The best way to experience the migration is via a mobile camp which ups sticks and follows the animals every day.
A four-night safari combining two nights in Singita's Explore mobile camp and two in a fixed location in the Serengeti costs from US $5,110, including internal flights, full board and safari activities; aardvarksafaris.com
5. Star-filled sky, Mackenzie Basin, New Zealand
Picking out Orion's Belt and The Big Dipper is even more impressive if there are a million other stars distracting you from the task.
A 1,600-square-mile area in New Zealand's South Island comprising Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park and the Mackenzie Basin has just been designated the world's fourth International Dark Sky Reserve, making it "one of the best stargazing sites on Earth" according to Bob Parks, executive director of the International Dark-Sky Association.
Nature's Highway arranges three-night/four-day cycling tours to Mackenzie Basin from US$995 per person. Includes accommodation, bike hire and luggage transport; natureshighway.co.nz/tour-dates-and-prices
6. Torres del Paine, Chile
In the heart of Patagonia, glaciers rise in the midst of mountainscapes and alpine meadows, close enough to hike right up to and touch. They make Torres del Paine one of the most special national parks in the world --- you'll never forget your first sight of ice on the beach.
Explora offers a four-night package including transfers from Punta Arenas, full board and excursions from US$2,780; lastfrontiers.com
7. Djemaa el Fna, Marrakech, Morocco
If any city has a vast expanse of street theater at its beating heart, it's this Moroccan metropolis where Moorish influences give way to a throbbing African pulse.
This huge empty space over which the sun rises comes to life from mid-afternoon as the local characters creep in --- storytellers, snake charmers, musicians, Berber apothecaries, henna-painters and lady-boy dancers.
First-floor cafes are the best places to overlook the action as the scene unfolds, but when night closes in and smoke starts rising from the food stalls, it's time to join the crowds at trestle tables for a UD$5 feast of grilled meats and flatbread.
Stay in a riad --- a traditional townhouse hotel --- within the Medina for maximum impact. Riad Farnatchi sets out a great little handbook for guests of what not to miss, including the best food stalls on the square. Rooms from US$360 per night; riadfarnatchi.com
8. Yosemite peaks, California, United States
Not just any old mountains, Half Dome, Sentinel and El Capitan have been immortalized by landscape photographer Ansel Adams. The view catches in the throat of first-time visitors who trace the route taken by the Gold Rush settlers who discovered this breathtaking land of pine forests and soaring granite peaks around 1850.
It's mandatory to stay within the National Park boundaries to breathe the pine-scented air, absorb the grandeur and hike in peace after the day-trippers have left. While simple lodge cabins are good value, the magnificent 1920's Ahwahnee Hotel overlooking Half Dome is worth the splurge (rooms around US$450 per night); yosemite.com
9. Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy
Because they've been the subject of so many Renaissance paintings, the iconic landmarks of Venice stop the heart when you see them for the first time.
The Rialto, the Bridge of Sighs, the vast expanse of San Marco look much as they did 400 years ago, but nothing evokes the mystery of La Serenissima quite like the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute looming out of the mist at the entrance to the Grand Canal.
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