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

Talking Heads frontman, Broadway innovator and all-around creative polymath David Byrne is once again blurring the line between art and science, this time in the middle of downtown Chicago. “Theater of the Mind” is Byrne’s latest experiment in perception, identity and theatrical immersion—and it’s happening inside a real office space. Created with writer and philanthropist Mala Gaonkar, the 15,000-square-foot experience invites audiences of just 16 at a time to explore a series of rooms designed to mess with your senses and make you question, well, yourself.

Amazon has spent two decades perfecting the art of never leaving your couch. Now it wants you to get in the car. The e-commerce giant is planning a massive new brick-and-mortar retail location in Orland Park, marking one of its biggest physical-store plays in the Chicago suburbs to date. The proposed development would bring a 225,000-square-foot, one-story retail building to a 35-acre site at the southwest corner of 159th Street and LaGrange Road, which longtime locals may remember as the site of Petey’s II restaurant. If approved, the project will be a deviation from the Amazon pop-ups most of us are familiar with, but rather more of a full-scale shopping destination. According to plans submitted with the company’s special-use permit application, the store will offer a broad mix of groceries and general merchandise, along with accessory services and the possibility of on-site dining for prepared foods. You’ll be able to grab bananas, batteries and a hot lunch in the same trip—and online order pickup will also be built into the experience. The proposal also includes 837 parking spaces and seven loading docks, plus a smaller warehouse component designed to support in-store operations versus acting as a full fulfillment center.  Mayor Jim Dodge called the potential investment “a strong signal about the vitality of our community,” noting that the project could generate significant sales tax revenue to support local services and infrastructure. Village leaders have also emphasize

If your 2026 resolution involves more sunshine and fewer spreadsheets, JetBlue has a deal that will be hard to ignore: book a Royal Caribbean cruise through JetBlue Vacations and your round-trip flights could be completely free. Yes, that’s zero dollars for the airfare portion. The cruise, of course, still costs money. But the flights? Those are on the house. Through next Wednesday, January 14, JetBlue Vacations is offering up to 100 percent off the base airfare when you book one of their Flight + Cruise packages for a Royal Caribbean sailing. The discount applies to round-trip JetBlue flights bundled with your cruise, covering sailings available through the airline’s current booking window, which typically stretches about 11 months out. (You’ll still pay taxes and fees on the flights, plus the usual cruise taxes and port charges.) And because JetBlue never does just one deal at a time, there’s a second offer running alongside it for travelers who don’t want to wait for cruise season. From now through tomorrow, January 7, JetBlue is also offering customers 26 percent off one-way flights with the promo code GO26, valid for travel between January 13 and February 28—ideal for a quick winter escape or finally visiting that friend who moved somewhere warmer and won’t let you forget it. There is a bit of fine print: the 26 percent flight discount doesn’t apply to JetBlue Vacations packages, Mint fares or transatlantic routes and blackout dates apply. Meanwhile, as mentioned, the “f

If you’ve ever tried to cross, bike or even just exist near McGuinness Boulevard without fearing for your wellbeing, you’re not alone. The Greenpoint thoroughfare has long had a reputation as one of Brooklyn’s most nerve-racking streets—and now, finally, that reputation may be headed for retirement. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced this week that the city will move forward with a full safety redesign of McGuinness Boulevard, bringing long-promised protected bike lanes to the entire corridor from Meeker Avenue up to the Pulaski Bridge. In other words, the street that cyclists swap horror stories about is officially getting a glow-up. The plan revives NYC DOT’s original design, which had been approved, then paused, then watered down for years. Under the new commitment, McGuinness will be rebuilt with parking-protected bike lanes in both directions, one travel lane each way for cars and dedicated parking and loading lanes. This will result in fewer speeding lanes, more breathing room and a street that (hopefully) no longer feels like a highway. McGuinness is a major cycling link between Brooklyn and Queens that carries more than 4,000 riders a day in summer. It’s also been the site of multiple fatal crashes, including the death of teacher Matthew Jensen in 2021, a tragedy that resulted in years of community organizing and turned the boulevard into a major landmark in the city’s street-safety debate. Mayor Mamdani framed the redesign as one of his administration’s first major actio

If you’ve ever waited for a J or Z train at Chambers Street and wondered how this station got so, well, tired, here’s some good news: help is officially on the way. After years of being approved, paused, revived and quietly pushed down the MTA’s to-do list, the long-promised renovation of the Chambers Street station is finally actually happening. The MTA confirmed late last year that it’s preparing to re-advertise the design-build contract for the overhaul, intending to award it sometime this year. If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it is.  Gothamist first reported in March 2024 that roughly $100 million in renovations were coming to Chambers Street, along with a sister project at the 190th Street station in Washington Heights. Then congestion pricing drama hit, budgets flagged and the project was quietly “paused.” But now, the comeback tour is official. And it’s badly needed. Opened in 1913 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Chambers Street was once a Beaux Arts subway showpiece, complete with mosaic plaques and dramatic vaulted ceilings. These days, it’s better known for peeling paint, missing tiles, and grimy walls. Under the revived plan, the station will receive historically sensitive repairs to restore its original character while finally bringing some modern basics along for the ride. The scope includes replacing stairs, building new track walls, installing fresh artwork and restoring damaged finishes throughout the cavernous platforms and

