25 incredible global travel experiences for 2019

Photograph: MONA/Jesse Hunniford (Museum of Old and New Art)

You’ve heard it a million times: we live in an era in which people value experiences over stuff. Sure, nice things are great – but nice meals are better (especially when they’re cooked over hot lava or eaten at 12,000 feet above sea level). Collecting stuff is cool, but collecting memorable moments – like a sound bath in the desert or a train ride over 435 bridges – feeds the soul in a way that possessions just can’t. 

Time Out was founded 50 years ago to help people discover the best things to do. This list was was created to distil that spirit, and it’s curated from more than 5,000 recommendations by roughly 200 writers and editors worldwide.

Sure, none of the items on this list are as responsible as, say, buying a new washing machine, but unless that appliance has a secret portal to a room full of stardust, we reckon they’ll be a whole lot more fun. 

1. Dream of polka dots at the Yayoi Kusama Museum

Photograph: ©YAYOI KUSAMA

📍Tokyo, Japan

With her dream-like, kaleidoscopic world of polka dots, pumpkins and mirrors, Yayoi Kusama has become one of the most instantly recognisable artists in the world. People flock to be immersed in her surreal visions, and now there’s a permanent space dedicated to her work for Kusama addicts to get lost in. Yayoi’s very own museum is a slender, minimalist space that gives visitors an intimate glimpse into her work. 

Sure, there are the usual polka dots and pumpkins, but what makes this place really special is the focus on Kusama’s lesser-known archives and her very latest works. Getting tickets isn’t always easy – they must be purchased in advance through the museum’s website and, at the time of writing, you can’t get tickets on the door – but if you plan ahead you’ll be rewarded with a properly tranquil and personal experience of Kusama’s overwhelming, psychedelic art. 

2. Snap a ‘cell-fie’ at prison-turned-arts complex Tai Kwun

Photograph: courtesy Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts 

📍Hong Kong

The cluster of buildings that were once the Central Police Compound and Victoria Prison in Central Hong Kong have been revitalised and revamped. For history buffs, step back in time as you admire the well-preserved 170-year-old architecture and visit the former prison cell blocks. 

For art connoisseurs, exceptional contemporary exhibitions, innovative stage performances and Insta-worthy light shows await within these high red-bricked walls. And get ready to tuck into international and fusion gourmet dishes and drinks in repurposed venues like Aaharn – a Thai eatery helmed by renowned Aussie chef David Thompson – and hidden bar Behind Bars. There are even free Sunday movie screenings on the steps.

3. Marvel at the architecture (and art) of the Louvre Abu Dhabi

Photograph: Mohamed Somji 

📍Abu Dhabi, UAE

It may have taken ten years to build, but the Louvre Abu Dhabi was definitely worth the wait. The building looks stunning as you approach from Saadiyat Island, but it’s only once you're inside that you discover just how amazing Jean Nouvel’s creation is. 

There’s art to see, sure, including works from Henri Matisse, Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as artifacts from ancient Egypt and the Middle East. But when you step outside the galleries and under the geometrically-cut dome, with light dappling down on you from the roof, you’ll realise the Louvre itself is a work of art. Be sure to visit the rooftop Art Lounge for a drink before you leave, and soak up the views out to sea.

4. Take a leap from the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge

Photograph: HighestBridges via Wikimedia Commons

📍Wulingyuan, Hunan Province

Zhangjiajie's Grand Canyon Glass Bridge was a smash hit when it opened in 2016. Measuring 430 metres in length and suspended 300 metres above the ground, it was both the longest and highest glass bridge in the world at the time, with a dizzying see-through walkway. Thrill-seeking visitors flocked to it, quickly outstripping the bridge’s capacity and forcing it to close for a month after one of the glass panes cracked. 

When it reopened, the bridge’s designers demonstrated its safety by pounding the glass panels with sledgehammers, proving how strong and safe the walkway is. The publicity stunt worked, and thousands of people continue to blithely stroll across the bridge every day. If that’s simply too tame, as of this year you can chuck yourself off it in the world’s highest bungee jump as well.

