In this post, we’ve rounded up a collection of our favourite epic adventures around the world – 21 awesome travel goals for your bucket list.
We certainly didn’t anticipate, as we cheerfully booked flights and a hire car for an interstate road trip in late 2019, that less than four months later that trip would be cancelled, we’d be in home lockdown, and our long-term travel plans would be cooling off indefinitely on the top shelf. No one saw 2020 coming.
Before long, Australia had hauled down the shutters on domestic and international travel. So we ordered in wine and toilet paper, bunkered down like everyone else, and set our minds to saving and planning for when the skies eventually cleared on that unprecedented time.
We also took the opportunity to sort out twenty years’ worth of travel photos – both printed and online. It was mammoth task which turned our lounge room into a disaster zone for a while, but gave us months of delighted discovery and happy memories of travels, road trips and epic adventures past.
Which in turn inspired this post. What better way to indulge our love of travel while we couldn’t than to revisit some of the best adventures we’ve had, and try to pick out our faves?
Well that proved impossible.
Still, after endless debate, we managed to narrow the playing field to this first cut of 21 epic adventures around the world that we’ve had the joy of experiencing to date.
They include some of the most remote, most awesome, most incredible and most unforgettable experiences out there – some of the world’s best adventures.
Don’t even get us started on all the amazing travel moments that didn’t make this list. Or how to prioritise the many, many bucket list adventures we’re still itching to have. This world is truly breathtaking, and we’re beyond excited to be back in it and exploring once more.
Here’s our list of 21 incredible bucket list experiences, in no particular order as we couldn’t agree on one:
21 Epic Adventures Around the World
1. Cruise to Antarctica aboard an expedition ship
Antarctica will probably always be in our top five all-time travel experiences, if not the pinnacle. How to top a journey unlike any other on the planet, to a place as remote, pristine and precious as our frosty southern frontier?
The landscapes of the frozen continent, along with its many islands and bergy bits, are as surprising as they are exquisite. The daily encounters with wildlife are equally momentous.
The opportunity to learn about Antarctica from experts, all while standing on its rocky shores or zodiac-cruising through slushy bays surrounded by penguins and seals, is an experience without compare. It is, without doubt, one of the world’s best adventures.
Head here for all of our posts and planners for Antarctica.
2. Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is one of the world’s most iconic treks, and for good reason. The hike literally follows in the footsteps of the extraordinary ancient Incas: a 4 day/3 night journey of incredible Andean mountain scenery and evocative Incan ruins.
For us, the sheer number of historic Incan sites along the way, backed by towering peaks, was mind-blowing.
The Inca Trail was one of our first epic adventures together and things didn’t go quite to plan: a landslide had cut off the Sun Gate shortly before we set out, forcing us to shorten our hike by a night, head down to village of Aguas Caliente and bus back up to Macchu Picchu on the final morning.
We arrived at the ruins to dense, dark clouds and rain so heavy we could barely see each other. It made the building of this remarkable mountaintop citadel by the mysterious Incas just that much more poignant.
The skies eventually cleared though, revealing the extraordinary stone eyrie in all its glory (see the banner image for this post).
To protect the trail and the ruins, daily numbers on the Inca Trail are strictly regulated and it can’t be hiked independently, so book on a tour as far in advance as you can. Or check out one of the other famed trails to Macchu Picchu, like the Salcantay and Lares routes. We’re keen to return and do one of these.
You’ll find more of our South American adventures here.
3. Trek to visit mountain gorillas in Rwanda
Along with visiting Antarctica, this may well be the bucket list experience that never gets supplanted from our travel top five. To encounter mountain gorillas in the wild is simply one of the best adventure trips in the world.
We trekked in Rwanda (Uganda is also an option), and the entire experience was an incredible rush, starting with an early morning welcome at the trekking HQ. This was followed by a hike through rolling farmland into the forested mountain slopes of Volcanoes National Park. From there, it was a challenging trek through muddy jungle paths.
Our group was quiet and intent throughout, surrounded by just the sounds of the forest and the whispered walkie talkie updates from the scouts up front.
Then the ultimate thrill: rounding a corner and coming face to face with a huge silverback gorilla; his family gathered close.
Just an hour is spent with these extraordinary creatures, less if they choose to move on first. It’s for their health and wellbeing, but it makes this incredible experience all the more precious. Gorilla trekking is an absolute bucket list highlight.
We’ve written more about our mountain gorillas encounter here.
