Every place WanderRank ranks

Africa3

• Ethiopia

  East Africa

  Ethiopia has 12th-century churches carved vertically down into solid rock that predate most of Europe's cathedrals.

• Kenya

  East Africa

  Safari that doesn't cost $5,000.

• Morocco

  North Africa

  Morocco is a full sensory overload, in the best way.

Asia16

• Armenia

  Caucasus

  Armenia is one of the world's oldest Christian nations, squeezed between Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Iran, and it has the landscape and monuments to show for 3,000 years of history.

• Cambodia

  Southeast Asia

  Cambodia is Angkor Wat at sunrise plus jungle temples reclaimed by fig trees plus $1 street noodles plus the most welcoming people in Southeast Asia.

• Georgia

  Caucasus

  Georgia (the country) is one of the world's most underrated travel destinations.

• India

  South Asia

  India breaks every traveler open.

• Indonesia (Bali + Beyond)

  Indonesia · Southeast Asia

  Indonesia is 17,000 islands, so you could spend years and never see it all.

• Jordan

  Middle East

  Jordan is one of the easiest countries in the Middle East to travel independently.

• Kyrgyzstan

  Central Asia

  Kyrgyzstan is where the world still runs on horses.

• Laos

  Southeast Asia

  Southeast Asia's most overlooked country.

• Malaysia

  Southeast Asia

  Penang might have the best street food scene on earth.

• Nepal

  South Asia

  Nepal is the world's most spectacular trekking destination.

• Philippines

  Southeast Asia

  7,000+ islands of turquoise water, white sand beaches, and world-class island hopping.

• Sri Lanka

  South Asia

  In the size of Ireland, Sri Lanka packs ancient temples, wild elephants, highland tea plantations, and some of the world's best surf.

• Taiwan

  East Asia

  The most underrated island in Asia.

• Thailand

  Southeast Asia

  The classic SE Asia trip done right.

• Uzbekistan

  Central Asia

  The Silk Road is not a myth.

• Vietnam

  Southeast Asia

  Vietnam remains one of the world's greatest backpacker destinations: impossibly photogenic landscapes, a legendary food culture built for street eating, one of the best north-to-south overland routes anywhere, and hostels that cost less than a coffee in Atlanta.

Central America4

• Costa Rica

  Central America

  Costa Rica pioneered ecotourism for a reason.

• El Salvador

  Central America

  El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and its most underrated.

• Guatemala

  Central America

  Guatemala punches wildly above its weight.

• Nicaragua

  Central America

  Nicaragua is Central America's most underrated destination: cheaper than Costa Rica, wilder than Guatemala, and almost entirely off the backpacker radar.

Europe9

• Albania

  Balkans

  Albania is Europe's last great secret.

• Bosnia & Herzegovina

  Balkans

  Bosnia hits different.

• Bulgaria

  Eastern Europe

  Bulgaria is one of the cheapest countries in the EU and one of the most underrated in Europe.

• Hungary

  Central Europe

  Budapest is the hostel capital of Europe, and for good reason.

• Montenegro

  Balkans

  Montenegro fits an extraordinary amount into a tiny country.

• North Macedonia

  Balkans

  Most people can't find North Macedonia on a map.

• Portugal

  Western Europe

  Portugal consistently ranks as one of Europe's best-value destinations, and it actually delivers.

• Romania

  Eastern Europe

  Romania is what the rest of Eastern Europe was before tourists arrived.

• Serbia

  Balkans

  Serbia is the Balkans without the tourist tax.

North America2

• Oaxaca, Mexico

  Mexico

  Oaxaca is Mexico's cultural crown jewel: a colonial city surrounded by indigenous villages, ancient ruins, stunning mezcal distilleries, and one of the most celebrated food cultures in the world.

• Puerto Rico

  Puerto Rico (US Territory) · Caribbean

  Puerto Rico is the adventure traveler's Caribbean: no passport required for US citizens, Old San Juan's colorful colonial streets, bioluminescent bays that glow electric blue at night, El Yunque rainforest, and beach camping that most tourists never find.

South America4

• Bolivia

  Andes

  Bolivia is South America at full volume: the world's largest salt flat, mountain bike runs down the Death Road, markets where locals wear bowler hats, and a capital city at 11,000 feet that takes your breath away.

• Colombia

  South America

  Colombia has completely rewritten its story.

