Laura Ratliff

A planear as suas viagens para o novo ano? Deve, sem dúvida, contar com aqueles clássicos da bucket list, mas se procura inspiração fresca, 2026 promete um mundo de experiências totalmente novas. Desde dormir num museu ao ar livre até percorrer paisagens ancestrais em e-bikes, fazer zipline sobre magníficas reservas naturais e festejar durante um eclipse solar – sim, a sério – há dezenas de experiências fora do circuito habitual e fora da caixa a acontecer nos próximos 12 meses. Pelos quatro cantos do mundo, a Time Out escolheu as 26 coisas mais incríveis, surpreendentes e emocionantes para fazer em 2026. Recomendado: Podes vir, 2026. Temos as melhores agendas para planear o novo ano

Planning your travels for the new year? You should absolutely factor in those long-standing bucket list entries, but if you’re looking for some fresh inspiration, 2026 promises a world of brand-new travel experiences.  From sleeping over in an open-air museum to journeying through ancient landscapes on e-bikes, ziplining over glorious wildlife reserves and partying through a solar eclipse – yes, really – there’s a shedload of off-the-beaten-track, out-of-the-box stuff happening over the next 12 months. Scroll on for our handpicked selection of the 26 coolest, weirdest and most exciting things to do in 2026.  RECOMMENDED:🎶 The biggest and best music festivals in 2026🛍️ The coolest streets in the world🏘️ The coolest neighbourhoods in the world🌃 The best cities in the world right now Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.

South Florida doesn’t do winter. At least, not the frosty, scarf-necessary, hot-cocoa-as-survival-fuel kind. Which is why the return of real-ice skating to downtown West Palm Beach feels like a minor miracle powered by equal parts holiday spirit and serious refrigeration tech. Winter Wonderland is back at The Ben Hotel starting November 1, transforming the waterfront lawn into a glittering holiday playground with twinkling trees, Aspen-style chalets and, of course, a 50-by-66-foot rink made of the real stuff. Yes, ice. In Palm Beach. Again. Last year’s debut drew more than 30,000 skaters, proving locals are more than ready to trade sand for snowflakes, at least in theory. Around the rink, expect plenty of festive distractions: chalet vendors slinging gifts and sweets; a holiday bar for hot chocolate, s’mores, grown-up toddies and the debut of a Holiday Tree Forest created in partnership with local nonprofits, including Habitat for Humanity and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County. There will also be themed events like Live Music Saturdays and Santa Sundays, ornament-making workshops and an opening-day curling exhibition (yes, Palm Beach now has curling athletes and, no, the tropics do not care about your winter stereotypes). When is Winter Wonderland at The Ben Hotel? Skating runs daily from November 1 through January 4 from 10am to 9pm. How much are tickets? Entry is free unless you’re lacing up, in which case tickets start at $25 for adults and $10 for kids 11 and

Soccer-induced emotional whiplash is coming for New York next month. One minute you'll be screaming through extra time at MetLife Stadium, the next you'll desperately need to lie face-down on a beach towel somewhere far away from a pitch. Thankfully, the 2026 FIFA World Cup host stadium for New York and New Jersey isn't actually that far from the ocean. A new study from Beach.com looked at more than 1,500 beaches near all 16 World Cup host stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, ranking the best nearby stretches of sand based on drive time, distance and Google review scores. And for MetLife Stadium, the results are surprisingly solid—especially considering the stadium itself sits squarely in the Meadowlands, where the closest body of water is, well, questionable. Topping the list is Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, the perpetually lively boardwalk destination where post-match recovery could involve everything from a cold plunge in the Atlantic to dumplings. According to the study, it's about a 42-minute drive from MetLife Stadium and remains the most-reviewed beach near any World Cup stadium in the entire analysis, with more than 30,000 Google reviews. Not far behind is Manhattan Beach Park, Brighton's quieter, more residential neighbor that tends to attract families and locals who would rather not fight for towel space near a blaring Bluetooth speaker. Then there's Fort Tilden, the gloriously underdeveloped Queens beach that somehow still feels like a secret despite years of

