What’s the best destination on the planet for a fantastic foodie holiday or a life-changing wildlife encounter?

Where’s the number-one, knock-your-socks-off spot to appreciate fine art? Or beautiful gardens? Or ancient stones?

And what if you just want to be pampered rotten or shop till you drop? Enthusiasts could argue about that lot for decades, but we want the answer now.

So we went to the experts – real authorities in their chosen field, each qualified to give the definitive answer.

Fine dining up the Eiffel Tower

Paris has a new landmark - an Alain Ducasse restaurant 125 metres up the Eiffel Tower

BACKGROUND

• Rick Stein: my top Sydney eateries

• Raymond Blanc's favourite restaurants

• Rick Stein's tour of Sicily

• Meet the king of Spanish cuisine

• Where the top chefs eat abroad

Related Internet Links

• Read 280 articles in our Food and Travel section

Over the next three pages, they provide insider guides to the most exciting, colourful, thought-provoking, uplifting and downright tasty holidays on earth – and we supply all the details you need to make their dream trips come true for you.

CHRIS PACKHAM ON WILDLIFE

The Falkland Islands

The naturalist and wildlife photographer presented The X Creatures and The Really Wild Show for the BBC. His next series will be Nature’s Top 40, on BBC2 later this year

“I fell in love with the Falklands when I got sneezed on by a seal. A mug of snot all over me – and miles from the nearest bathroom. The point is, I’d got near enough to experience that. If you want genuinely close-up encounters with wildlife, the Falkland Islands knock the Galapagos into a cocked hat every time.

“In the Galapagos, with huge cruise ships disgorging 1,000 people at once, the wardens are strict – quite rightly. You’ve got to stick to the paths. The Falklands, though, are real wilderness: you won’t see other people, and the animals come to you. I’ve stood in a penguin rookery there and been surrounded within seconds. they’re curious about you.

“November to January is the time to go. The diversity of species is not enormous, but I’ve so many great memories: a peregrine falcon, the fastest-moving animal on earth, diving down and landing on a pole 6ft from my shoulder; albatrosses, the ultimate aeronauts, gawking at me from their nests; elephant seals doing battle on a beach, bludgeoning each other with blubber – the most brutal contest you can imagine.

“It’s a magic place, especially if you’re into photography: the closest thing to wildlife Disneyland I have seen.”

Explore Holiday Type

• Cruises

Times recommends

• New York hotels on sale in January
• Skomer Island, Wales: Britain's best job?
• Red Sea: the complete guide