🌏 10 of the Best Places to Visit in the World
We’ll declare our bias up front: Australia is home, and it earns its place. It’s the only country that is also a continent, so a single trip can take in the Great Barrier Reef, the red-desert monolith of Uluru, ancient rainforest, and cosmopolitan harbour cities. Add the oldest continuous living culture on Earth — 60,000-plus years — unique wildlife found nowhere else, world-class food and wine, and a genuinely warm, unhurried welcome. Best for: first-timers who want enormous variety in one English-speaking, easy-to-navigate country.
Few places reward curiosity like Japan. Bullet-train between neon Tokyo and the temple-laden calm of Kyoto; eat some of the best food on the planet at every price point; soak in a mountain onsen as snow falls. It is safe, spotless, and astonishingly efficient, yet steeped in ritual and craft. Best for: food lovers, culture seekers, and anyone who likes travel that feels like gentle time-travel. Go for cherry blossom (late March–April) or autumn colour (November).
Italy is almost unfairly rich: Rome’s layered ruins, Florence’s Renaissance masterpieces, Venice’s improbable canals, the Amalfi Coast’s cliffside villages, and food and wine that define how much of the world eats. Distances are short and the trains are good, so you can mix cities, coast, and countryside in one trip. Best for: history, art, and food in equal measure. Spring and early autumn dodge the worst heat and crowds.
Two small islands pack in fjords, glaciers, volcanoes, rainforest, and turquoise lakes — the kind of scenery that made it the backdrop for Middle-earth. It’s a paradise for hikers, with the world-class “Great Walks,” plus Māori culture, excellent wine, and adventure sports in Queenstown for the brave. Best for: road-trippers, hikers, and adrenaline travellers. Summer (December–February) for the trails; shoulder seasons for fewer crowds.
Paris alone would justify the trip — the art, the cafés, the light — but France keeps going: the châteaux of the Loire, the lavender and villages of Provence, the Riviera, the Alps, and wine regions that are pilgrimage sites in their own right. It is the most visited country on Earth for good reason. Best for: culture, food and wine, and travellers who like a city base with easy escapes by fast train.
Machu Picchu deserves its fame, but Peru is far more than one ruin: the Inca heartland around Cusco and the Sacred Valley, the surreal Rainbow Mountain, the Amazon basin, and a food scene that has become one of the world’s most celebrated. The classic Inca Trail trek is bucket-list stuff — book months ahead. Best for: adventurous travellers drawn to history, mountains, and remarkable food. The dry season (May–September) is ideal.
Few road trips beat the parks of the American West: the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and the cinematic red rock of Utah and Arizona, strung together by open highway. The scale is genuinely hard to believe until you stand at the rim. Best for: road-trippers, photographers, and families who want big nature with easy logistics. Late spring and early autumn balance weather and crowds.
Iceland feels like another planet: volcanoes, glaciers, geothermal lagoons, black-sand beaches, and waterfalls around every bend, with the northern lights in winter and the midnight sun in summer. Pair it with Norway’s fjords or the design-led cities of Copenhagen and Stockholm. Best for: nature lovers and photographers. Visit in winter (Sept–March) for auroras, or summer for endless daylight and the Ring Road.
Seeing elephants, lions, and great herds in the wild is one of travel’s most moving experiences. Kenya and Tanzania deliver the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, and the extraordinary Great Migration; South Africa adds Kruger, the Cape, and the winelands; Botswana offers the water-world of the Okavango Delta. Best for: wildlife and once-in-a-lifetime bucket-list trips. The dry season (roughly June–October) concentrates wildlife around water.
For a first big trip on a smaller budget, little beats Southeast Asia: Thailand’s beaches and street food, Vietnam’s coast and cuisine, Cambodia’s temples of Angkor, and Bali’s blend of culture and surf. Warm, welcoming, and remarkably affordable, with short hops between very different countries. Best for: first-time long-haul travellers, backpackers, and beach-and-culture lovers. The dry season varies by country — check before you book.
✨ A Few Reasons 2026 is a Great Year to Travel
Beyond the timeless picks above, a handful of one-off events and milestones make specific destinations especially rewarding in 2026 — worth planning a trip around if the timing suits.
Winter Olympics — Italy
Milan–Cortina hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics in February, putting the Italian Alps and Milan in the global spotlight.
FIFA World Cup — North America
The expanded World Cup comes to the USA, Canada, and Mexico in June–July 2026 — a once-in-a-generation reason to visit those countries.
Total Solar Eclipse
On 12 August 2026 a total eclipse crosses Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain — a rare spectacle to build a northern-summer trip around.
Cherry Blossom — Japan
Japan's sakura season (late March–April) remains one of travel's great seasonal events. Book accommodation early; it sells out far ahead.
Uluru Milestone — Australia
October 2026 marks 40 years since Uluru's handback to the Anangu, with new cultural programming in Australia's Red Centre.
The Great Migration — Africa
The Serengeti–Mara river crossings peak around July–September — among the most dramatic wildlife events on Earth.
The most common travel regret is trying to see too much, too fast. As a rule, give a single far-flung country at least 10–14 days, and resist the urge to cram in three when one or two would be richer. Long-haul flights are tiring, but almost everyone says the same thing afterward: "I wish I'd stayed longer." Plan fewer places, more deeply — and build in rest days.
Planning to Visit Australia's East Coast?
If Australia is on your list, Cooee Tours runs day tours, wine tours, and wildlife experiences from Brisbane and the Gold Coast — all the highlights, none of the logistics stress.
Browse All Cooee Tours →