The world’s best sculptures, installations and exhibits to book a holiday around.

When planning a holiday, what is the criteria that helps you decide on your desired location? Sun? Culture? Food? Or perhaps simply somewhere as far away from your office as possible. A new book, published by Phaidon, puts forward the case for art.

Destination Art is a beautifully designed guide that lists 500 different artworks across the globe that are worth jumping on a plane for. Aiming to encourage the reader to make a journey for art’s sake, the book presents “a diverse record of human creativity”. Ranging from islands in Japan to salt lakes in Western Australia, the pages have every landscape covered, with an incredible artwork to match. Below we highlight five of our favourite entries from around the world.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Sir Antony’s “Stay” is a poignant sculpture, created after Christchurch was struck by a devastating earthquake in 2011. It is an artwork of two halves: one stands mournfully in the River Avon, while the other is on display in the city’s Arts Centre. The two sculptures “share an air of inner reflection,” according to the book. Although the figure in the River Avon gazes downward and appears forlorn, the cast-iron structure speaks for the resilience of human nature, remembrance and the power of community.

Matsumoto, Japan

Remember the photos of yellow spotted pumpkins that populated Instagram feeds a couple of years ago? This was the work of the prolific Ms Yayoi Kusama, who is globally known for her monumental sculptural pieces. The work shown above is situated outside the Matsumoto City Museum of Art in Japan and is the result of a collaboration with the Coca-Cola Company. Part object, part artwork, “the piece invites interaction and fuses art and functionality,” explains the book. Londoners also have a chance to catch Ms Kusama’s new infinity room coming to the Victoria Miro this week.

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

This curious figure emerging from the floor of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam is the work of Mr Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist recognised for his surreal, absurd and humorous sculptures. Known for turning the head on social norms and hierarchies, Mr Cattelan’s self-portrait here decisively adverts the visitors gaze from the traditional paintings on the walls, to the unusual and unexpected – the museum floor, from which he is seen to emerge.

Provence, France

In case you needed another excuse to visit the south of France, do not miss the incredible Château La Coste: an estate that combines beautiful vineyards, a fine-dining restaurant and permanent art works. Ms Bourgeois’ “Crouching Spider” balances delicately above a reflective pool and is just one of more than 30 outdoor artworks spread across the estate. A French-American artist, Ms Bourgeois used sculpture to explore themes including family, sexuality and the unconscious. Describing her artwork as a therapeutic process, her maternal spider appears harmonious with the rippling water and the surrounding Provençal landscape.

Great Basin Desert, Utah, US

Situated between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, Ms Holt’s ambitious work “Sun Tunnels” can be found in the Great Basin Desert of Utah’s top corner. Incongruous with their immense and disorientating surroundings, the four concrete cylinders “offer a frame of reference” in an otherwise inhabited wasteland. Viewers who make the journey to the artwork (40 miles from the nearest town) on either a summer or winter solstice will be instantly rewarded. The tunnels purposefully align with both the sunrise and sunset, forming a flawless telescope towards the horizon.

Destination Art (Phaidon) is out 5 October