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Two Australian destinations, Melbourne and the Northern Territory’s Top End, have been honoured in The New York Times’ annual travel list of the 52 Places to Go in 2026, with auto-centric thrills and a sacred waterfall cited among the reasons to visit this year.
Melbourne was the only state capital to make the list, ranking No.49, with judges noting the city’s well-established culinary chops, along with an upcoming Formula 1 first, as worthy reasons to visit.
“Three decades after Melbourne first hosted the opening event of the Formula One calendar, the city is preparing for another F1 milestone: the debut of a Cadillac squad, the first new team in a decade. The addition is making the Australian Grand Prix (March 5-8) a must-attend event for speed demons from around the globe,” according to The New York Times.
The entry also noted several complementary F1 diversions including the Fox Classic Car Collection in the Queen’s Warehouse, a Porsche & Coffee street festival (March 1), and the striking new Poombeeyt Koontapool blowhole lookout along the Great Ocean Road, a few hours south-west of Melbourne.
Ranking No.14, the Northern Territory’s Top End was praised for its many natural wonders, abundance of Aboriginal rock-art sites, and the reopening of Kakadu National Park’s “crown jewel”, Gunlom Falls, which had been closed for six years due to a legal dispute.
“The area’s traditional owners, the Jawoyn people, won a long battle against an Australian parks agency last year, restoring access to the waterfall and its stunning 550-foot-high (168-metre-high) infinity pool. As a result of a new lease agreement, the traditional owners also now receive 50 per cent of the falls’ commercial revenue, as opposed to the 14 per cent they received before,” the entry read.
As the gateway to the falls, Darwin also received a special mention for its soon-to-open Larrakia Cultural Centre, which explores the history of the Larrakia people. The centre, built at a foot of a sacred Larrakia site overlooking Darwin Harbour, will exhibit Larrakia art, music and artefacts, with interactive spear making, weaving or painting workshops, and is on track for a September launch.
The No.1 spot on the annual New York Times list fell closer to home, with “Revolutionary America” honoured as the United States turns 250, with cities across the country gearing up for major “red, white and blue” celebrations throughout the milestone year.
Filling out the top three was Warsaw (No.2), which welcomed a new Museum of Modern Art at the end of last year, and Bangkok (No.3), praised for its recent efforts in the eco and arts spaces, with many initiatives – including a new green corridor in the city, a new arts hub and sustainable improvements within the transit system – set to benefit visitors.
It’s the second year running Australia has had two entries in the coveted global list. Last year, Sydney ranked No.10, with judges praising its new metro and a promised fish market upgrade (the latter overshot its 2025 completion date, and is now due to open on January 19).
On the opposite side of the country, the entire state of Western Australia came in at No.42, with judges crediting the state’s impressive new WA EV Network, one of the world’s longest connected electric vehicle (EV) charging highways, noting a glut of the natural attractions along the 7000-kilometre stretch between Mundrabilla in the south to Kununurra in the far north.
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