18 Best Places to Travel in 2018
GettyAntarctica
There’s no better place for a download on our warming planet—one that will inspire us to action—than Antarctica. Just ask the researchers behind the Antarctic Travel Experience Project, which tracks the lasting effects of a visit to the vast, ice-cloaked White Continent. Planes and boats are required to get there, and yes, the carbon footprint is substantial and real. But the benefits of seeing Antarctica with our own eyes outweigh the negatives, not just by revealing this remarkably fragile and rapidly changing ecosystem—ground zero for climate change—but by connecting us to it personally, as travel does, and sending us home inspired champions for change. Cruise there on a fuel-efficient, Cleanship-certified vessel like the Ponant ship Abercrombie & Kent charters for its climate change departure, which visits the scientists at Palmer Station to donate research equipment. What you’ll discover when you arrive: the world’s last wild frontier, spectacular glaciers that are increasingly retreating and breaking off into icebergs, penguins—like the Adélie—on the decline, and a first-hand look at a place so inspiring, it will be impossible to not do something to save it. —Nina K. Hahn
GettyThe Bahamas
It was an unforgiving hurricane season this fall, and much of the Caribbean is still in recovery. But we'll say it over and over again—one of the best ways to help is to visit. Start in the Bahamas: Just north of the hurricanes' wrath, the islands are courting visitors with a big 2018 planned. On Nassau, head to the recently opened SLS Baha Mar, a proper oceanside retreat with two pools, an ESPA spa, and restaurants by Katsuya Uechi and Michael Schwartz (the latter opening soon). Come April, it will have competition with the Rosewood Baha Mar, a long-awaited collection of sizeable villas, upscale dining, and exclusive beach access. Off the main island, a mix of chic boutique hotels and resorts are coming to Harbour Island, Eleuthera, and Exuma Cays. Considering a visit? Delta recently added direct service between Atlanta and The Exumas, Out Islands, The Abacos, and Eleuthera. Meanwhile, Bahamasair has added nonstop flights between Houston and Nassau, and will introduce direct service from Chicago next year. In Miami-Fort Lauderdale, a new ferry will shuttle you to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, in four hours. —Corina Quinn
GettyGuadalajara, Mexico
Often overshadowed by sprawling Mexico City, Guadalajara is well worth paying attention to—and not just because it’s the birthplace of tequila. The city has long been known for Mercado San Juan de Dios, the largest indoor market in Latin America, and the UNESCO-listed Hospicio Cabañas, where José Clemente Orozco murals line the walls, but the past few years have seen Mexico’s second largest metropolis emerge as an art and design destination, as well as a home to lively food, cocktail, and party scenes. A perfect knot of all those things can be found within the city’s artsy Colonia Lafayette district. Explore the neighborhood on foot: Colonial-era buildings and exemplary pieces of modernist architecture punctuate the boulevards, colorful bougainvillea droops lazily over walls, and bars brim with locals and expats. (Meat lovers shouldn't miss dinner at Hueso, with its melt-in-your-mouth short rib.) If you have time, tack on a day or two in Tequila to visit La Rojeña, the 200-year-old Jose Cuervo distillery, and the region’s dusty blue agave fields, which lie below the looming Volcán de Tequila. —Lale Arikoglu
Read more: Discovering the Art of Tequila in Jalisco
GettyMinneapolis, Minnesota
Ask anyone who lives in Minneapolis why they love it, and they'll quickly rattle off an impressive list of restaurants, theaters, and natural attributes—not to mention that whole "Minnesota nice" thing. (If you're braving -20 temps year after year, there's got to be a reason you're staying, right?) This winter, the open secret of a city gets put firmly under the spotlight with the arrival of Super Bowl LII, but there are a few reasons to visit long after football has come and gone. Count 'em: the best parks system in the whole country, as determined by the Trust for Public Land's 2017 ParkScore Index; an exciting food scene with 13 James Beard Award semifinalists; Prince's Paisley Park Museum, which opened in 2017 in nearby Chanhassen; and the quietest place on earth—literally. Even better news? It's easier than ever to get to the Midwest city, with 28 new nonstop routes added in the last two years. —Katherine LaGrave
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GettyNew Orleans
There are so many reasons to have New Orleans on your to-do list every year: Mardi Gras in February, Jazz Fest in April, and Tales of the Cocktail in July... . But in 2018, we’re heading south for the city's 300th anniversary and all its accompanying fun (Beignet Fest?!). We'll bounce between our favorite restaurants and bars—Herbsaint, Seaworthy, Bacchanal and classic Arnaud’s French 75—and then eat and drink some more, because if you’re not eating, you’re talking about where to eat next. Plus, the city’s sculpture gardens, galleries, and activist Brandan Odums' 35,000-square-foot portrait gallery warehouse Studio Be will give you more than enough to do in a weekend. Just means you’ll have to plan two trips to NOLA this year. —Meredith Carey
