If you’re brainstorming the best places to visit in 2026, I wrote this for you!
I’m Jasmine, a professional travel blogger and photographer which means I’ve gotten to visit many incredible places all over the globe.
Here are 16 of my favorite travel destinations in the world, the places I’d recommend to a friend without hesitation, plus why each one earned its spot and where to start planning!
1. Alaska
If Alaska has been on your list for years, now is the moment, because this fall is shaping up to be one of the strongest aurora seasons in more than a decade, with Fairbanks named among the best viewing spots anywhere. The 2026 cruise season was the biggest yet, with Princess sailing its largest Alaska season ever on eight ships and Holland America running more than 100 voyages plus 25 brand-new shore excursions. And in Juneau, the Sealaska Heritage biennial Celebration (June 3-6) brought Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian dancers and artists together in one of the largest Indigenous gatherings in Southeast Alaska, all regalia and movement and color. Harrison and I still talk about our road trip up here and the cruise through the Inside Passage, and if you time it right, you can pair glacier days with a night under the lights. That is the kind of trip that stays with you.
2. The Bahamas
After our yacht press trip sailing around the islands, I thought the Bahamas could not get more tempting, but the end of this year is proving me wrong. Carnival’s Celebration Key on Grand Bahama just marked its first anniversary after welcoming 2.4 million guests in its opening year, and Atlantis is debuting a brand-new holiday Cirque theatre production, Pomp, Snow & CIRQUEumstance, running November 29 through January 8, which gives you a genuinely new reason to visit this winter. Even New Year’s Eve is stacked: Andrea Bocelli plays an open-air concert on Atlantis’s Royal Deck on December 31, ending in midnight fireworks. And if you love a spectacle like I do, the Junkanoo parades on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day in Nassau are pure photo gold, costumes and drums and movement everywhere, inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2023. Swim with the pigs, sail the Exumas, end the year under fireworks. It never disappoints.
3. Banff
Banff was already my favorite mountain escape, and 2026 gave it excuses beyond the turquoise lakes. Rocky Mountaineer’s brand-new Passage to the Peaks route ran for one season only this year, linking Banff and Jasper National Parks by rail on select dates in June and July, timed to the World Cup energy around Vancouver, and there is now a fresh place to stay: Rimrock Banff reopened this summer as North America’s first Emblems Collection hotel, all quiet mountain luxury above the Bow Valley. Runners just ran the Banff Half Marathon and 10K on June 14. But honestly, the best Banff trip might be the one you take now: fall brings the larches turning gold, and winter brings the skiing, the ice walks, and those empty, glassy lakes with nobody in the frame. Of course Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are as surreal as ever, and my beloved Tamarind Indian restaurant in Calgary is still worth the detour on your way in or out. If you have been waiting for a reason to finally go, this is it.
4. California
California is my second home, and 2026 keeps giving it new reasons to visit. Yosemite dropped its vehicle reservation system for 2026, so you can plan a spontaneous trip to the Valley without fighting for a Recreation.gov slot (arrive early, weekday mornings are golden). Universal Studios Hollywood just debuted its first high-speed outdoor coaster, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, which opened September 16 and hits 72 mph with a 360-degree spin, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened to the public on September 22 in LA’s Exposition Park, with George Lucas himself greeting the first visitors on opening day. Over at Disney California Adventure, Soarin’ Across America launched July 2 in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, and Disneyland’s 70th Celebration wrapped in August after a full summer of limited-time entertainment. From Joshua Tree to Big Sur, my old USC stomping grounds keep getting better, and Harrison and I still have our Bao Dim Sum dates to prove it.
5. Charleston
Charleston was already one of my favorite weekend escapes, but 2026 has been the city’s biggest year in a while. Spoleto Festival USA celebrated its 50th anniversary (May 22 through June 7), Charleston Wine + Food marked its 20th (March 4 through 8), and the Historic Charleston Foundation’s Charleston Festival returned for its 79th year with private home and garden tours March 18 through April 11. Spring also brought The Cooper, the first luxury waterfront hotel on the Charleston peninsula, and the city logged a record 7.9 million visitors in 2025. And the fall cultural season is happening right now: the MOJA Arts Festival runs September 24 through October 1, celebrating Black arts and Gullah Geechee heritage with parades and performances that are made for the camera. Whether you are wandering Rainbow Row, watching sunset from The Battery, or hunting shrimp and grits, the city rewards repeat visits. My hidden-gems post is still a great starting point.
