The Best Places to Go in the US in 2026

It's a momentous time to talk about the best places to go in the US: In 2026 the country will celebrate its semiquincentennial birthday. America probably looks a bit different right now from what our forefathers could have predicted when they founded the United States a whopping 250 years ago—I imagine they’d have some notes for us (for what it’s worth, I have some notes for them too).

Ahead of this anniversary I have been making a point to remind myself of what I love most about this country, what it is that we want to protect and preserve while doing our best to navigate an era of transition and uncertainty. Travel is a useful tool. I think of the fact that, in the city of Chicago, with its jazz, or the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, where the sounds of bluegrass carry through the hills, you can find music traditions so deeply rooted in this land, and yet they evolve as we do. I think of places like Oahu and Catalina Island, both of which we're lucky to count as part of this country, where island landscapes intermingle with a fascinating blend of cultural influences, from ancient Polynesia to 1920s Hollywood. I think of the spirit of reinvention and rebirth emerging in cities like Buffalo and San Francisco, and I can't help but daydream about the sheer poetry that it must be to trace Route 66—and to be reminded that even without a passport, there is more to see here than any of us can experience in a lifetime.

So, forced to narrow down a list of plenty, we have landed on 14 of the best places to go in the US in 2026, this landmark year. Of so many alluring destinations, the ones below have new openings and events slated for 2026, offering timely reasons to book that flight or turn the wheel toward beloved spots like Charleston or Park City. We hope that, in at least one of them, you will feel a stir of pride that reminds you what you love about the United States. —Megan Spurrell

This is part of our global guide to the Best Places to Go in 2026—find more travel inspiration here.

This year all eyes are on Arkansas’s booming mountain bike scene, which offers unprecedented access to the state’s natural splendor.

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Fittingly nicknamed the Natural State, Arkansas is rich in outdoor landmarks that include the bubbling thermal waters at Hot Springs National Park and teeming forest ecosystems across Ozark National Forest and the Ouachita Mountains. In 2026, two new chairlift-served mountain cycling parks will cement the state as the country’s cycling epicenter and broaden its reputation as a gateway for outdoor recreation. In the Ouachita Mountains the Trails at Mena project, which breaks ground in 2026, will become the largest lift-served mountain bike park in the world when it opens, featuring 100 miles of exhilarating trails built for all levels, including mountain bikers and backcountry users. In northwestern Bella Vista, OZ Trails Bike Park, the state’s first chairlift-served downhill mountain biking park when it opens in mid-2026, will offer a state-of-the-art Poma-Leitner high-speed chairlift system that can carry four passengers and their bikes; more than 20 miles of downhill biking trails across 200 acres; dedicated paths for hiking and running; and a buzzing central hub with restaurants, bars, and communal gathering spaces. Set against pin-drop-silent remote flatlands and forests buoyed by swamp and marsh wetlands, new segments of the Delta Heritage Trail next spring will round out 84.5 miles of hiking and biking trails flanked by the Mississippi River. When you’re ready to head indoors, find your way to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, where there are two new galleries showcasing five centuries of American art across 114,000 square feet of new space, broadening the cultural appeal of a city already well loved for its biking opportunities. Just steps away from the museum—and a stone’s throw away from the forest trails that beckon adventure travelers—visitors can check in to The Compton, a newly opened 142-room boutique property that celebrates the region's great outdoors with a sculptural bluff in the central atrium inspired by the natural cliffs of Buffalo National River. —Kristin Braswell

Read our complete guide to the Best Places to Go in North America & the Caribbean in 2026.

New restaurants like Comfort Kitchen (above) are spotlighting Boston's diverse cultural heritage as the historic city gears up for America's 250th anniversary.

