In any given year, the exercise of assembling a definitive list of the best places to travel is both exciting and daunting. After all, we’re never short on inspiring places and experiences we hope to cross off. And so, every fall, when we convene to start the process of creating this list, we do so with great care, enlisting our extensively travelled network of writers from around the world – and for the first time this year, editors from other Condé Nast Traveller markets – to pitch, endorse, defend, and eventually align on the places we believe that you, as our readers, will most want to go over the next 12 months.
Our 23 best places to travel in 2023 is a mix of old favourites worth visiting anew, and lesser-trammelled, even once-forbidden, regions ready to welcome travellers – yet they are all unified by highly anticipated new offerings and evolutions. There’s something here for every kind of traveller, whether you seek extraordinary excursions through ancient rainforests, a blossoming terroir-driven culinary scene, or dazzling cultural calendars packed with world-class music and rare art exhibits. We also believe that there’s more that binds than separates these places: an opportunity for richer engagement with local communities, slower travel, and more meaningful – and joyful – human connection. What could better speak to what we hope for in the year ahead?
Here, are the 23 destinations – vetted by Condé Nast Traveller editors from the US, UK, Spain, and India – to plan your 2023 travels around. Let them guide your next adventure. And don’t forget to visit lists from our teams across the globe for ideas for places to travel in the UK, places to go in the USA, top spots in Spain and destinations to book in India. Arati Menon and Megan Spurrell
All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you book something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The Best Places to Go in 2023
Auckland, New Zealand
Go for: Cultural and sporting events, new hotels, improved flight connectivity
Auckland will be one of nine cities to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.
Joe Thomas
In June 2023, Qantas will begin running non-stop flights from New York City to Auckland.
Joe Thomas
Widely praised for its containment of Covid-19, New Zealand held out until September of this year to finally eliminate travel restrictions introduced during the pandemic. Needless to say, the island nation is mightily gearing up for the throngs of foreign visitors anticipated in the coming year, especially in the city of Auckland.
For our friends across the pond, air connectivity with the US has never been stronger. The world’s fourth-longest leg, Air New Zealand’s nearly-17-hour flagship from New York City, debuted in September.
Meanwhile, Auckland’s jam-packed events calendar seems to be making up for lost time. After a three-year hiatus, the popular Lantern Festival will be held in February 2023 to celebrate Chinese New Year. Pasifika, the largest Pacific Island cultural festival in the world, is returning in March 2023 after a two-year pause. And, in July, the quadrennial FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will swing down under to nine host cities across New Zealand and Australia, with Auckland’s games held in Eden Park.
Aside from Auckland’s newest attractions that outsiders have yet to experience – like the $350M eco-sensitive Te Wānanga waterfront development on Quay Street – three years’ worth of flashy hotel openings also await. There’s the Park Hyatt, QT Auckland, the charming Hotel Fitzroy, and Hotel Britomart, New Zealand’s only 5-Green-Star certified hotel. Stays in the city pair perfectly with newcomers in Auckland’s rural periphery, like the Scandi-inspired Parohe Island Retreat and golf-centric Te Arai. Should you journey further into Aotearoa, new multi-day tours by luxury rail operator Great Journeys depart from Auckland Rail Station. From the looks of it, 2023 will – finally – give Auckland its time to shine. Paul Jebara
British Columbia, Canada
Go for: New Indigenous-led experiences and wilderness lodges
The newly opened Klahoose Wilderness Resort invites guests to learn about Klahoose First Nation Culture – and experience fantastic wildlife viewing – in British Columbia’s remote Desolation Sound.
Klahoose Wilderness Resort
The province of British Columbia is renowned for its pristine natural beauty, from the Rockies to the storm-battered islands of Haida Gwaii, and new Indigenous-led experiences are connecting travellers to the cultures most closely tied to the land. At Haida-owned and -operated Haida House – which launched its new longhouse-style oceanfront cabins in May 2022 – guests will explore Haida Gwaii while learning about the Haida worldview of Yah’guudang, meaning “respect for all living things and the interdependence that binds us.” Haida House guests will visit the islands’ ancestral village sites – including The Village of Queen Charlotte, which was recently restored to its Indigenous name of Daajing Giids in an unprecedented move.
