Wondering where to go next? You are not the only one. After a frenzied return to travel, many are wondering how to enjoy the rush of discovery without the crush of crowds. Our annual list of 25 inspiring and less visited destinations for the coming year includes places full of wonder, rewarding for travelers of all ages and supportive of local communities and ecosystems. Reported by our global editors and organized into five categories (Family, Adventure, Culture, Nature and Community), these destinations are under the radar, ahead of the curve and ready to start exploring.
Below are the top five destinations in 2023 for family travel that educates and enlightens. (Find the full world’s best list here.)
Switzerland
Access a rail network ideal for families
On any given day, Switzerland’s transit network carries 6.6 million riders in a country with only 8.7 million inhabitants. Holidaying families are tempted with unique rides on its famously meticulous trains featuring spectacular mountains, classic cookies and even a Wonka-style chocolate tour.
The Gotthard Panorama Express route begins with a steamboat that passes through the famous lake town of Lucerne before boarding a train in Flüelen for a journey through the Italian-influenced south of Switzerland. Multilingual guides point out landmarks like the 18th-century church of Wassen, which can be seen from three angles along the road’s ascending spiral loops. A special train car with open windows allows photographers to capture wide-angle views of landscapes such as the Reuss Valley.
or The cookie train from Bern to Lucerne stops to eat at Kambly’s bakery, where kids can bake their own treats and design a cookie tray to take home. or The chocolate train departing from Montreux starts with chocolate croissants and hot cocoa served on board, stops in Gruyères for its medieval old town and world-famous cheese, and ends in Broc for a tour of the Maison Cailler chocolate factory.
(Here are the best North American rail trips for families.)
Making it all sweeter is the Swiss Family Card, a rail pass that allows anyone under the age of 16 to travel for free or at a 50 percent discount. “The permit is convenient and allows for exploration at will,” says National Geographic family travel expert Heather Greenwood Davis. “Long-haul trains often offer a family car – essentially a full playground on board – and family areas where tables have built-in games to keep the fun going.”
Come winter, the Swiss transit network whisks visitors to sustainability-minded ski resorts like Laax, where families can take snowboarding lessons together.
Colombia
Be enchanted by this bird paradise in South America
The noisy bird life of Colombia is as lively and melodious as Beauty, the Disney animated film set in this biodiverse South American country. More than 1,900 different birds (almost 20 percent of the world’s bird species) live here, making Colombia the richest haven for bird life on the planet.
(Use these tips to help your family start exploring the world of birds.)
“Bird watching, wildlife viewing and nature tourism in general can play a big role in preserving Colombia’s biodiversity and also in supporting the communities that live nearby,” says National Geographic biologist and explorer Federico Pardo . “Wildlife tourism not only brings dollars into the economy, but also increases appreciation for our plants, animals and ecosystems.”
Go with Nat Geo: Discover the coastal treasures, vibrant villages and wildlife-rich jungles of Colombia.
San Francisco, California
Explore a cross-town trail and a new playground-with-a-view
In San Francisco, city kids can learn that becoming a hiker doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to nature. The recently completed Crosstown Trail winds through the city diagonally, from its southeast corner at Candlestick Point to its northwest tip at Lands End, winding through gardens, hills and through urban streets for nearly 17 miles.
The trail is “the fruit of the labor of volunteers—ordinary San Franciscans coming together to chart its course and, in some places, physically clearing trails to connect segments of existing trails,” writes Chaney Kwak, who has walked along the entire length. Crosstown Trail. “You may run into neighbors bragging about their fruit trees and plucking pink apples to share.”
(Learn about the revolutionary idea behind America’s urban trails.)
Along the way, the trail passes through the Presidio. This 1,491-acre military post-turned-national park offers stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge; in July celebrated the opening of the 14-acre Presidio Tunnel Tops. Designed by the same firm behind Manhattan’s High Line, the new recreation site sits above concrete freeway tunnels and hums with a plastic-free outdoor play space, food trucks and campfire chats. At the Field Station, adventure guides lead hands-on outdoor activities, including identifying local plants, learning about the urban coyote population, and sampling water from San Francisco’s last free-flowing stream.
Manchester, United Kingdom
Get a kick out of this sporty and art-friendly British city
In 2023, Manchester, home of the famous football club Manchester United, launches a series of attractions promoting its revival after the pandemic. The centerpiece of the year is the summer opening of Factory International, a new $225 million downtown cultural space designed by the architectural firm of Rem Koolhaas. Named in part after the local record label that made hometown bands Joy Division and New Order globally famous, the Factory will become the permanent home of the Manchester International Festival. The city’s biennial modern art jam showcases the best in theatre, performance and music for all ages.
The year also marks the re-opening of the re-imagined Manchester Museum, which features new galleries focusing on Chinese, Asian and British Asian culture and a comprehensive, family-focused ‘Belonging Gallery’ showing how people, plants and animals thrive together. Also comes into its own is the new “sky park” of the National Fund in Castlefield Viaduct, a Victorian-era viaduct railway bridge.
And while tickets to a United match at Old Trafford, the team’s legendary stadium, can be hard to come by, fans can visit the nearby Manchester United museum, which displays memorabilia and includes a tour of the stadium itself.
Trinidad and Tobago
Help nurture a top sea turtle sanctuary
Sea turtles survived the dinosaurs, but they may not survive this century. Kids eager to help save turtles—and encounter hundreds of them, too—can head to Trinidad and Tobago. With loggerheads, greenbacks, leatherbacks, hawksbills and olive ridleys – five of the seven species of sea turtle – swimming off its shores, this Caribbean nation is a mecca for turtle tourism.
Nesting sites are found on both islands, with leatherbacks being the most common. During the nesting season from March to August, about 6,000 to 10,000 turtles congregate on the country’s shores. Trinidad’s Grande Riviere Beach, on the north coast of the island, is home to the densest leatherback nesting site in the world. “After 32 years, I’m still in awe of this gentle and majestic creature,” says Suzan Lakhan-Baptiste, managing director of Nature Seekers, a community-based organization that is dedicated to the conservation of the leatherback and leads turtle watching tour.
(Here’s how turtle watching tours actually help conservation.)
Turtle viewing programs led by certified guides generate revenue to help save these creatures, which are under attack from climate change, habitat loss and plastic pollution. Travelers can even volunteer to do fieldwork, such as keeping nesting areas clear of debris, scanning and tagging nesting turtles, and tracking the size and number of turtles and their nests.
(Discover Nat Geo’s other top 20 world destinations.)
Written by Andrew Nelson from contributions from National Geographic Travel’s global editors with additional reporting and research by Karen Carmichael.
