Where to Travel in 2027: 10 Places Worth Planning a Trip Around
From an eclipse in Morocco to Baltic culture, Japanese hot springs and Tasmania’s coast, ten places with a compelling reason to make your 2027 travel list.
Key Notes
- Our worldwide selection combines confirmed 2027 events with destinations chosen for distinctive experiences.
- Évora and Liepāja celebrate cultural years, while northern Morocco sees an August 2 total eclipse.
- Choose dates around the experience you want, from seasonal icebergs to a specific performance.
A solar eclipse over northern Morocco, a year of art across Portugal’s Alentejo, or forest paths linking Armenian monasteries: there are some compelling reasons to start thinking about a 2027 trip. The harder part is choosing the kind of experience you want to bring home.
Our selection moves between coastlines, cultural celebrations, hot-spring towns and wildlife country. Some places have a specific date to put in the diary. Others earn their place through experiences that deserve more time than a quick stop on a bigger itinerary.
These ten places are our editorial picks, rather than a ranking or a forecast of visitor numbers. We have considered the major 2027 travel lists, checked the strongest ideas against destination and event sources, and chosen a mix that gives very different travellers something to get excited about.
1. Évora and the Alentejo, Portugal: A Year of Culture with Room to Wander
There is something appealing about a cultural trip that leaves room for the countryside. In the Alentejo, whitewashed towns, vineyards and cork-oak landscapes give you reasons to stay beyond a single exhibition or concert. Évora is a natural starting point, but the surrounding region is a large part of the attraction.
The timely reason to go is Évora 2027, the European Capital of Culture programme shared with the Alentejo. Its central idea, VAGAR, draws on the region’s relationship with time and place. That makes a longer, less hurried visit feel particularly appropriate to the year.
Build the trip around whichever performances or exhibitions interest you, then leave space for the region’s wine country and food. A few nights in a smaller town or rural property could be as memorable as the headline event. This is our choice for travellers who want culture to shape a holiday without occupying every hour of it.
2. Liepāja and Western Latvia: Baltic Beaches Meet a Big Cultural Year
A long Baltic beach and a serious appetite for music make an inviting combination. Liepāja has both, with the wider western Latvian region adding more reasons to turn a performance into a longer journey. The appeal is the meeting of seaside space and a cultural programme with real ambition.
Liepāja’s 2027 celebrations also involve Kuldīga and South Kurzeme. The official opening begins in those neighbouring areas on January 22, followed by Liepāja on January 23. The programme includes contemporary art, performances and music, with the Great Amber concert hall among its key settings.
The opening weekend and a summer visit will offer very different trips. Choose January if the launch itself is what excites you; choose a later performance if you want to combine culture with longer days beside the sea. We would start with the programme and let one event become the reason to discover the region, rather than expecting a beach holiday to explain everything it has to offer.
3. Northern Morocco: A Journey Built Around the 2027 Eclipse
Few travel dates carry quite the same promise as August 2, 2027. A total solar eclipse will cross northern Morocco, putting Tangier and the Tétouan area in an unusually compelling position for a trip that combines an extraordinary sky with time on the ground.
The National Solar Observatory’s eclipse map identifies Tangier within the path of totality. The exact viewing location matters, so arrange that part of the trip carefully and follow the observatory’s solar-viewing guidance. A hotel described simply as being in Morocco is not enough to establish that you will see a total eclipse.
Give the journey a life beyond the event itself: time for the region’s streets, food and coast will make it worthwhile whatever the weather brings on the day. This is the date-sensitive choice on our list, best suited to someone willing to plan ahead for a rare experience. We have already examined the eclipse’s influence on Malaga hotel prices across the Strait of Gibraltar, another reason to consider accommodation early.
4. Hyogo, Japan: Castles, Bathing Towns and a Change of Pace
Hyogo makes an attractive Japanese holiday out of several very different pleasures. There is the scale and elegance of Himeji Castle, the port-city character of Kobe, and the prospect of settling into a hot-spring town with dinner and a night in a ryokan still ahead.
It is also drawing fresh attention. Expedia reports a 95% year-over-year rise in search interest in Hyogo in its 2027 destinations selection. That measures searches, not a prediction of arrivals, but it is a useful sign that travellers are looking more closely at the prefecture.
The national tourism organisation’s Hyogo overview brings together Himeji, Kobe, Arima Onsen and Kinosaki Onsen, alongside the region’s pottery traditions. Choose the element that most appeals to you and give it enough time. A bathing-town stay, in particular, deserves to be a part of the holiday you look forward to, with room to enjoy the property and its setting.
5. Busan, South Korea: A Coastal City for Food and Sea Air
Busan is a strong choice when you want the energy of a city with the sea constantly part of the experience. Hillside neighbourhoods, beaches and fish markets create a different set of reasons to linger, particularly if eating well is one of the main pleasures of a trip.
Expedia’s 2027 research records a 50% rise in search interest in Busan. The appeal is easy to understand, but it should not become a race between photographed sights. A market meal, a coastal walk and time spent looking at the water can give the visit as much character as its best-known landmarks.
One of those landmarks is Haedong Yonggungsa, a temple on the northeastern coast. Its setting helps explain why Busan belongs on a list that is as much about experiences as destinations. We would choose it for a trip that puts food, city life and the coast on equal terms, with enough flexibility to spend longer wherever you find yourself enjoying the day.
6. Armenia’s Dilijan Region: Forest Trails with History Along the Way
The idea of walking between forests, mountains and old monasteries has a particular appeal when the journey itself matters as much as the arrival. Around Dilijan, that landscape gives an Armenian trip a clear focus, with places to pause and stories to discover along the trail.
