Every fall, National Geographic rolls out its Best of the World list — 25 places its editors, photographers, and explorers say deserve a spot on your calendar in the year ahead. The 2027 list just landed, and I have thoughts. Some picks made me nod so hard I nearly spilled my coffee. A couple made me say "wait, where?" — which, honestly, is exactly what a good list should do. And my favorite part: a good handful of them are places I can actually help you get to.
The ones that made me nod
Puerto Rico and Grenada. If you've sailed the Caribbean with me, you know these two punch above their weight. Puerto Rico has Old San Juan's blue cobblestones, a rainforest you can hike in the morning and a beach by lunch, and food I would happily plan a whole trip around. Grenada is the Spice Island — you can smell the nutmeg — with some of the friendliest people and prettiest water in the Caribbean. Both turn up as ports on Southern Caribbean itineraries out of San Juan, and both deserve every bit of this attention.
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our Canada & New England cruisers already know: Halifax is the port people underestimate and then talk about all the way home. The waterfront boardwalk, the Maritime Museum, Peggy's Cove just down the coast. Delighted to see it get its flowers.
Vestland, Norway. This is fjords country — Bergen, the Hardangerfjord, waterfalls that make you feel pleasantly small. Norwegian fjords cruises sail right through the heart of it, and if "stand on deck with a coffee while a waterfall goes by" is your love language, this one is calling your name.
The ones that made me say "wait, where?"
Kuélap, Peru — a pre-Incan walled city in the clouds, built by the Chachapoya people, with cliffside sarcophagi and almost none of Machu Picchu's crowds. Madison, Wisconsin — yes, really, and you know what, good for Madison. The Southern Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas — proof that sometimes the best trip on the list is a road trip a few states away. And Santa Catalina Island, just off Los Angeles, which was the Readers' Choice winner — the people have spoken, and the people want to go to Catalina.
The one that made me sit up straight
Baltimore. Nat Geo picked it because the birthplace of American railroading celebrates its bicentennial in 2027. Now, full disclosure: my heart has a soft spot for a good train. Kathy and I are spending part of our own anniversary trip next summer riding the Alaska Railroad to Denali, so a great American railroad town getting its moment? I felt seen. I know, I know — my Cleveland friends are reading this through their fingers. Yes, I said something nice about Baltimore. No, I have not forgotten 1995, and neither have you, because nobody in Cleveland has forgotten 1995. But friends… it's been thirty years. Get over it already. (I say this with love, and from a safe distance — Vermilion is just far enough.)
And the showstopper: Luxor, Egypt. On August 2, 2027, a total solar eclipse passes over Egypt, and Luxor gets the longest totality of anywhere on Earth — over six minutes of daytime twilight over temples that were old when the Romans were young. The ancient Egyptians built their whole cosmology around the sun. Watching the sun disappear over Luxor, of all places, might be the single most goosebump-worthy travel moment of 2027. Pair it with a Nile cruise and that's a bucket-list trip — the kind people talk about for the rest of their lives.
Here's what I love most about this year's list: it's not 25 versions of the same vacation. It's fjords and spice islands, eclipses and railroad towns, one road trip away and one long-haul flight away. Somewhere on it is the trip you've been meaning to take.
So tell me — which one grabbed you? If any of them did what they did to me, message me anytime and we'll plan how to get you there. That's rather literally my favorite thing to do.
— Anne
Full list at NatGeo.com/BestOfTheWorld.
Photo credits
- Old San Juan, Puerto Rico — Anne Conrad, Captain's Log Travel (Anne's own photo)
- St. George's, Grenada — Hugh Whyte, Unsplash (Unsplash License) — unsplash.com photo D9TpiCPokao
- Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia — Anne Conrad, Captain's Log Travel (Anne's own photo)
- Bergen (Bryggen), Vestland, Norway — Lorenzo Castellino, Pexels (Pexels License) — pexels.com photo 19097432
- Madison, Wisconsin — Juan Mendez, Pexels (Pexels License) — pexels.com photo 15833563
- Santa Catalina Island, California — Soly Moses, Pexels (Pexels License) — pexels.com photo 11194916
- Vintage steam locomotive (Baltimore section) — David Brown, Pexels (Pexels License) — pexels.com photo 15063025
- Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt — Roberto Shumski, Pexels (Pexels License) — pexels.com photo 6102269
All stock photos are free-license (Pexels / Unsplash); no National Geographic photography is used in this post.