GettyMalta
The island country of Malta, a mashup of Sicily, North Africa, and colonial England, was all over our Instagram feeds this year, as our most globetrotting friends sought out its superlative scuba diving sites and ornate baroque architecture (seriously, St. John’s Co-Cathedral, in the capital of Valletta, is as gilded as it gets). Expect the world to double down on Malta coverage next year when the cobbled streets of the more than 450-year-old capital city, designated a European Capital of Culture in 2018, erupt in celebration. We’d plan around Valletta’s International Baroque Festival, held every January since 2013, with classical performances staged in—what else?—some of Valletta’s best baroque venues. (Think: Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” at the Teatru Manoel.) You can also plot your own course to get the most of Malta’s diverse heritage and food: Take the ferry to the Maltese island of Gozo for a swim and grilled seafood lunch; back on the mainland, visit the prehistoric ruins of the Hagar Qim Temples (circa 3,600 B.C.), and don’t leave without trying the national dish of stuffat tal-fenek, a rabbit stew, or pastizzi, a fluffy pastry stuffed with ricotta cheese or a paste of peas—a legacy of the Brits’ love of anything in a pie. —Betsy Blumenthal
Read more: How to Spend 3 Days in Malta
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GettyThe Azores, Portugal
Don’t be surprised by the blank stare followed by a hesitant “Where?” when you tell your friends you're heading to the Azores. It's the best-kept secret since Iceland: a volcanic Eden in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that's still unseen by most travelers. But we’d wager that kind of blissful isolation isn’t going to last. The Portuguese archipelago of nine volcanic islands is home to rolling hills so green they're practically luminescent, jagged cliffs, black-sand beaches, and waterfalls running into other waterfalls: It’s basically an outdoor playground. Rappel down rock faces, hike through dense forest, mountain bike around the crater of a volcano, or get up close and personal with the islands’ 27 species of resident whales and dolphins. Until now, Azores Airlines has been the only carrier offering direct flights from the island, but that’s all going to change at the start of 2018’s high season: Starting in May, Delta will fly direct to Ponta Delgada, the region’s capital on the largest island São Miguel, from New York-JFK. This is the year to get there before everyone else does. —Sebastian Modak
GettyGeorgia
Not long ago, if you mentioned you were headed to Georgia, everyone just assumed you were talking about the Peach State. No longer. Today, there’s reason to believe you would be buzzing about the country at the foot of the Caucasus, thanks to its unspoiled landscapes, designer hotels, and palate-bending East-meets-West cuisine. Last month, archaeologists there unearthed the world’s earliest-known evidence of winemaking, adding to the international hype surrounding Georgia’s UNESCO-protected “amber” wines, which grace trendy wine lists from Brooklyn to Barcelona. But enotourism is far from Georgia’s only draw: There are Instagrammable cheese-filled breads to gobble, ancient cave cities to explore, and newly marked trails to hike across some of the highest mountains in Europe. The best part: You don’t have to rough it anymore to enjoy the best of what Georgia has to offer. With the imminent ribbon-cutting of Stamba Hotel (the $15 million sister property to Rooms, a Design Hotels member), Tbilisi will earn another notch in its belt as a luxury destination, while—you heard it here first—the long-awaited opening of Kokhta-Mitarbi (early 2018), a five-star chalet tucked between the peaks of the Caucasus, is poised to catapult Georgia onto the international skiing scene. —Benjamin Kemper
Read more: Why You Should Go Hiking in Georgia's Caucasus Mountains This Year
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GettyBratislava, Slovakia
In December 1992, the one country of Czechoslovakia dissolved into two—the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The former is undoubtedly more famous. Yet what the Czech Republic has in cool cities, picturesque small towns, and stately fortresses, Slovakia has, too—only without the crowds. Bratislava, Slovakia's capital and largest city, is so beautiful you'll wonder why you haven't heard of it before: Bordering both Austria and Hungary, it sits surrounded by vineyards and the lush Little Carpathian mountains and has a pastel, pedestrian-only, 18th-century Old Town. (It's also only an hour's drive from Vienna.) Don't miss the big ones on the "to do" list—that aforementioned Old Town, the reconstructed Bratislava Castle, the 50-blue-hued Blue Church—but make time for the modern Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum and a cruise down the River Danube. When you've had your fill of the capital, hike up to waterfalls in Slovak Paradise National Park, or take a traditional wooden boat down the Dunajec Rive. After a glass or two of Tokaj wine and a few bowls of bryndzové halušky (dumplings with sheep's cheese), you'll wonder why you didn't visit sooner. —K.L.
