It’s official – according to KAYAK’s ‘What The Future’ travel trend report – 2026 is the year of Awe-tineraries: trips planned around emotionally powerful, naturally occurring experiences, not just sightseeing. In fact, 55% of Gen Z and Millennial travellers say natural wonders will guide their travel plans this year. From solar eclipses and the Northern Lights to bioluminescent seas, meteor showers and rare wildlife encounters, these are experiences worth building a journey around. As an adventurer, I’ve been chasing these moments for years. Here are 10 of the most awe-inspiring I’ve experienced – and where to find them…
Gaze up at the northern lights
Kiruna, Sweden
“They say if you whistle, you can make them dance.” So a local in Sweden once told me when the green and blue swirls of the aurora began to appear in the inky black sky. I’ve seen them many times, and they always take my breath away. Situated under the ‘Aurora oval’, which has consistently clearer skies, Kiruna is one of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights. Also try Alta in Norway or Yllas in Finland. And sign up for UK alerts with Aurora Watch.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Elite Frost – Hotel & Spa and Best Western Hotel Arctic
Watch a total solar eclipse
A Coruña, Spain
It was a little after 11am when the sky turned almost completely dark. For about 2 minutes everyone around me fell silent and all we could do was stare at the muted ring of golden light where the sun should be. That was my first eclipse experience as a kid back in 1999, and since then, I’ve often timed my adventures to take in this phenomenon. On August 12, 2026, I will be setting my compass for the Galician city of A Coruna to see the next one (said to last for 1 min and 17 seconds). It will also be visible in Portugal and Iceland, and even the UK will have a 90% eclipse.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Hotel Plaza and Melia Maria Pita
Paddle in bioluminescent waters
Toyama Bay, Japan
Like gathering a fist full of jewels – it’s the only way I could describe my first experience of swimming in the bioluminescent waters in Japan’s Toyama Bay. The cause of these blue-green lights is a type of phytoplankton that emits light when the water is agitated. Japan is one of the best places to see it, but closer to home is Penmon Point in Anglesey, North Wales.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Imigre and La Se Ri Resort and Stay
Listen to the dawn chorus
Daintree National Park, Queensland, Australia
Wherever I travel, I wake up early before the sun rises, go outside, close my eyes and simply listen. It’s amazing how the silence soon becomes a melody. In Australia’s ancient rainforest, first comes the flute-like black butcherbird, then the high-pitched tune of the grey whistler, followed by the unmistakable woo-poo chattering of the fruit dove. Sometimes there’s the laugh of the kookaburra, before the insects join nature’s orchestra.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Daintree Eco Lodge and Daintree Riverview Lodges
Watch a bird murmuration
Brighton, UK
At first, I thought the clouds were moving, ebbing and flowing with the wind. Then, as I stood by the old pier on Brighton beach, I realised that I was actually watching Starlings – and lots of them. Mesmerising and beautiful, this coordinated aerial dance is performed by tens of thousands of birds at dusk in autumn and winter before they land to roost. Brighton Pier is one of the best sites in the UK to see them – but there are others found using the roost map. One of the best wildlife phenomena in the world.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Drakes Hotel and Room with a View
Witness the blue hour
Venice, Italy
Gondolas bobbed on the ripples of the canal as I stopped on a small bridge, capturing the moment before sun-up – when the light was still a dreamlike hue of blue and the only glow came from lights inside the buildings. Venice is picture-perfect most of the time, but if there’s one place to embrace the growing trend of ditching the lie-in – something that KAYAK’s research finds 90% of Brits are doing on holiday – it’s in this floating city. Don’t forget your camera.
KAYAK-recommended stays: U-Visionary Venezia Hotel and hu Venezia Camping in Town
Stand above the clouds
Mt Tiede – Tenerife
A cloud inversion is when the normal flow of air (warm at the ground, colder the higher you go) becomes flipped, and cold air gets trapped in valleys by a warm layer higher up, creating a thick layer of low cloud. My first one was in Wales, on the summit of Snowdon at sunrise, the clouds billowing over the ridges like folds of silk. Tenerife’s highest peak is prone to this phenomenon, especially in autumn and spring, at sunrise or sunset.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Parador de Las Cañadas del Teide and Hotel Alta Montaña
See the early mist roll in
San Francisco
I worked in California’s Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39 many years ago, and used to get to work early so I could stand on the rooftop and watch the fog roll in, making the Golden Gate Bridge appear as though it was floating. The whole Bay Area is subject to this natural spectacle and the best spot to see it (without roof access) is the Marin Headlands from the promontory known as Hawk Hill.
KAYAK-recommended stays: The St. Regis San Francisco and Argonaut Hotel
Try storm watching
Tofino, BC, Canada
Wind, rain, crashing waves – I love a good storm, it’s a thrill for all the senses. With no landmass between the small town of Tofino on Vancouver Island and Japan, storm watching doesn’t come any more epic than this. Huge barrelling waves, whipped by winds, come rolling in, demonstrating the raw power of nature. Go between October and February for the most epic showings – you can even watch from the warmth of your hotel room.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Hotel Zed Tofino and Cox Bay Beach Resort
Get up close and personal with friendly grey whales
Baja, California (Mexico)
It was Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ that did it. Sat on a wooden boat in San Ignacio Lagoon, I was trying to gain the attention of one of the very bored whale calves that wait out their most vulnerable months with their equally as bored mothers in this safe bay. So I began to sing. As I reached the chorus, a female grey whale pushed her offspring towards the side of my vessel and it lifted its head to be stroked and tickled. This is the only place in the world where, between January and March every year, these ‘friendly giants’ exhibit this extraordinary behaviour. It’s a life-affirming moment.
KAYAK-recommended stays: Gaia Riverlodge and Falling Leaves Lodge
