When a new year begins, it’s natural to think about whether this is finally the year you’ll get to that place you’ve been dreaming of all your life. Whether you’ve been saving up money for it—or courage—maybe 2025 is the year you’ll knock this one off your bucket list. So, does your bucket list match everyone else’s? A new study by safari holiday curator Go2Africa looked at Google search trends with the term “bucket list” to find out the top experiences wished for in almost every country in the world. Although the data is worldwide, we’ll focus here on the top 15 bucket list experiences for Americans.
In first place? The northern lights. Luckily, there are a lot of places to make this dream come true, like Alaska, Canada—including Churchill, Manitoba, where you can see the Aurora Borealis up to 300 nights a year—and most famously, Norway. In recent years, some U.S. states where you don’t usually expect to see them have been lucky enough to experience these dazzling, ever-moving lights in the sky.
The second item on the list? That gorgeous cleft in the earth, the Grand Canyon. This national park offers stunning views of mysterious geological strata (put on your science glasses: did you know that no one knows why 1.2 billion-year-old rock layers are next to ones that are only 250 million years old? It’s called the Great Unconformity). Plus, there are sunsets, mules, hiking and a glass bridge.
The third bucket list experience Americans are dying to check off is visiting Bora Bora in French Polynesia. This destination is known for its crystal-clear waters, overwater bungalows, lagoons, beaches and tropical beauty.
The full list of the top 15 bucket list experiences Americans crave in 2025:
1. The northern lights
2. The Grand Canyon
3. Bora Bora
4. The Eiffel Tower
5. Zion National Park
6. Machu Picchu
7. The Taj Mahal
8. A hot air balloon ride
9. A road trip
10. The Great Wall of China
11. Scuba diving
12. Horseback riding
13. Seeing whale sharks
14. Cappadocia
15. Petra