New York summers are basically one long endurance test: sweating on the subway, waiting for rooftop reservations and fighting for a spot to sunbathe in the park. Thankfully, there’s now another coping mechanism returning to the city next month: a gigantic free comedy festival taking over Union Square and Lower Manhattan for four straight days. The NY Laughs Festival is back from June 4 through June 7, bringing a substantial lineup of stand-up heavyweights, rising comics and open-air performances to venues across downtown Manhattan, including a massive free kickoff show right in Union Square Park. Presented by The Stand Restaurant & Comedy Club alongside nonprofit comedy organization NYLaughs, the festival debuted last year and apparently went well enough that organizers decided to make the sequel even bigger and louder. This year’s edition expands with new venues, additional programming and a lineup that reads like a perfect comedy podcast queue. Among the comedians slated to appear: Jeff Ross, Dave Attell, Andrew Dice Clay, Mark Normand, Rachel Feinstein, Emma Willmann, Paul Virzi, Matthew Broussard, Alex English, Steve Rannazzisi and Jerrod Carmichael, with more names still expected to be announced. The centerpiece of the whole thing is “Comedy in the Square,” a free outdoor show happening June 4 from 6 pm to 9 pm on Union Square Park’s North Plaza. Organizers say the event will once again turn the park into a giant open-air comedy club, complete with a concert-style stage

Chicago movie nerds, rejoice: the beloved Music Box Theatre is officially getting bigger. The nearly 100-year-old Lakeview cinema announced this week that it’s adding a third screening room to its historic Southport Avenue home, giving one of the city’s most treasured movie palaces more room for midnight cult classics, indie darlings, filmmaker Q&As and those three-hour foreign films your one Letterboxd friend keeps insisting will “change your life.” “We can’t wait for you to meet THEATRE 3📽,” the theater teased in a post shared to X on Wednesday. While the Music Box hasn’t yet confirmed an exact opening date, plans for the expansion have actually been in the works for a while. The project is being funded in part by a $1.2 million city Community Development Grant, helping turn two long-vacant storefronts just south of the theater’s entrance into a brand-new 115-seat auditorium. That may sound modest compared to the Music Box’s cavernous 700-seat main theater, but for the staff, the added screen is a huge deal.  We can't wait for you to meet THEATRE 3📽 pic.twitter.com/pReVMlRZBe — Music Box Theatre (@musicboxtheatre) May 27, 2026 “The third screen will allow us to offer more of what our patrons love and no other venue provides: a diverse mix of classic, independent, cult, documentary and foreign films in a beautiful, historic and welcoming setting,” co-owner and CEO Brody Sheldon said about the project when it was first announced last year. The expansion will be the fi

Your subway platform soundtrack is heading above ground. This summer, the MTA is bringing 50 free outdoor performances across Midtown Manhattan, bringing some of the best subway musicians out of the stations and directly onto Broadway plazas for lunchtime concerts and spontaneous dance breaks. The seasonal series comes through partnerships between MTA Arts & Design, the Garment District Alliance and the Times Square Alliance, expanding the transit system’s long-running live music program (recently rebranded from Music Under New York to simply MTA Music) into the middle of some of Manhattan’s busiest pedestrian corridors. The larger of the two series, Broadway Rhythm, runs from June 9 through October 22 along Broadway between West 39th and 40th Streets. Performances will take place Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 pm, turning the Garment District plazas into a free midday concert venue for office workers, tourists and anyone looking to romanticize their lunch break a little bit. Meanwhile, Times Square Live (TSQ LIVE) kicked off May 27 and runs through September 23, with Wednesday performances from noon to 2 pm on Broadway between West 44th–45th Streets and West 47th–48th Streets. “MTA Music performers bring joy and energy to the transit experience, and this summer we’re thrilled to share that artistry above ground,” said Tina Vaz, director of MTA Arts & Design, in a statement announcing the program. The lineup isn’t limited to one style of music, either. MTA Music’s rost

The Jacob Riis Park bathhouse has spent so long sitting empty on the edge of the Atlantic that plenty of New Yorkers assumed it would stay that way forever, slowly dissolving into salt air and beach nostalgia.  But this summer, the massive Art Deco complex at the Rockaways’ beloved “People’s Beach” is officially reopening after 54 years, thanks to an eye-popping $88 million restoration that’s already stirring up serious debate. Originally opened in 1932, the Jacob Riis Bathhouse was once one of the city’s most grand beach destinations, complete with 10,000 changing rooms, rooftop dining, dance halls and enough space to handle more than 8,000 visitors at a time. The sprawling complex was synonymous with summer in New York—and later, with Riis Beach’s identity as a famously welcoming gathering spot for the LGBTQ+ community. Then came the decline. The city shuttered the bathhouse in 1972 after years of maintenance struggles and the building spent decades boarded up, battered by storms and largely forgotten except for occasional park use. Now, after nearly a decade of planning and a three-year construction push, the restored complex is reemerging as the Rockaway Ocean Club. The redevelopment includes a revamped boardwalk lined with a coffee shop, juice bar, gelato stand, pizzeria and dive bar, plus a sprawling public courtyard, rooftop restaurant and eventually a 28-room boutique hotel. Much of the space will remain open to the public beginning Fourth of July weekend. But it’s th

