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2024 A-List Travel Advisors

Since 1971, Travel + Leisure editors have followed one mission: to inform, inspire, and guide travelers to have deeper, more meaningful experiences. T+L's editors have traveled to countries all over the world, having flown, sailed, road tripped, and taken the train countless miles. They've visited small towns and big cities, hidden gems and popular destinations, beaches and mountains, and everything in between. With a breadth of knowledge about destinations around the globe, air travel, cruises, hotels, food and drinks, outdoor adventure, and more, they are able to take their real-world experience and provide readers with tried-and-tested trip ideas, in-depth intel, and inspiration at every point of a journey.

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Want to tour the Louvre after hours? Tag rhinos in Rwanda? Get married on Mykonos? Throw a milestone birthday party on St. Barts? Or take a luxurious cruise to the Arctic? Our travel advisors have you covered. In our 22nd annual A-List, we present a directory of the most influential vacation specialists in the world, vetted by the editors at  Travel + Leisure .

Featured Advisor: Mo Noubani

Courtesy of Mo Noubani

Born and raised in Oman and with family in Jordan, Noubani has personal connections throughout the region. He uses these contacts to create showstopper moments—like paragliding to Six Senses Zighy Bay, and booking last-minute seaplanes to hike Jabal Al Akhdar.

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This group, which shares its industry knowledge with the editors of T+L, oversees tens of thousands of individual trips annually. While not all of these 27 experts personally look after clients, many do. The rest have teams who excel at orchestrating memorable adventures

Related Articles

The Uncrowded Destinations Where Travel Advisors Are Quietly Sending Their Clients

From a blissfully serene japanese island to still undiscovered spots in italy, here’s where to escape the hordes..

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Basel, Switzerland is one place to consider to avoid the crowds.

Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

With mass tourism an increasingly common issue, a major motivator for some travelers is choosing destinations where they won’t see so many other, well, travelers.

That’s where a good travel advisor can really make a difference: by sharing their in-depth knowledge about lesser-known—but equally great—places that are as worthy of a trip as, say, Barcelona , Tokyo , or Tuscany .

“Some of the most lovely and exciting destinations in the world are also iconic, so it’s no wonder they often top the list for most savvy travelers, but luckily there are still places that are less ‘discovered’,” says Cari Gray, CEO and owner of Gray & Co. , a Toronto-based agency that specializes in high-end, custom travel. Some of her favorite recent recommendations for clients craving an uncrowded getaway: Menorca, Spain; northern Greece; and Lapland.

Below, we tapped top travel advisors (including some, like Gray, who are on the AFAR Travel Advisory Council ) and other in-the-know experts to share their favorite less-discovered places where they’re sending clients these days. From Japan’s most unspoiled main island to a still-secret Italian region that’s full of French flavor, here are their recommendations for your next trip.

1. Basel, Switzerland

According to Jonathan Alder, luxury travel advisor and founder of Jonathan’s Travels , this Swiss city is unknown to many U.S. travelers. But it’s well worth a visit, especially for its vibrant arts culture—after all, this is where the darling of the art festival circuit, Art Basel, got its start in 1970. The city is home to 40 museums, from the prestigious Kunstmuseum Basel , which houses the world’s oldest public art collection, to the fascinating Feuerwehrmuseum Basel, where you can see medieval firefighting equipment. And because the city is so easily walkable, it’s a cinch to explore. Alder also recommends taking a ferry across the Rhine River , where you can admire some of the city’s stunning architecture: “It’s not your standard ferry, as it doesn’t use a motor or any power at all. Instead, it’s tied with a cable and peacefully uses the flow of the river’s current.”

Basel also is an ideal home base for exploring France and Germany, both of which border Switzerland. “The real treasure of this destination is the unique accessibility to the incredible regions surrounding it, making it possible for travelers to visit three countries in one day,” Alder explains. “We love to send our clients [here] so they hit all of the best fairy-tale regions of Europe in one day.”

The Kazurabashi bridge is a well-known bridge made of mountain vines in the Iya Valley.

Photo by Thanya Jones/Shutterstock

2. Shikoku, Japan

Since June 2022, when Japan fully reopened following the pandemic, the island nation has seen an explosion of tourism helped by the country’s weak yen in recent months. (Some tourist hot spots have even implemented restrictions to curb visitor numbers while discouraging bad behavior .) But while cities like Tokyo and Kyoto are bursting at the seams with visitors, “Some of the loveliest parts of Japan are still completely off the tourism radar,” says Don George, a longtime tour guide for luxury adventure tour operator GeoEx and an expert on Japan.

