The starting of a brand new yr is all the time an excellent time to ponder what you need to accomplish in the months forward, and that features contemplating the place you need to go to subsequent. We’ve turned to journey consultants from across the globe to enable you, asking them to share the locations on their radar for 2026. Covering complete nations in addition to areas, cities, and even particular person neighborhoods, Condé Nast Traveler’s Best Places to Go options locations in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and even extends all the way in which south to Oceania. For the primary time this yr, we’re highlighting locations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for this world bucket listing. Where are you able to get pleasure from wellness in this space lengthy recognized for its spas and baths? Where will you discover loads of festivals and new lodge openings which might be value a detour? And the place are you able to simply discover some peace and quiet? Here are six locations we enthusiastically suggest that you just uncover in the yr forward.
This is a part of our world information to the Best Places to Go in 2026—discover extra journey inspiration here.
The finest journey locations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2026
Amrum, Germany
Highlights: Miles of seashores promising peace, sea breezes, and wide-open areas
You hardly ever hear the Frisian dialect of Öömrang spoken anymore on Amrum, as Diane Kruger does in the movie she stars in that’s named for the North Sea island. And younger locals today would relatively pursue surf instructing than whaling. But some issues will all the time stay: If you’ve seen director Fatih Akin’s Amrum you’ll acknowledge the island’s beautiful seashore instantly—it alone is definitely worth the journey.
More than seven miles lengthy and up to half a mile huge, the Kniepsand sandbank that faces the open sea shifts barely yearly. That seemingly infinite expanse of sand that spreads out earlier than you after you’ve traversed the dune belt on wood boardwalks is likely one of the most breathtaking seashores in Europe. When you hire a standard wicker Strandkorb seashore chair, you’re free to determine your self simply the place to place it—maybe in the household space watched over by volunteer lifeguards or possibly you’ve discovered a splendid and extra remoted spot among the many shifting dunes. Amrum’s west coast can be ultimate for wind- and kitesurfing, or path working alongside a 16-mile route across the island.
Facing the mainland, Amrum’s east aspect is gentler and merges into the intertidal Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Tracing the shoreline by foot or on a rental bike, you see how actually assorted this panorama is. You can get a deeper sense of it on a guided Wattwanderung, a hike over the Wadden mudflats to the neighboring island of Föhr. A botanical tour of the salt marshes is a spotlight for a lot of cooks and gourmets.
You’ll need to make dinner reservations on the dependable Seekiste restaurant and additionally pop into the Seeblicker Esszimmer restaurant the place they experiment with regional merchandise and host summer season barbecues on the terrace. For conventional raisin and cream Frisian cake or contemporary crisp bread, head to Café Schult or the Claussen bakery. The iconic pub Blaue Maus is ideal for a nightcap.
All these institutions have been round for a very long time, and whereas appealingly fashionable new openings are uncommon, they do occur. Starting in early 2026, the staff on the Eldorado bike store will put their design abilities on show in three ethereal flats that might be accessible for hire. In any case, each residents and guests agree that the island’s pure magnificence will all the time be the primary draw. While the picture-perfect lighthouse and the transferring St. Clemens cemetery—whose “talking gravestones” have lengthy biographies carved on them—are undoubtedly must-sees on Amrum, finally it’s the peaceable ambiance, the rhythm of the tides, the wind, the large skies, and these magical shifting dunes that make this island a unprecedented vacation spot.