21 Best Places to Go in 2021

Here is a list of the 21 best places to head to in 2021:

- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s profile has risen in recent years. The introduction of an e-visa in late 2017, which made it easier to visit, boosted tourism by 48.6 percent, while Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed caught the world’s attention when he was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. But even as visitors flocked to Ethiopia’s nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, its historic capital city remained a mere stopover. Green spaces in the city were nonexistent and outdoor activities sparse—until now.

- Angola

This is the year to get as far-flung as possible and really push your travel limits. Legendary adventurer and MT Sobek cofounder Richard Bangs is just the guy to help you do it. In June, Bangs will lead the adventure outfitter’s first nine-day trek into one of the world’s most remote biospheres: the Angolan wedge of the UNESCO-listed Okavango Delta. Despite beginning and ending in neighbouring Botswana, which draws eight times as many international visitors, this rare excursion explores oft-overlooked Angola via scenic helicopter tours, exhilarating boat safaris, and four-by-four game drives.

- Bermuda

The British Empire’s colonization of Bermuda in 1684 still lingers today, from the sherbet-coloured Bermuda shorts and knee-length socks to passionate conversations about cricket over rum swizzle. But there's an increasing number of experiences that speak to the diasporic history of the island and celebrate Bermuda’s Black culture, with new initiatives focusing on Black travellers. An online hub spotlights Black entrepreneurs, including street art tours and restaurants like Art Mels Spicy Dicy, and island-wide itineraries and historic stops along the African Diaspora Heritage Trail.

- Chiapas, Mexico

Just across the border from Guatemala, the Mexican state of Chiapas is full of lush, mountainous highlands, which house nearly a dozen significant Mayan archaeological sites (the ancient ruins of Palenque date back to 266 B.C.). In its towns, like San Cristóbal de la Casas and Palenque (near the archaeological site), you’ll overhear ancient languages and taste centuries-old dishes made with Indigenous ingredients, like tamales with chipilín, a leafy green. In the San Juan de Chamula church, visitors are invited to participate in drinking ceremonies featuring the spirit known as pox (pronounced “posh”), used by the Mayans to connect with the underworld, preserved by the Tzotzil people, and now trending throughout Mexico.

- Coastal England

Craggy cliffs, fossil-strewn beaches, and picturesque port towns have long lured artists, writers, and explorers to England’s shores. In 2021, tracing the wild, windswept coastline will be easier than ever when the final segments of the 2,717-mile-long England Coast Path connect, forming the world’s longest continuous coastal path.

- Ghana

In 2019, heritage travellers streamed into Ghana during the Year of Return initiative, which featured large music and art festivals like Afrochella, meant to inspire the diaspora to reconnect with the West African country and their ancestors by planning a trip.

- Healdsburg, California

After another season of destructive wildfires, California’s wine country could use some support as it rebounds. Head to Healdsburg, a hamlet in the heart of Sonoma County known for its small-town charm and world-class food and wine. The place to stay is Montage Healdsburg (pictured), a just-opened retreat on 250 acres of vineyards and oak tree groves. Most of the bungalows feature outdoor living spaces, including firepits, with forest, vineyard, or Mayacama mountain views. Wunderkind winemaker Jesse Katz oversees the vineyards, and guests will be plenty busy between the massive spa, three restaurants, infinity pool, and apiary. Looking ahead, 450 hazelnut trees have been planted for future truffle hunting with the resort’s adorable Lagotto Romagnolo pooch.

- Hokianga, New Zealand

New Zealand has done a phenomenal job convincing travellers that its natural beauty and outdoor adventures are worth an ultra-long-haul plane ride. It’s true, but this always seemed to come at the expense of spotlighting the nation’s history or culture. That’s set to change in 2021. The multimillion-dollar Manea opens this December and tells the story of Kupe—the great Polynesian explorer acknowledged as the first person to happen upon the land—and the 1,000 years of Maori history that followed. Its location is close to the spot where Kupe is said to have run ashore, in the northern township of Hokianga at the tip of the North Island. All employees at the interactive museum are local Maori who traces their lineage to Kupe himself.

- Indianapolis

Indianapolis is also set to debut one of its most anticipated projects: a multi-use neighbourhood in the northeast called the Bottleworks District, so named for the Coca-Cola bottling plant that occupied the area from 1920 to 1969. The $300 million development, which will include a mix of restored Art Deco architecture and new construction, kicks off this December with the opening of the 139-room Bottleworks Hotel, featuring a lobby with restored terrazzo floors, plaster detailing, and brass Art Deco–patterned doors, plus a front desk that stands where the building’s filler-machine room once did. In early 2021, The Garage food hall will open with two dozen local vendors, including a taproom for craft beer makers Daredevil Brewing Co. and a revival of La Chinita Poblana, a beloved Asian-fusion taco spot, followed by an independent movie theatre.

- Italy

Italy, once the European epicentre of the virus, is expected to lose 100 billion euros in travel in 2020—and already the country is gearing up for a rebound in 2021. Grand openings like Rocco Forte’s Igiea in Palermo and the trendy Hoxton in Rome’s Salario district mean cities will have new places to stay for those raring to come back. But given Italy’s perennial popularity, seeking out quieter corners may be the way to go in the new year. Take central Umbria: Known for its charming towns like Assisi and Perugia, the green heart of Italy is getting its first truly five-star place to stay when Castello di Reschio (pictured), an estate already filled with custom-designed second homes for some of the world’s most discerning travellers, opens a hotel for the public inside its namesake 1,000-year old castle.

