It’s always an exciting time when we put together our list of destinations for the new year. We start our list of the best places to go in 2020 by surveying our well-traveled staff, and then our hyper-connected network of writers based all over the world. We look for the big reasons to visit destinations: The Olympics in Japan and the World Expo in Dubai are two major ones in 2020, but there are also smaller, surprising ones, such as the 800th birthday of a stunning Gothic cathedral or a new museum dedicated to African American music.
We aim to compile a list that is geographically diverse but also has points of interest for every traveler, whether you’ll fly for unparalleled stargazing, gorilla spotting in the wild, or shopping in Tangier. We know that you’re using this list throughout the year to plan your trips (frankly, we are too), so we vary the types of destinations on here, from summer escapes like western Michigan to far-flung locales like southeastern Australia. If your 2020 goal is to only travel to sunny islands, we’ve got you covered with this list.
Need more inspiration on a month-by-month basis? Check out our recommendations for where to go in January. After all, the best part of starting a new year might just be the endless possibilities for travel—where you’ll go, whom you’ll go with, and how those trips will change the way you see the world.