traveler's Bucket List: Share Your Favorite Destinations | The Great Family Escape” was a relatively great blog post, . I hope you keep composing and I'll try to keep reading
through! Thank you ,Stewart
http://tinyurl.com/slavnevin08281 recently posted..http://tinyurl.com/slavnevin08281
“Traveler's Bucket List: Share Your Favorite Destinations | The Great Family Escape” was indeed really pleasurable and beneficial! In todays society that is really hard to accomplish. With thanks, Adell
Childofleisure.com recently posted..Childofleisure.com