My wife Tania and I have voted on the top places we want to visit in 2019. We have tried to find places we both have not visited before. I have ranked the final list in order based on the average score of our preferences.

The pictures here have been borrowed from google for illustrative purposes.

#1 Georgia

Shkhara Mountains, Georgia.

Topping the list for it’s mountains and food, Georgia is a place we would have visited sooner if it was a little easier to get to.  We hope to spend sufficient time there to get up into the Caucasus Mountains which have the highest peaks in Europe.

#2 Cyprus

Sea Caves near Ayia Napa, Cyprus

After visiting Crete in the Mediterranean we got interested in similar islands. Cyprus has a reputation for being a spectacular place to go when it starts to get a bit cold up north. We hope to see the beautiful nature.

#3 Ukraine

This is one that I especially want to see. I have traveled to a lot of countries around Ukraine but have not actually taken the time so far to get the visa to go there. From what I can gather it is a nice place. The trip there will probably just be a short weekend trip and a teaser for future trips.

At some point it would also be interesting to take my kids to visit Odessa in the south where their great grandmother was born.

#4 Israel

Dead Sea, Israel

This one was especially high on Tania’s list. Both of us have grown up listening to bible stories and it would be nice to put it all into perspective. As well as that visiting the dead sea and floating in the water is high on both of our lists.

#5 Albania

Northern Albania

Albania is a bit off the beaten tourist trail. It has stunning mountains like what you might see in the Dolomites and beautiful beaches similar to Greece. It is a relatively cheap destination to have a lot of fun.

Bonus place – Moldova

I don’t know much about Moldova other than it has been a bit far away to visit on my motorcycle trips. It would be good to go and take a look at what they have to offer.

Note from 2023: I did a recap on these places after visiting them. It took a bit longer than 2019. You can read about it here.