4. Cruise the Nile aboard a traditional dahabiya, Egypt
In the cities and towns of Egypt, modern life charges on around the incredible monuments and ruins of its ancient past. Away from the bustling towns though, life by the river Nile still ebbs and flows much as is has for millennia.
Without doubt, one of the greatest ways to escape the crowds, slow the pace and take in the scenery, is from on the river aboard a traditional dahabiya.
These low-riding, cushion-strewn wooden sailing boats carried 19th century European travellers on their long voyages up the Nile and today, they make for an unforgettable travel experience.
Unlike the huge river cruises that ply the Nile, dahabiyas can tie up almost anywhere, providing opportunities to see some of the more off-beat ancient sites that scatter the landscape.
Our five-day trip was a magical journey of (many!) extraordinary ruins and remnants of Ancient Egypt, peaceful wanders through riverside farming villages, tea with locals, breathtaking mountain-and-desert scenery, delicious food, and sunsets without compare. Cruising the Nile is another of the epic adventures we can’t wait to make again one day.
Read more about our journey up the Nile.
5. Go hot air ballooning over Bagan, Myanmar
More than 2,200 Buddhist temples and pagodas scatter the shrubby landscape of Bagan, once the capital of the ancient Pagan kingdom in Myanmar.
That can make for an ambitious agenda if you’re trying to max your sightseeing here, and it’s almost impossible to gain a sense of the size and scope of this once-bustling city.
Apart from zipping about on an electric bike, or finding a sunset perch on one of the tallest stupas (check ahead for what’s open and has the official ok to climb as the ruins are fragile), the best way to gain perspective on this vast, thousand-year-old World Heritage area, is from above.
Which is why, like Cappadocia in Turkey, the skies over Bagan erupt each dawn with hot air balloons.
Landing aside, ballooning over Bagan is such a serene experience and the aerial temple views of the World Heritage-listed city so mesmerising that, even if the sunrise is obscured by cloud, as it was when we ballooned, this is an adventure not soon forgotten.
More adventures in Asia can be found here.
6. Experience wildlife up close on the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
1,400km west of Ecuador, a smattering of small, volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean lay claim to what may well be some of the best wildlife watching on Earth.
Cut off from the rest of the world and utterly remote, the Galapagos archipelago has evolved a wild diversity of creatures and plants which, in many cases, are found nowhere else.
The animals have also evolved without fear of humans, which makes for unparalleled wildlife encounters.
We wandered among beaches jammed with seals and marine iguanas, and watched albatross and blue-footed boobies perform courtship dances. We witnessed a turtle lay her eggs and make her way back to the sea, and drifted through shark and ray nurseries on a zodiac. We even swam with Galapagos penguins, and sailed with an escort of dolphins numbering in the hundreds.
Journeying around the Galapagos is packed with adventure – you can hop between the main islands and make day trips, or do as we did and join a multi-day cruise to islands further afield.
Our beautiful wooden sailing ship had an old-world feel about it. As as we weaved between lounging marine iguanas on rocky shores, with no other boats or people around, we felt much as Darwin must have when he stepped onto these shores back in 1835.
Here’s our Galapagos Islands round-up.
7. Explore the ancient city of Petra, Jordan
There are a ton of outstanding ancient places around the world that almost made it onto this list, but short of turning the post into 21 epic adventures in ancient places (stay tuned!), we had to narrow the field. We both agreed though – Petra had to stay.
Perhaps it’s the Indiana Jones-esque arrival at Petra, through the winding narrow crack of the Siq canyon. Maybe it’s the mysterious nature of the ancient Nabataean civilisation that hacked out thousands of tombs and temples from the living rock. Or the dramatic mountain-and-valley desert terrain in which the ancient city once thrived.
Whatever it is, exploring the extraordinary city of Petra continues to rank as one of our favourite adventures around the world. We spent a couple of days wandering to remote corners of this vast World Heritage site, a wealthy trading centre at its bustling peak around 2,000 years ago.
Beyond the hand-carved cave tombs (of which there are hundreds, the greatest of which are the famed Treasury and Monastery), there are gates, walls, columns, a huge temple, a great pink-stone theatre, the mountain-top ruins of a crusader fortress, a church with beautiful mosaics, cisterns, water channels and much more.
So much more, in fact, that we’re determined to return. Only next time, we’ll spend a week.
Read about our experience at Petra here.
8. Hike the spectacular W Trek in Patagonian Chile
There’s hiking, and then there’s hiking in Patagonia. We trekked a number of trails in both Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia during our overland travels in South America, but it’s the W Trek in Chile that truly captured our hearts.
