Alberta named a top travel destination in the world in 2026
Alberta just made its mark on the world’s travel radar once again, earning a spot on a popular magazine’s list of top travel destinations.
Travel + Leisure named Alberta as a top destination in its ranking of the 50 best places to travel in 2026.
The magazine breaks the rankings up into seven categories: food and drink, big city thrills, moments on the water, cultural immersion, adventurous travellers, beach vibes, and nature lovers.
The ranking comes from Travel + Leisure staff’s first-person experiences, travel-world insiders, and Travel + Leisure A-List members.
Alberta fell into the nature lovers category. “The epic peaks of the Canadian Rockies, the hallucinatory blue of Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, and amazing wildlife, including bison, grizzlies, and elk: Alberta has long been a place full of majestic natural beauty,” the magazine described.Â
It also noted some new developments coming to the province, like The Rimrock Resort Hotel’s transformation in Banff, the new Basin Glacial Waters at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Calgary’s Glenbow Museum renovation efforts, and Jasper’s bounce back after the devastating wildfires in 2024.Â
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The fly fishing is world-class, and the mountain-bike scene has come leaps and bounds,” said Kevin Jackson, a Travel + Leisure travel advisor, in the ranking.  Â
Alberta was the only Canadian destination to make the ranking across all of the categories. Guatemala, New Zealand, and Salt Lake City were some of the other destinations in the nature lovers category.Â
Alberta definitely isn’t a stranger to the spotlight. Earlier this year, the province was also named a top travel destination by National Geographic.Â
You can view the full Travel + Leisure ranking online.