Lonely Planet selects the best destinations for 2020

Looking for travel inspiration for 2020? With “Best in Travel”, Lonely Planet has again published its annual Top 10 destinations to visit over the next twelve months – cities, regions, and countries. Among the cities, Salzburg surprisingly ranks No. 1. Nobody expected Bonn to be ranked 5th either.

Lonely Planet’s top position for the city of Salzburg is based primarily on the 100th anniversary of the famous Salzburg Festival, which is celebrated throughout the city with exhibitions, concerts, theatres, readings, and Mozart matinees. Washington owes its second place to the many museums, the revitalized Waterfront, and the booming food scene.

Cairo makes it into the Top 10 with the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza planned for 2020, the Irish Galway as European Capital of Culture 2020, Bonn thanks to the celebrations for the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven and Dubai with the “World Expo 2020”, which begins in October.

Lonely Planet: “Best in Travel 2020” / Cities

01 / Salzburg (Austria)
02 / Washington, DC (USA)
03 / Cairo (Egypt)
04 / Galway (Ireland)
05 / Bonn (Germany)
06 / La Paz (Bolivia)
07 / Kochi (India)
08 / Vancouver (Canada)
09 / Dubai (UAE)
10 / Denver (USA)

The list of the best travel destinations in 2020 is headed by Bhutan, which is not surprising given the current discussions about sustainability and mass tourism: the small kingdom in the Himalayas is the only CO2-negative country in the world and has retained its exclusivity to this day thanks to high entry fees.

England makes it to 2nd place, because next year the “England Coast Past” starts: At around 4,800 kilometers, it will be the longest continuous route of its kind in the world and will for the first time allow access to the entire coast of the country. According to Lonely Planet, the newly named kingdom of eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) in southern Africa is worth a visit above all for its wildlife – and this also applies to Liberia in West Africa.

Lonely Planet: “Best in Travel 2020” / Countries

01 / Bhutan
02 / England
03 / North Macedonia
04 / Aruba
05 / Swaziland
06 / Costa Rica
07 / Netherlands
08 / Liberia
09 / Morocco
10 / Uruguay

The Central Asian Silk Road ranks first among the best regions for 2020 – not least because entry into Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan has become much easier thanks to electronic visas. The still little-visited Italian region of Marken, which ranks second, is an exciting alternative to neighboring Tuscany.

Lord Howe Island is also less visited, with lush forests, many endemic species and the southernmost coral reef in the world. Because on the breathtakingly beautiful volcanic island, which lies about 600 kilometers off the east coast of Australia and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, only 400 guests are allowed at any one time. Even in the huge forests and on the dramatic coast of the US state of Maine, it is easy to escape the crowds.

Lonely Planet: “Best in Travel 2020” / Regions

01 / Silk Road (Central Asia)
02 / Marche (Italy)
03 / Tōhoku (Japan)
04 / Maine (USA)
05 / Lord Howe Island (Australia)
06 / Guizhou (China)
07 / Province of Cádiz (Spain)
08 / Northeast Argentina
09 / Kvarner Bay (Croatia)
10 / Amazon (Brazil)

Click here for the Lonely Planet website with all details about “Best in Travel 2020”