Comfort Kitchen/Christian Harder

Boston already wears its history proudly, but America’s 250th anniversary will shine a brighter spotlight on the historic capital. The city is experiencing a turning point, and the world is starting to see the version of Boston that its residents have always known: not a college town or a business-first destination but a vibrant and dynamic metropolis where past and future coexist. And 2026 is going to be a banner year for goings-on. There’s something old: the return of Sail Boston in July, an event held roughly every eight years when Boston Harbor gets packed with floods with historic tall ships from around the world, many of which guests can board and explore for free. There’s something new too: Boston is one of the host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which organizers are already calling the single largest sporting event ever. But even if you visit outside of those dates, you’ll find that the city is percolating with new energy. Take James Beard Award finalist Comfort Kitchen, for instance, which offers comfort food inspired by the African diaspora, or Row 34, which continually ups the ante with best-in-class seafood, in a city home to what must be the highest number of seafood snobs in the world. That’s just the amuse-bouche of it all. A new wave of artists and diverse entrepreneurs is drawing visitors to less-explored neighborhoods like Charlestown, Dorchester, and East Boston, and the forthcoming Atlas Hotel in Allston will further shift the city’s center of gravity away from its downtown core—contributing to a renewed sense that yes, in fact, what is old can be made new again. —Todd Plummer

Read our complete guide to Boston here.

A Rust Belt city on an upward swing, Buffalo is home to one of the country's best collections of modern and contemporary architecture, with Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff (above) serving as its crown jewel.

What was once one of the country’s wealthiest cities is looking to cement something of a comeback. Buffalo, New York, has become a postindustrial punching bag, only attracting visitors primarily due to its proximity to Niagara Falls—and the Buffalo Bills. But urban revitalization efforts will come to a head in 2026 with a spate of openings worth paying attention to. There are green spaces galore: 2025 already saw the reopening of Wilkeson Pointe, part of New York State’s $300 million restoration plan for the Buffalo Waterfront with hiking trails, kayak and bike rentals, and, eventually, a public beach, while the first-phase rollout of the 100-acre Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Park begins in 2026 with the unveiling of a pedestrian bridge that will link the west side to the waterfront. Sports fans can anticipate the summer opening of the new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium, just ahead of the Buffalo Bills’ 2026 season—it is claimed that this facility will have the world’s largest heated roof. That’s not all: The Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute will open on Buffalo’s west side and a brand-new visitor center at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff (FLW designed several significant buildings in Buffalo) are also forthcoming in the summer. In fall 2026 the Lipsey Architecture Center, which focuses on advancing Buffalo’s architectural legacy including cultural institutions built by Eero Saarinen, will get a new home on the Richardson Olmsted Campus. Programming announcements for America’s semiquincentennial celebration are yet to come, so keep your eyes peeled—but in the meantime there’s much else to plan on as Buffalo blossoms. —Charlie Hobbs

In 2026, Catalina Island is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a resort destination, so there’s never been a better time to rediscover the Channel island located just an hour off the Southern California coast. Starting in 1919, William Wrigley Jr. transformed the island into a “playground for all.” He invited the Chicago Cubs to train in Avalon in 1921 and had an Art Deco gem of a theater, the Catalina Casino, built in 1929. A herd of bison—originally brought over for a silent-film shoot in 1924—still roam the island’s wild interior today. Thanks to the Wrigley family’s conservation legacy, 88% of Catalina is protected, preserving habitats for endemic species like the Catalina Island fox. Adventurers can hike the 38.5-mile Trans-Catalina Trail, snorkel the turquoise waters at Lover’s Cove Marine Reserve, or kayak to hidden coves in search of sea lions and bright-orange garibaldi fish.

If indoor sports are more your thing, don’t miss your chance to lace up vintage skates and twirl across the same polished floor where big bands once played, beneath glittering Tiffany chandeliers, in the Catalina Casino’s former ballroom. It now moonlights as the coolest roller skating rink in the world owing to its current creative director, Wesley Alfvin, a former member of the Dapper Dans a cappella group at Disneyland. And over at Mt Ada, William Wrigley Jr.’s former mansion perched above Avalon Bay, a 2024 refresh means rooms now feature spa-style bathrooms, curated period antiques, and a 24/7 butler’s pantry stocked with handcrafted gelato. —Amy Bizzarri

Charleston is home to many venerable old hotels, but new arrivals like the Nickel (above) pay homage to the city's Lowcountry splendor just as well.

