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Forget Europe: new report reveals where you’ll be travelling in 2026

Kassia Byrnes Kassia Byrnes
We’re 90 days from 2026, and this new report knows where you’ll be flying for your New Year adventures.

Buckle up, travellers, the trending destinations of 2026 have landed, according to the 2026 Virtuoso Luxe Report, and Asia is definitely on the bucket list. Each year, the leading Virtuoso (known for luxury and experiential travel) taps into the collective knowledge of its global travel agency network to determine what’s now and next for savvy travellers. And it showed that attitudes around travel are starting to bend.

Japan is the place to be

Beautiful sunset view of Kiyomizu dera temple and Kyoto city with red maple autumn leaf, Japan. The temple vibrant red and orange pagoda stands out against a clear sky with colorful fall foliage .
Tokyo and Kyoto came in as the top two cities in the world. (Image: Getty Images / blanscape)

Scusa, Italy, but Japan has knocked it off the top spot for Aussies and is the most popular destination for 2026. Similarly, Tokyo and Kyoto came in as the top two cities in the world, beating out Paris, which came in third.

Japan also ranks first for solo travel, places in the top three for family vacations and appears in the top ten for honeymoons and cruises. Suggesting Japan is the new Europe.

Looking beyond the classics in Europe

The Blue Lagoon - Beach with crystal clear water and rock formations on Comino island, Malta
Add Malta to your bucket list. (Image: Getty Images / Andrey Danilovich)

Ok, Europe is still very popular. Stylish (and more affordable) alternatives to the icons made their way into the spotlight. Like Riga, Latvia, with its striking Art Nouveau architecture, Albania’s sun-soaked Riviera, Montenegro’s intimate Adriatic resorts and Malta’s historic towns brimming with Mediterranean charm.

Destinations on the rise

Bhutan
Bhutan is a destination on the rise. (Image: Aaron Santelices)

Meanwhile, four countries burst into the top 10 list of destinations on the rise this year: India, Bhutan, the Arctic and Malta. Antarctica, Norway and Iceland also made the top 10, suggesting that staying cool will remain hot in 2026.

Sri Lanka has remained in second place for another year, enticing travellers with its unique blend of beaches, culture, cuisine, history and jungle adventures in one destination. Egypt climbed the ladder by three positions, with travellers keen to book private Nile cruises and gain early access to the Grand Egyptian Museum. While Vietnam ranked fourth for its excellent value, and as an alternative to Asia’s other booming hotspots.

The full list

Antarctica
Antarctica is a destination travellers are yearning to visit.

Top global destinations

  1. Japan
  2. Italy
  3. Greece
  4. Croatia
  5.  Fiji

Destinations on the rise

  1. Antarctica
  2. Sri Lanka
  3. Norway
  4. Vietnam
  5. Egypt

Top cities

  1. Tokyo
  2. Kyoto
  3. Paris
  4. Barcelona
  5. London

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Kassia Byrnes
Kassia Byrnes is the Native Content Editor for International Traveller. She's come a long way since writing in her diary about family trips to Grandma's. After graduating a BA of Communication from University of Technology Sydney, she has been writing about her travels (and more) professionally for over 10 years for titles like AWOL, News.com.au, Pedestrian.TV, Body + Soul and Punkee. She's addicted to travel but has a terrible sense of direction, so you can usually find her getting lost somewhere new around the world. Luckily, she loves to explore and have new adventures – whether that’s exploring the backstreets, bungee jumping off a bridge or hiking for days.
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These are officially the 5 best train journeys in the world right now

    Emily Murphy Emily Murphy
    Continue
    Travel + Leisure just crowned the world’s best trains for 2026, and the results might reroute your next holiday.

    Forget the airport security queue. Forget the middle seat. Forget the bloke in 14C who reclines the second the seatbelt sign turns off. Travel + Leisure just dropped its 2026 World’s Best Awards, and the train category is basically a love letter to slow, scenic, ridiculously plush travel – voted on by roughly 661,000 readers who have very strong opinions about onboard spas and pisco sours. Here’s who made the cut.

    1. Andean Explorer, a Belmond Train – 96.84

    Peru takes the crown, with the Andean Explorer, South America’s first luxury overnight train, running a three-day, two-night route between Arequipa and Cusco that has zero direct competition on the continent – which might explain why it’s clearing 96 points.

    Launched in 2017, the train threads through the Peruvian highlands with stops at Lake Titicaca, all while passengers tuck into signature Andean cuisine, get treatments in an onboard spa carriage, and take in scenery that will blow you away. This isn’t a quick transfer – it’s an immersive, multi-day journey for people who want the trip to be the destination.

    2. Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Train – 96.46

    Peru pulls off the rare feat of taking out the top two spots. Named after the American explorer credited with bringing Machu Picchu to international attention in 1911, the Hiram Bingham is the glossy, dark-wood, live-band, welcome-cocktail version of getting to Machu Picchu. Think traditional dancers on the platform, a five-course dinner on the way there, and a bar carriage full of live music and pisco sours on the way back. It’s shorter and livelier than the Andean Explorer, more group celebration than private hideaway – but it delivers one of the most theatrical arrivals in world travel.

    3. Royal Canadian Pacific – 90.93

    The Royal Canadian Pacific runs vintage rail carriages out of Calgary through the Canadian Rockies, and unlike everything else here, you can’t just book it off a website – it operates mostly through private charters and limited special departures, with no standing public timetable. That scarcity is basically the point: this is old-money rail travel, heavy on restored heritage carriages and light on crowds.

    4. Rocky Mountaineer – 90.80

    The people’s champion of luxury rail, the Rocky Mountaineer, runs daytime routes with glass-domed carriages through British Columbia, Alberta, and down into Colorado and Utah, turning the Canadian and American Rockies into a rolling widescreen movie. It’s more accessible than most trains on this list – no overnight cabins, no need for a private charter – which is probably exactly why so many readers have actually ridden it and voted accordingly.

    5. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, a Belmond Train – 90.78

    The name that started the whole luxury train fantasy. The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (VSOE)’s 1920s-vintage Art Deco carriages – navy-and-gold livery, polished wood, white roof – have been the definitive symbol of golden-age rail travel since 1883, running routes between Paris, Venice and other storied European cities. It might land at number five on points, but in terms of pure name recognition, it’s still the train every other train on this list is being measured against.