In Miami, summer doesn’t officially start when school lets out or hurricane season rolls around. It starts when your neighbor texts you: “Please come take some mangoes.” Soon, backyard trees across South Florida will once again be dropping fruit faster than anyone can eat it and one beloved Wynwood bakery has the perfect solution. Zak The Baker is bringing back its annual Mango Trade for a fourth year this June, turning the city’s seasonal mango overload into fresh bread and abundant pastries. The concept is beautifully simple: bring in fresh backyard mangoes and leave with a loaf of bread. This year’s official exchange rate is set at five mangoes per loaf, adjusted from last year’s six-to-one ratio after a particularly rough growing season battered South Florida crops. According to the bakery’s unofficial “Miami Mango Fed,” frost, drought and disease all hit local mango trees hard this year. Jeff Wasielewski of UF/IFAS Extension Miami-Dade County explained that freezing temperatures damaged young fruit while dry weather and fungal disease wiped out many flowers before mangoes could properly develop. Still, Miami’s mango obsession persists. Last year, locals brought more than 1,500 pounds of mangoes through Zak The Baker’s doors, trading them for 259 loaves of bread. And none of the fruit went to waste: the bakery turned the community’s haul into mango conchas, cheesecake, danishes, agua fresca, jam-slathered baguettes and yogurt toppings throughout the season. There are a fe

For anyone who grew up ordering matzo ball soup after a day at Old Orchard, here's some welcome news: The Bagel is heading back to the North Shore. Eight years after the beloved Jewish deli closed its longtime outpost at Westfield Old Orchard in Skokie, The Bagel has announced plans to open a new location in downtown Glenview.  According to reporting by The Record North Shore, owner Marvin Barsky has signed a letter of intent for a ground-floor space at 1850 Glenview Road, part of a new mixed-use development called Cerca. If construction and approvals stay on schedule, the restaurant could open as early as Labor Day weekend, though other reports suggest a late fall or early winter debut remains possible. The new restaurant is expected to occupy roughly 5,000 square feet and seat up to 150 guests. Barsky told The Record that longtime favorites aren't going anywhere, meaning diners can once again look forward to the deli's signature spread of lox platters, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, deli sandwiches and other classic Jewish comfort foods. The Bagel's history stretches back more than 75 years. The restaurant was founded in 1950 by Holocaust survivors Elsa and Herman Golenzar in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood before expanding to other locations across the city and suburbs. Its Skokie location became a North Shore institution during its 31-year run at Old Orchard. When that location closed in 2018, many regulars never stopped hoping for a return. Barsky says he still hears

Brooklyn Heights will soon have a major new dinner reservation to obsess over. Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer’s restaurant empire, has announced plans to open its first-ever full-service restaurant in Brooklyn, bringing one of New York's most influential hospitality groups across the East River for the first time. The new restaurant will debut in 2028 at 98 Montague Street, occupying the ground floor of the long-shuttered former Hotel Bossert, which is currently undergoing a massive restoration and conversion to apartments.  It’s an historic move for a company whose portfolio includes legendary Manhattan restaurants like Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and The Modern. Despite influencing the city's restaurant scene for decades, the group has never run a full-service restaurant in Brooklyn. The forthcoming concept will span roughly 3,200 square feet along Montague Street, one of Brooklyn Heights' most picturesque corridors. While details about the menu, chef and overall concept remain under wraps, the group says the restaurant will build on the Bossert's long history as a destination for dining, celebrations and neighborhood gatherings. That's fitting, considering the building's past. Constructed in 1909, the Bossert was once known as the "Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn," serving as a social hub for generations of Brooklynites. The hotel welcomed celebrities, business leaders and athletes over the years and famously hosted the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1955 World Series c