Matthew Williams/Nickel

Charleston’s always hot restaurant scene and always evolving nature-focused spaces provide great excuses to visit, and with the Lowcountry hotel boom in full swing, finding a place to stay is easier—and more exciting—than ever. Recent openings—including The Nickel, with its full kitchens and luxe details, Hotel Richemont, farther down King Street, also offering suites with full kitchens, and The Dunlin, set on the stunning Kiawah River—have upped the ante on unique stays. For the opposite, go-big-or-go-home experience, the iconic Charleston Place’s second phase of renovations is almost complete; there’s no “pardon our dust” vibe here but a stunning retooling of the club-level lounge, the suites, and the rooftop pool as well as a new yearlong pop-up from chef Daniel Humm in the former Charleston Grill space.

Restaurant reservations are hot tickets here. Check out new kid on the block Merci, which oozes charm and class, and try the multicultural flavors at such places as Bintü Atelier, Kultura, and Sushi-Wa. Take a postmeal walk in some of the city’s glorious green spaces, like the recently redesigned Colonial Lake—where the Charleston Parks Conservancy just hosted the first-ever Bloom Charleston Festival—and the Caw Caw Interpretive Center, which in 2025 added 35 acres of ecologically valuable land to its 18th- and 19th-century rice fields and six miles of trails. In Charleston you can see osprey nests in a maritime forest in the morning and, by dinner, settle into a plate of oysters with mignonette.—Stephanie Burt

Read our complete guide to Charleston here.

Chicago will host the UNESCO International Jazz Day for the first time this year, which will feature performances by hometown jazz legend Herbie Hancock (above).

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Spring is a beautiful time to visit Chicago (once the blustery chill has receded, at least), and spring 2026 is poised to be a big one for the city. After years of delays The Obama Presidential Center, former president Barack Obama’s presidential library, is slated to open in Jackson Park. The second presidential library in Illinois (you’ll also find Abraham Lincoln’s located downstate, in Springfield), the Obama campus won’t just house the president’s papers—it’ll bring a variety of cultural offerings to the Woodlawn neighborhood, near Obama’s old stomping grounds of Hyde Park. The center will span 19.3 acres to include a museum, installations from such artists as Nick Cave, a community fruit and vegetable garden, and the John Lewis Plaza, which will host events like outdoor music performances and festivals.

Spring is also a good time for jazz lovers to visit, as the city will host the 15th annual UNESCO 2026 International Jazz Day for the first time in April. The festivities include the All-Star Global Concert, led by Chicago-born jazz legend Herbie Hancock, as well as concerts and talks around the city. The city’s dining scene is thriving too: Among the fresh newcomers are the French-Midwestern bistro Creepies and the sourcing-obsessed fine dining spot Feld, along with two newly minted James Beard Award–winning establishments. Visit Kumiko, the winner for Outstanding Bar, to try Julia Momosé’s Japanese-influenced cocktails, like the standout ume boulevardier, which gets a fruity note from Japanese plum liqueur, and Oriole, a refined two-Michelin-starred restaurant helmed by Noah Sandoval, who was named Best Chef: Great Lakes. And if you’re planning to road-trip along Route 66 for its 100th anniversary, spend a few days exploring the city before heading out—the route begins in downtown Chicago right by Lou Mitchell’s, a classic diner that opened in 1923. Dig into a malted pecan and bacon waffle before hitting the road. —Amy Cavanaugh

Read our complete guide to Chicago here.

Park City will host the Sundance Film Festival one final time in 2026—and, at nearby Deer Valley, the ski offerings are bigger and better than ever.