If you’ve been watching the Brooklyn Mirage saga unfold like a soap opera, here’s the latest plot twist: the legendary nightlife brand behind Ibiza’s Pacha is set to take over the troubled East Williamsburg venue. The big question for New Yorkers isn’t who owns it anymore, but it’s whether the lights will actually come back on. According to exclusive reporting from BKMag, FIVE Holdings, the Dubai-based parent company of Pacha, is set to buy Avant Gardner and its flagship property, the Brooklyn Mirage, from Axar Capital Management. Axar scooped up most of Avant Gardner’s assets after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, after months of financial turmoil and canceled shows. The deal could officially turn the Mirage into “Pacha New York,” reviving a name that last operated in the city in Hell’s Kitchen from 2005 to 2016. That alone would be big news, but the Mirage’s recent history makes this more than just a rebrand. The venue spent roughly $30 million on renovations last year, only to fail safety inspections and never reopen for the season. By October, its owners were filing permits to demolish the structure entirely. Then the city’s Department of Buildings hit pause on the demolition application. Since then, the space has sat in limbo: too broken to actually party in, yet too controversial to knock down. Now, Pacha, a brand synonymous with glossy, globe-trotting club culture and massive DJ bookings, enters the picture. If the sale goes through, the Mirage wo

If your idea of a perfect winter weekend involves fresh powder but not gridlocked highways, you’ll soon have a favorite new way to hit the slopes. A new car-free ski bus service is officially running from Manhattan to some of the area’s most popular mountains, which means you can trade the stress of driving and parking for a direct ride to the snow. Intercity travel company OurBus has launched seasonal ski routes connecting New York City to Windham, Hunter and Belleayre in the Catskills, plus Camelback in the Poconos. It’s always one bus, no transfers, no rentals and no fighting for a parking spot in a snowy lot at 7 am. You just board in Manhattan, stash your gear and wake up in ski country. Round-trip fares start at $69, not including fees, which makes a day on the slopes feel way more doable, especially if you don’t own a car or just don’t want to deal with congestion pricing, tolls and winter driving drama. Camelback service runs daily, while Windham, Hunter and Belleayre are covered on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, making the routes ideal for both quick midweek escapes and classic weekend trips. The buses themselves are premium motorcoaches with room for skis and snowboards, along with road trips comforts like Wi-Fi, charging ports, onboard restrooms and live GPS tracking. Three of the Catskills routes are operated in partnership with Urban Sherpa, a longtime ski travel outfit known for getting New Yorkers to the mountains in one piece. The collaboration means more

If you’ve been side-eyeing your winter coat already, you might be in for some relief. New York City is in the middle of a full-on January thaw and by the time the weekend rolls around, the weather may feel more like late March than midwinter. After a chilly start to the week, Monday topped out around 36 degrees, temperatures are steadily climbing. Today will see temps nudge into the low 40s, Wednesday and Thursday hover in the upper 40s and then things really take a turn. Friday is expected to hit the low 50s with a chance of showers and Saturday could flirt with the upper 50s, making it one of the warmest mid-January weekends in recent memory. According to the National Weather Service, the warm-up is being driven by a series of low-pressure systems moving through the Great Lakes and Northeast, pulling milder air into the region. Central Park’s 10-day outlook backs it up: daytime highs are trending well above seasonal averages, with Saturday forecast to feel downright pleasant. Even Friday night’s rain will be more of a spring shower than winter mess—no snowstorm and no deep freeze. That said, don’t get too carried away planning your rooftop picnic. Forecasters say this warm stretch won’t last forever. A frontal system moving in late Saturday could bring more rain and colder air is expected to creep back in by the end of the weekend and into early next week. In classic New York fashion, winter isn’t done with us. Still, for a few glorious days, the city gets a seasonal remix.

If securing a last-minute dinner reservation in New York feels like a competitive sport, Daniel Gendelman has been quietly working on a workaround. Gendelman, the founder of the notoriously selective dating app Raya and the creator of Places, a curated travel and dining platform built by the same team, designed one feature in particular for nights when everything looks booked: Table Tonight. During times of year when restaurant demand goes into overdrive (ahem, holidays), Table Tonight is meant to reduce some of the friction of last-minute planning. The feature aggregates real-time reservation availability across multiple platforms, allowing users to see and book same-day openings in one place instead of bouncing between various apps, websites and waitlists. If you’ve ever spent an evening refreshing Resy only to give up and take whatever 9:45 pm reservation you can snag, the appeal is obvious. Table Tonight surfaces tables that are actually available right now, including cancellations that might otherwise disappear unnoticed. If you’re more interested in saving your eleventh-hour dinner plans over long-range planning, it’s made for you. What also distinguishes Table Tonight from standard reservation tools is its emphasis on curation. The app doesn’t pull in every restaurant with an open slot, but instead focuses on vetted spots and adds brief description next to each listing, including why it’s worth going, what kind of experience to expect and what makes it stand out.  That

