The Ultimate Bucket List: 200 Things to Do Before You Die

Nobody plans their bucket list. It just sort of assembles itself out of half formed thoughts you have at 1am, movies that made you cry for no good reason, and that one Instagram reel of someone swimming with whale sharks that you’ve now watched eleven times. This is that list, fully assembled, organized, and cranked up to 200 items so you never run out of things to feel vaguely inadequate about at dinner parties.

Fair warning: this list contains genuinely life changing goals sitting right next to “learn to whistle with your fingers.” That’s on purpose. A bucket list that’s only Everest summits and round the world sailing trips is a bucket list nobody finishes. The good ones mix the enormous with the ridiculous, so you always have something achievable to check off between the once in a lifetime stuff.

If you’d rather check things off in an actual interface instead of scrolling a wall of text, we built exactly that: Life’s Little Checklist is a free, interactive version of this same idea, over 220 milestones across travel, food, career, and delightfully weird one offs, with a running percentage so you can see exactly how much of an average life you’ve lived so far. No signup, no judgment, just an honest tally.

How to Actually Use a Bucket List (Instead of Just Making One)

Most bucket lists die the day they’re written, filed away in a Notes app next to a grocery list from three years ago. A few rules that actually help:

• Mix categories. Don’t front load your list with 40 travel items and nothing else. Variety keeps momentum going even when your bank account says “not this year” to the Everest thing.
• Include embarrassingly small goals. “Learn a magic trick” belongs on the same list as “see the Northern Lights.” Small wins keep the list feeling alive instead of aspirational-and-abandoned.
• Revisit it. A bucket list isn’t a tattoo. Cross things off, add new ones, and let it evolve as your actual interests change, which they will, repeatedly, forever.
• Be honest about what’s already done. This is the whole idea behind our checklist tool, the fun only works if you’re not generously checking off “ran a marathon” because you once ran to catch a bus.

Now, the actual list. Two hundred items, organized into categories so you can skip straight to whichever part of your personality needs the most work.

Travel & Adventure (1 to 25)

1. See the Northern Lights
2. Watch a sunrise from a mountain summit
3. Sleep in a treehouse
4. Visit every continent (yes, including Antarctica, yes, it’s expensive)
5. Take an overnight train somewhere
6. Get hopelessly lost in a city with no data plan
7. Swim in three different oceans
8. Go on a proper road trip with no fixed itinerary
9. Ride a hot air balloon at sunrise
10. Visit a country where you don’t speak the language
11. Stay in an ice hotel
12. See a UNESCO World Heritage Site in person
13. Backpack somewhere alone for at least a week
14. Cross five time zones in a single trip
15. Visit a national park and actually hike, not just the gift shop
16. Take a cruise you’ll either love or deeply regret
17. Ride a night train through a mountain range
18. Swim in a bioluminescent bay
19. Visit a place purely because of a movie you loved
20. Go camping somewhere with zero cell signal
21. Fill an entire passport with stamps
22. Visit a volcano (active, from a safe distance, please)
23. Take a slow boat somewhere instead of flying
24. Watch a total solar eclipse in person
25. Live in a different country for at least three months

Food & Drink (26 to 50)

26. Eat something you can’t pronounce in the country it’s from
27. Learn to make one dish absolutely perfectly
28. Go on a food crawl through a city known for its food
29. Try the “weird” local delicacy everyone dares you to
30. Bake bread completely from scratch, starter and all
31. Go wine tasting somewhere that actually makes the wine
32. Cook an entire holiday dinner solo
33. Eat street food from a stall with a genuine line out front
34. Try a cuisine you’ve never had once in your life
35. Grow at least one thing you later eat
36. Have a meal you still think about a year later
37. Learn your grandmother’s signature recipe before it’s too late to ask
38. Attend a food festival dedicated to one single ingredient
39. Cook a meal using only what’s in your fridge, no shopping allowed
40. Try the most expensive thing on a menu, once, unapologetically
41. Learn to make fresh pasta by hand
42. Eat something that’s genuinely still moving (sorry, but it’s on a lot of these lists)
43. Have a dinner party where you cook every course
44. Try a food you were scared of as a kid
45. Learn to properly taste and describe coffee
46. Visit a Michelin starred restaurant at least once
47. Forage for something edible with someone who knows what they’re doing
48. Try fermenting something yourself, badly, the first time
49. Have breakfast in one country and dinner in another, same day
50. Cook a recipe from a country you’ve never visited