5. Paddle through the Puerto Princesa’s underground caverns

Photograph: Benson Kua via Wikimedia Commons 

📍Palawan, Philippines

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New7Wonders of Nature, the Puerto Princesa River flows directly beneath the St Paul Mountain Range and is the longest navigable underground river in the world. Exploring the this vast, pitch-black cave system in (almost silent) paddle boats lit only by boatmen’s lamps can be both spooky and serene but will be absolutely unforgettable. 

See waterfalls gushing through cave walls, prehistoric fossils and a cave covered in glittering crystals. A spiritual experience also awaits in the Cathedral Chamber, which soars 65 metres high, with what appear to be religious figures, a nativity scene and giant ‘melting’ candles within the rock formations.

6. Immerse yourself in a temple of Korean beauty products

Photograph: courtesy Betwin Space Design

📍Seoul, South Korea

You can’t turn a corner in Seoul without finding an Olive Young, an Innisfree, or a Tony Moly: this is a place that takes its skincare seriously. But no store better exemplifies the K-beauty trend than the Dr Jart+ Filter Space. The beloved ‘cosmeceutical’ brand opened its factory-like flagship in Gangnam in 2016, but the three-storey building is as much an immersive experience as it is a temple to retail therapy. 

Designed to encapsulate the ‘essential elements of beauty’ – water, air and light – the shop offers brand loyalists intricate skincare prescriptions called ‘Life Recipes’ based on their health and mood. Even those just passing through the front door airlock (yep) can sip on water distilled through high-tech machines or simply bask in the Seoul sunshine on the third-floor rooftop terrace.

7. Hang out with monsters at Dubai’s VR Park

Photograph: Fred Aguirre

📍Dubai, UAE

Journey into another world (or 20) at Dubai’s VR Park. The world’s largest VR adventure land opened this year, and the futuristic experience goes way beyond putting on an Oculus Rift headset. Escape zombies in a Walking Dead-themed game, or hunt swamp monsters in a Stranger Things-esque version of the Louisiana bayou. 

Even the smells and temperatures are designed to fully suck you into VR Park’s imaginary worlds. You can also ride a hair-raising rollercoaster, zoom around the desert or hang out with dinosaurs. Many of the games and experiences are multi-player, so you won’t have to face an uncertain future alone.

8. Have an out-of-this-world sauna in Kiruna’s ‘Solar Egg’

Photograph: courtesy Solar Egg by Bigert & Bergström for Riksbyggen

📍Kiruna, Sweden

In response to the near-biblical challenge of moving their northernmost town wholesale two miles east to escape subsidence from an iron-ore mine, the Swedes have done something typically civilised and Scandinavian: they’ve built an insanely cool sauna. 

‘Solar Egg’ is an alien-looking, golden-mirror-clad ‘social sculpture’ by artists Bigert & Bergström, set on a hilltop to hold silent, otherworldly watch over Kiruna as it embarks on its epic nomadic journey. Enter its warm cocoon for relaxed contemplation and debate about society, the environment and the possibly itinerant future of mankind. All followed by a reinvigorating naked roll in the arctic snow.

9. Play Colombia’s explosive national sport at Los Amigos Club

Photograph: Young Shanahan via Flickr

📍Cali, Colombia

Tejo is a wacky proposition for a national sport: drink copious amounts of beer while throwing metal pucks into a goal packed with clay. Oh, and that clay is studded with small explosives, which you’re meant to avoid, but you probably won’t because it’s fun to blow stuff up, and also, you’re drunk. 

This game is a great equaliser: played as often by dignitaries as by the rest of us, it was made internationally popular by the late Anthony Bourdain, who learned to play (and got appropriately sauced while doing so) at Los Amigos Club, where you too can toss a tejo puck, drink too much Poker (a local brew), and befriend the regulars.

10. Lose yourself in light at the Museum of Old and New Art

Photograph: MONA/Jesse Hunniford

📍Tasmania, Australia

Australia’s island state might seem an unlikely place for a world-class museum, but then a lot of things about MONA are unlikely. It’s built underground, carved into the sandstone cliffs of the Berriedale Peninsula; it’s best reached by a high-speed, camo-painted ferry from Hobart’s waterfront; and it’s funded by the gambling proceeds of owner David Walsh. 

