The 15 Most Underrated Travel Destinations

01

Albania Mediterranean Europe

Where Greece Was Twenty Years Ago

The Albanian Riviera runs along the Ionian Sea from Vlorë to Sarandë, and the comparison to Greece thirty years ago has become a cliché because it happens to be accurate. Ksamil's pebble beaches sit ten minutes by boat from the Greek island of Corfu. Himarë has the same translucent water as Paxos at a third of the price. Infrastructure has improved meaningfully since 2020 — boutique hotels along the coast, EU-funded road improvements, direct flights from London Stansted to Tirana on Wizz Air. The country joined NATO years ago and EU accession negotiations are advancing. Albania in 2026 is at the moment when the secret stops being a secret.

Best in June or September

Best for First-timers to the Balkans

Find boutique stays along the Albanian Riviera via Plum Guide →

02

Madeira Atlantic Portugal

Atlantic Terraces, Year-Round Seventy Degrees

A volcanic island off the coast of Morocco that belongs to Portugal, Madeira has been quietly building a reputation as Europe's most consistent year-round climate. The interior is mountainous, terraced, and covered in laurel forest that holds UNESCO World Heritage status. The coast drops in dramatic cliffs into the Atlantic. Funchal, the capital, has a working fish market, a serious restaurant scene, and a botanical garden that justifies the trip alone. The levadas — ancient irrigation channels — function as hiking trails that traverse the island at gentle gradients. The pace is slow, the light is Mediterranean, and the pricing is Portuguese rather than Mediterranean.

Best in November through April

Best for Winter sun without the Caribbean flight

Find clifftop villas in Madeira via Plum Guide →

03

Slovenia Central Europe

Lake Bled Is Just the Entry Point

Most travellers know Slovenia through one photograph: the church on the island in Lake Bled. The country deserves more than that single frame. Ljubljana is one of the most walkable capitals in Europe, with Plečnik's architecture, river-side cafés, and the castle on the hill. The Julian Alps offer skiing at Vogel that's quieter and meaningfully cheaper than Austria or Switzerland. The Karst region produces some of Europe's most distinctive wines and the over-engineered cave systems at Postojna and Škocjan. The coast runs sixty kilometres of Adriatic with Piran as a Venetian town that doesn't feel like one. Slovenia gives you the Alps, the Mediterranean, and Central European refinement in a country smaller than New Jersey.

Best in May through September

Best for Travellers who want everything in one country

Find lakeside villas in Slovenia via Plum Guide →

04

Uzbekistan Central Asia

The Silk Road, Photographed

Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva are some of the most photogenic cities in the world, and outside the points-and-miles community they remain essentially unknown to most Western luxury travellers. The Registan square in Samarkand — three madrasas facing each other across a courtyard, each fronted with the blue Persian tilework that became the visual signature of Central Asian Islamic architecture — is the kind of place where the photograph cannot do justice. The country has invested meaningfully in tourism infrastructure since 2018: visa-free entry for most Western passport holders, new direct flights to Tashkent, hotel-grade accommodation in the historic cities. The food draws from Persian, Turkish, and Chinese traditions. Most travellers cover the three signature cities in a week.

Best in March-May or September-October

Best for Architecture and culture-led trips

Plan a private charter for the Silk Road circuit via JetLuxe →

05

Colombia South America

Cartagena, Medellín, and the Coffee Axis

Colombia in 2026 is past the security-narrative moment that defined its tourism story for two decades. Cartagena's walled old city is one of the best-preserved colonial centres in the Americas. Medellín has transformed into a design-forward city with a temperate climate that justifies the 'city of eternal spring' tagline. The Coffee Axis — Quindío, Risaralda, and Caldas — produces world-class arabica on dramatic mountainous farms that increasingly welcome guests for harvest-season stays. Cartagena's beach scene at Barú and the Rosario Islands is an underrated Caribbean alternative to Tulum. The pace is Colombian, the prices are Latin American, and the food is exceptional.