6. Chicago
Chicago is having a milestone year, and honestly I cannot think of a better time to go. The Obama Presidential Center finally opened this June in Jackson Park, and we are already dreaming of a return trip built around it, timed museum entry, the free grounds and public library branch, the Sky Room views across the South Side. It pairs perfectly with a fall lakefront stroll, a deep-dish lunch, and Millennium Park at golden hour. October 17 and 18 bring Open House Chicago, the free architecture festival that opens more than 200 sites across 30 neighborhoods to the public, and the whole year has carried extra energy from the Route 66 centennial, whose national kickoff was April 30 in Springfield, Missouri, the birthplace of the Mother Road that begins right downtown at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street. No wonder Frommer’s named Chicago one of its Best Places to Go in 2026. Chicago in the fall is my happy place, and this year it feels extra special.
7. Costa Rica
I have been to Costa Rica twice and I would go back tomorrow, and this fall the country gets a genuinely new reason to say yes. The JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort opens September 30 in Guanacaste, one of the brand’s first all-inclusive resorts anywhere, with 415 rooms, 17 pools, a 16,000-square-foot spa, and 11 restaurants and bars set in the master-planned Costa Elena eco-resort community on the northern coast near Nicaragua. If you have been waiting for a luxury base for your rainforest mornings, Arenal hot spring soaks, and zip-line-through-the-canopy days, this is it, and Costa Rica’s dry season (December through April) is right around the corner. Pura vida still hits exactly the way it did on my first trip, the monkeys, the toucans, the slow mornings with coffee on the porch. But now there is a shiny new beachfront option for the part of the trip where you just want to float in a pool and call it a day.
8. Florida
Florida and I have a whole love story, from our Rosemary Beach family tradition to the theme parks and the beaches I never get tired of photographing. This year the state got its biggest spotlight in decades when Miami hosted seven World Cup matches from mid-June through mid-July, including a quarter-final and the bronze final at Hard Rock Stadium. With the tournament now in the history books, Orlando’s wave of new reasons to visit carries on: Universal’s Epic Universe, the first major theme park to open in Orlando in 25 years, plus this year’s openings like the Muppets takeover of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which debuted May 26, and the reopened Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Fall is my favorite season for the parks anyway, thinner crowds, cooler days, golden light. Between the Everglades airboat mornings, the quiet Gulf Coast beaches, and a theme park day done right, Florida remains the trip I recommend when someone wants sunshine with zero compromises.
9. Hawaii
Six visits in and Hawaii still resets me like nowhere else, and this year the islands gave us a storybook moment. Kilauea has been erupting episodically inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park since December 2024, more than 50 lava-fountaining episodes so far, with fountains topping 1,100 feet inside Halemaʻumaʻu crater, and watching that glow from a safe distance is the kind of memory you tell your grandchildren about. This month also marked Aloha Festivals’ 80th anniversary, with the 72nd Annual Waikīkī Hoʻolauleʻa block party on September 19 and the 78th Annual Floral Parade on September 26, eight decades of Hawaiian culture, music, and dance lighting up the streets. Add in my two favorite things that never change, humpback whale season in winter and the world’s most beautiful beaches in every direction, and there is no wrong island or wrong month. Hawaii rewards the two-island trip, and it rewards it even more this year.
10. Iceland
Harrison’s favorite place on earth, and mine might be tied for first, especially now. The Golden Circle gained a brand-new reason to linger: Laugarás Lagoon, a geothermal sanctuary that opened last December in Laugarás village, with two levels of warm therapeutic waters connected by a waterfall, perfect for floating under the northern lights. Speaking of the lights, last winter’s aurora season was one of the best in roughly a decade thanks to the solar maximum, and here is the best part: experts say auroral activity stays elevated for a few years after the maximum, so the season that is now beginning should be one of the decade’s best windows, still strong through 2027. Blue Lagoon soaks, glacier lagoons, black sand beaches, waterfalls around every bend, Iceland is the place where I take the most photos per hour of any trip we do, and this is a genuinely special year to finally go.
