Another day, another nice list of great places to explore next year. National Geographic this week came out with its list of top places to go in 2027. There are tons of interesting, and both well and lesser-known places, on their list. Nat Geo is one of the top publications in the world, so it’s no surprise they pulled a few surprises, and a couple places even veteran travellers probably don’t know about. Here’s their list, along with small snippets about each place, and where I can add something, a thought or two of my own. Salvador, Brazil: Read more
Melbourne
Oxford Economics comes out with a yearly, scientific study of the world’s best cities. The group analyzes a city’s economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance and combines them into an overall score. It’s probably no surprise that Western democracies score well, but you might be surprised (a bit) by the number four entry on the list. Note, also, that Canadian cities did quite well, as did the major cities in Europe, the U.S.A. (especially California), and Australia. New Zealand also has a couple entries. Here’s the top 25 for this year. New York City London Paris Seattle Read more
The folks at Time Out have a nice, new list of the world’s top food cities. I’m quite shocked that Japan didn’t place any city in the top 10, and that only one Japanese city (Osaka) made the top 20. I’m also surprised that only two cities in North America (only one in the U.S.) cracked the top 20. Still, it’s an interesting, tasty list that includes a few cities you might not expect to see. Here’s their full top 20. Lima, Perun (I’ve never been to Peru, but Peruvian cuisine is excellent) Bangkok, Thailand (fabulous street food and very Read more
It’s been a rough go for Hawaii of late. Visits from Canada are down, and they’ve struggled to regain their once super-strong Japanese market. There’s also, of course, the devastating fire that destroyed most of the lovely, funky town of Lahaina. Maui in 2023. On top of all that, the state suffered a series of devastating rainstorms over the past couple weeks when a Kona low, an unusual low-pressure weather system, parked itself over the island for days on end. There was some damage to roads and infrastructure, but I’m happy to report that the skies are sunny again and Read more
The people who run the Global Liveability Index have come out with an exhaustive ranking of world cities. The top ten list is dominated by Europe and Australia, but Canada placed four cities in the top 20, which is nothing to sneeze at. According to Time Out, The Global Liveability Index rated more than 170 world cities based on five major factors. They are stability (such as the threat of conflict or prevalence of petty crime); healthcare (availability of over-the-counter drugs, quality of public healthcare); culture and environment (temperatures, levels of censorship); education (availability and quality of private education) and Read more
