Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travelist: The 500 Best Places on the Planet...Ranked

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Home of 1960s cult TV show The Prisoner, the guide highlights Portmeirion's colourful Italianate buildings and florid tableware, describing them as "all rather captivating and slightly odd - it could only be in Britain". It started with the pilgrims from afar who came to worship at the photogenic island church, it continued with the lakeside sojourns of 19th-century royalty and then of former Yugoslav President Tito who had a villa on the shores - and today, tourism to Slovenia's Lake Bled shows no signs of slowing. Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) — Among the most environmentally precious -- and sensitive -- regions on earth, the Galapagos Islands attract travelers who keen to admire the incredible bio-diversity that helped inspire Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories.

In pole position is the temple complex at Angkor in Cambodia – which LP says “won by a landslide” – followed by Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Peru’s Machu Picchu. Looks good, but anyone hoping to hit all 500 is probably best advised leaving it on the coffee table rather than hauling it around in their backpack. Join me on this iconic New Zealand adventure, looking for glowing larvae in an underground wilderness.Experience Guides For travelers that want to design a trip that feels unique, these guides uncover exciting new ways to explore iconic destinations. Even though there's actually only eight, the soft limestone rocks still attract two million visitors a year. The temples are the perfect fusion of creative ambition and spiritual devotion, and a point of pilgrimage for all Cambodians. Lonely Planet says: Church, mosque and museum in one, Istanbul’s Aya Sofya defies easy categorization. The Aṉangu people, the area's original inhabitants, believe it's still home to spirit ancestors like the python woman Kuniya and the hare-wallaby people, the Mala.

Taj Mahal (Agra, India) — As burial places go, it's hard to beat India's Taj Mahal, comleted in 1643 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.And there are hot springs to visit - from the bloodshot eyeball of Grand Prismatic to the travertine shelves at Mammoth.

A monument to human ingenuity and devotion, the temples of Angkor have an ability to inspire awe that rivals many of nature's contributions to this list's top 10.Nepal offers golden temples, charming hill villages, jungle wildlife watching, and the incredible walk around Nepal's Annapurna massif, which has long been considered one of the world's great treks. That's only one of the brain-bending experiences you'll have visiting these 4085 sq miles (10,582 sq km) of salt, high in the Bolivian altiplano.

These are the places we think you should experience; there are sights that will humble you, amaze you and surprise you. Lonely Planet says: Stretching more than 1,860 miles up the northeastern coast of Australia, it’s home to the world’s largest network of coral reefs and thousands of species of fish and marine life.The rotten-egg whiff taunts your nostrils; your ears are assaulted by a vulgarity of belches, burps and farts.