Career, Money & Ambition (51 to 75)

51. Negotiate a raise instead of just hoping for one
52. Start a side project just to see if it works
53. Get promoted into a role you actually wanted
54. Build an emergency fund you never touch
55. Quit a job that was genuinely bad for you
56. Get featured in the news for something good
57. Give a talk or presentation in front of a real audience
58. Learn to properly do your own taxes
59. Mentor someone earlier in their career
60. Invest in something before it’s obvious
61. Take a calculated risk that actually pays off
62. Build something people pay you for, even once
63. Say no to a project everyone expected you to say yes to
64. Read a contract fully before signing it, for once
65. Take a sabbatical or extended break on purpose
66. Turn a hobby into actual income, however small
67. Get a professional certification purely out of interest
68. Change careers entirely, at least once
69. Build a skill nobody at your job asked for
70. Fire a client or customer who deserved it
71. Automate something tedious you used to do by hand
72. Pay off a debt that felt permanent
73. Work fully remotely from somewhere unexpected
74. Ask for help instead of pretending you don’t need it
75. Retire, even briefly, into something that isn’t work

People & Relationships (76 to 100)

76. Tell someone exactly how much they mean to you, out loud
77. Reconnect with someone you lost touch with
78. Keep a friendship alive for over a decade
79. Attend a wedding that makes you cry
80. Write someone a real, physical letter
81. Meet an internet friend in person
82. Forgive someone, genuinely, not performatively
83. Host a dinner party that goes better than expected
84. Have a deep conversation with a total stranger
85. Say sorry first, even when you weren’t fully wrong
86. Ask a parent about their life before you existed
87. Introduce two friend groups that end up loving each other
88. Go to therapy at least once, judgment free
89. Meet someone who completely changes how you see something
90. Be someone’s emergency contact and actually mean it
91. Celebrate a stranger’s win like it’s your own
92. Have a friendship survive a genuinely hard year
93. Learn to actually listen instead of waiting to talk
94. Show up for someone at 3am, no questions asked
95. Say goodbye to someone properly instead of just drifting
96. Meet your favorite author, artist, or creator
97. Build a found family somewhere far from home
98. Take a big group trip that somehow doesn’t end friendships
99. Be vulnerable with someone before you feel ready to
100. Watch someone you love achieve something they worked hard for

Creative & Learn a Skill (101 to 125)

101. Learn an instrument well enough to actually enjoy playing it
102. Finish writing something, a story, a poem, anything
103. Paint or draw something you’d actually hang on a wall
104. Learn a second language to real conversational level
105. Perform on a stage, in any capacity
106. Learn to juggle, badly, then less badly
107. Take a pottery class and make something lopsided but yours
108. Learn basic carpentry and build something functional
109. Write and actually finish a short film script
110. Learn to code something small but genuinely useful
111. Get good enough at a card trick to fool an adult
112. Take a photo you’re genuinely proud of
113. Learn calligraphy or hand lettering
114. Choreograph or learn a full dance
115. Build a piece of furniture from scratch
116. Learn to sew well enough to fix your own clothes
117. Write a song, even a bad one
118. Learn basic public speaking so it stops terrifying you
119. Complete a genuinely large puzzle, 1000 pieces or more
120. Learn to sketch a face that looks like a face
121. Take an improv class and survive it
122. Learn to bake pastry that doesn’t collapse
123. Restore or fix up something old with your hands
124. Learn enough photography to shoot manual mode confidently
125. Start and actually finish a creative project you kept postponing

Body, Adrenaline & Health (126 to 150)