Late 2018 saw the opening of the Pharos Wing – the first expansion since MONA opened in 2011 – described by Walsh as ‘a testimonial to the power of light as art’. It’s one of the only places in the world right now where you can experience one of James Turrell’s perceptual cells: a fully immersive, hallucinatory light bath. This one, Unseen Seen, is housed in a silver sphere, lasts a full 15 minutes and is meant to be experienced in pairs. To reorient yourself afterwards, head to Faro bar for an Instagram-friendly Black Margarita, garnished with a pig’s eye encased in ice.

11. Explore a secret Gaudí house at Casa Vicens

Photograph: Pol Viladoms courtesy Casa Vicens

📍Barcelona, Spain

Dive into the wondrous universe of Antoni Gaudí in a way few others have, through his first big architectural undertaking. This is where he applied techniques, decorative motifs and symbols that years later he would use in his most famous buildings, including the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. 

The marvel that is Casa Vicens was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005, but wasn’t opened to the public until November 2017. Now visitors are able to explore the building that the Catalan architect designed in 1883 as a summer house for Manuel Vicens. It might seem odd to build a holiday home in a busy area of Barcelona, but back then, what is now the neighbourhood of Gràcia was a village. 

12. Have a Venusian sound bath at the Integratron

Photograph: Carl Rice courtesy Integratron

📍Landers, CA, USA

Balance your chakras with a quartz crystal bowl sound bath in an acoustically (and aesthetically, in our opinion) perfect structure in the middle of the Joshua Tree desert. The all-white, all-wood, dome-topped sound chamber was built in 1959 by ufologist George Van Tassel, who claims to have been following instructions given to him by visiting Venusians. 

Book well in advance, and arrive early to relax in the many hammocks strung throughout the grounds. Post-bath, peruse old pamphlets, propaganda and newspaper clippings detailing the area’s still-active community of UFO enthusiasts, and see Van Tassel’s original plans for the building, which included bells and whistles for human cell rejuvenation, anti-gravity capabilities and time travel.

13. Take a Japanese whisky pilgrimage to the Hakushu Distillery

Photograph: courtesy Suntory

📍Hokuto, Japan

Japanese whisky is all the rage right now – in fact, Suntory and Nikka, its two main producers, make some of the most expensive spirits on the market. Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery catapulted the entire category to fame in 2012, when Yamazaki 12 won the prestigious title of World’s Best Whisky. Its sister distillery, Hakushu, is well worth a visit on its own. 

Sitting roughly three hours outside of Tokyo in the pine forests of the southern Japanese Alps, this mountain temple to whisky is known for its ethereal spring water, which produces its signature fruity and smoky spirits. Visitors enter a sprawling welcome centre and museum filled with whisky memorabilia. To soak up the booze served in the gift shop tasting room, there’s onsite restaurant White Terrace serving traditional, locally sourced fare. 

14. Enter a world of colour in Taichung City’s Rainbow Village

Photograph: Zairon via Wikimedia Commons

📍Taichung City, Taiwan

Once a settlement for retired veterans, this small village in Taichung City was slated for demolition in 2010. Out of protest (and boredom), its only remaining resident, Huang Yung-fu, began painting colourful murals on every surface he could find. 

The village, which has since become a protected cultural site, is now one of the most beloved and enduringly delightful tourist attractions in Taichung, drawing over a million visitors a year. It’s free to stroll through, though we recommend going early to avoid the crowds and get the best views of the fantastically detailed, colourful paintings. If you see Huang (affectionately known as ‘Rainbow Grandpa’), stop and have a chat. 

15. Take a solitary dip at Mývatn Nature Baths

Photograph: Halldora Kristin

📍Mývatn, Iceland

Most visitors to Iceland don’t make it beyond the Reykjavík region, which means that many never get to Mývatn Nature Baths, located 489 km from the capital. You can take the plunge, then, without rubbing shoulders with tons of tourists. Enter the pebble-lined pools and absorb minerals from the warm water that some claim can cure a hypochondriac web search’s worth of ailments. 

