Not booked your 2026 trip but? Get transferring, because the must-visit locations lists for subsequent yr are beginning to drop.
The venerable journey information Lonely Planet printed its “Best in Travel 2026” ebook on October 21, that includes a listing of 25 nice places and 25 nice experiences to check out within the yr forward. It’s accompanied by a set of distinctive itineraries curated on the brand new Lonely Planet Journeys travel-planning service.
NCS Travel caught up with Nitya Chambers, Lonely Planet’s govt editor and senior vp of content material, to search out out what made the reduce and why.
One of Chambers’ favourite picks on this yr’s listing? Brazil’s “Little Japan,” in any other case generally known as the São Paolo neighborhood of Liberdade.
“Brazil has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan; 2 million claim connection to Japanese descent in Brazil,” she says. Liberdade was “really full of surprises. The anime-inspired street art, the oriental garden. It’s rumored to have the best ramen outside of Tokyo, although I’m sure that’s always a heated debate.”
Another city decide is Mexico City. Chambers “cannot say enough great things about it. History, food, culture, art! And it was walkable. It was incredible.” The bougainvillea-strewn
neighborhoods of Coyoacán, La Roma and La Condesa all get a shout-out from Lonely Planet this yr.
The US choices on the locations listing are Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota – additionally featured on National Geographic’s Best of the World list for 2026 – and Maine.
“Maine has such a unique culture in the United States,” says Chambers. “So coastal, so much hiking in nature. The beauty there is really distinctive and the (four) national parks there are amazing.”
A forest hike within the springtime is really helpful, and don’t miss the heron rookeries; the colonies can assist as much as 500 birds.
Over on the western edges of Europe, Tipperary is a “truly a hidden gem,” she says. It’s Ireland’s largest inland county and “a lot of folks just pass through on their way to the Wild Atlantic Way (coastal trail). But I think Tipperary really has one of the most beautiful and underrated driving routes.”
And in Asia, the island of Phuket is greatest recognized for its “tropical honeymoon, romantic vibe,” however extra folks are actually discovering it as a work-and-travel spot for digital nomads.
People are reimagining the best way their days and weeks and months look relative to what they do for a dwelling,” says Chambers, and this Thai vacation spot’s seashores, jungles and breezy coastal life-style are hitting the spot.
(*25*)
Also on Lonely Planet’s listing of places to go to in 2026: Botswana; Peru; Jeju-do, South Korea; Ikara-Flinders Ranges and Outback, South Australia; Cádiz, Spain; Sardinia, Italy; Tunisia; Barbados, Caribbean; Solomon Islands; Réunion; Quezteltenango (Xela), Guatemala; Jaffna, Sri Lanka; Utrecht, Netherlands; Cartagena, Colombia; Finland; Quy Nho’n, Vietnam; British Columbia, Canada; Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Fun instances and feasting
The Best in Travel lists 25 experiences to take pleasure in subsequent yr, together with meals excursions in Old Dubai and in Kerala, India.
Chambers’ grandparents hail from Kerala and she says “it’s a real spotlight on the regional food scene, which is rooted in fresh local ingredients. There’s a real history in the locally grown spices: pepper, cardamom, turmeric. Because it’s on the southwest coast, it’s been influenced by trade over centuries and centuries. It’s a really unique cuisine.”
The vibrant meals scene in Melbourne, Australia, is one other of this yr’s picks. With delicacies impressed by Asian, African and Mediterranean influences, it’s “eclectic, energetic and experimental,” says Lonely Planet.
Willamette Wine Country in Oregon is the advice for grape lovers in 2026. The “beautiful and accessible” vineyards are mentioned to come back with a shortage of tourists and an abundance of chill. We’ll say “cheers” to that.
Grenada is the place to get together within the Caribbean subsequent yr, says Lonely Planet, with Spicemas in August the largest celebration of all. More than 20,000 folks arrive on the island for the late-summer extravaganza, so plan forward.
The legendary nightlife scene in Belgrade, Serbia, is the advice for get together animals in Europe. It’s “raw, electric and unapologetically wild,” the writer says.
Spending the evening in a Japanese ryokan is considered one of Chambers’ “personal favorites on the experiences list.” The conventional journey inns supply “a glimpse of traditional Japanese interiors, gourmet cuisine and hot-spring culture. They are built for relaxation, harkening back to a slower, more analog time,” says Lonely Planet.
Staying in a practice carriage in South Africa’s Kruger National Park is the opposite distinctive fashion of lodging highlighted within the 2026 experiences listing. Kruger Shalati: The Train on the Bridge is a lodge on considered one of Africa’s largest recreation reserves, the place friends can mix luxurious dwelling with wildlife-spotting.
Also on the listing for 2026: Stay at Hawaii’s Volcano House in Volcanoes National Park.
Rapid-rafting the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon is a “bucket list, once in a lifetime” expertise, says Chambers. “A typical travel itinerary has no place here; you are adapting to the canyon. You wake up, you read the water, you work with the flow.” Free out of your on-line units, it’s an opportunity to actually be within the second.
Stargazing in Wairarapa, New Zealand/Aotearoa is one other really helpful option to join with the weather subsequent yr. “The sky has been there forever, but it is also having a moment!” says Chambers. “Dark Skies are gaining traction as more destinations and parks are earning recognition for ability to view the galaxy.”
Also on the listing for 2026: Hiking and wild tenting in Tajikistan; exploring the Bathing Trail in Victoria, Australia; cruising the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia; sightseeing by bike within the Philippines’ Batanes Islands.
Sightings of whales and dolphins are “almost guaranteed” within the North Atlantic waters of Azores, Portugal, says Lonely Planet, and it may be a surprisingly emotional expertise. April and early July are the most effective instances to go to.
Namibia is its really helpful place to monitor desert elephants. Make positive to deliver your lengthy digital camera lenses and your binoculars.
Equestrians, in the meantime, are invited to contemplate driving horses in Ecuador’s Andes Mountains or to take a Creole path trip by means of Louisiana.
Also on the listing for 2026: Look for jaguars within the wetlands of Iberá, Argentina; change into a citizen scientist within the Amazon, Peru.
Sport and tradition
Do you favor flying kicks or flying cholitas? Lonely Planet’s sporting experiences embody attending a Premier League soccer recreation in England. Says the writer, “Going to a match isn’t just visiting a stadium: it gives a singular window into the nation’s passions and
character that you simply’d wrestle to search out doing anything.”
Cholitas, indigenous girls in Bolivia, are the sporting stars of their nation’s wrestling rings. Wearing conventional lengthy skirts and bowler hats, the common matches are “part acrobatics, part theatrics,” says Lonely Planet.
Also on the listing for 2026: Visit Eileen Gray’s home in Southern France; Deep-dive into road artwork in Bristol, England.