When traveling, adventures and amazing experiences don’t always have to take place during the day. According to CNN, “just because the sun goes down doesn’t mean you have to turn in too“.
While most of our major travel experiences do take place during the daylight, there are lots of interesting and neat things that we can do at night.
CNN came up with a fun list featuring 10 of the World’s Best Nighttime Adventures.
Some of my favorite nighttime adventures just so happened to show up on CNN’s list.
When I first saw the title to the article, visiting Petra at Night immediately came to mind. While Kim and I loved and were amazed by Petra, the night tour was a bit underwhelming. I am glad that we were able to experience the site both during the day and at night but it was hard to see much in the dark and other parts of the activity seemed a bit cheesy. If you plan to visit Petra at some point I’d still recommend that you take part in the night visit but be sure to do it after first seeing the site during the day.
Here are CNN’s Top Nighttime Adventures:
- Zip-lining through the snow in Whistler
- Experiencing ancient ruins of Petra
- Tracking big game in Africa
- Delving underground in Grenada, Spain
- Aladdin experience in Dubai
- Swimming with manta rays in Hawaii
- Kayaking Puerto Rico’s bioluminescent bays
- Immersing in Costa Rica jungle
- Exploring Alcatraz
- Night safari in Singapore
Other than visiting Petra at night I also did similar activities to two other adventures from the list.
- During our trips to Africa we didn’t go on actual night safaris but we did visit a watering hole in Etosha National Park in Namibia and got to spot a decent amount of game (with the rhino being the most incredible) in the dark. While camping out in Uganda we also saw some (not so big) game close to our camp.
- While in Dubai I took a trip to the desert for an activity called dune bashing. It is a crazy but fun activity where you ride in a jeep at crazy speeds through the sand dunes. At times you feel like the truck might flip over and other times sand will cover the windshield making it hard to see anything outside. After this activity we went to a place in the desert similar to the one described by CNN minus the cultural performance.
I was thinking of some other interesting nighttime experiences that we’ve had the chance to enjoy. Picking a favorite was pretty easy for me.
During our trip to Colombia we spend a few nights in the Amazon. One of the nights we went out on something like a night safari. The first animal we saw was a small critter up in a tree. The guide tried to explain what it was but our Spanish wasn’t strong enough to understand him. The highlight of the adventure was when our boat pulled into an area close to land. The guide leaned half way over the boat and came up with a small caiman in his hands! After showing us the animal I had the chance to hold it which was an incredible and unforgettable experience. After a few minutes he was released back into the water.
One other impromptu adventure that I’ll mention was staying in Tikal National Park (Guatemala) after the park closed to see the sunset. We sat on the top of one of the pyramids with a few other fellow travelers and some of the park guards for another unforgettable experience. Walking though the park in the dark with so few people left inside was a magical experience and one you should try to enjoy so long as the park guards allow you to.
Have you had any amazing nighttime adventures during you travels? If so, let us know what it was!
Find out about each of CNN’s 10 Best Nighttime Adventures here.
