A fascinating reworked world map reveals the most popular bucket list experiences in countries around the globe – and it’s visiting the Maldives that’s number one.

On the map – generated using Google search data – country names have been supplemented with their residents’ most-searched-for bucket-list experiences. Researchers drew up a list of 119 bucket-list items and studied 12 months of Google data in 219 countries to ascertain the top bucket-list items for each nation.

A separate breakdown shows the top bucket-list experience favoured by residents of each U.S State.  

Visiting the Maldives tops the global list, compiled by travel firm Kuoni, thanks to being the most popular bucket-list experience in 122 countries around the world, including the UK, Australia and the U.S. Kuoni says: ‘With gorgeous white sandy beaches, tropical blue waters and dreamy sunsets, it’s easy to see why so many people want to experience this the most in their lifetime.’

Visiting Bora Bora earns second place because a total of 19 countries – including Hungary and Aruba – appear to be searching for the bucket-list experience. Kuoni says the South Pacific island offers holidaymakers ‘a serene sanctuary to unwind and relax in as they enjoy the bright white sandy beaches and laid-back island lifestyle’.

Seeing the Mona Lisa ranks third, as it’s top in 16 countries. ‘The painting by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of art in the world, drawing in countless visitors each year,’ says Kuoni.

In fourth place it’s visiting Italy’s colourful Cinque Terre region (top in 11 countries), while seeing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – at 830m/2,722ft in height the world’s tallest skyscraper – is fifth, as it’s number one in nine countries.

The UK is home to two of the top 10 – visiting Stonehenge (top in three countries) and Big Ben (top in two countries) take joint seventh and joint eighth place respectively.

The U.S is home to four of the top 10 – climbing the Statue of Liberty is sixth (top in four countries), seeing Times Square is joint seventh (top in three countries), seeing the White House is joint eighth (top in two countries) and getting splashed at Niagara Falls is joint ninth (top in one country).

A series of regional maps were also produced to show the breakdown of the results more clearly across the globe.

In Europe, visiting the Maldives is top in 28 countries including France and Spain, while exploring the Cinque Terre region is top in Malta, Greece and Cyprus. In Ukraine, it’s seeing Stonehenge that is number one.

Moving across the Atlantic to North and Central America, exploring the Maldives is top in 20 countries including Canada, Turks and Caicos and Barbados. It’s seeing the Mona Lisa that reigns supreme in Mexico and Guatemala while seeing the Northern Lights tops the podium in El Salvador.

While the Maldives is the most searched-for bucket-list experience overall in the U.S, the map that breaks down each U.S State reveals that a visit to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial – a giant sculpture of U.S presidents that’s been carved into a South Dakota peak – tops the list for 30 states including Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah.

Visiting the Kentucky Derby is also popular, with nine states including Delaware, New Hampshire and Vermont searching for this experience the most. Kuoni says: ‘Usually held on the first Saturday in May each year, the horse race is known for being the fastest two minutes in sports and is the first leg of the American Triple Crown – the perfect experience for a thrilling weekend away.’

Travelling down to South America, seeing the Sagrada Familia is top in Paraguay while seeing the Northern Lights is top in Venezuela. Visiting the Maldives again reigns triumphant in several countries, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

In Africa, the Maldives is once again the most popular travel bucket list item, with an impressive 45 countries – such as Egypt and Zimbabwe – searching for it the most.

The Mona Lisa is also popular, with three countries – South Africa, Guinea-Bissau and Tunisia – searching for a visit to this impressive piece of art more often than any other bucket-list experience.

Looking to Asia, visiting the Maldives also tops the list in several countries, including South Korea and Laos. Visiting Yosemite is top in Yemen, while in Turkmenistan, the preference is to visit Big Ben. In Malaysia, it’s seeing Times Square that’s number one, while in Pakistan, it’s visiting the ancient city of Pompeii.

In Oceania, meanwhile, 13 countries have a visit to the Maldives at the top of their list. They include New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. Climbing the Statue of Liberty takes the gold medal in Guam while visiting Bora Bora tops the leaderboard in French Polynesia.

Kuoni’s research also produced a ranking of the world’s most popular bucket-list experiences based on search volume alone. Interestingly, even though some places are incredibly popular globally, they rank as number one in very few countries. 

