For many years, one of my major "running" dreams have been to run the New York Marathon - the bridges, the people and the grand background. But I recently found out that the "qualifying time standards" for the run has been changed, so there are really no chance for me going there...

The question is then, which Marathons I should aim at if not New York? What are the great Marathons out there that one must do if possible? Like the almost impossible ones such as Marathon des Sables or the Antarctic Ice Marathon? Or the big city venues in London, Chicago, Berlin, or whereever? Or the beautiful ones like Jungfrau and The Great Wall?

I'm looking for recommendations for Marathons from people that have first hand experience with these.

I'm looking for scenery and routes that doesn't include too many hills (Being from Denmark - flat, flat, flat - I'm just very bad with hills :-)). I prefer the venues to be well-organized with a stable history... And nothing that requires qualifying times less than 3:30...

Until now I have just run many local runs - mainly half-Marathons - and there are many as this list shows - but now I would like to "try" something else.

I can find many lists with Marathons on the web... Too many really... It makes it so very difficult to choose.