Best in December through March

Best for Couples seeking Latin warmth with city culture

Find villa rentals in Cartagena via Plum Guide →

06

Oman Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula's Quiet Capital

Oman is what the Gulf countries were before oil money rebuilt them. Muscat is a city of low-rise white buildings, mountain backdrop, and a coast that runs from urban beach to remote bay within an hour's drive. The interior holds the Wahiba Sands desert, the Hajar mountains with their wadi swimming holes, and Nizwa with its weekly goat market and seventeenth-century fort. Salalah in the south has a tropical monsoon that turns the landscape green from June to September — the khareef, unique on the Arabian Peninsula. Six Senses Zighy Bay and Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar deliver the luxury infrastructure that makes Oman accessible for travellers who want substantial comfort with the cultural depth Dubai no longer provides.

Best in November through March

Best for Adventure travel with luxury infrastructure

Plan a private charter to Muscat via JetLuxe →

07

Georgia The Caucasus

Wine, Mountains, and a City That Surprises

Georgia produces wine, has done for eight thousand years according to the archaeological record, and treats it with a seriousness that Italy and France would recognise. Tbilisi is one of the most distinctive capitals in the Caucasus — old town balconies, sulfur baths, modern art galleries in repurposed Soviet buildings, restaurants that serve the country's distinctive cuisine (khachapuri, khinkali, chakhokhbili) at prices that make Europe feel expensive. Kazbegi, three hours north, sits beneath the 5,000-metre Mount Kazbek with the Gergeti Trinity Church on a ridge that overlooks the valley. The wine country in Kakheti produces qvevri-fermented wines in clay vessels buried underground. Travellers arrive thinking 'weekend break' and leave wondering why it took them so long.

Best in May through October

Best for Food and wine-led travel

Find boutique stays in Tbilisi via Plum Guide →

08

Faroe Islands North Atlantic

Where Iceland Tourism Went Next

The Faroe Islands are eighteen volcanic islands in the North Atlantic, halfway between Iceland and Norway, with grass-roofed houses, dramatic green cliffs, and waterfalls that drop directly into the sea. The population is fifty-four thousand. The infrastructure is Scandinavian-quality. The food scene is anchored by Koks, the two-Michelin-star restaurant that helped put the islands on the gastronomic map. The signature views — the church at Saksun, the village of Gjógv, the Múlafossur waterfall at Gásadalur — are accessible by rental car within days. Direct flights from London, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, and Reykjavik make access straightforward. The weather is unreliable, which is part of the point.

Best in May through September

Best for Travellers tired of crowded Iceland

Plan a private charter to the Faroe Islands via JetLuxe →

09

Réunion Indian Ocean

Volcanic France in the Indian Ocean

Réunion is a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius, and remains essentially invisible to non-French luxury travellers despite a landscape that justifies serious attention. The Piton de la Fournaise is one of the world's most active and accessible volcanoes. The Cirque de Mafate is a caldera with no road access — villages within are reached only by foot or helicopter. The marine reserve runs along the western coast. The food is Creole, French, Indian, and Chinese in equal measure. Direct flights from Paris connect Réunion to Europe in eleven hours; from Mauritius the connection is forty minutes. The infrastructure is French, the prices are euro-zone, and the experience is genuinely different from any other Indian Ocean island.

Best in April through November

Best for Combining with Mauritius or Madagascar

Plan a private charter from Mauritius to Réunion via JetLuxe →

10

Namibia Southern Africa

The Desert As Primary Destination

Namibia is the country where the desert is the point. The Sossusvlei dunes at Dead Vlei are the most photographed but the country offers far more — the Skeleton Coast with its shipwrecks and seal colonies, Damaraland's rock paintings and desert-adapted elephants, Etosha National Park's pan-rim wildlife concentration, the Quiver Tree Forest, Spitzkoppe's granite formations. The infrastructure is German-influenced (Namibia was a German colony before 1915), the roads are good, and the camps run by Wilderness Safaris, andBeyond, and Natural Selection are excellent. Self-drive is genuinely viable for travellers prepared for the distances, which sets Namibia apart from most African destinations.

Best in May through October

Best for Self-drive Africa first-timers

Get medical and evacuation cover for Namibia via SafetyWing →

11

Bhutan Himalayas

The Country That Measures Gross National Happiness

Bhutan is the Himalayan kingdom that limits tourist numbers via a daily Sustainable Development Fee — currently US$100 per visitor per day in 2026, reduced from the post-pandemic level of $200. The country has no traffic lights in the capital, requires architectural traditions across new construction, and orients national policy around the Gross National Happiness Index rather than GDP. The Tiger's Nest Monastery — clinging to a cliff face at 3,120 metres above the Paro valley — is the signature image. The dzongs (fortress-monasteries) at Punakha, Thimphu, and Paro frame the cultural journey. Six Senses, Aman, and the new Six Senses Bhutan circuit provide luxury infrastructure that's only emerged in the last decade.

