City slickers in particular tend to make a funny face when told about just how much fun star-gazing can be, mostly because they can’t quite fathom looking up at the stars making for some kind of an event. This is because all the pollution and competing ground-level lighting in the city tends to take the magic out of the flickering stars above. Of course they always experience that “aha” moment when they find themselves far away from the bright lights and heavy pollution of the city, and the true majesty and beauty of the stars reveals itself.

Reykjavik, Iceland

In truth there are quite a few other spots in the other Scandinavian countries where one can get a truly magical star-gazing experience, in addition to Iceland’s Reykjavik. So you can perhaps head on over to Norway or Denmark for pretty much the same experience, but this is perhaps the best star-gazing experience in the world.

It’s a magical experience because you get a lot more than just a chance to look at the stars shining beautifully up above. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the Northern Lights phenomenon, but this shouldn’t be the standard by which star-gazing experiences are measured. This is a unique experience which forms as a result of the geographic location of the spots where the Northern Lights are visible, which naturally has something to do with the close proximity to the North Pole.

The nations of Canada and Russia might have something to say about locations in their own countries from which the Northern Lights are also visible, but I would assume the Russian spot in particular is located in that inhospitable region they have over there.

Kalahari Desert, South Africa

The Northern Cape province of South Africa doesn’t ordinarily show up as a tourism hotspot, especially from the point of view of international tourists. This least populated and biggest province of the Republic houses the Kalahari Dessert and if you happen to be in that part of that world at night, you’ll be surprised at just how many stars are actually visible from planet earth.

Namib Desert, Nambia

Physically one would perhaps not be able to separate the desert land known as the Kalahari in South Africa and the Namib Desert in Namibia, but they are indeed two different deserts of the Southern African region. Just like the Kalahari though, the Namib Desert will make for a perfect spot to count the stars in the night if you have trouble sleeping and there’s even an outdoor camping ground where you can sleep suspended in an open-air bungalow.

Caribbean Sea

If you’re on a cruise and you happen to be cruising anywhere in the Caribbean Sea at night time, head outside to the deck and you’ll be in for some magical star-gazing. It’s always a sight to behold from Cayman Brac or even from Grand Cayman itself, so you can only imagine how much more magical it must be away from the somewhat bright lights of what is a very well developed island nation.