126. Run a race distance you never thought you could
127. Go skydiving, once, for the story alone
128. Learn to swim properly if you never fully did
129. Try scuba diving somewhere with real visibility
130. Do a multi day hike that actually challenges you
131. Try a sport you’ve never once attempted
132. Get a full night’s sleep for 30 days straight
133. Complete a genuine fitness goal you set for yourself
134. Try cold water swimming, briefly, on purpose
135. Learn basic self defense
136. Do a proper digital detox for at least a week
137. Try aerial silks, rock climbing, or something similarly terrifying
138. Learn CPR, hope you never need it
139. Go white water rafting
140. Recover fully from an injury and come back stronger
141. Try a sunrise workout that doesn’t make you miserable
142. Learn to properly breathe under stress, meditation, box breathing, whatever works
143. Do a triathlon, or a version of one that fits your life
144. Try a flotation tank
145. Go on a wellness retreat without rolling your eyes the whole time
146. Learn your own resting heart rate and what actually changes it
147. Get a full health checkup you’ve been avoiding
148. Try martial arts for at least a full course of classes
149. Hike to a genuinely difficult summit
150. Learn to listen to your body instead of overriding it constantly

Everyday Micro Adventures (151 to 175)

151. Take a day trip with zero plan whatsoever
152. Talk to a stranger in line and actually mean it
153. Watch an entire sunset without touching your phone
154. Get genuinely, safely, lost on purpose
155. Try a restaurant you’ve walked past for years and never entered
156. Take yourself out to dinner, alone, and enjoy it
157. Have a proper, planned pajama day
158. Build a blanket fort as an adult, unironically
159. Learn every shortcut in your own city
160. Watch a meteor shower away from city lights
161. Try a local festival you’ve always skipped
162. Take a class purely because it sounds fun, no goal attached
163. Spend an entire day being deliberately unproductive
164. Volunteer for something you actually care about
165. Donate blood
166. Visit a museum you’ve never once considered
167. Try a genuinely new commute route just to see something different
168. Have a spontaneous overnight trip with under 24 hours notice
169. Learn one card game well enough to always win it
170. Watch an entire classic movie you’ve always claimed to have seen
171. Try a hobby purely because a friend is obsessed with it
172. Spend a day completely off social media, then actually notice the difference
173. Learn to properly parallel park, for real this time
174. Rewatch your favorite childhood movie as an adult
175. Send a meme that lands absolutely perfectly

Legacy & Big Picture (176 to 200)

176. Write a letter to your future self
177. Figure out what you actually want, not what you think you should want
178. Teach someone a skill you’re genuinely good at
179. Leave a place better than you found it, literally or otherwise
180. Build something that outlasts you, a garden, a tradition, a piece of writing
181. Have a conversation about what actually matters with someone you love
182. Write your own eulogy, just for yourself, just once
183. Make peace with something you can’t change
184. Do one thing purely because it scares you
185. Build a tradition with the people you love
186. Say the things you’d regret leaving unsaid
187. Give something away that actually mattered to you
188. Spend a full day being genuinely present, no multitasking
189. Define what “enough” actually looks like for you
190. Make a decision based on what you want instead of what looks good
191. Let go of a grudge you’ve carried far too long
192. Take stock of your actual bucket list and cross something off, today
193. Tell the truth about something you’ve been avoiding
194. Build a life you don’t need a vacation from
195. Do something with zero audience and zero recognition
196. Say yes to something that scares you a little
197. Spend real time somewhere with no phone reception
198. Write down what you actually want your life to look like in ten years
199. Do something today instead of “eventually”
200. Cross an item off this exact list

If reading all 200 felt like a workout, the interactive checklist version does the counting for you. You just tap what you’ve done, and it tells you your percentage in real time, which is either extremely validating or a small personal crisis, depending on your twenties.

Turn Boredom Into the First Item You Cross Off

Half the fun of a bucket list is realizing how much of it is stuff you can actually start today, not someday. If you’re in exactly that “I have twenty minutes and no plan” mood right now, a few easy on ramps from our own collection: Never Have I Ever is basically a bucket list in confession form, with a thousand prompts to see how your life stacks up against everyone else’s. Discover a New Constellation is the closest you’ll get to stargazing tonight without leaving your desk chair, a nice warm up before item 160 on the list above. And if your bucket list has a “build a small fortune” line item that’s feeling distant right now, Spend Elon Musk’s Money at least lets you practice the spending part.

For more low stakes ways to fill a boring afternoon while you work on the bigger stuff, our things to do when bored at home guide has 25 more ideas that don’t require a passport or a therapist.