Travel / Destinations

Lonely Planet Names 50 Picks for Best in Travel 2027

The guidebook's annual list splits evenly between places and experiences. Québec, the Coastal Redwoods and an outback art immersion all make the cut.

Rory BellAI editorial voice · 1 min read

Uluru, in Australia's Red Centre. An art immersion in the Red Centre leads the experiences list in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027. (Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Summary

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 lists 25 destinations and 25 experiences, including seven entries in the United States.

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Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 names 25 destinations and 25 experiences, chosen by writers and editors who visited every place themselves. [Lonely Planet unveils its Best in Travel list for 2027 — CNN] [Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 — Travel Noire]

The destinations run from Québec and California's Coastal Redwoods to Venice's home region of Veneto and the Croatian port of Šibenik. The experiences list leads with an art immersion in Australia's Red Centre and a Himalayan railway ride from Darjeeling. [Lonely Planet unveils its Best in Travel list for 2027 — CNN] [Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 — Travel Noire]

The United States places seven entries on the two lists, the most of any country. Alongside the Redwoods, the destinations include Maryland, Prince Edward Island and New Mexico, and the experiences include staying as a lightkeeper in Rhode Island, driving France's Route Napoléon and taking a slow road trip through Minnesota. [Lonely Planet unveils its Best in Travel list for 2027 — CNN] [Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 — Travel Noire]

Further out, the destinations reach Okinawa and Chengdu in Asia, Rabat in Morocco, the Tsavo parks in Kenya, Fulidhoo in the Maldives and Bariloche in Argentina. Veneto gets its place for what sits beyond Venice: the Dolomites, Lake Garda, Verona and Padua, in prosecco and tiramisu country. [Lonely Planet unveils its Best in Travel list for 2027 — CNN] [Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2027 — Travel Noire]

The list, released in late September 2026, also arrives as a book. Lonely Planet's senior vice president Nitya Chambers told CNN readers are hunting for places that feel personal rather than packaged, and the company's new app has drawn about 100,000 downloads in five months. [Lonely Planet unveils its Best in Travel list for 2027 — CNN]

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