Best Of The World 2023

Travel inspiration is everywhere. The question is where to go next. Here's our annual list of enlightened destinations for the year aheadplaces filled with wonder, rewarding to travellers of all ages, and supportive of local communities and ecosystems. Framed by five categories (Community, Nature, Culture, Family, Adventure), these destinations are under the radar, ahead of the curve, and ready for you to start exploring.

- Written By Andrew Nelson With Additional Reporting By Karen Carmichael

Dodecanese islands Greece

This archipelago balances tradition and tourism.

Will more visitors spoil the Dodecanese? Off the Turkish coast, these Greek islands cast an alluring spell stemming from their rocky beauty and feisty history. A cast of conquerors—Romans, Ottomans, and ltalians—left their fingerprints on everything from the architecture to the food. Today's invaders come not for fortune but for selfies, at such better known Dodecanese islands as Leros, Patmos, or Kos.

But now less trafficked parts of the archipelago like Karpathos, located halfway between Crete and Rhodes, must balance the economic need for tourism and the environmental stresses caused by it. In this arid, hilly land of milk and honey, many families keep bees and make their own butter and cheese. Karpathos's lonely white churches, timeworn towns, and ancient traditions may draw adventurous visitors fleeing the more crowded Cycladic islands of Mykonos and Santorini, but the island’s water scarcity and lack of recycling capacity pose challenges.

An important aspect of sustainable tourism, says Evangelia Agapiou, founder of Ecotourism Karpathos, is to involve as many locals as possible, whether it’s through demonstrations of traditional winemaking or through night fishing excursions with resident fishermen.

“In English, the definition of eco’ is more ecological,’ Agapiou says. Ecos’ in the Greek language means the home, the land, the community. So, this is ecotourism—to bring people together.”

Austrian alps

Hike a network of the Alps' most charming villages.