An example of this is Niagara Falls, which ranks as the second most popular experience worldwide in terms of search volume, with more than 24million searches over 12 months, but only takes the top spot in one country – Guam. 

Commenting on the research, Kuoni says: ‘With travel now back to normal for many countries after a few years with restrictions in place, there’s more opportunity to get back out there to explore and tick off things from your bucket list, whether that be travelling far away or keeping things closer to home.’

Airshow crash horror: Moment pilot and passenger are killed as plane spins into the ground in front of horrified spectators in Hungary

• The small propeller-driven aircraft was flying at the Börgönd air on Sunday
• Video shows it perform a rotation movement before crashing into the ground 

By Chris Jewers

Published: 02:56 EDT, 11 September 2023 | Updated: 04:14 EDT, 11 September 2023

‘Central’ restaurant in Lima, Peru, has earned the title of the World’s Best Restaurant 2023 – and incredible new YouTube footage reveals what it’s like to dine there.

It was shot by Alexander Varga, the co-owner of one-Michelin-starred restaurant ’42’ in Esztergom, Hungary, who describes eating at Central, which is set in a beautiful botanic garden, as ‘an adventure that will warm your soul’.

Central doesn’t have a Michelin star – its inspectors don’t cover Peru – but Alexander has eaten at over 50 three-star restaurants and tells MailOnline Travel that it ‘certainly deserves the title of world’s best’. So, if they ever get there, three stars could well be on the cards.

Alexander’s fascinating video explains that the philosophy of Central’s chefs – Virgilio Martinez and wife Pia Leon – is to present courses that each showcase a Peruvian ecosystem at a specific altitude.

‘The menu is really something to marvel at,’ Alexander says.

The dishes are crafted using 180 ingredients, with around half of them unknown.

Some of them are presented on a huge stone table at the entrance, with Alexander revealing that ‘each one is grown and cultivated by Chef Virgilio and his team’.

‘He cooks food that belongs to his land and people,’ he says.

The 14-course ‘Altitudes’ tasting menu on offer costs 250 euros (£215/$273), with drink pairings that cost from 50 (£43/$54) to 115 euros (£99/$126).

Alexander opts for the local spirits and wines pairing and then begins his culinary odyssey.

Dishes include Peruvian potatoes grown on trees – called ‘flying potatoes’ – served with a coriander dipping sauce; bites made with seaweed, clams and squid; algae from a mountain lake; vegetarian piranhas served with some of the nuts and plants they feed on, and wine poured from a clay bottle.

He describes the flavours he experiences as ‘out of this world’. 

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Did the restaurant live up to the hype of ‘world’s best’?

Alexander told MailOnline Travel: ‘Absolutely. Actually, it exceeded the hype, and my expectations too.

‘I obviously watched some content about it, and had a picture in my head, but when I was there, it was something else. Peaceful, elevated, an almost church-like feeling filled with exciting and unknown things to discover.

‘I don’t even look at it as going to a restaurant. I went to a philosophy workshop. And for me, that beats everything.

‘The “best in the world” thing is an interesting subject. In my humble opinion, there’s no such thing. Most of the world’s top-tier restaurants are no better than the others. Central isn’t better than the others, but it is different.

‘I thought about it a lot, and I always ask this question: “If I die tomorrow, which restaurant would be the one where I’d go back right now?” Everyone would have different answers, and all of them would be “The Best”. But obviously if we consider the fact that there are objective aspects, which we base the No.1 choice on, then yes, I’d say right now Central absolutely deserves the title.’

How does Central compare to three-Michelin-star restaurants Alexander has been to?

He says: ‘I’ve been in at least 50 three-star restaurants, and each of them is different in some ways. But at the end of the day it is a high-end restaurant, and in that aspect, it doesn’t really differ. 

‘It has extremely professional service and staff, a stellar kitchen and super-talented people in it, so things you can usually say about the world’s best restaurants. But with these tools, Central tells – in my humble opinion – a unique story and they have a different mission. And that’s what makes them different.’

What does he think the secret to the success of the restaurant is?

Alexander says: ‘If I had to highlight something, I’d say the people. I saw the passion and joy in everyone there. It was more like an obsession in a good way. They really believe in what they do, and it’s honest. They are loyal to the roots of Peru and its people, and this unconsciously (or consciously) creates magic.’

And the part of the trip that was most memorable?

