Five Top Destinations for 2023

Updated: Aug 23, 2022

You might be wondering why I'm looking at 2023 already. Well, it's a hazard of the job. As a planner it's what I do - my work is about what you will be doing in the future, and with the present explosion in travel, what I've noticed is that most people are opting for epic travel. Count in that bucket list, life list, experiential travel - the kind of travel that brought me to the industry in the first place. As I say on my website's 'About Me' page: "My clients want to be immersed in the fascination of their destinations, to cultivate a life of adventure, and to enjoy the world’s life-enriching experiences for themselves. Just reading about the world in books, seeing beautiful places on a screen, or hearing stories about their friends’ travel isn’t enough." Finally, it's time to see the things you've only seen in pictures. If not now, when?

Kick off 2023 right by making your list of destinations (even if it's just one), and consider these:

CROATIA. It's absolutely beautiful. The first itinerary I every curated was for a two-week driving tour through Croatia for a family of four adults. I advise for you a hired driver who is your dedicated tour guide, who will do all the work, tell the stories, and who knows the history, hidden gems, best restaurants and insider secrets of this lovely place.

COSTA RICA. The ultimate tropical reset button. The country’s pura vida spirit suffuses the area, from coffee plantations to riding trails to the astonishing biodiversity within reach. After waking to a dawn bird chorus in Arenal Volcano National Park, drive around Lake Arenal and to the south, for instance, hike upward into the Monteverde cloud forest, then head to the coast to settle in for a sunset or two on a Guanacaste surf beach.

TASMANIA. Isolated but accessible, Tasmania combines pristine wilderness with serious gourmet and cultural credentials. Sea cliffs, rugged coastline, and stunning beaches, the world’s tiniest “fairy” penguins, and elusive Tasmanian devils. The capital Hobart is the cultural heart, with art at the waterside bunker-museum Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and stylish bars for sampling the island’s celebrated sparkling wines and farm-to-table foods. Best of all, it’s just a one-hour hop by plane from Melbourne...and you were going there anyway, right?

RWANDA. Find endangered mountain gorillas in mist-shrouded tropical rain forest at the edge of the Congo Basin. Five rain-forest summits mark the spot at Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, where tracking gorillas brings visitors face-to-face with the slow-moving giants. They’re not the only primates adding wonder to Rwandan forests, and more travelers are now exploring beyond Volcanoes, checking off three Rwandan national parks – Akagera, Nyungwe, and Volcanoes.

A CARIBBEAN YACHT CHARTER. I bet you didn't expect this one. Well, step aboard your own vessel for the ultimate in personalization.

The Caribbean fills your daydreams with an island for every mood. Highball hedonism prevails from the shores of Saint-Martin to Anguilla, while sailors make landfall to take in laid-back, French-accented charm on Saint Bart’s and Martinique. Private charters usher travelers to regions where undeveloped archipelagoes still dot the map. Off the coast of Panama, for instance, the San Blas Islands offer castaway bliss where nature thrives – meet Indigenous Guna people on islands with just enough space for a thatched hut and a cool breeze.

The year 2023 will welcome to the joyful renaissance of epic journeys, the year of going far, and of celebrating our lifelong love for crossing borders. We all have a list of places that, when we first heard about them, we swore we would see them for ourselves someday. Spark that sense of long-awaited discovery with a sense of urgency...2023 isn't very far away.

'til next week.

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