CNN News
Not booked your 2026 vacation yet? Get moving, as the must-visit destinations lists for next year are starting to drop.
The venerable travel guide Lonely Planet published its “Best in Travel 2026” book on October 21, featuring a list of 25 great places and 25 great experiences to try out in the year ahead. It’s accompanied by a set of unique itineraries curated on the new Lonely Planet Journeys travel-planning service.
CNN Travel caught up with Nitya Chambers, Lonely Planet’s executive editor and senior vice president of content, to find out what made the cut and why.
Best places
One of Chambers’ favorite picks on this year’s list? Brazil’s “Little Japan,” otherwise 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 urban pick 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 year.
The US selections on the destinations list are Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota – also 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.”