GettySouth Korea
With Seoul’s food and beauty mecca status firmly established and PyeongChang hosting the Winter Olympics—and in spite of the aggression of its neighbor to the north—South Korea is ready for visitors. Start in Seoul, making your way through the trendy Hannam neighborhood. Contemporary art fans will love the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, and the Wolhyang bar’s freshly made makgeolli (traditional rice liquor) is a must-try. If you were lucky enough to snag tickets to the games, traveling to PyeongChang from Seoul is easier than ever: A new high-speed train will cut travel time in half between the two cities. You can spend your days checking out the Olympic village, or venture offshore to one of South Korea’s 3,000-plus islands. Explore fields of flowers and exquisite tea plants on Jeju, see the world’s tallest gold-clad building on Yeouido, or visit Oedo to see Oedo-Botania, a marine botanical garden home to more than 3,000 kinds of plants. —Bridget Hallinan
Read more: Why Seoul Is the World's Beauty Capital
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GettyChengdu, China
It’s easier than ever to reach Chengdu, the city that anchors Sichuan province in China’s far west. Sichuan Airlines already operates a direct flight from Los Angeles, while rival Hainan just added a nonstop flight from JFK; Sichuan will join it by serving the same route later this year. Of course, Chengdu has always appealed to tourists: As the home of hotpot, the cuisine here is widely acknowledged as the tastiest in the country, plus the majority of the world’s giant pandas living wild are here. But right now, Chengdu is emerging as the Middle Kingdom’s hippest city, a luxe answer to Berlin or Cape Town: Book a room at the Temple House, and wander its backstreets for a glimpse of what China considers cool right now. —Mark Ellwood
GettyEastern India: Calcutta and the Andaman Islands
You cover so much ground to get to India, you have to tick a lot of boxes while there. New openings in the past few months have us excited for the country's east, away from the heavily trafficked Rajasthan, Goa, and Mumbai out west. Kick things off in the former capital, Calcutta, an unexpected foodie city where you'll taste the city's signature mughlai paratha (fried bread stuffed with mince meat) after checking into the year-old, utterly charming Penthouse with nine boutique rooms near the Victoria Memorial. (Don't miss the city's magical flower market every morning.) From there, it's an hour's flight north to Shakhti Laddakh, the glamorous traveling camp in the Himalayas that brought designer bedding and good coffee to 14,000 feet. It's the opposite of roughing it. Still, we can't see any reason not to round out the trip at the soon-to-open Taj in the Andaman Islands, off India's east coast; direct flights go from Calcutta every week. It's said to have some of the top diving on the planet. Though we are sure the poolside lounging is pretty ace, too. —Erin Florio
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GettyPetra, Jordan
With ongoing turbulence across the Middle East, Jordan has seen its visitor numbers plummet in recent years; and while the U.S. State Department has placed a travel warning on Jordan, citing a high terror risk, similar warnings have also been issued for far more visited countries like Germany. It remains a safe and stable enclave within the region, rich with ancient monuments that date as far back as the 4th century B.C. To really experience the country’s history, head to Petra: The UNESCO World Heritage site is a three-hour drive through the desert from Amman, and even on a busy day, you’ll witness the architectural feats of the Nabataean in virtual solace. Not a selfie stick to be found. Petra is home to dramatic, dusty-rose natural gorges; temples and tombs carved into the rocks; and winding trails that lead to mountain summits. If you’re feeling adventurous, sign up for the Jordan Trail, a 400-mile hiking route that takes you from north to south, through the wadis and cliffs of the Jordan Rift Valley and the looming mountains of Wadi Rum—founded earlier this year, the trip hopes to bring Jordan the much-needed boost to its tourism industry. —L.A.
