The 53-year-old guidebook company launched the Lonely Planet app earlier this year, so explorers can for the first time adopt a triple-threat approach to their trip planning, using the app, the Lonely Planet booking platform Journeys, and the best-selling books.
“We are about to hit 100,000 downloads in five months,” says Nitya Chambers, Lonely Planet’s senior vice president of content and executive editor. “And we’ve created some app-exclusive destination content for Best in Travel.”
The Best in Travel 2027 list, available online and as a commemorative book, was selected by Lonely Planet’s global community of travel experts, and covers everything from longboat trips to orangutan territory in Malaysia to an early Christian pilgrimage route to Lindisfarne in northeast England.
“I think what’s exciting to us is that there’s not just one kind of trip we’re telling people to take. It’s really about finding the experience that speaks to what someone wants from travel right now,” says Chambers, “You know, diving in the Aegean Sea, eating your way through Taiwan” or “eating crabs in Maryland” and “kayaking through Okinawa.”
‘Awe-inspiring and otherworldly’
Hikers tackle the skybridge at the Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica.Stuart Westmorland/Corbis Documentary RF/Getty Images
California’s Coastal Redwoods are one of Chambers’ favorites on the 2027 list. They’re “the tallest trees on Earth. They’re centuries old,” she says. “I think there’s something about standing among them that makes you feel really small in the best possible way, and you’re just still inside of something so magnificent.”
A different kind of immersive experience is offered in Newport, Rhode Island, where visitors can volunteer as overnight or weekly guest lighthouse keepers, taking on chores and general maintenance.
European city picks include Dessau, Germany — home of the revolutionary Bauhaus architecture and design movement — and historic Verona and Padua in Italy’s underrated Veneto region.
“The list is really meant to be a range of experiences that feel really accessible and actionable, and you could fit into a weekend, and things that are awe-inspiring and otherworldly,” says Chambers.
A polar plunge in Antarctica is “a giant bucket list one,” she says. “I think anytime someone goes to Antarctica and comes back, they are like cloaked in awe. Like they have an awe filter on them, and that is how they are engaging with the world.”
Coolest spots: Global listing guide Time Out’s announced its annual round-up of the “world’s coolest” neighborhoods. At number one on the list is vibrant, foodie hub Jongno 3-ga in Seoul, South Korea.Max Corton/Time Out
‘World’s coolest’ neighborhood for 2026 named by Time Out
Push yourself to new challenges
The To Sua ocean trench swimming hole in Samoa.Meaghan Skinner/Moment RF/Getty Images
Monteverde’s cloud forest in Costa Rica is another perspective-changing experience. “You’re standing above the world in something that feels so ancient and so alive,” says Chambers, “and it’s such a different vantage from which to view” our planet.
Wildlife experiences include a safari trek in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, made famous by the late Jane Goodall, who began her pioneering work with chimpanzees here in 1960. Kenya’s Tsavo East and West National Parks are also among the 2027 picks.
Pacific island adventures await in New Caledonia, famous for its UNESCO-recognized lagoons, and Samoa, whose traditional culture known as Faʻa Sāmoa is one of the experiential recommendations for 2027.
The Chinese city of Chengdu is renowned for its Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, but is also a celebrated gastronomical center, and in Kazakhstan, the spectacular architecture of capital Astana gets a shout-out.
“You want to come home slightly changed,” says Chambers. “You want to push yourself to do something that you might not have considered doing, and then you come back a new person.”
The picturesque Bixby Bridge along Highway 1 in Big Sur, a rugged and scenic stretch of central California’s Pacific coast, Sept. 21, 2024.Drew Kelly/The New York Times/Redux
Exploring America’s most epic, beautiful (and some say cursed) road trip, along California’s coast
Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2027
North America
The Rose Island Lighthouse and Newport Bridge in Rhode Island.Beth Fitzpatrick/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Places
- Québec, Canada
- California’s Coastal Redwoods, USA
- Maryland, USA
- Prince Edward Island, Canada
- New Mexico, USA
Experiences
- Become a temporary keeper at Rose Island Lighthouse, Rhode Island, USA
- Flightsee in the “last frontier,” Alaska, USA
- Enjoy wine and fine-dining in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
- Hotel-hop South Beach, Miami, USA
- Savor the Slow Road, Minnesota, USA
Explore Alaska and its buried treasure
Europe
Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island in Northumberland, England.Brian A. Jackson/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Places
- Veneto, Italy
- Dessau, Germany
- Swedish Riviera (Skanör-Falsterbo), Sweden
- Šibenik, Croatia
- León, Spain
Experiences
- Road-trip through history on the Route Napoléon, France
- Sail the Aeolian Islands, Sicily
- Walk St Cuthbert’s Way to Lindisfarne, United Kingdom
- Dive into an unexpected underwater world, Greece
- Be wowed by wonderful Killary Fjord, Co Galway, Ireland
Caribbean, Central America, South America
Places
- Montserrat
- Bariloche and the lakes, Argentina
- Granada, Nicaragua
- Bocas del Toro, Panama
Experiences
- Go on a Galápagos expedition cruise, Ecuador
- Dance sultry tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Take a polar plunge, Antarctica
- Marvel at Monteverde’s cloud forest, Costa Rica
- Admire Astana’s architecture, Kazakhstan