For decades Deer Valley has been synonymous with groomed slopes, polished service, and the starry energy of the Sundance Film Festival. In January 2026 that story will come full circle. After over four decades in Park City, Sundance will mark its final year in Utah, culminating with what organizers call “a celebration full of gratitude and joy” to honor founder Robert Redford and the cultural milestone this moment represents. As Sundance bows out, Deer Valley enters a new era with the largest ski-resort expansion in North American history. The Expanded Excellence initiative more than doubles skiable terrain to 4,300 acres, with nearly 100 new runs and 31 lifts. This winter also brings seven new chairlifts, including the East Village Express gondola, alongside the continued rollout of East Village, which offers streamlined mountain access and more than 70 shops and restaurants. Upon completion, East Village will also feature eight hotels, including the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, which opened in late 2024, the forthcoming Canopy by Hilton (Hilton's first ski-destination property, set to debut in summer 2026), and further out, a Four Seasons resort and residences slated to open in 2028. Add in the swanky Chute Eleven Champagne yurt, returning for its second year, plus 300 inches of annual snowfall backed by a state-of-the-art snowmaking system, and Deer Valley stands ready to show travelers what its next chapter looks like. —Lauren Dana Ellman

East Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular in the US, and major trail re-openings this year will give visitors renewed access to vistas and valleys in this majestic corner of Appalachia.

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Tennessee’s cultural cachet doesn’t just stop at Nashville’s honky-tonks and bachelorette parties or Memphis’s blues and barbecue. A relatively unsung region of the state, East Tennessee has recently come into its own in the arts, outdoor adventure, and hospitality on the whole. In 2026, the 230th anniversary of the Volunteer State’s founding, visitors will be right on time to catch the crest of East Tennessee’s renaissance.

Long celebrated for its fall foliage, the region is home to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites recognized in the United States. By and large the most visited park in the US system, the Smokies have averaged nearly 12 million annual visitors for the last decade, thanks to a small parking fee, a middle-earth beauty, and a spectrum of hikes that can accommodate leisurely sightseers and aspiring Davy Crocketts alike. The call of the Smokies grows even louder in 2026, when two major trails are coming back after a series of closures and renovations. At the start of the year, set foot on Bullhead Trail, a moderately challenging route that feeds into the legendary hike to Mount LeConte, before rehabilitation work resumes in May 2026. For a more casual tour through the mountains, plan your visit for July 2026, when the 2.6-mile Laurel Falls Trail is slated to reopen after 18 months of rehabilitation work, reuniting 300,000-plus visitors with its cooling mist just in time for the summer. Outside the park the gloriously over-the-top Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival returns in June 2026 after severe weather canceled the festival in 2025. For fun the whole family can enjoy, head to Dolly Parton’s Dollywood Parks & Resorts in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee: Spring 2026 sees the debut of the park’s most Smoky Mountains–inspired attraction yet: the $50 million NightFlight Expedition, which pays homage to the epic shows of bioluminescence put on by the Smokies' synchronous fireflies every summer.

Beyond the outdoors, East Tennessee kitchens have been waiting for the inaugural Michelin Guide to the South, which came out November 3. But such pioneers in farm-to-table dining as Blackberry Farm in Walland, Dancing Bear Lodge & Appalachian Bistro in Townsend, and The Walnut Kitchen in Maryville have long drawn gourmands. Rising to meet the occasion are a batch of new hotels: Dollywood's HeartSong Lodge & Resort opened in late 2023 and Hotel Indigo Gatlinburg by IHG began welcoming guests in September 2025. The historic Andrew Johnson Building in Knoxville is set to complete its renovations by the end of 2026. It will mark the return of the storied high-rise touted as “the long-sought missing link between Hank Williams, Amelia Earhart, and Jean-Paul Sartre,” nodding to a small sample of the historic hotel’s impressive roster of past guests. Joining the new Tempo by Hilton in Pigeon Forge, which opened in October, will be Knoxville’s own Tempo by Hilton, debuting in fall 2026, as well as an AC Hotel by Marriott later in winter, which will expand the city’s portfolio of upscale accommodations. —Kat Chen

A historic cleanup effort has made Indianapolis's White River accessible for kayakers and canoers, offering a new way to experience the ever-expanding green spaces of the Midwestern metropolis.

Visit Indy

Long known as a walkable and bike-friendly city, Indianapolis takes its outdoorsy reputation further in 2026 with the rollout of 38 miles of brand-new trails and bike lanes, which will tie into the city’s existing 77-mile trail network and offer increased connectivity across central Indiana. Collectively, these trails will see improved navigability thanks to a new Trailways website, which includes digital mapping assets, as well as a new, quarter-mile glow-in-the-dark trail for night rides.