• Ecuador

  South America

  Ecuador is possibly the most geographically diverse country on earth per square mile: Amazon jungle, Andean volcanoes, Pacific coast, and the Galápagos Islands, all within hours of each other.

• Peru

  South America

  Peru is one of the most ambitious adventure destinations on earth.

US road trips28

Drive instead of fly: campsites, drive times and daily costs for when flights eat the budget.

• Acadia National Park

  ME · National park · New England

  The only national park in New England.

• Arches & Canyonlands Loop

  UT · Scenic drive · Mountain West

  Mars on Earth.

• Beartooth Highway & Gallatin NF

  MT/WY · Scenic drive · Mountain West

  The Beartooth Highway climbs to nearly 11,000 ft past alpine lakes and tundra, then drops to Yellowstone's northeast entrance.

• Big Bend Area & Chihuahuan Desert

  TX · Wilderness · Southwest

  The most remote place in the lower 48.

• Big Sur

  CA · Scenic drive · West Coast

  The most dramatic coastal drive in North America.

• Black Hills & Badlands Loop

  SD · Scenic drive · Great Plains

  Mount Rushmore is the least interesting thing here.

• Black Rock Desert BLM

  NV · Wilderness · Great Basin

  About 200 square miles of flat BLM playa, one of the largest flat surfaces in North America.

• Blue Ridge Parkway

  NC/VA · Scenic drive · Southeast

  America's most scenic drive.

• Bonneville Salt Flats & BLM West Desert

  UT · Wilderness · Mountain West

  A cosmic, other-worldly landscape unlike anywhere in America.

• Boundary Waters & Superior NF

  MN · National forest · Midwest

  One million acres of interconnected lakes and boreal forest on the US-Canada border.

• Congaree National Park

  SC · National park · Southeast

  The largest intact expanse of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the southeastern US.

• Cumberland Island

  GA · Wilderness · Southeast

  Georgia's barrier island wilderness where wild horses roam Gilded Age mansion ruins and 18 miles of empty Atlantic beach.

• Deschutes NF & Cascade Lakes

  OR · National forest · Pacific Northwest

  Oregon's volcanic Cascade Range at its best.

• Gila NF & Gila Wilderness

  NM · National forest · Southwest

  America's first designated wilderness.

• Great Smoky Mountains

  TN/NC · National park · Southeast

  The most-visited national park in the US and somehow still wild.

• Gulf Islands & Gulf Shores

  AL/FL · Scenic region · Southeast

  The whitest sand beaches in the US at some of the most accessible prices.

• Joshua Tree National Park

  CA · National park · Southwest

  Two deserts collide in one park: the Mojave and Colorado.

• Natchez Trace Parkway

  MS/AL/TN · Scenic drive · Southeast

  A 444-mile two-lane parkway tracing a Native American trade route used for 8,000 years.

• North Georgia Mountains

  GA · Scenic region · Southeast

  WanderRank's top underrated domestic pick for ATL locals.

• Olympic National Park

  WA · National park · Pacific Northwest

  The most ecologically diverse national park in the US: active glacier mountains, temperate rainforest, and 73 miles of wild Pacific coastline in one loop.

• Ozark National Forest & Buffalo River

  AR · Wilderness · South-Central

  The most underrated wilderness in the South.

• Pictured Rocks & Hiawatha NF

  MI · National forest · Midwest

  The most dramatic shoreline east of the Rockies.

• Pisgah National Forest

  NC · Wilderness · Southeast

  North Carolina's adventure playground tucked against the Blue Ridge.

• Rocky Mountain National Park

  CO · National park · Mountain West

  Elk herds, tundra above 12,000 ft, and Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in the US.

• San Juan Mountains & Rio Grande NF

  CO · National forest · Mountain West

  More than a dozen fourteeners, the Million Dollar Highway, and old mining towns like Silverton and Ouray, with free dispersed camping in the forests.

• Sawtooth NF & Stanley Basin

  ID · National forest · Pacific Northwest

  Idaho's most spectacular wilderness: mountains that look like the Tetons or Dolomites but with zero crowds.

• Shenandoah National Park

  VA · National park · Mid-Atlantic

  Skyline Drive follows the Blue Ridge spine for 105 miles, with 75+ overlooks and Appalachian Trail access at every turn.

• Shoshone NF & Wapiti Valley

  WY · National forest · Mountain West

  America's first national forest and the backdoor to Yellowstone.