The lagoon is open year-around, but ornithologists should visit in the spring, when nearby marshes serve as a breeding ground for a diverse gaggle of bird species. Complement your dip with in-water drink service, and the local speciality: cake-like rye bread, baked underground in a geothermic pit.

16. Celebrate New Orleans’s resilience at Studio Be

Photograph: courtesy Brandan ‘Bmike’ Odums

📍New Orleans, LA, USA

Studio Be may look like yet another disused warehouse transformed into a painted, photogenic feast, but here the display is a weighty, visually stunning homage to catastrophe, oppression, resistance and resilience. The artist behind the space, Brandan Odums (AKA Bmike) is known for his large-scale murals, which often celebrate African American icons. 

The outer walls have been painted by street artists and muralists from all over the world, and the space hosts regular talks and artist visits. New Orleans has changed considerably over a decade on from Hurricane Katrina. Studio Be articulates a perspective on the city that cannot be ignored. As the mural that spans the entrance wall puts it: 'They tried to bury us: they didn’t know we were seeds.' 

17. Experience an art awakening in Uluru's 'Field of Light'

Photograph: Mark Pickthall courtesy Field of Light, Uluru, Bruce Munro 2016

📍Uluru, Australia

Imagine standing amid a six-football-field expanse of colourful light bulbs a couple of hundred metres from Uluru, the monolithic red rock at the heart of Australia and one of the most sacred Indigenous sites in the world. Well, that’s what Bruce Munroe’s solar-powered, site-specific artwork 'The Field of Light' is: 50,000 glowing orbs that bring a slice of Avatar to the red centre. 

The piece is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and can be visited on foot at sunrise or sunset. Or you can opt to go all out and see it from a helicopter. The work was inspired by the intense spiritual energy of Uluru, and the sheer contrast between the work’s otherworldly glow against the red ochre sand and the magnificence of Uluru certainly provides a powerful sense of mystic wonder. The installation will finish at the end of 2020, so if you’re going to experience it, you’d better get planning. 

18. Roast marshmallows over hot lava on Pacaya Volcano

Photograph: Greg Willis via Wikimedia Commons 

📍Antigua, Guatemala

Unlike other volcanic destinations that tend to keep you well away from molten lava, at Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala you can experience the hot flowing bubbles up close. So close, in fact, that you're able to roast marshmallows and hot dogs above the fiery streams with no barriers or guards on-site. 

We recommend travelling to the volcano’s base with an Antigua tour company: you can check with them ahead of time to ensure the lava is active and to learn the flow’s current whereabouts. Keep your arms and legs covered for protection and wear shoes you don’t care about: you’ll likely have to leap over rivulets of lava to seal a prime roasting spot.

19. Play art detective in the Rijksmuseum’s secret research library

Photograph: Arie de Leeuw

📍Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam’s iconic Rijksmuseum, home to centuries of great art, was designed by architect Pierre Cuypers in 1885. While the rest of the museum was recently given a refresh to keep it in step with the twenty-first century, its Research Library was kept as it was and oozes nineteenth-century atmosphere: it’s all wrought-iron, cathedral windows, balustrades and twisting spiral staircases. 

And, of course, there are floor-to-ceiling shelves of thick books. White-gloved art historians pore over rare tomes and the public aren’t allowed entry, save for a special reading room right in the library’s centre. Book in advance to visit, then request a book upon arrival, grab a seat and start learning how Rembrandt seemingly painted with light. 

20. Experience high-tech art at Future World

Photograph: courtesy teamLab

📍Singapore

Spare some time (and camera memory) for art that leaves a lasting impression. Step into the future at ArtScience Museum’s only permanent exhibition, Future World, where the envelope-pushing Japanese tech-art collective teamLab takes you through its immersive 4D art display powered by LED lights and motion sensors. 

Wander through this digitally rendered, kaleidoscopic natural world featuring six-metre high waterfalls, fluttering butterflies that disperse as you touch them, scattered cherry blossom and more. If you’ve got ’em, keep kids busy in the play section boasting slides, giant illuminated blocks and a colouring corner that instantly turns their doodles into digital art.