Best in March-May or September-November

Best for Slow, cultural luxury travel

Plan a private charter to Paro via JetLuxe →

12

Sri Lanka South Asia

The Island Where Culture, Beach, and Tea Coexist

Sri Lanka has rebuilt tourism infrastructure substantially since the 2022 economic crisis. The country compresses an enormous range into a single island: Colombo's restaurant scene, the cultural triangle of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Sigiriya, the hill country tea estates around Nuwara Eliya and Ella, the southern beaches at Mirissa, Tangalle, and Weligama, plus the safari concentration at Yala. Direct flights from London and Doha to Colombo make access reasonable. Boutique tea-estate stays and beachfront villas deliver luxury without overpricing. The food draws from South Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial influences.

Best in November through April (south and west)

Best for Two-week culture and beach combinations

Find tea estate stays and beach villas in Sri Lanka via Plum Guide →

13

Kyrgyzstan Central Asia

Central Asia at High Altitude

Kyrgyzstan is the country where the Soviet Union stopped and the high Tien Shan mountains begin. Most of the country sits above 1,500 metres. Yurt camps at Song-Kul lake, multi-day horse treks through the mountains, the Kel-Suu canyon's turquoise water below sheer cliff faces, the bazaars at Osh and Bishkek — Kyrgyzstan offers a Central Asian experience that's more rugged than Uzbekistan and more accessible than Tajikistan. The visa regime is liberal for Western passports. Flights route through Istanbul, Doha, or Almaty. This is travel for people willing to trade comfort for landscapes that almost nobody else has photographed yet.

Best in June through September

Best for Adventure travellers ready for remote

Get adventure medical cover for the Tien Shan via SafetyWing →

14

Azores Mid-Atlantic

The Atlantic's Hawaii, Owned by Portugal

The Azores are nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, an autonomous region of Portugal at the same latitude as Lisbon. São Miguel, the largest island, has the Sete Cidades twin crater lakes, hot springs at Furnas, tea plantations (the only commercial tea grown in Europe), and a coastline of black sand beaches and dramatic cliffs. Pico Island has Europe's third-highest volcano. Flores and Corvo are the westernmost points in Europe. Direct flights from Lisbon, London, and Boston make access surprisingly easy. Whale watching in the islands' waters is among the best in the Atlantic. The pace is Portuguese, the climate moderate year-round.

Best in May through October

Best for Active outdoor travel without the long-haul

Find island villas in the Azores via Plum Guide →

15

Jordan Middle East

Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea in One Country

Jordan is small enough to traverse in a week and dense enough to justify the trip. Petra remains the headline — the rose-red Nabataean city carved into sandstone cliffs, with the Treasury façade as the photograph everyone has seen and the Monastery up the eight hundred steps that fewer people reach. Wadi Rum's red desert with its arched rock formations was Lawrence of Arabia's country and is now film-makers' Mars. The Dead Sea allows the lowest point on Earth to be experienced as a swim. Amman has a developing restaurant scene and a Roman amphitheatre. The political situation in the region requires monitoring but Jordan itself has remained stable through the broader regional disruption.

Best in March-May or September-November

Best for Culture, desert, and history in one trip

Plan a private charter from Europe to Amman via JetLuxe →

The 15 Most Underrated Travel Destinations for 2026

Where Greece Was Twenty Years Ago

Atlantic Terraces, Year-Round Seventy Degrees

Lake Bled Is Just the Entry Point

The Silk Road, Photographed

Cartagena, Medellín, and the Coffee Axis

The Arabian Peninsula's Quiet Capital

Wine, Mountains, and a City That Surprises

Where Iceland Tourism Went Next

Volcanic France in the Indian Ocean

The Desert As Primary Destination

The Country That Measures Gross National Happiness

The Island Where Culture, Beach, and Tea Coexist

Central Asia at High Altitude

The Atlantic's Hawaii, Owned by Portugal

Petra, Wadi Rum, and the Dead Sea in One Country

The destinations that didn't make this list, and why

Several of these destinations are best paired.

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