Alexander reveals that it was actually his visit to Chef Virgilio’s food lab and interpretation centre – ‘Mil’ – located at an altitude of 3,568m (11,706ft) in the Andes, near the famous Moray ruins.

Here visitors can see for themselves how food for Central is researched and cultivated.

Alexander said: ‘It was uplifting to see how a modern restaurant in a modern world becomes a bridge between the new and old generation. I saw how they draw from the wisdom of the past with respect and humility. This kind of respect is really rare today. The whole place and all the people radiated a really good vibe, and I was under its effect for a good while.’

For more fascinating foodie videos from Alexander visit www.youtube.com/@alexandertheguest and follow him on Instagram at www.instagram.com/alexandertheguest and on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@alexandertheguest. Follow his restaurant on Instagram at www.instagram.com/42restaurant. Click here for the Central video.

Germany reportedly wants the EU to adopt a Rwanda-style migrant system with asylum seekers being deported – similar to Britain’s proposed scheme.

Germany is playing a ‘leading role’ in advocating for a deal with a non-EU state to filter out migrants who do not have much chance of being granted asylum, Die Welt newspaper reported.

Rwanda and Niger are both being considered as partner countries and would be compensated financially for the deal, according to the report.

While Austria and Hungary want asylum seekers to be deported to an African partner country regardless of the country that they came from, Germany is said to want to restrict this process to people who have spent time in the nations they would be exported to, while their application is weighed up.

Backbenchers in the coalition fear that the deal is aimed at deterring refugees from coming to Europe.

This week, 24 MPs from Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats and the Greens signed a letter urging Berlin to stand up for the rights of migrants during the negotiations.

Scholz and interior minister Nancy Faeser are determined to push through a deal, given the increasing numbers of refugee arrivals.

Faeser said: ‘If we fail today or in the next 14 days, it would be a bad signal that would lead to countries isolating themselves. I don’t want that, I want to keep the borders open.’

‘For us in Germany human rights standards are at the forefront, and I will fight hard for that today,’ she added.

The Social Democrats, the biggest party in the coalition with the Greens and Free Democrats, are prepared to put their weight behind changes that would see migrants being detained at the EU’s external borders.

The number of asylum applications in Germany this year has already hit 130,000 and local governments say they have run out of space to hold the new arrivals.

In May, Scholz announced that he would break with the liberal policies he inherited from Angela Merkel and look to reduce numbers using tighter border controls and more money for Frontex, the EU’s border control agency. 

This has led to worries that Scholz could shun fair asylum processes in order to reduce numbers.

The letter from backbenchers stated: ‘We share many people’s concerns that the proposals for a new Common European Asylum System could weaken the right to asylum.’

Separately, 730 Green party members have signed a letter demanding that their leadership change direction.

They said that they were ‘shocked’ by the proposals being negotiated in Brussels, which aim to put in place a new system based on ‘deterrence and exclusion’.

In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ordered ministers to begin migrant deportation flights to Rwanda within days of the scheme clearings its legal hurdles.

In a highly unusual move, Sunak has established a Covid-style Cabinet committee to ensure that the Rwanda scheme can ‘hit the ground running’ immediately.

The committee, which has been in place for a month, is already meeting twice a week to ensure there are no barriers to deportation flights beginning as soon as the Illegal Migration Bill clears Parliament, which is likely to be in September.

One Cabinet source described the preparations for the first flight as ‘extraordinary’.

‘No stone is being left unturned to make sure this goes smoothly,’ the source said.

‘There is really no precedent for a Prime Minister to lead a committee of this sort on the implementation of a Bill has that has not even passed.

‘That legislation will effectively ban Channel crossings. The expectation is it will pass in September and you will see flights beginning within days.

‘People arriving on small boats will be detained on barges for a day or so and then put on a plane to Rwanda or another safe country. Some of them may not even set foot on land.

‘To do that we have to have everything in place – the accommodation, the transport, the legal advice. All of that is underway now to make sure things can happen immediately.

‘As soon as you start getting the first flights to Rwanda you will start to see a deterrent effect. Officials won’t accept it – ministers have had to push this all the way – but the PM is convinced.’

The Court of Appeal is expected to rule this month on legal challenges to the scheme, after the High Court ruled in December that it is lawful.

A Home Office source confirmed the scheme will not begin until all legal appeals in the UK have been exhausted.

The PM has suggested he is willing to use the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords, but this would delay the legislation until next year.