- Kyoto, Japan

The Japanese government expected 40 million travellers to flood across its islands for the 2020 Olympics, and its tourism industry responded accordingly. The Games’ postponement led to a lot of shiny new hotel rooms and train routes going underused, but that investment means there has never been more reason to visit Japan in 2021, whether you have tickets to the Games or not. Openings happened country-wide, from the ski slopes of Hokkaido to the beaches of Okinawa, but the historic prior capital of Kyoto gets our vote for where to head now.

- Maine

At a time when many of us are seeking some solitude and natural wonder, Maine, with its rugged coastline and charming port towns, is an easy sell. The crown jewel of that coastline, Acadia National Park, will be home to the newest offering from luxe camping pioneer Under Canvas. The 100-acre oceanfront “glampsite” will open in May 2021 with 62 plush tents, serving as a base camp for guests who want to hike, pick blueberries, or charter their own personal lobster boat. The park itself will debut a car reservation system. This seemingly minor improvement will drastically tamp down on snarled summer traffic and make accessing the 120-miles of trails a significantly more pleasant experience.

- New York City

New York City drew an estimated 67 million tourists in 2019, but as an early COVID-19 epicentre, it saw only a fraction of that in 2020. Without that revenue, the hospitality industry is struggling—a recent survey revealed that up to 60 percent of the city’s restaurants could close by 2021. That’s why New York has earned a place on this list. In order for one of the world’s greatest cities to bounce back and flourish, it needs visitors to return.

- Nova Scotia, Canada

Sea stacks, volcanic headlands, and the world’s biggest tides give this compact Atlantic province a mythic feel, as do Mi’kmaq legends about Kluscap, a hero who is said to have created Nova Scotia’s rocky coastline. As of 2020, his stomping grounds—the 102-mile-long Cliffs of Fundy—are now designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark where travellers can explore the lore. Various sites in the park highlight moments of natural and cultural significance and organize a few hundred million years of history into a tempting road trip, best done over three days: Start with Mi’kmawey Debert, the earliest known settlement in eastern North America, then follow the coast westward to a wave-battered spot at Squally Point.

- Oslo

In Norway’s oil-rich capital, the skyline is changing so rapidly that you might suspect Frozen’s ice-castle-raising Nordic queen, Elsa, is behind the construction boom. Much of the action is centred around the former container port of Bj?rvika, which began its transformation with the 2008 opening of the Sn?hetta-designed Oslo Opera House and welcomed the airy Deichman Bj?rvika library in June. In 2021, the developments are all about art. First up is the 13-story Munch Museum, which opens this spring as one of the largest single-artist museums in the world, while farther west along the waterfront the reimagined National Museum will debut in a nearly 600,000-square-foot building—the largest museum in the Nordic world.

- The Pantanal

A visit to the Pantanal has never felt more urgent. The world’s largest floodplain, which stretches across parts of southeastern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia, was home to land-clearing fires this summer, an annual occurrence in recent years. A jarring 10 percent of the total wetlands burned this year, devastation that made many Americans aware for the first time of the remarkable habitat, too long overlooked.

- Riviera Nayarit, Mexico

“Many of the resort towns in Mexico were designed as tourism destinations,” says Zachary Rabinor of Journey Mexico. But that’s not the case with the Riviera Nayarit, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, where new resorts coexist with and incorporate, a thriving local culture and population. “The Riviera Nayarit has a long history of Indigenous cultures that evolved into vibrant modern-day fishing, farming, and mining villages.” One such town, the ancient island of Mexcaltitán, just earned recognition as a Pueblo Mágico (an area of preserved cultural heritage), joining the surf town of Sayulita in the distinction.

- Southern Vietnam

Few places handled the threat of the coronavirus as swiftly or efficiently as Vietnam, whose sensible early closure of the borders kept infection and death rates remarkably low. The Southeast Asian nation is slowly reopening to international travellers, with the same degree of care and planning as it put into its closing, and revealing a few new reasons to visit. In the southern province of Phu Yen, serviced by the Tuy Hoa Airport, Belgian scene-setting hotel brand Zannier opens its Bai San Ho resort (pictured) in December with 71 freestanding villas, all modelled after the tribal architecture of the area.

- Tasmania, Australia

After closing its borders early on in the pandemic, the island of Tasmania will reopen to international travellers in 2021—and there are plenty of compelling reasons to visit this lesser-known Australian destination. Travellers can explore the wilds of Freycinet National Park on a new walking tour developed by outfitter Experiential Tasmania. Departing from the ultra-sustainable Freycinet Lodge, the five-mile trek traverses the coastal forest buzzing with wallabies and pademelons, the turquoise waters of Wineglass Bay, and crowd-free white-sand beaches deep in the park.

- Tulsa

It’s been 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, and much of America is only now learning about this dark chapter of American history, through recent depictions in the HBO series Watchmen and Lovecraft Country. On the night of May 31, 1921, and into the next day, white mobs attacked the Black residents of the Greenwood District and burned Black Wall Street—one of the nation’s wealthiest Black neighbourhoods at the time—to the ground.

- Winnipeg, Canada

When Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Qaumajuq opens in February, it will create a bridge between Southern Manitoba and Inuit communities across the Arctic. The sinuous building will hold the world’s largest collection of Inuit art—around 12,000 pieces ranging from carvings and prints to textiles. More than a museum, it’s a new, vital space where Inuit voices take center stage.

Best regards,

Kris

Original Article: https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-places-to-go-in-2021

*Scotia Capital Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. Wealth advisory and brokerage services are provided by ScotiaMcLeaod, a division of Scotia Capital Inc. For more information visit www.scotiawealthmanagement.com. ScotiaMcLeod does not endorse or promote any products or services on "Visioning Canada" or "Capital Market Update" which are hosted by Jensen Investment Management which is a personal trade name of Kristofer Jensen, Kaelan Jensen and Taytum Jensen.*