11. Paris
Paris is always a good idea, and 2026 is as good a year as any to finally go.
There’s a reason it’s one of the most visited cities in the world: the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night, the masterpieces inside the Louvre, strolling along the Seine with a warm crepe in hand. Then there’s the food — flaky croissants, cozy bistros, and patisseries on what feels like every corner.
It’s also one of the most photogenic cities I’ve ever visited, which this photographer very much appreciates. Every street feels like it was designed to be photographed.
Regardless, here is my recommended itinerary if you plan to visit this year!
12. Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is always high on my list, and if you are a US citizen you don’t even need a passport, which makes it one of the easiest island getaways you can plan. The second annual Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival took over La Concha Resort in San Juan from April 23 to 26, 2026, four days of local and national chefs celebrating Puerto Rican coffee, rum, and locally sourced ingredients, and the fall calendar keeps the flavor coming with the Festival Nacional del Plátano returning to Corozal each October. I always tell people to start in Old San Juan, all that color against the blue of the sea, then get out to El Yunque or the south coast. Winter is right around the corner too, which is when the island is at its best, warm water, long days, and honestly the food alone is worth the trip.
13. Saint Lucia
We have been to Saint Lucia twice now and I would go back in a heartbeat, especially for a honeymoon or milestone trip. Fresh reasons to return keep arriving: Sapphire Sands Villas opened in July right on Reduit Beach, nine beachfront villas with ocean-view balconies, private plunge pools in the ground-floor villas, and around-the-clock butler service, and the new HQ Cas En Bas Resort is set to open this November up on Cap Estate. The island was just named the World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination for the eighth year running at the World Travel Awards, and honestly, it tracks. The Pitons at sunrise, the sulphur springs, those winding drives past the chocolate-scented cocoa plantations, Harrison and I still talk about ours. If you can swing a Piton-facing room, do it.
14. Savannah
Savannah is one of my favorite southern cities, and this fall gives you new excuses to visit beyond the cobblestones and Spanish moss. Hamptons Whodunit, a mystery and true crime festival, makes its Savannah debut November 6 to 8, 2026, a full weekend of bestselling authors, panels, and crime-solving puzzles headquartered at The Alida, which feels perfect for a city this atmospheric. The hotel scene keeps growing too: the Tempo by Hilton Savannah Historic District opened in April, Georgia’s first Tempo by Hilton, and Recess Hotel & Club opened this month in the 114-year-old Manger Building with a rooftop pool. Of course I will still send you to Bonaventure Cemetery at golden hour, Forsyth Park for photos, and the Plant Riverside District for dinner. It manages to feel unhurried even when it is buzzing.
15. Singapore
Singapore is personal for me, my mom is from there and I still have family in the city, so every visit mixes sightseeing with auntie-approved meals. The museum is genuinely worth working into your itinerary right now: the National Museum’s two SG60 anniversary experiences opened last year and are still on, Singapore Odyssea, an immersive multimedia journey through 700 years of history that ends in a digital waterfall, which is a permanent gallery, and Once Upon a Tide, an exhibition of more than 350 artifacts that runs through October 9, so go soon. And the fly-and-cruise play is very real: Disney’s newest ship, Disney Adventure, has been homeporting in Singapore since March, and from December 31 it adds Langkawi as a port of call on select four-night sailings. We will always do Gardens by the Bay, a hawker center crawl, and the ethnic quarters, but the museum and the ship make this a lovely time to go.
16. Texas
Texas is home, so I am biased, but 2026 has been a banner year here. SXSW celebrated its 40th anniversary in Austin this March with a brand-new condensed format, music, film, and innovation all running at once over seven days downtown, and it felt like the whole city was the venue. Spring also delivered rodeo season in full: the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo ran February 12 to March 1, its 77th annual edition, drawing well over a million visitors for rodeo action, concerts, and carnival eats, and Rodeo Austin followed March 13 to 28. Even outside festival season the classics hold up: the Alamo, Austin’s live music scene, and a Big Bend road trip under some of the darkest skies in the country. If you have only done Dallas, come back for the rest.
Conclusion: Best Places to Visit in 2026
I hope this post has helped you find a wonderful place to visit in 2026.
If you have any questions, concerns, or just want to say hi, please do so in the comments below!