His top recommendation for trips? Shikoku, the smallest of the four main Japanese islands, “where almost no Western, or even Japanese, visitors venture.” George, who has visited Shikoku more than 30 times (and whose Japanese wife is from the island), especially loves its unspoiled wilderness: “Here, cedar-covered mountains, clear streams, and pristine rice paddies still prevail,” he says. His recommendations for any visit: the historic Dogo Onsen hot spring in Matsuyama, said to be the oldest onsen in Japan; the spectacular coastline on Cape Ashizuri; any of the temples along the island’s 88-temple pilgrimage route, established more than 1,200 years ago by the beloved monk Kobo Daishi; and the remote Iya Valley, which retains a “Shangri-La-like purity,” George says.

In Italy’s Puglia region, the whitewashed city of Ostuni overlooks the Adriatic Sea.

Photo by tanialerro.art/Shutterstock

3. Puglia and Valle d’Aosta, Italy

While Puglia has been gaining traction among travelers, “This expansive region still offers plenty of untouched charm,” says Brandon Shaw, cofounder and COO of the Tour Guy , a tour operator specializing in Europe and the United States. Shaw recommends the small towns of Cisternino and Alberobello, which offer a slower pace, allowing visitors to savor the country’s famed la dolce vita. “Picture locals gathered in the city centers, seated on old wooden stools or chairs outside their homes, engaging in leisurely conversations that stretch long into the evening,” Shaw says. “It’s a slice of authentic Italian life that remains delightfully unspoiled.”

Another Italian destination where Shaw is sending more clients: Valle d’Aosta, a mountainous region near the French and Swiss borders that’s still “blissfully under the radar,” he says. Travelers can take advantage of its spectacular natural beauty—it’s nirvana for outdoorsy types, thanks to its location in the Alps—as well as its unique French/Italian flavor (it’s bilingual, too). “Despite its natural beauty and rich culture, Valle d’Aosta remains a hidden treasure, far less frequented by tourists than Italy’s more popular regions,” Shaw says.

Seongsan Ilchulbong, also known as sunrise peak, is a volcano on Jeju Island.

Photo by trabantos/Shutterstock

4. South Korea

Like Japan, South Korea has seen an explosion of travelers recently. But Steve Harris, an independent travel adviser affiliated with Strong Travel Services , a Dallas-based luxury agency, says he’s already seeing interest in the destination around summer 2025—which coincides with a tentatively scheduled concert for the popular K-pop band BTS, whose members will all have completed their mandatory military service by then.

K-pop fans or not, Harris says clients are often surprised to learn about all that the destination has to offer beyond big cities like Seoul. The stunning natural landscapes of Jeju Island—“considered the honeymoon capital of Korea,” he notes—helped the site earn South Korea’s first UNESCO World Heritage status in 2007.

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More From Forbes

Domestic travel insurance for vacations.

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Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Whether you’re traveling abroad or within the U.S., you deserve solid protection for the investment you’ve made in your trip. No matter if you’re traveling from California to a New York island, or from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, this land is your land, and you can find a travel insurance plan made for you.

The best travel insurance plans can help soothe the sting of disappointment if you need to cancel or curtail your trip due to an emergency, or experience setbacks like trip delays or lost luggage. It can also prevent you from paying big bills if you require emergency medical evacuation.

Purchasing travel insurance can be relatively inexpensive. The average travel insurance cost for trips in the U.S. is $237, according to Squaremouth, a travel insurance comparison provider.

Compare & Buy Travel Insurance For 2024

Compare Quotes With Over 22 Travel Insurers

Travel Insurance for Trip Cancellation

There’s always a chance that unfortunate circumstances will pop up before a trip—that’s where trip cancellation insurance comes in. You can be compensated when unexpected events cause you to cancel your plans.

For instance, let’s say three days before your cross-country trip you have an accident on your all-terrain vehicle. You hit a tree and break several ribs and fracture your skull. You’d have to put off your trip

Trip cancellation coverage can reimburse you for any pre-paid and non-refundable expenses. For example, if your airfare and accommodation costs are non-refundable, or if you paid in advance for private salsa lessons, you can file a claim with your travel insurance company.

Not all reasons for calling off a trip are covered under a standard travel insurance policy.

