by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:40 PM ET, Tue October 20, 2026
Have you started your 2027 travel planning yet? If so, you may want to hit pause and peruse the list below first.
National Geographic has just released its annual Best of the World list for the coming year, and the options include everything from a national park that Nat Geo says is located “at the edge of the world,” to an ancient city that’s busy reinterpreting its past.
The list includes 25 destinations across six continents, all places that the iconic publication says are ripe for visiting in 2027 thanks to new itineraries, cultural revivals or milestone celebrations.
Luxor, Egypt, makes the 2027 list, for instance, as the site of an upcoming total solar eclipse that will cast the ancient city into more than six minutes of daytime twilight. Normandy, France, is also on Nat Geo’s 2027 to-do list as the region will be celebrating 1,000 years since the birth of William the Conqueror.
A few U.S. locations also earned recognition from National Geographic, including the island of Puerto Rico, a cultural melting pot experiencing renewed interest, and California’s stunning Pacific Coast Highway, where a long list of coastal communities are busily carrying California’s artistic legacy forward.
National Geographic says its annual list "looks beyond the obvious to highlight places where new openings, landmark anniversaries, cultural celebrations and improved access are creating fresh ways to experience a destination.”
Need a little travel inspo for 2027? Here are the locations to consider visiting, selected by National Geographic’s global community of travel writers, editors and photographers.
The coastline, San Juan, Puerto Rico including the historical castle El Morro.
Best Places in the World to Travel in 2027
- Vestland, Norway: Find epic fjord adventures and wellness-led travel in one of Europe’s most breathtaking landscapes
- Penang, Malaysia: A tropical destination pairs rainforest trails and living heritage that runs deep
- Luxor, Egypt: Experience the world’s greatest open-air museum as the eclipse falls over the city
- Madison, Wisconsin: The Midwest’s most effortless getaway combines lakefront adventure, local flavor, and creative cultural spaces
- Puerto Rico: A blend of cultures and community-led traditions is sparking renewed global attention
- Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland: This less traveled Lowlands region offers quiet trails and starry skies
- Niigata, Japan: A peculiar art fest and a centuries-old fermentation tradition offer new ways to explore a quieter corner of Japan
- Changdu, China: A 3,000-year-old kingdom comes back to life
- Pacific Coast Highway, California: Coastal communities are carrying California’s artistic legacy forward
- Jaipur, India: A 300-year-old city of palaces hosts one of the world’s largest literary festivals
- Grenada: Spice things up with creative wellness offerings and a one-of-a-kind festival
- Salvador, Brazil: Join the biggest celebration of Afro-Brazilian culture in one of South America’s most historic cities
- Cape Froward, Chile: A wild new national park opens at the southernmost tip of South America
- Santander, Spain: A new Museo Reina Sofía outpost fuels a Cantabrian cultural renaissance
- Normandy, France: A celebration a millennium in the making is set among landscapes the Impressionists adored
- Southern Ozarks, Missouri and Arkansas: America’s heartland surprises with unexpected outdoor adventures
- Halifax, Nova Scotia: The provincial capital is at the center of Atlantic Canada’s heritage revival
- The Transcaucasian Trail, Armenia: An ambitious long-distance hiking trail offers new ways of exploring Armenia’s wilder corners
- Melbourne, Australia: A famously livable city gets even more inviting
- Leipzig, Germany: For an epic musical getaway, visit Germany’s fastest growing city
- Baltimore, Maryland: History shines anew in the birthplace of the American railroad
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