How many have you visited? Poll reveals top 30 bucket list destinations
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- Anna Brech
- Published
A slew of world-famous sights makes up a shortlist of "places to visit before you die", according to a new poll of thousands of Britons.
We tend to think of bucket lists as featuring exotic or faraway destinations, such as the Four Thousand Islands in Laos, or Jordan's ancient city of Petra.
But this new survey suggests our wanderlust passions lie closer to home, with the Eiffel Tower in Paris - a mere hop across the channel (or a three-hour Eurostar ride) - topping the list.
The iconic tower was built by Gustav Eiffel in 1889, despite protests from 300 leading French writers and artists who saw it as a "hateful column of bolted sheet metal". Happily, the tide of opinion has turned and it is now regarded as one of the world's finest architectural structures - as this poll suggests.
A number of sites even closer to home made the top ten list of bucket list destinations, in the questionnaire of 2,000 UK residents by British Airways.
The Big Ben clock tower, one of the UK's most popular tourist attractions, came third on the list of places to visit before you die. It was followed by Stonehenge, the Wiltshire-based prehistoric circle of stones, and the Houses of Parliament at fifth place on the list.
Further-afield landmarks did make the bucket list, but mostly in the form of mainstream sites.
The 277 mile-long Grand Canyon in the United States (main photo, above) landed second place after the Eiffel Tower, and the Great Wall of China came in at eighth place. The Taj Mahal palace in Mumbai, Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Christ The Redeemer statue looming over Rio de Janeiro also made the cut.
On average, adults polled had seen ten of the landmarks on the list of 30.
But they expressed concern at not seeing more of the world, with 44 percent admitting they were "completely bored" with their lives, and 79 percent saying they would spend good money to expand their life experience.
"Not only does this list of landmarks remind us of how grand and impressive the world is, it can act as a reminder to live life to the full," said a British Airways spokesperson.
Have a look at the bucket list in full, below.
How many of these bucket list destinations have you visited?
1. Eiffel Tower- Paris – France
2. The Grand Canyon – USA
3. Big Ben – England
4. Stonehenge – England
5. Houses of Parliament – England
6. Statue of Liberty- USA
7. The Pyramids of Giza – Egypt
8. Great Wall of China – China
9. Tower of Pisa – Italy
10. Niagara Falls – USA/Canada
11. The Taj Mahal – India
12. The Colosseum – Italy
13. The Great Sphinx – Egypt
14. Edinburgh Castle – Scotland
15. Empire State Building – USA
16. Sydney Opera House – Australia
17. Mount Everest – Nepal
18. Pompeii- Italy
19. Golden Gate Bridge – USA
20. Ayres Rock – Australia
21. Great Barrier Reef – Australia
22. Loch Ness – Scotland
23. The Rivers of Venice – Venice
24. Acropolis of Athens – Greece
25. The Louvre – France
26. Machu Picchu – Peru
27. Christ the Redeemer – Brazil
28. The Hollywood Sign – USA
29. The White House – USA
30. Mount Rushmore – USA
Words: Anna Brech, Photos: ThinkStock