Our planet is a place of extraordinary beauty, filled with colorful and fascinating places. While it would probably take more than a lifetime to explore them all, some sites certainly stand out – like the ones you can see in the list below. Maybe worth a New Year’s resolution, don’t you think?

20. Iceland’s Blue Lagoon

Iceland is not a place you’d imagine would be home to a welcoming resort, but thanks to the miracle of geothermal activity, people can actually put on a swimsuit and enjoy the warm water. Set near the capital Reykjavik, the beautiful Blue Lagoon is one of Iceland’s most pleasant surprises.

19. Kelimutu Lakes

Located on Indonesia’s Flores Island, Kelimutu is a volcano known for its amazing crater lakes. Colors vary from green, to blue, even red depending on certain conditions, but whatever the cause the effect is certainly striking, especially when observed from afar.

18. Giant’s Causeway

Giant’s Causeway is one of those natural wonders so intriguing it’s hard to believe it was created by nature alone and not by people. It consists of some 40,000 interlocking basalt columns laid there by a volcanic eruption 50 to 60 million years ago. Its name comes from a legend which says that the columns are the remains of a causeway from Ireland to Scotland built by a giant.

17. Jodhpur

India is a large country with a rich history and great cultural diversity, so there are plenty of colorful places for travelers to explore. One of the most remarkable is the blue city of Jodhpur, a large city in the northwestern province of Rajasthan.

16. Hitsujiyama Park

Hitsujiyama Park, in the Japanese town of Chichibu, is one of the country’s most colorful sites. Every year, from early April to early May, thousands of phloxes and cherry trees are in full blossom, covering the hillside in pink and purple, serving as a colorful sign that spring has arrived.

15. Great Blue Hole

Part of the already impressive Belize Barrier Reef, the Great Blue Hole looks quite daunting from above, an eerily dark spot surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Atlantic. It is a great spot for divers, who are naturally attracted to its depths, those few has ventured as far as the very bottom of this underwater cave, which is over 400 feet below the surface.

14. Rice Terrace Fields of Vietnam

Carved into the hillside, Vietnam’s extensive rice fields, carved into hillsides all over the country, are a wondrous sight. A necessity due to the steep terrain (which would otherwise make any agricultural activity virtually impossible), it is one of the few examples where human intervention has actually enhanced the beauty of the countryside.

13. Alhambra

Described as “a pearl set in emeralds” (due to its location, surrounded by woods), Alhambra is a beautiful Andalusian palace built by the region’s Moorish rulers during the Middle Ages. An architectural marvel, it is one of Spain’s most popular attractions.

12. Mount Roraima

One of the most stunning peaks in the world, Mount Roraima lies at the border between Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana and soars over 9,000 feet into the air. It is actually an extensive plateau with 1,300-foot cliffs on all sides and looks particularly spectacular as it pierces the clouds.

11. Lake Hillier

Middle Island, lying just off the coast of Western Australia, is home to Lake Hillier, a weird body of water which is completely pink. The unusual color, which looks quite stunning against the green backdrop of the island, is thought to be the result of microorganisms living in the water.

10. Salar de Uyuni

Located high up in the Andes in southwest Bolivia, Salay de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. An ocean of white more than twice the size of Delaware, it is almost perfectly flat, with less than a meter of altitude variation across the entire area. On a clear day and covered in water, it can act as a giant mirror, reflecting the sky for a truly enthralling effect.

9. Tulip Fields of the Netherlands

For over four centuries, tulips have been extremely popular in the Netherlands and today the country is the world’s largest cultivator of the elegant flowers. Huge, colorful tulip fields can be admired in the northern and western parts of the country, with the best time to visit being in the middle of April.

8. Glowworm Cave of Waitomo

New Zealand is famous for its spectacular landscapes, but there’s plenty to see below the surface as well. One example is the Glowworm Cave of Waitomo, home to a unique creature which radiates in the dark, creating an otherworldly effect.

7. Geirangerfjord

Long, narrow valleys cut long ago into the coast by glaciers, fjords are some of the most spectacular geological features on the planet. The best place in the world to see fjords is Norway and probably the best such spot in the country is Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

6. Pamukkale

Located in southwestern Turkey, Pamukkale is an enchanting place where hot springs have created white pools of travertine into the hillside. It looks like a place straight out of fairy tales, so it’s not surprising its name actually means “cotton castle” in Turkish.

5. Caño Cristales

While relatively short, only stretching about 60 miles across the Colombian countryside, Caño Cristales is one of the most impressive rivers in the world for a totally different reason. Dubbed “The River of Five Colors” or “The Liquid Rainbow”, it gets its unique, colorful look due to a local plant species which lives on the riverbed.

4. Zhangye Danxia

The eerie Zhangye Danxia landform in southeast China features brightly colored, otherworldly mineral formations laid down millions of years ago and subsequently eroded and exposed by tectonic activity. It is probably one of the most alien-looking landscapes on the planet.

3. Grand Prismatic Spring

Yellowstone National Park is one of the world’s most amazing places. As it basically sits on top of a supervolcano, it boasts an incredible abundance of geothermal features, one of which is the mesmerizing Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in the United States. The beautiful coloring is due to microorganisms which live in the mineral-rich waters.

2. Aurora Borealis

While this isn’t technically a place (as in, on the ground), you can’t talk about the planet’s most colorful wonders without mentioning the aurora borealis (northern lights). The fascinating sky show is caused by solar wind hitting the atmosphere and is best observed at high latitudes, like the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, or Russia.

1. Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is a truly fascinating place, located on Navajo lands in northern Arizona. The splendid orange-brown color of the rock walls with their ‘flowing’ shapes, as well as the interplay between the darkness of the deep with light beaming from above, make Antelope Canyon a really fascinating place to explore.