GettyQuito, Ecuador
Cloud-high in the Andes and hemmed in by the snow-capped peaks of two active volcanoes, few cities have as dramatic a setting as Quito. The Ecuadorian capital’s 16th-century Centro Histórico (Old Town) is not only the largest and best-preserved colonial center in Latin America, it's also the world's very first UNESCO World Heritage city. Next year marks the 40th anniversary of Quito's UNESCO inscription. With recently spotted round-trip flights from the U.S. as low as $340, exploring the city’s maze of candlelit monasteries, shamanic healers, and pastel-colored palaces should be on your 2018 list. Better still: Starting in January, you can follow a friar through the striking Catedral Metropolitana de Quito, navigating a secret, needle-tight passage leading up to the roof for one of the best views of the city. —Eliot Stein
Read more: Why You Should Visit Quito in 2018
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GettyNorthern Peru
Exploring the jungle-lined trails of Northern Peru, along the Pacific coast, gives you 2018's most valuable travel takeaway: ultimate bragging rights. That's because while the hordes have been ogling Machu Picchu for decades, to such degree that travel in is now restricted, the pre-Incan villages and Spanish colonial towns of the country's north have been left widely off the radar. Get there first this year with Red Savannah, which is launching tours that will take you first to colorful, 1,500-year-old friezes inside the Temple of the Moon near Trujillo, a fortified Colonial Spanish city. From there you'll explore Chan Chan, South America's largest city from the pre-Columbian era, made entirely of adobe, before touring the impressive 200-strong collection of 15th-century Incan mummies in Leymebamba. Full disclosure: The roads can be bumpy and unpaved at times. But the newly opened Lodge in Gocta, surrounded by the Andes with views of the area's waterfalls, has four-poster beds and an excellent on-site restaurant to help restore you for the hike through the cloud forest the next day. —E.F.
GettyGreat Barrier Reef, Australia
The 1,300-mile-long Great Barrier Reef has long attracted scuba divers and snorkelers from around the world. But back-to-back coral bleaching events—when higher than normal sea temperatures cause the life-giving algae inside corals to be expelled—have left vast swaths of the Great Barrier Reef bone-white. Rather than mourn what’s lost though, we should treasure what’s left: There are still sections of this giant ecosystem that are healthy and, whether you make your base of the luxury resort islands in the Coral Sea or the coastal city of Cairns, you should ask your licensed boat tour company to show you both the tragic reality of coral bleaching, but also the resilience of other parts of the reef. Plus, conservation efforts, increasingly linked to tourism operators, need your dollars. You can even be directly involved by sharing your photos, videos, and observations not just on social media, but also with researchers tracking the reef’s health. —S.M.
Read more: 'Seeing Is Believing': Why the Great Barrier Reef Needs Us More Than Ever
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GettyAccra, Ghana
The Ghanaian capital of Accra might seem an unlikely hedonistic hideaway, but it’s staking claim to be Africa’s answer to St. Tropez or Ibiza. British nightclub entrepreneur Nick House, who owns Mahiki beloved by Princes William and Harry, is behind the new ultra-luxe lounge Carbon. It joins a raft of scene-driven new restaurants, including Santoku, a Japanese spot overseen by a Nobu alum, and Coco Lounge from New York chef Andrew di Cataldo.You can hunker down after a late night or two in a suite at the five-star Kempinski then spend the day browsing at one of the outposts of La Maison, Lebanese entrepreneur Nada Moukarzel’s sumptuous, high-end homewares empire. —M.E.
GettyAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia—home to a 1,700-year-old Christian civilization, the birthplace of modern humans, and the coffee bean—is climbing back onto the international stage with an assist from China, which has gotten busy building new highways across the country and finishing a new airline terminal in the capital of Addis Ababa, seat of the African Union. It's more feasible than ever to use Addis as a base to explore what the rest of the country has to offer. To the north, the “historical route” connects Aksum, the fourth-century home of the Ark of the Covenant, to the medieval castles of Gondar, as well as the 12th-century rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and the grass-roofed monasteries of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile. In the south, the Omo Valley is home to a diverse and vanishing number of tribes in a landscape that’s lush and raw and the Danikil Depression, reachable by helicopter, the hottest and one of the deepest places on earth. With so much to see, make sure to take some time in Addis, too: to view the famous skeleton of Lucy at the National Museum, drink a macchiato at Tomoca Coffee, share a plate of injera, the teff flatbread used to eat stewed meat and veggies, and sample the hopping Ethio-jazz scene in one of the city’s historic night clubs. —Alex Postman
Read more: Go to Ethiopia for Ancient History, Jazz, and a Capital City on the Rise