The city’s footprint is growing too, with a 15-acre expansion of White River State Park heading toward completion in July 2026 and the opening of Henry Street Bridge, a new gateway into the city from the underserved west side, by the end of the year, which will be marked by a striking design that includes massive rings over the bridge that light up at night. This new pedestrian and vehicular overpass crosses White River, where you can now enjoy paddleboarding, kayaking, and canoeing after what has been roughly half a century of river cleanup, making Indy America’s newest river city. Book a guided tour with or rent equipment from Frank's Paddlesports Livery to explore the city by water.

Also in 2026, Tube Factory, an artist-run contemporary art museum and community center, will quadruple its footprint with a new, 40,000-square-foot space in a 125-year-old former dairy barn, allowing it to offer even more free programming, performances, and cultural collaborations. Alongside it, the Factory Arts District, Indy's largest community of artists, is growing into a powerhouse destination for art, entertainment, and great souvenir shopping too. Among the new openings there are Daisy Bar (a casual but energetic complement to those who love daytime dining stalwart Milktooth), MVMT House Pilates studio, and Salt & Ash market for locally made gifts. First Friday art walks, where you can enjoy live music, dancing, and interactive workshops, are always a fun time here as well. —Amber Gibson

Waikiki's storied Moana Surfrider hotel (above) has undergone a stunning renovation in time for its 125th birthday this year, and is the perfect home base from which to explore the buzzing island of O'ahu.

It’s been more than a century since Waikiki’s Moana Surfrider first opened its white-columned doors to travelers chasing the South Pacific dream, and in March 2026, to celebrate its 125th birthday, the “First Lady of Waikiki” will emerge from a major renovation that preserves its Victorian bones while layering in new, design-forward details. The milestone is just one reason the Hawaiian island of Oahu (home to its capital and most populous city, Honolulu) feels particularly of the moment, as it leans into a cultural resurgence that celebrates its heritage without slipping (too much, anyway) into kitsch. Other reasons to visit? Cirque du Soleil’s ʻAuana residency at the Outrigger Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel, an only-in-Hawaii performance that blends the company’s theatrical spectacle with a hula lineage fitting its location (it debuted in December 2024 and will run through 2026). Up the coast, on the North Shore, professional surfing marks its 50th anniversary in December 2026, when the World Surf League final returns to the sport’s holy ground of Banzai Pipeline, where its history and mythos converge on one stretch of reef. Meanwhile, downtown Honolulu is buzzing: The Hawaii Theatre Center which celebrated 100 years in 2022, continues with its island-inspired concerts, retro cinema nights, and other entertainment. And new nightlife spots like EP Bar, with its 3,000-strong vinyl library, and Yours Truly, a subterranean speakeasy hidden beneath a faux post office, channel Japanese hi-fi culture and Prohibition-era discretion, respectively. In short, Oahu in 2026 is set to usher in a new era for the island, one that offers a compelling experience for any kind of traveler. —John Wogan

The Willamette Valley yields an abundance of fresh produce, which new Portland restaurants like Kann (above) are celebrating in style.

Portland is home to several James Beard Award–winning chefs like Gregory Gourdet of Kann (above). Now the prestigious culinary foundation is opening its first public market in the city.

