January blues got you down? There’s only one thing for it: booking a trip to give you something to look forward to later in the year. There’s a reason Jan is prime travel sale season (find all the best deals here) but where should you go?
Out to inspire travellers is Rough Guides, which has published its list of the planet’s top 2026 places to visit in 2026. To come up with its list, the travel publication scoured 30,000 trip enquiries sent to its travel experts. And, for Brits, one of the places is very close to home.
At number 22 in the ranking, sandwiched between the world’s oldest desert in Namibia and Provence’s lavender fields, was the Scottish Highlands.
Rough Guides called the Highlands ‘Europe’s last wilderness’, saying that the region is ‘one of the few places in Europe where you can drive for miles and barely see another car’. RG added that Highland landscapes ‘feel unchanged even as the rest of Europe grows busier’.
In picking out the top things to see and do in the Highlands, Rough Guides suggests several of the area’s best-known attractions. Walking Skye’s Quiraing at sunrise, paddleboarding at Loch Shiel, distillery-hopping by bike on Islay and joining a ceilidh in Ullapool were all shouted out, as was the NC500 – though visitors should be wary on the famous scenic road, which has struggled with overtourism in recent years.
You can read more about Rough Guides’ full list of the 26 best places to visit in the world in 2026 here.
For more trip inspo: I went on a road trip through the Highlands and discovered a food-lover’s paradise.
Plus: the best things to do on the Isle of Skye.
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