Torres Del Paine National Park, through which the trail weaves a W-shaped path, is beyond breathtaking. There simply aren’t enough superlatives to describe the dramatic peaks, the sweeping, multi-hued forests and valleys, the hanging glaciers and mirror-like lakes.
At one end, the vast frozen river of Grey Glacier spills bergs into Grey Lake. At the other, the three wedge peaks of Las Torres dominate the skyline and glow with golden light at sunrise.
Challenging in parts, serene in others, and spectacular throughout, this hike sits squarely at the top of our list of hiking adventures. Next time, we plan to extend the journey around the back of the mountains on the longer, by all accounts even more amazing, O Trek.
Find out more in our Self-Guided Itinerary for Hiking the W Trek.
9. Kayak a fjord in Norway
Norway is in itself one of the world’s great adventure destinations, and we could easily fill a post highlighting 21 outstanding experiences here alone.
The country boasts spectacular road tripping, fjord cruising, incredible hiking, glacier climbing, wildlife trekking, northern lights, polar bear viewing, and more.
As we discovered though, one of the most memorable ways to truly immerse in Norway’s awe-inspiring landscapes, is by kayak. And one of the best places to kayak in Norway is the World Heritage-listed Naeroyfjord – one of the longest, deepest, narrowest fjords on the planet.
In this place, surrounded by steep, snow-capped mountains rising straight up from the water and thundering, mile-high waterfalls, we felt all the vast power and beauty of nature. We felt awed. And small.
Head here for our full write-up of this awesome adventure.
10. Go cenote diving in Mexico
As epic adventures go, there’s nothing quite like donning neoprene and scuba gear and submerging into the dark unknown of an underground cave in the jungle.
The lush green rainforest of Mexico’s Yucatan region is home to the fascinating natural phenomena of cenotes. Thousands of them. These natural sinkholes pockmark the peninsula like Swiss cheese, a legacy of the world-altering asteroid that hit the Earth here 65 million years ago.
Many cenotes have collapsed to form networks of underground flooded caverns. The thrill of scuba diving through their still, serene and silent depths – sometimes illuminated by only the light of a torch and sometimes by shimmery blue curtains of sunlight – is like no other earthly experience.
We describe the surreal world of cenote diving in this post.
11. Marvel at the giant moai of Easter Island, Chile
Another of our fave castaway adventures is Easter Island, a tiny speck in the southern Pacific with a huge legacy: quite literally.
The giant stone heads of Easter Island, called moai, were carved out of the island’s volcanic rock and raised on stone platforms by the Rapa Nui people some 500 years ago.
Thought to represent ancestors, there are literally hundreds of moai all over the island. Some of the shrines and heads are restored, but many lie in ruin where they fell during Rapa Nui clan wars.
Beyond the many ancient sites and intriguing vestiges of Rapa Nui culture, there are caves to explore, beautiful beaches to chill on, crystal clear waters to snorkel and dive, cycling, hiking and more. As far-flung bucket list adventures go, Easter Island is a winner.
Our Easter Island itinerary write-up is here.
12. Explore an ice cave in Iceland
The sweeping, fantastical landscapes of Iceland are made for adventure.
Ice-capped volcanic ranges rise sheer from flat, frosty fields tended by stumpy-legged Icelandic horses. Black sand beaches are lapped by freezing seas. Waterfalls tumble everywhere, while hot springs steam under a night sky that shimmers from time to time with the ghostly northern lights.
Hundreds of glaciers also inch their frozen fingers from the mountains to the sea, and it’s in the frosty edges of these icy rivers that one of Iceland’s coolest adventures can be found: ice caves.
These magical, glittering ice grottos, formed by running meltwater, can only be visited in the colder months, roughly between November and March.
They shift and reform with each winter season, so no ice cave experience is ever the same. On our visit, we had to don crampons and helmets and abseil into the cave.
Ice caves are temporary, ever-changing and breathtakingly beautiful – a unique and unforgettable Icelandic adventure.
We wrote about our ice cave experience here.
13. Fly over the enigmatic Nazca Lines, Peru
I read about the Nazca Lines of Peru in a book of unexplained mysteries when I was a kid, and was instantly hooked. So years later, as John and I travelled around Peru, the hot and dusty town of Nazca was squarely in my sights.
The World Heritage-listed Nazca Lines are geoglyphs: huge shapes and drawings scraped into the desert by the Nazca people around 2,000 years ago.