If your morning routine usually involves ducking up the stairs at State/Lake, today marks the end of that habit—for a long while. As of January 5, 2026, the CTA has officially closed the State/Lake Loop Elevated Station, kicking off a full demolition and reconstruction project that will keep the stop offline for several years. The closure is part of a complete overhaul of one of the Loop’s oldest and most overworked stations. State/Lake was built more than a century ago and was never designed to handle modern ridership volumes—or to meet accessibility standards. The rebuild aims to fix that, but for now, riders should expect some disruption as the project settles in. The biggest immediate change is that the Brown, Green, Orange, Pink and Purple Line Express trains no longer stop at State/Lake. Trains are still running through the Loop, but riders who used to board or exit there now need to shift to nearby stations. The CTA is directing most riders to Washington/Wabash or Clark/Lake, both of which are already built to handle heavy transfer traffic and remain fully accessible. If you’re a Red Line rider, there’s less upheaval—the Lake Red Line subway station remains open and is not affected by the closure. At street level, the construction footprint results in daytime closures on portions of Lake Street between Dearborn and State during weekday work hours and State Street has been reduced to one lane in each direction between Wacker Drive and Randolph Street. Most closures are

The holiday may be over but winter is very much still doing its thing in New York—and Bryant Park is leaning into it. One of the park’s most popular cold-weather diversions—iceless curling—is officially returning in February, and this time it’s dropping the reservations and price tag entirely. After several seasons as the reservation-only Curling Café, Bryant Park is rebooting the experience as a free, first-come, first-served activity focused purely on the game. There are now no bookings, no food-and-drink minimums and no pressure to linger longer than your competitive spirit allows. From February 6 through February 26, 2026, iceless curling lanes will pop up just east of the skating rink as part of Bank of America Winter Village. The lanes will be open daily from 11 am to 7 pm, welcoming anyone who wants to try their hand at sliding stones toward the bullseye, Olympic-level finesse not required. Photograph: Kevin Ornelas Curling has been a winter staple at Bryant Park since 2020, when the Curling Café debuted as a cozy, lounge-style setup. That format made for a great group hang, but its reservation-only status also meant planning ahead was mandatory. This new version brings curling back to its quick, casual roots. The timing isn’t random, either. Curling’s return coincides with Bryant Park’s broader transformation into a Winter Games hangout throughout February. There will be live broadcasts inside The Lodge, themed programming and interactive experiences that lean into

New York’s non-alcoholic bar scene just got its first proper moment in the spotlight. The inaugural NYC’s Best Bars for NA Awards 2025 have officially dropped, naming the city’s bars that take alcohol-free drinking seriously—no sad mocktails, no afterthought menus and no side-eye from the bartender. The awards are presented by Bright Nights Social (formerly Third Place Bar) and Boisson, two names deeply embedded in New York’s zero-proof ecosystem. Together, they created the first citywide awards dedicated entirely to non-alcoholic bar programs, with winners announced today to kick off Dry January. To qualify, bars must be permanent, public-facing venues in one of New York City’s five boroughs, identify primarily as bars (not restaurants) and offer a meaningful adult NA program that goes beyond juice and soda. Nominations were open throughout December and bars could self-nominate or be nominated by guests. Final decisions (not a ranking but a general list) were made by an awards committee led by hospitality and NA industry professionals, including Sam Bail (Bright Nights Social), Alex Highsmith (Spirited Away) and Vibe Cabrera (Vibe Imbibe). Judges evaluated nominees on variety, creativity, quality, menu clarity and overall bar experience—plus one decisive question: would they recommend this bar to people who normally do drink alcohol? On the Lower East Side, Bar Contra surprised judges with a deeply experimental NA menu built around seasonal produce, house ferments, clarified

New Yorkers woke up Sunday to a small but psychologically seismic shift at the turnstiles: the base fare for subways and buses has officially hit $3. The 10-cent increase, approved last fall by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, nudges the fare up to $3 and marks the first time the system has crossed that threshold in its 120-year history.  The MTA says the increase is part of its long-standing plan to raise fares incrementally every other year, rather than letting costs turn into a single shockingly large hike down the line. Officials point to rising labor, energy and maintenance costs—and have pointed out that plenty of transit systems elsewhere have imposed double-digit percentage increases in recent years. To soften the blow, the MTA is leaning hard on OMNY’s automatic fare-capping system. Riders who tap with the same card or device will never pay more than $35 in a seven-day period, which is equivalent to 12 rides. After that, trips are free for the rest of the week. Reduced-fare riders are capped at $17.50. The agency frames this as a more flexible replacement for the old unlimited passes, which are being phased out along with the MetroCard. Sunday’s increase didn’t stop at the subway turnstile. Express bus fares jumped from $7 to $7.25, while weekly and monthly tickets on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North rose by up to 4.5 percent. Tolls on MTA-run bridges and tunnels are up 7.5 percent and even a single-ride paper ticket now costs $3.50. The hike lands