10 Unusual Travel Ideas to Add to your Bucket List

If you are keen traveler looking for unusual travel ideas, I will bet you good money that you have a travel ideas bucket list.

It might not be written down but it will at least be half formulated in your mind. Usually a travel bucket list will include the likes of seeing the Grand Canyon, or doing a bungee jump off high buildings or something far off the beaten path.

The travel idea options on offer don’t end there though. The world truly is your oyster and unusual travel ideas and experiences are there for the taking! You can do anything from the adventurous to the calm and sedate. Navigate the ten slides below to see some amazing and unusual travel ideas to try out.Take a close look at this pick of 10 unusual travel ideas to add to your bucket list and be inspired to think outside the box on your next trip or holiday abroad.

1. Go Cage Diving With Crocodiles

I think I’d be right to assume that you have heard of cage diving with great white sharks? You can do this activity all over the world … pretty much anywhere that great white sharks can be found funnily enough!

Why not take a different approach to this heart pumping activity and go cage diving with crocodiles instead? Truly a worthy entry on the list of unusual travel ideas.

Australia is a prime location for this, along with South Africa. Coming face to face with the jaws of these terrifying and immensely powerful prehistoric creatures is certain to give you the heebie-jeebies.

They do say you should do something that scares you every day…  It’s not likely to be an experience you repeat in a hurry so it can be firmly stamped ‘unique’.

2. Enjoy a ‘Dinner in the Sky’

Take your dining experience to heady heights by booking up with ‘Dinner in the Sky’. You can do this at various locations around the world including the likes of Las Vegas, Paris, Brussels and many more famous cities in the world.
Once you’re sitting comfortably, a huge crane hoists the entire table to a height of 150 ft above the ground, taking the phrase ‘Pie in the Sky’ to a whole new level! You’ll even be served by a suited and booted waiter – talk about service!

Drink in the 360° sights while enjoying your meal. It’s certainly one restaurant experience you’ll be compelled to review and earns its place on the unusual travel ideas list.

3. Go Panning for Gold and be a Prospector

Not all of the experiences listed here are going to dramatically increase your pulse but that doesn’t make them any less fun. Panning for gold is a fantastic example!

person's left palm
Photo by MUILLU

Gold mining played a hugely important role in many countries histories and there are plenty of places where you can still try your hand at it today.
I hate to break it to you but you probably won’t find a nugget that will make you insanely rich, but, you could get your hand on enough to class yourself as a prospector!

From the UK, to Australia and various places in the USA, choose your destination and get sifting. Creeks and rivers near to old mining towns and mining sites is usually a good bet or you can go with a company of people.

4. Stomp Grapes and Make your Own Wine

Wine has always been a staple of our lives. People often talk about visiting vineyards and sampling the local wines but why not go one step further? Wine tasting is great and all but its other people vintage. Why not cork your own bottle of vino for a truly unusual travel idea.

person holding grapes
Photo by Maja Petric

Put your best foot forward and go grape stomping. You can then even make your own fine wine for a personal touch.

What a fantastic souvenir would that make? Stellenrust Wine Estate in South Africa is just one example of where you can do just that, allowing you to pick your own grapes, stomp them yourself and then create your very own tipple.

5. Ride an Animal that isn’t a Horse

I might work for a holiday car hire company but that doesn’t mean I can’t slightly less conventional transport methods. That leads me to suggestion number 5 on the ideas bucket list, riding an animal that isn’t a horse such as an elephant or a camel.

After all, you can do that anywhere and have at the very least probably ridden a donkey on the beach when you were 5 years old.

I’m thinking more along the lines of an elephant in Thailand or a camel in Egypt! Try to find a company that cares for their animals ethically, though. It is not cool if these animals are unhappy when you sit on them all day. Do not hand over any money if you think the animals are being mistreated. Most good tour firms will treat their animals well.

6. Send a Message in a Bottle

You may have read this news story  by a woman who threw a message in a bottle into the North Sea was contacted by someone in the Netherlands, when they found it years later.

I thought this was a cool travel idea for the bucket list and have vowed to send my very own message in a bottle one day.

Think of sending a message in a bottle as your own time capsule of sorts! Next time you’re abroad why not write your very own message in a bottle on your travels and wait to be contacted from a foreign land in the future. Its not just pirates and marooned sailors on remote tropical isles that need to send a message in a bottle, clearly anyone can do it.

7. Unusual Travel Ideas – Eat Something “Weird”

The most adventurous thing I have ever eaten was snails in Paris and it is not an experience I will repeat again.

octopus on gray tray
Photo by Alex Knight

Whilst it wasn’t enjoyable, I have had many a laughs retelling the story since! If you are brave, why not go one step further than snails and eat something alive!

At a restaurant called Noma in Copenhagen one of their most popular dishes is a salad, where ants quite literally crawl all over your dish and apparently taste like lemongrass.

Elsewhere around the world, particularly in Asia, insects are a staple part of the diet, allowing you to top up on protein! In Japan and Korea, octopus and squid are served live too, squirming around on your plate. If all else fails, you could always give oysters a whirl; they are alive too after all and are considered a far more ‘normal’ dish!

8. Go Deep Sea Fishing and Learn to Prepare and Cook your Catch

In this day and age, we are all extremely reliant on pre-packaged foods. I myself feel a bit queasy at the thought of preparing a freshly caught fish and I would imagine it’s the same for many people.

So book a charter fishing boat, this can be fun with a group of friends who share an interest in deep sea fishing. Head out across the deep blue sea and lower those fishing rods.

If you have never been deep sea fishing before consider taking an expert fisherman with you for the day. Soon you will be cooking the perfect catch and be the envy of all your friends. An unmissable addition to the ideas bucket list.

9. Go for Volcano Boarding

You’ve probably heard of sand boarding but why not take it one step further and go volcano boarding! A cross between snowboarding and sand boarding, it involves plummeting down the side of an active volcano at around 50 mph with just a board as your weapon of choice. This is a thrilling addition to the ideas bucket list.

There are limited destinations you can do this, namely the country of Nicaragua in Central America. After all most people can’t just visit the local volcano as they tend to crop up in rather unique locations around the world.

10. Try a Sky Dive From the Summit of Mt Everest

Many people put a sky dive on their ideas bucket list. Many others put climbing Mount Everest on their adventure bucket lists. Kill two birds with one stone and do a sky dive over Mount Everest! That’s right. Exiting a helicopter at 29,000 ft, you’ll be flying high above the awe-inspiring Himalayas.

Just as a warning though, this Mount Everest experience does not come cheap. You’ll need to fork out $35,000 for a tandem jump. Still, it doesn’t hurt to aim high, quite literally, for what will be truly an one-time experience!

So, what do you think of these unusual ideas?

Sure, not all of them are adrenaline inducing, but we reckon you haven’t considered try these activities before! Try any one of these rather unusual travel ideas and no one could ever accuse you of not being original.