I love reading the annual travel lists compiled by various travel websites and newspapers on top travel destinations for the year. While I don’t particularly care if a destination I travel to is considered a must see, I love reading these lists for inspiration on where to travel to and discovering places I might not have considered.
UPDATE: Here is the newest list for 2024.
The New York Times list is one of my favorites. Here are their picks for places to go in 2023:
New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2023
1. London
2. Morioka, Japan
3. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
4. Kilmartin Glen, Scotland
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Palm Springs, California
7. Kangaroo Island, Australia
8. Vjosa River, Albania
9. Accra, Ghana
10. Tromso, Norway
11. Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
12. Bhutan
13. Kerala, India
14. Greenville, South Carolina
15. Tucson, Arizona
16. Martinique
17. The Namib Desert, Southern Africa
18. The Alaska Railroad
19. Fukuoka, Japan
20. Flores, Indonesia
21. Guadalajara, Mexico
22. Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria
23. Kakheti, Georgia
24. Nîmes, France
25. Ha Giang, Vietnam
26. Salalah, Oman
27. Cuba
28. Odense, Denmark
29. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia
30. Boquete, Panama
31. Tarragona, Spain
32. Charleston, South Carolina
33. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
34. Burgundy Beer Trail, France
35. Istanbul
36. Taipei, Taiwan
37. El Poblado, Medellín, Colombia
38. Lausanne, Switzerland
39. Methana, Greece
40. Louisville, Kentucky
41. Manaus, Brazil
42. Vilnius, Lithuania
43. Macon, Georgia
44. Madrid
45. Grand Junction, Colorado
46. La Guajira, Colombia
47. Bergamo and Brescia, Italy
48. American Prairie, Montana
49. Eastern Townships, Quebec
50. New Haven, Connecticut
51. The Black Hills, South Dakota
52. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Some of these are already on our travel wish list especially Tromso, Norway to see the Northern Lights and Bhutan.
Some of our favorite past travel destinations have made the cut including The Namib Desert, Cuba and Taipei. I recently visited Tucson with my kids and we loved it.
Click here for the complete New York Times list.
To see the past lists from recent years here are the New York Times 52 Places to Go lists from 2018, 2019 2020, 2021 and 2022.
