The 50 places you must see

By Richard Holliday, Evening Standard

It is the definitive list every traveller will want to cross-check to find out if they really have seen the world.

Here is the ultimate guide which will determine whether you are a seasoned world traveller... or someone who really should try and get out more.

Where are the ultimate locations that you really should visit before using those last 80,000 air miles and hanging up your sombrero?

Top of the list of must-see locations is the Grand Canyon. At 270 miles long, a mile deep and 18 miles wide in places, this is the one sight that Britons want to see more than any other on the planet.

It was the clear winner in a BBC poll of the 50 top destinations in the world - "places it is essential to visit in your lifetime" - which form the basis for the programme 50 Places To See Before You Die, which is being screened at 8pm on BBC1 on Sunday.

Runner-up in the Top 50 is that other great natural wonder, the 2,900 reefs and 1,000 islands which make up the Great Barrier Reef off Australia's Queensland coast.

But with a host of sun-kissed, palmfringed beaches; spectacular waterfalls and mountains; ancient ruins; temples; lakes; national parks and gracious cultural cities to choose from, which location took third place? Disney World, Florida.

The London Evening Standard's travel editor, Sally Shalam - who appears on the programme backing her own personal favourite, the Barrier Reef - said she found Disney's place in the top three "staggering".

But she added: "I think what is reassuring is that so many people retain a sense of awe and wonder for the natural world. So many choices in the top 50 fall into that category, the first two especially, it goes without saying."

Of city venues, she said: "I think it's interesting that even after the 11 September atrocity, New York is in the top 10 (at number 9) proving it remains a phenomenal draw.

But I was surprised to see Paris as low as 27. It could simply be the case that everyone has been there these days."

Alas, there was no mention in the top 50 of anywhere in Britain.

The attraction of one venue, Bali, which perhaps surprisingly just scraped in at number 49, has withered since the programme was first made.

As the amended commentary now points out: "Sadly, since your vote was cast the island has suffered an appalling terrorist attack in which Western tourists were deliberately targeted. Currently the Foreign Office advises against all travel to Indonesia. So it could be some time before the island gets back on its feet."

The United States proves the most popular country overall with nine nominations out of the 50, including Las Vegas, Lake Louise in the Rocky Mountains, Niagara Falls, Yosemite National Park, Hawaii, Alaska and San Francisco making up the numbers with Disney and the Grand Canyon.

Television personalities adding their endorsements to their favourite destinations include: Jilly Goolden (enjoying a Singapore Sling in the bar at Raffles Hotel, Singapore, No 39); Clarissa Dickson Wright and Mariella Frostrup (Barcelona, No 37); Joanna Lumley (the Masai Mara game reserve, Kenya, No 32); Clarissa Dickson Wright again ("Go to Paris in the spring with a lover," No 27); Jeremy Bowen (Petra, No 16); Sandi Toksvig (the Golden Temple of Amritsar, No 6); Eamonn Holmes (Cape Town, No 5); Fiona Bruce ("I can't wait to take my children to Disney World when they're old enough," No 3) and Carol Smillie (Great Barrier Reef, No 2).