In addition to straight lines forming what look like runways and arrows, there are dozens of enormous drawings of plants and animals, including a spiral-tailed monkey, a spider and a hummingbird. There’s a humanoid figure too. Most are composed of one single, unbroken line.
Decades on, researchers are still trying to unravel the meaning and purpose of the enigmatic forms.
While the lines can apparently be seen from surrounding hills, the best way to see them is from the air, which is what we did. A number of companies run small aircraft flights over the lines from Nazca’s small airport.
The thrill of seeing these extraordinary drawings from on high (maybe as the Nazca people intended them to be seen?) combined with the rush of a swooping, swerving Cessna flight, make this an experience like no other.
14. Dive the pristine coral reefs of the Red Sea, Egypt
Diving is one hobby we try and do wherever we can on our travels, and together, we’ve dived the seas off more than a dozen countries. We’ve encountered wonderful marine life, and explored beautiful reefs and underwater art galleries. We’ve investigated the ruins of an ancient sunken city, huge shipwrecks, even a submerged moai off Easter Island!
But our favourite place to dive remains the Red Sea in Egypt. The warm waters are crystal clear and teeming with colourful life. The Red Sea serves up pristine coral reefs, fantastic canyon diving and outstanding shipwrecks, including the world-famous SS Thistlegorm. It’s also home to the 100-metre deep Blue Hole, which draws scuba and free divers from around the world.
Above the surface, the scenery is surreal: sparkling blue sea backed by the parched mustard mountains and desert of the ancient, historic Sinai Peninsula.
If you can tear yourself away from the water, epic adventures in the desert await: quad biking, jeep safaris, and another of our all-time favourite hikes – the trek to biblical Mount Sinai.
The hike passes the 1,500-year-old, World Heritage St Catherine’s Monastery before ascending to the 2,285 metre-high summit of the legendary mountain. The views are stupendous, and with a section of 3,750 rock-carved stairs called the ‘Steps of Penitence’, this is one mountain hike you won’t soon forget. Your thighs definitely won’t.
15. Search for orangutans in the jungle of Borneo, Malaysia
Once wide-ranging across south-east Asia, today you can only find orangutans in the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra. As their rainforest homes continue to be logged, so their numbers continue to dwindle, making the opportunity to witness them living wild and free a true privilege.
Rehabilitation centres around both islands are working hard to rescue, release and protect the world’s remaining orangutans. We learned a great deal about the perils facing them and efforts to save them at the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabiliation Centre in Malaysian Borneo.
We followed this up with a stay at an eco-lodge a couple of hours from civilisation by boat along the Kinabatangan River.
From the lodge, we set out on regular boat rides and forest walks to search out the jungle’s shy inhabitants. It was there that we experienced the excitement and pure joy of seeing wild orangutans high in the trees – the pinnacle of our trip.
This encounter also features in a post on our favourite wildlife experiences around the world.
16. Explore the canyons, deserts and ancient sites of Oman by 4WD
Strategically sited at the gateway to the Persian Gulf and a trading centre for millennia, Oman looks and feels as ancient as it is.
Except for the modern capital, Muscat, that is. But leave the city behind, and you instantly feel as though you’ve stepped back in time – to a land of dusty desert outposts where Bedouins live, and tiny oasis villages where farming and irrigation has changed little in a thousand years.
Our 4WD adventure around the country’s north served up narrow gorges with hidden pools (called wadis), orange-sand deserts where we chilled under a million stars, and ancient towns still dominated by crumbling fortresses.
We also found spectacular mountains offering an escape to cooler climes, the kilometre-deep Omani Grand Canyon and its thrilling rim hike, beautiful caves, some of the oldest surviving tombs in the world, and a nail-biting mountain drive guaranteed to set your teeth on edge.
Check out our Oman write-ups here.
17. Journey into the Amazon Jungle
A half-day journey by plane, boat, jungle trek and canoe is an adventure in itself, but it was just the beginning of our Amazonian experience.
You can make your way into the world’s largest rainforest from a number of countries, among them Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Brazil. Our first experience of this extraordinary landscape, home to one in ten of the world’s species, was a remote lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Over a couple of days, we trekked and canoed our way along trails and creeks each morning, afternoon and night, searching out shy forest creatures in the company of a naturalist and an Indigenous guide.
From tiny poison dart frogs and giant stick insects to delightful, bug-eyed night monkeys, the wildlife encounters were mesmerising.