Camping has long been sold as the affordable alternative to pricey hotels and resort fees. But if you've tried booking a campsite lately, bought a bundle of firewood at a national park camp store or filled up your gas tank for a road trip, you already know that roughing it doesn’t always come cheap. A new study from Casino.org compared the costs of camping across America’s 15 most-visited national parks and found that a weekend under the stars can vary wildly depending on where you pitch your tent this summer. Researchers looked at average costs including campsite fees, park entry and permit charges, meals and drinks, gas, firewood, ice and popular outdoor activities to figure out which parks will drain your wallet fastest—and which still deliver a relatively budget-friendly escape. Topping the list as the most expensive national park for campers is Grand Teton National Park, where a weekend camping trip now averages a hefty $439. Between campground fees, fuel costs and pricey activities, the Wyoming park proved significantly more expensive than many travelers might expect from a tent-based vacation. Coming in close behind were Yosemite National Park and Yellowstone National Park, two perennial summer favorites where soaring demand and peak-season pricing continue to push costs upward. (None of this will be especially shocking if you’ve tried reserving a campsite in Yosemite lately.) Meanwhile, the cheapest national park for campers this summer is Hot Springs National Park, w

This summer’s hottest travel accessory isn’t a matching linen set or an overpriced beach club reservation, it’s a paperback page-turner with a cheap bookmark and a little sand stuck in the pages, for good measure. According to a new summer travel trend report from Vrbo, travelers are increasingly embracing what the company calls “Beach Readaways,” slower-paced vacations centered around reading, relaxing and intentionally doing less. Searches for featured “Beach Readaways” destinations rose more than 30% year over year, while social conversation around the trend surged 213%. Even guest reviews are sounding more literary: mentions of reading-related terms jumped 285%. While the report included international escapes like Aruba and Lisbon, several U.S. beach destinations are emerging as especially popular for travelers looking to swap packed itineraries for beach chairs and book stacks. Leading the list is Panama City Beach, which may be the most pleasantly surprising entry of the bunch. Previously well-known for spring break chaos, the Florida Panhandle destination is now finding a softer identity among travelers who are craving Gulf-front mornings and long afternoons with a novel. With 27 miles of white sand and nearly 100 public beach access points, it’s easy to see the appeal. (Plus, unlike many trendy coastal towns, it also remains relatively affordable.) Then there’s Cape Cod, a destination that practically feels engineered for reading. Between beach cottages, salty breezes

A new public art exhibition called "Revolutionary Reflections" has turned a collection of vacant storefronts, transit spaces and building windows throughout Lower Manhattan into an open-air gallery dedicated to America's 250th anniversary. The installation consists of 12 large-scale artworks that reimagine the people, places and events that shaped New York City's role in the American Revolution. Running from Memorial Day through Labor Day, the free exhibition stretches across Broadway, Church Street, Wall Street and the Fulton Center. The project is a collaboration between the Downtown Alliance and nonprofit arts organization Art on the Ave NYC, with artwork created by New York artists Kate Fauvell and Naderson Saint Pierre. Photograph: Courtesy of Art on the Ave NYCRevolutionary Reflections. But don't expect powdered wigs and dusty textbook illustrations. Instead, the artists blended Revolutionary-era imagery with contemporary photos of Lower Manhattan, creating collage-style pieces that mix the neighborhood's past with the modern city. The stories include familiar chapters of the Revolution, as well as lesser-known figures whose contributions are often overlooked. One artwork depicts the toppling of King George III's statue at Bowling Green after the Declaration of Independence was read aloud in New York. Another celebrates Elizabeth Burgin, a patriot who helped more than 200 prisoners escape British captivity. Others spotlight Hercules Mulligan's spy network, George Wash

Miami's taco scene just got a waterfront upgrade. COYO Taco, the homegrown taqueria that helped popularize late-night tacos, margaritas and hidden-speakeasy vibes across South Florida, has officially opened a new location at Bayside Marketplace—and it's a little more polished than the brand's original neighborhood outposts. The new restaurant opens to the public today, May 26, as part of Bayside's ongoing transformation into a more dining-focused waterfront destination. While longtime fans can still expect COYO's signature fresh-made tortillas, smashed-to-order guacamole and street-style tacos, the new location introduces a noticeably elevated look and a handful of menu items you won't find elsewhere. Spanning more than 4,000 square feet, the restaurant was designed by Saladino Design Studios and blends mid-century influences with Mexican-inspired design details. Think custom mosaic seating, neon accents, large garage-style doors and plenty of indoor-outdoor space overlooking Biscayne Bay. The result is a bit more grown-up than the brand's original Wynwood roots, but it still keeps the energetic atmosphere that made COYO a local favorite in the first place. Photograph: Courtesy of COYO TacoCOYO Taco. Executive chef and co-founder Scott Linquist has created two dishes available only at the Bayside location. The first is a Michoacán-style carnitas taco topped with crispy pork, serrano salsa, onions and cilantro. The second leans heavily into Miami's multicultural identity: th