Armenia appears in National Geographic’s 2027 selection, but the practical foundation for this choice is the Transcaucasian Trail. Its Dilijan National Park section has an established 80km route, with trail notes, maps and suggested overnight stops. Haghartsin and Goshavank are among the monasteries near the route.
You do not have to imagine the whole holiday as a long-distance challenge. Use the trail information to find a section that suits your experience, or arrange local guiding for a walking-focused stay. The attraction is having time to notice the landscape and connect it with the buildings and communities within it. Check current trail conditions and choose the season and level of support to match the walking you actually want to do.
7. Tsavo, Kenya: Give the Wildlife More of Your Time
Tsavo’s red earth and elephants offer a powerful starting image for a safari. The experience becomes richer when there is time to watch behaviour, return to a promising area and see how a landscape changes through the day. That is the kind of wildlife trip we would put on a 2027 wish list.
Tsavo East and West feature in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2027 selection. Kenya’s wildlife database identifies Tsavo East with its red-dusted elephants, Galana River and Lugard Falls. Those details suggest the variety within a place that can too easily become a single photograph in a travel brochure.
Choose an experienced operator whose approach to wildlife viewing you are comfortable with, and ask how much time the proposed trip spends driving between locations. Our reason for including Tsavo is the chance to commit properly to one wildlife region. A few well-chosen days with a thoughtful guide could be more satisfying than adding another park simply to make the itinerary look fuller.
8. Uruguay’s Atlantic Coast: Beach Days with a Food-and-Wine Detour
For a different kind of coastal holiday, look at Uruguay’s Maldonado region. Punta del Este brings the familiar resort energy, while José Ignacio and the countryside around Garzón suggest a trip shaped by beaches, food and a few deliberately long lunches.
Punta del Este is among Expedia’s destinations attracting increased search interest for 2027. Our interest extends eastwards, where the local authority describes José Ignacio and Garzón as a combination of Atlantic seaside life and rural country with wine and olive-growing businesses.
That mix makes the region a good choice for people who want a beach holiday with something else to explore when they leave the sand. Choose the rhythm that suits you: a livelier resort setting, a smaller coastal base or a stay closer to the countryside. For Northern Hemisphere travellers, remember that the seasons are reversed. If the warmth of a Southern Hemisphere summer is the attraction, plan the dates around that rather than treating the whole of 2027 as one beach season.
9. Newfoundland, Canada: A Coast That Rewards Curiosity
Colourful houses beside steep rock, harbour towns and the possibility of seeing icebergs make Newfoundland a compelling choice for a trip led by the coastline. This is one of our own additions to the year’s shortlist: the attraction is a strong sense of place and natural experiences that change with the season.
If icebergs are the reason you want to go, timing matters. The province’s official iceberg advice points to late May and early June as a useful period on Newfoundland’s coast, while stressing that conditions vary. Seeing icebergs, whales and seabirds together is possible in some years and places, but should not be treated as a guaranteed package.
Let that uncertainty be part of the appeal rather than the sole test of the holiday. Choose coastal communities you would enjoy spending time in, give a boat trip some flexibility for weather, and leave room for the view from shore. The best reason to pick Newfoundland for 2027 is the whole coastal experience, with any extraordinary wildlife or ice encounter adding to it.
10. Tasmania’s East Coast, Australia: Make Space for the Landscape
On Tasmania’s east coast, granite mountains, sheltered bays and white beaches give a holiday its shape. It is a place to choose a stretch of coast, stay long enough to get to know it and let walking, food and time beside the water fill the days.
Freycinet National Park is the anchor for this choice. Wineglass Bay is the famous view, but the park also offers rocky coves, beaches and walks of different lengths. The wider east coast adds food and wine to the landscape, making it possible to build a trip around more than one outdoor highlight.
Tasmania is our other independent addition, chosen for the kind of holiday it offers rather than a single 2027 opening or anniversary. It suits travellers who want to be outside without making every day a demanding trek. Pick walks that fit your ability, check park access and passes, and leave time to enjoy a beach or a meal without needing to drive on to the next stop.
Choose the Experience That Makes You Want to Go
If a fixed event excites you, Évora, Liepāja or northern Morocco offer a clear place to begin. For food and bathing culture, look more closely at Hyogo, Busan or Uruguay. For a trip led by the landscape, Armenia, Tsavo, Newfoundland and Tasmania give you very different possibilities.
Start with the part you would be disappointed to miss, then choose the season, length of stay and budget around it. That is often a more useful way to narrow a long list than asking which destination is simply the best.
How we chose: We reviewed Lonely Planet’s selection, National Geographic’s Best of the World and Expedia’s Unpack ’27 research, then checked destination details against official tourism, park, trail and event sources. You can also read our coverage of National Geographic’s list. This is TravelCapybara’s own selection, not a reproduction of those lists; the order does not indicate a ranking. Details were checked in November 2026, and announced programmes and travel conditions can change.
Disclaimer: TravelCapybara is an independent media brand owned and operated by NuvexMedia LLC, publishing travel news, destination guides, research, and insights. NuvexMedia LLC may invest in or collaborate with companies across the travel, hospitality, technology, and digital media sectors. These relationships do not influence TravelCapybara’s editorial coverage. While we strive for accuracy, travel requirements, prices, schedules, availability, and local conditions may change without notice. Readers should independently verify information before making travel or purchasing decisions. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. © 2026 NuvexMedia LLC. All rights reserved.