Steve Freihon/Kann

For a few years now, this perpetually overcast town—with the prevailing tired image of hipster Portlandia—has developed a thornier reputation. But in 2026 a series of major art, architecture, and culinary projects conspire to tell a fresh story about the City of Roses. Travelers will sense the city’s plot twist the moment they disembark at Portland International Airport, which, in early 2026, opens the final third of its new terminal, acclaimed for its award-winning mass-timber architecture. Built with wood sourced from nearby forests and via tribal partnerships, the wavy ceiling extends over some two dozen local shops and restaurants. In the city’s walkable downtown, the Portland Art Museum (PAM), the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest, completes a massive expansion in November 2025. With an additional 100,000 square feet, PAM will display nearly 300 new major acquisitions and introduce new galleries, including one dedicated solely to Black artists. In a city with one of the continent’s most acclaimed food scenes, which has spawned stars such as Gregory Gourdet of Kann, summer 2026 will bring yet another reason to celebrate the Willamette Valley’s bounty: the James Beard Public Market, which finally comes to life after more than a decade of planning starts and stops. The indoor-outdoor venue, filled with small-scale growers and producers, will be one to rival Seattle’s Pike Place. For sports lovers there is the new WNBA team, the Portland Fire, which will kick off its first season in May, drawing droves of fans to The Sports Bra. And while these developments signal Portland's evolution, the city's soul remains intact—where else would a sprawling bookstore (Powell's), an urban forest (Forest Park), and one of the country's longest-running drag venues (Darcelle XV) rank among the top attractions? —JD Shadel

Read our complete guide to Portland here.

Route 66 was America's first transcontinental highway, and at 100 it remains one of the most enjoyable routes to road-trip in the country.

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Neon lights are burning a little brighter along Route 66, the iconic US highway that stretched between Chicago and Santa Monica, as it celebrates its centennial in 2026. While the contiguous highway was decommissioned in 1985, sections of it have been preserved for historic interest. Along these, vintage motel and diner signs have been restored to their midcentury brilliance, including more than a dozen along Albuquerque’s 18-mile (the country’s longest) urban stretch. In St. Robert, Missouri, long-abandoned neon signs have been polished and collected in the just-opened Route 66 Neon Park. Celebrations are planned along the 2,448-mile route, from Springfield, Missouri, host of the Route 66 Centennial National Kick-Off in April, to Tulsa’s Capital Cruise in May, a world-record attempt for the largest-ever classic-car parade, and Amarillo’s 10-day-long Texas Route 66 Festival in June.

A trip along the Mother Road invites nostalgia for the past but also consideration of how history has been told. Historically, over 25 tribal nations lived along the route, but for years their diverse cultures were largely represented through reductive stereotypes, with concrete tipi storefronts and signage adorned with Hollywood-style depictions of Native peoples. Now travelers can get a more realistic view at Indigenous-run institutions including Albuquerque’s Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, operated by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, which celebrates its 50th year in 2026, and at the First Americans Museum, which opened in Oklahoma City in 2021 to tell the stories of Oklahoma’s 39 nations. —Karen Gardiner

Majka (above) is one of several exciting new restaurants in Sacramento to be recognized by the Michelin Guide.

Majka

Sacramento's annual Farm-to-Fork Festival culminates in the Tower Bridge Dinner (above), during which over 800 guests get to experience the best of the city's cuisine en plein air.

Francisco Chavira/Tower Bridge

Sacramento may be California’s capital, but its real power sits in the soil. With its 1.5 million acres of farms and ranches that grow more than 160 crops, the region has been an agricultural powerhouse for over a century. That abundance fuels restaurants where menus shift constantly and farm-to-fork isn’t a slogan but a way of life. You taste it at Midtown Farmers Market, where the stalls stretch for blocks (American Farmland Trust ranked this the best farmers market in California, and the third best in the nation).

Decades of agricultural heritage have spurred on a dining culture that celebrates the region’s bounty year-round. In 2025, Sacramento hosted the Michelin Guide California Awards, where Localis and The Kitchen retained their stars, Pho Momma earned a Bib Gourmand, and Kin Thai and Majka Pizzeria were added to the guide. Also in 2025, Terra Madre Americas, the global slow-food summit, chose Sacramento for its first US edition, recognizing the region’s fertile landscape and leadership in connecting chefs and farmers. The event drew chefs including Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, and Elizabeth Falkner, and will return every two years through 2035.

Also worth planning around is the Tower Bridge Dinner, which sets long communal tables on the bridge that spans the Sacramento River and hosts more than 800 guests—the event is the crown jewel of the city’s Farm-to-Fork Festival (the 2026 event will likely take place in September). In spring 2026, Our Street Night Market will take over several blocks of the R Street corridor with street food, music, and late-night crowds. Founded in 2018 and inspired by the night markets of Asia, it has grown into one of the largest in the country; it spotlights both beloved mom-and-pop restaurants and chefs experimenting with new ideas.