The rest of the time, we were high up in the treetops on the lodge’s suspended bridge, spotting toucans and sloths, or on our cabin deck watching squirrel monkeys rumble. Epic!
Read about our Amazonian adventure here.
18. Get lost in Fez el-Bali, Morocco
It may be an unexpected entry on our list of epic adventures around the world, but getting lost in the vast labyrinth of Old Fez is an urban escapade you won’t soon forget.
Fez el-Bali is an ancient walled medina in northern Morocco. Founded around 1,200 years ago, the maze of alleyways (there are said to be 9,400!), souqs, riads and medieval buildings make up the world’s largest urban car-free zone.
Despite militant planning, our best navigational efforts, hand-drawn maps, even a coloured star system strategically placed throughout to assist bewildered tourists like us, we got lost in the medina every. single. time.
Fortunately, the pace, noise, bustle and beautiful medieval architecture – including ancient schools still decorated in beautiful zellij tilework and wood carvings – provides plenty of distraction from the mildly panicked voice in your head telling you that you’ll never find your way out.
If it all gets too much though, find a tea stall, take a break, watch life in the medina roll on….then find a local kid willing to lead you out for a small fee.
More on our travels in Morocco here.
19. Go on safari in the Maasai Mara
Bumping about in a safari jeep in search of wildlife is a major rush, and Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve serves up peak beastie viewing year-round.
This is prime territory for Big Five encounters (lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffalo), along with a huge range of other local characters, including sleek cheetahs, hyenas, crocodiles, mongooses and, in season, the delightfully bizarre-looking wildebeest (one of the excellent Ugly Five, which we’ve profiled here).
From our camp on the edge of the park, we set out twice a day with an eagle-eyed Maasai guide to jeep across the plains in search of wild creatures.
Every trip was thrilling and different. One moment we would be ogling over a couple of cute hyena pups, the next watching male zebras playfight, young lions on a chase, or a cheetah mother teaching her cub to hunt.
Back at camp, we spent hours on our tent porch, spotting birds, watching crocodiles on the river rocks below, or enjoying walking safaris to the nearby Maasai village.
As wildlife experiences go, this is another of our faves, and definitely up there as one of the world’s best adventures.
For more wild adventures in Africa, click here.
20. Wander the impressive ruins of Tikal, Guatemala
Around an hour-and-a-half from the city of Flores in northern Guatemala, the square peaks of huge stone temples rise above jungle stretching as far as the eye can see.
These are the monumental pyramids of Tikal. They were built during the first millennium AD, when this was a powerful capital of the ancient Mayan civilisation.
1,500 years on, wandering through this ghostly ruined city still packs an impressive punch. Especially when the local howler monkeys start up their unearthly din, giving the place an eerie, primeval feel.
The Mayans abandoned the city around 900AD and the jungle quickly moved back in. What’s been uncovered since the site was found in the 19th century is awe-inspiring, but even this is said to account for less than a quarter of the once-expansive city.
So much more yet to find. All we can do is wander and wonder (and plan a return to visit more of the region’s extraordinary Mayan sites, like El Mirador).
For more adventures in Central America, head here.
21. Come face-to-face with Komodo dragons in Indonesia
Last but not least of our 21 epic adventures around the world is an encounter with the Komodo Dragons of Indonesia.
These dragons may not breathe fire, but they have the next best thing: a killer bite. Komodos are the world’s largest lizards, and while they may look stumpy-legged and ungainly, they can run up to 20km/h, release a toxin when they bite, and have been known to attack humans. Good thing they can’t fly.
Fortunately, they’re confined to just four islands in the Indonesian archipelago, including Komodo, Rinca and Gili Motang, which are all part of Komodo National Park. The larger Indo island of Flores also has a small, remote population.
Safely visiting the dragons requires boat travel and guides (who carry long, fork-necked poles, just in case).
We travelled to Rinca for a guided walking tour of the island. It was an adrenaline-charged experience as we spied on wild dragons, constantly looking over our shoulders and ever-mindful that these primeval creatures are renowned ambush predators. Top points for wildlife watching with a thrill.
Our Komodo Dragon walking safari is included in our Flores itinerary write-up.
What epic adventures and experiences are on your bucket list? Let us know in the comments below and happy trip planning!
Thanks for sharing amazing places to adventure lovers. Would love to travel such a places one day in near future
Hi Santosh, thanks so much for your message. So many more amazing places on our bucket list still! All the best with your adventures! Danielle & John