Ask a Wanderlust reader about a journey they took a decade ago and they will hardly ever start with the view. That special day is the territory of the Wanderlust Experiences List, our new annual editorial tentpole, which launches with 27 for 2027. The 27 entries are chosen by our editors, and they are things to do and experience rather than merely places to see.
Some hand you a tool and expect you to be slow with it. In Oaxaca, that might mean a week in a home kitchen working through six of the seven classic moles until the cook decides you have earned the seventh. Other experiences ask for nothing more than attention, such as walking quietly behind an Aboriginal guide in Queensland while a landscape is read aloud to you rather than admired. At Akagera in Rwanda, you walk out at first light with the rhino monitors, and the sightings you log go into the daily record the park uses to protect them.
What links every entry is that the traveller comes home better at something. Our readers have stopped measuring a holiday by how far they got and have started measuring it by what they can do and understand afterwards that they could not before. A journey that teaches you keeps paying out for years, which is why the appetite for it is growing so fast. Every selection is measured against our founding pillars of Authentic, Meaningful and Responsible travel. Our readers have stopped measuring a holiday by how far they got and have started measuring it by what they can do and understand afterwards.
Why It Matters
The Wanderlust Experiences List™ offers an opportunity to showcase experiences to a highly engaged global audience of curious and responsible travellers looking for the most rewarding and meaningful things to do each year. Curated by Wanderlust's expert editorial team, the list celebrates experiences chosen not only for what they teach the traveller but for the way they are delivered. From hands-on craft and conservation work to the guides, communities and habitats that benefit from every booking.
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