In 2026 it’ll also be easier to get to the city: Sacramento International Airport will open the first phases of its $1.3 billion renovation; the Terminal A expansion is expected by 2027, and will bring a new parking garage, more gates, and refreshed dining options from local favorites Magpie, Temple Coffee, and Nixtaco. A $2 million investment in public art rounds out the upgrades. Later in the year comes Hotel Eleanor, the first five-star property for Sacramento, reimagining a former 1910 bank building as a 107-room Art Deco stay with 1940s glamour. With Major League Baseball’s Athletics (formerly of Oakland) playing in West Sacramento until 2028, and the Kings’ electrifying basketball season, the city’s sports scene has officially commandeered the Bay Area greats: Sacramento has shed its underdog status.

From the fields to the riverfront, Sacramento’s rise—rooted in its land, powered by its people, and unmistakably its own—feels inevitable. —Keyla Vasconcellos

San Francisco's status as a tech hub has given rise to an innovative food scene spearheaded by creative fusion spots like MadLab.

Carlya Hackbarth/MadLab

After a tumultuous post-pandemic era, San Francisco is rising up once again.

The Transamerica Pyramid Center

San Francisco is making a long overdue comeback. Postpandemic, media coverage of the city had focused on its empty storefronts and dwindling art scene, but, with Daniel Lurie, the new, energized mayor at its helm, the city is on the precipice of a fresh, exciting era. A quick look at the mayor’s Instagram shows just how exhilarating spending time in the city is: One can attend Diplo’s Run Club in the morning and celebrate at a new restaurant opening in the evening, popping into a glitzy gallery opening on the way. Add an increasingly busy downtown and a key role in the FIFA World Cup and the Super Bowl next year, and you’ll get a buzzing destination with a renewed zest for life.

San Francisco’s already stellar restaurant scene, in particular, will experience a boost in 2026, led by multiple new openings at the iconic Ferry Building, which is shaping up to be one of the city’s leading dining destinations. The upcoming Mediterranean concept Hayati and the newly opened Arquet, from the Michelin-acclaimed team behind Sorrel, are two to watch, as is Via Aurelia, an ambitious fine-dining restaurant from local star chef David Nayfeld in nearby Mission Bay. At the Transamerica Pyramid, another San Francisco skyline landmark that recently underwent a major redevelopment, chef Brad Kilgore is leading a small, mighty culinary empire with the chic Café Sebastian, the creative ice cream and kakigori spot MadLab, and, most recently, the dim, sexy Ama restaurant. Even longtime favorites have cause to celebrate: Chinatown’s fine-dining gem, Mister Jiu’s, turns 10 in 2026—and plans to mark it with an exciting lineup of chef collaborations and alumni reunions.

The city’s recently dormant nightlife is reinvigorated, with an infusion of sultry private clubs, from the new maximalist private club The Bank to the return of Jack’s, a historic downtown restaurant and club closed in 2009, reborn and transformed into a cultural venue and civic salon with a Belle Époque–inspired menu. Another alluring option is Dante’s Inferno, an upcoming immersive multi-venue spot, guaranteed to keep things interesting alongside the reopening of the city’s famed jazz club Bar Deluxe.

Beyond the buzz of new restaurants and late-night spots, San Francisco's creative energy spills into its cultural institutions. The museum landscape soon will welcome the Courage Museum at the Presidio, joining the festive reopening of The Vault, Levis’ museum’s waterfront location that has been closed to the public for years. Fine art lovers can also plan to visit the deYoung Museum, which will welcome a Monet and Venice exhibit in 2026 (from March to July), and SFMOMA, where a show centered on Matisse's Femme au Chapeau (Women With a Hat) will be on display. For accommodations, keep an eye out on the long-awaited reopening of The Huntington Hotel, a storied landmark that closed during the pandemic—set to relaunch under new ownership in March 2026. —Flora Tsapovsky

Read our complete guide to San Francisco here.