Stunning Minnesota Region Now Sits On World’s Best Places List

Every year, travelers around the globe wrestle with the same question: where should we go next?

Lonely Planet tackles that question for the rest of us with its annual Best in Travel list, and the 2027 edition just arrived with 50 destinations spread across every continent, Antarctica included.

What sets this list apart is how it gets built. It isn't pulled from online star ratings or travel-site rankings.

Lonely Planet says every pick was compiled from experience. Its writers and editors visited each place in person and came back wanting everyone else to go.

Why Lonely Planet's Opinion Carries So Much Weight

If you've ever wandered the travel aisle of a bookstore, you've seen the name. Lonely Planet began in 1973, when newlyweds Tony and Maureen Wheeler arrived in Australia after a six-month overland trip across Asia with 27 cents between them.

They turned that journey into a homemade guidebook called Across Asia on the Cheap, and a travel empire was born.

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In the five decades since, Lonely Planet guides have sold more than 150 million copies, and the company grew into the world's largest independent guidebook publisher before the Wheelers sold it.

Today it's still one of the most recognized names in travel, with guidebooks, a website and an app that millions of people use to decide where to go next.

That reach is why the annual Best in Travel list matters. When Lonely Planet tells the world a place deserves a visit, travelers listen, and the attention often turns into new visitors and bookings for the communities that make the cut.

Only One Midwest Destination Made The World List

When the final 50 were set, only seven were in the United States: New Mexico, Maryland, Miami, Alaska, Rose Island in Rhode Island, the Redwoods in California, and a single pick from the Midwest. That one Midwest spot is northeastern Minnesota.

That means no Chicago and nothing from Wisconsin. Out of the whole heartland, the stretch from Duluth up the North Shore to the Boundary Waters is the one that landed on the same list as the Galápagos Islands, Italy's Aeolian Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.

Why Lonely Planet Fell For The North Shore

The Minnesota entry carries the tagline "Best for Lake Superior detours." Writer Bailey Freeman describes a place where the North Woods and the big lake meet on a massive scale.

She calls the North Shore drive a chance to slow down and take in everything that has shaped the region, from Indigenous and immigrant history to outdoor adventure and some of the wildest country left in America.

Freeman also wrote a companion guide to the best road trips in Minnesota. In it, she says driving the North Shore in early October is one of her all-time favorite trips, thanks to the fall color, comfortable weather, and the freedom to pull over for a view or a bakery. In other words, she's describing it right now.

The North Shore By The Numbers

The route at the center of all this is the North Shore Scenic Drive, Highway 61. It runs 154 miles from Canal Park in Duluth to the Canadian border at Grand Portage. It's also Minnesota's only All-American Road, the highest rank in the federal scenic byways program.

Along the way, travelers pass eight state parks, the 1910 Split Rock Lighthouse, and Minnesota's biggest waterfalls at Grand Portage and Tettegouche State Park. And that's before you even reach the canoe country.

At the top of the map sits the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which covers about 1 million acres with more than 1,100 lakes and 1,200 miles of canoe routes.

It draws so many paddlers that it's often called one of the most visited wilderness areas in the country.

A Global Spotlight In The Middle Of A Local Debate

The recognition comes while the region's future is being debated. In April, Congress approved a resolution that would allow sulfide mining near the Boundary Waters.

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In August, Governor Tim Walz signed an executive order blocking it, though that order is set to expire 90 days after he leaves office.

Supporters see mining as an economic lifeline for the Iron Range, while environmental groups warn the damage could be permanent. However people land on that question, one thing is certain: the rest of the world has now been told this corner of Minnesota is worth seeing.

The Best Place To Go In 2027 Might Be A Tank Of Gas Away

People will fly halfway around the world for the places on this list. For millions of Minnesotans and Wisconsinites, one of them is a weekend drive.

SEE NOW: 8 Cities In Minnesota Now Rank Among The Best Places To Live In America

So maybe 2027 is the year to stop scrolling past those Lake Superior sunrise photos and go see what the rest of the world is talking about. Pack the camera and stop at every overlook.

Lonely Planet's 50 Best Places To Go In 2027

Here is the full list. You can read each destination's write-up on Lonely Planet's Best in Travel page.

• Red Centre, Australia
• The Veneto, Italy
• New Mexico, USA
• Prince Edward Island, Canada
• Astana, Kazakhstan
• Bariloche and the Lake District, Argentina
• Skanör-Falsterbo, Sweden
• Montserrat, Caribbean
• Killary Fjord, Ireland
• Granada, Nicaragua
• Dunedin and Waitaki, New Zealand
• Tsavo East and West National Parks, Kenya
• Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
• León, Spain
• Bocas del Toro, Panama
• Maryland, USA
• Oman
• Québec, Canada
• Darjeeling, India
• Chengdu, China
• Okinawa, Japan
• Danang, Vietnam
• Fulidhoo, Maldives
• Miami, Florida, USA
• Gujarat, India
• Dessau, Germany
• New Caledonia, South Pacific
• The Tweed, Australia
• Samoa, South Pacific
• Rabat, Morocco
• São Tomé and Príncipe, Africa
• Alaska, USA
• Tōhoku, Japan
• The Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
• Monteverde, Costa Rica
• Route de Napoléon, France
• Rose Island, Rhode Island, USA
• Šibenik, Croatia
• St Cuthbert's Way, United Kingdom
• Aegean Sea, Greece
• Redwood Parks, California, USA
• Gombe National Park, Tanzania
• Abu Dhabi, UAE
• Northeastern Minnesota, USA
• Aeolian Islands, Italy
• Batang Ai National Park, Malaysia
• Taiwan
• French Polynesia, South Pacific