A deeply anticipated listing of the world’s best destinations just landed: it’s Travel + Leisure’s annual look at the greatest places to spend your vacation dollars and time. It’s a comprehensive list broken down by subcategories like cities, islands, hotels, cruise lines, airlines and more. We’ll lead you through the exciting plethora of travel inspo, highlighting the times that the U.S. lands in the mix.
First off: cities. Although no American city is in the top 10, Charleston, SC earns the #19 spot, just ahead of Lisbon. Luckily, our national feelings are saved by Travel + Leisure creating a list specifically of U.S. cities—and here, Charleston is #1. The following cities are:
2. Santa Fe
3. New Orleans
4. Savannah
5. Chicago
6. Honolulu
7. New York City
8. Nashville
9. Alexandria
10. San Antonio
Similarly, for best islands in the world, the U.S. isn’t at the top—but Golden Isles (encompassing Georgia’s Jekyll Island, among others) hits the list at #13, not too shabby! And tying for #19 is Mackinac Island in Michigan and Rhodes and the Dodecanese in Greece. When the list only focuses on the U.S., we have a great top 10 with Golden Isles of course at #1 and Mackinac at #2.
3. Kiawah Island, SC
4. Mount Desert Island, ME
5. Hilton Head Island, SC
6. Sanibel Island, FL
7. Long Boat Key, FL
8. Amelia Island, FL
9. Florida Keys, FL
10. Captiva Island, FL
You know we love trains here at Time Out, and while the list only includes three worldwide, the Rocky Mountaineer, which features on our list of best luxury train rides, is literally the best in the world! The only others that get a mention are the British Pullman in England and the Inca Rail in Peru.
There are five best international airports and we’re not on the list. But the list of the five best domestic airlines for the U.S. is here:
1. Hawaiian Airlines
2. Alaska Airlines
3. Delta Airlines
4. Breeze Airways
5. JetBlue Airways
As far as airports themselves go, we’re happy to announce that the best lil airport we know of, Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (leave the airport and turn right to grab your first Dunkin Donut on New Hampshire soil!) is the best in the U.S. Followed by:
2. Indianapolis International
3. Tampa International
4. Minneapolis-St. Paul International
5. Portland International (Oregon)
6. Rhode Island T.F. Green International
7. Savannah/Hilton Head International
8. Palm Beach International
9. Salt Lake City International
10. Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International
We’ll leave you there with that tantalizing look at top-tier travel; the full list goes on to look at cruise ships, car rental companies, spas, tour operators, safaris, luxury villas, hotels (subdivided every which way) and national parks. Enjoy another year of focused, beautiful travel!