21. Take in Mexico’s national sport at the Lienzo Charro de Jalisco

Photograph: Democaj via Pixabay 

📍Guadalajara, Mexico

Spend a Sunday afternoon sitting alongside families taking in a traditional charreria – Mexico’s answer to a rodeo – in one of the oldest stadiums in the country. The programme begins at noon sharp, and the excitement never wanes: horses whip round at breakneck speed amid whoops and hollers. 

Our favourite part? The escaramuza, where teams of gorgeously dressed women compete, riding sidesaddle. The sport originated in Jalisco – also home to mariachi music – so don’t be surprised if you’re serenaded by a local band. It’s easy to spend several hours there: vendors come by regularly with cold beers and shots of tequila, as well as pork rinds and popcorn drenched in chile con limón.

22. Admire beautiful Scottish design at the V&A Dundee

Photograph: Hufton+Crow courtesy V&A Dundee

📍Dundee, Scotland

Scotland’s world-class design museum opened in September 2018 and it’s stunning both outside and in. The super-sleek building is the handiwork of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who used the dramatic cliffs of north-east Scotland as inspiration. Stop snapping riverside shots just long enough to head inside and explore the treasure box Scottish Design Galleries. 

Banish stereotypes of tartan and shortbread and marvel at ancient illustrations and contemporary fashion labels. But the jewel in the crown has to be Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room – an example of the famous designer’s work that was saved when its former location was demolished and which has sat in storage ever since. This magnificent former tearoom interior is a warm cocoon of glossy wood that smells as good as it looks. 

23. Explore the world’s biggest indoor rainforest at the Eden Project

Photograph: Hufton+Crow

📍Panguipulli, Chile

Now that plants are officially trending (two million #plantsofinstagram posts can’t be wrong), there’s nowhere better for a green fix than the UK's Eden Project. It's two wondrously sci-fi looking biomes top 50 metres and house 2,000 tropical and Mediterranean plant species, including the rare, stinky and much-maligned Corpse Flower. 

Thrillseekers can explore the Rainforest Biome via a heartstoppingly high aerial walkway (complete with simulated monsoons) and even zipwire across the whole structure at 60mph. The biomes also light up in spectacular colours for Eden Sessions, the long-running nighttime concert series (Björk and Massive Attack played this year) – just remember to nab your spot early at the on-site hostel or campsite. With plans to build biomes on every continent, there’s never been a better time to visit the OG.

24. Follow the footsteps of the Romans (and the cast of Game of Thrones) in Italica

Photograph: Pufacz via Wikimedia Commons

📍Seville, Spain

You say you simply must see all the Roman ruins in Spain? Or perhaps you can't go on living until you've visited all the sets used to film scenes from Game of Thrones? You get a two-for-one if you head to Italica, in Seville, where some 200 years before we started our current calendar, Romans built an amphitheatre that's also doubled as the Dragonpit in King's Landing. 

Feel the history of those who have come before you, men in ancient times who battled on the same spot where Cersei and Tyrion Lannister exchanged looks of sibling rivalry, where Daenerys made quite the entrance on the back of a dragon, where Brienne learned The Hound was still alive, and The Hound learned the same of his enslaved brother. In May 2018 the GoT cast and crew were back, filming for the much-anticipated final season. Whichever history speaks to you, this incredibly well-preserved Roman city is historical indeed, and in October 2018 was put up for consideration to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

25. Eat your way around London’s greatest food market

Photograph: Borough Market, London, UK

📍London, UK

London’s Borough Market has a history that stretches back to the thirteenth century. Today, in the shadow of Southwark Cathedral, it’s livelier than ever, packed with traders selling top-quality artisan cheese, bread, veg, game, coffee and more. It’s also home to some of the best restaurants and bars in the city. But there’s more to it than this. Beneath its glass-and-iron canopy is the story of London’s ever-evolving relationship with food, from common necessity to cultural yardstick. 

Borough’s success as a gastronomic destination is perceivable on tables and counters right across the city. Head to The Market Porter pub – it opens at 6am for those market traders working the graveyard shift, so is a godsend if you’re up for a very early (or very late) one.

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