If you look on your weather app and it shows five days of rain in Miami, and you want to cancel your trip, you won’t be covered.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights granted under the Declaration of Independence. But you don’t have the freedom to cancel a trip for any reason you want and still be compensated by a travel insurance plan. For that you need “cancel for any reason” coverage . It’s sometimes offered as an optional upgrade to a standard travel insurance plan.

This will add an average of 50% more to your travel insurance plan cost, but will allow you to cancel for any reason—the weather, because you can’t miss your fantasy sports team draft, or just because you change your mind. You must cancel at least 48 hours before your scheduled departure, and you can recoup 50% or 75% of your trip’s cost, depending on the “cancel for any reason” rules of your plan.

Travel Insurance for Trip Delays: As American as Apple Pie

If your flight isn’t leaving on time, and all you can see by the dawn’s early light are flashing delays on the airport departure board, you’ll be happy to know that travel delay insurance can help. Travel delay insurance is typically part of a comprehensive travel insurance plan .

If your layover in Atlanta lasts 18 hours due thunderstorms and hurricane warnings, your policy can reimburse you for a hotel stay, food and transportation. It’s important to know that a policy usually has a waiting period before travel delay benefits kick in—which can span three to 12 hours.

Trip Interruption Insurance: Return to Sender

No one anticipates having to cut a trip short to return home, but setbacks can happen. If you’re on a bicycle trip in Northern California and break your ankle and can’t continue the tour, your travel insurance plan can cover the cost of a one-way, last minute flight home.

Trip interruption insurance also can pay for non-refundable experiences you will miss due to your early departure.

Medical Expense Coverage: Call for Backup

Your health insurance plan will most likely cover medical expenses if you’re injured or become ill during a U.S. vacation. Still, your travel insurance plan can help. If you select a plan with “primary” travel medical insurance , the travel insurance plan will pay out first, up to its medical limits. This can be handy if your regular health insurance plan has a huge deductible.

Travel insurance can still offer a level of protection beyond your health plan for travel medical expenses, says Jeremy Murchland, president of Seven Corners , a travel insurance company. If you’re concerned about Covid affecting your plans, consider a travel insurance policy that covers Covid-related trip cancellations and medical expenses.

For example, the Seven Corners’ RoundTrip plan for U.S. residents covers Covid the same way as any other illness.

Here are the best Covid-19 travel insurance plans .

If you have a medical emergency, your travel insurance company’s emergency assistance hotline can make referrals to a clinic, doctor or hospital for care. This is helpful if you’re far away from home.

Medical Evacuation Insurance Saves the Day

If prevention is the best medicine, emergency evacuation travel insurance is an elixir for those who may be exploring remote areas of the country.

You’re from the land of the free and the home of the brave, so let’s say you are snowboarding at Deseret Peak in the Stansbury Mountain Range in Utah. You wipe out doing a frontside 180 and need to be airlifted to a trauma unit. The medical evacuation insurance within a comprehensive travel insurance plan will cover medevac costs, up to the policy limits. This saves you from paying significant charges.

The median bill for helicopter evacuation was $36,400, and for airplane evacuation it was $46,600, according to a 2019 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The report also says 69% of patient cases analyzed were out-of-network, meaning their costs wouldn’t be fully covered by their health insurance plan.

You can find travel insurance plans that provide $1 million in medical evacuation coverage, but you can buy less if you feel you don’t need that much.

When Your Luggage Is Missing in Action

What’s sadder than watching a baggage carousel loop around endlessly without your suitcases on it? Not getting any money back for what you lost. There’s always a risk of loss, damage or theft of your belongings when you travel domestically, especially if you have connecting flights.

Baggage loss insurance can reimburse you, up to the limits in your policy, for the depreciated value of your suitcase and what you packed if your luggage never arrives at your destination. If your baggage is delayed, you can be compensated up to your policy limits for the cost of necessities to tide you over. Baggage delay insurance usually has a waiting period—for instance, six or 12 hours—before coverage goes into effect.

This coverage also extends to your belongings. If your personal items are stolen, be sure to alert your hotel manager and file a police report. You will need this documentation if you file a claim.

Next Up In Travel Insurance

• Best Travel Insurance
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• Best “Cancel For Any Reason” Travel Insurance
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Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners .

Erica Lamberg - Contributor

Erica Lamberg is a personal finance and travel writer based in suburban Philadelphia. She is a regular contributor to USA Today and her writing credits include NBC News, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Oprah Magazine and Creditcards.com. Erica is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park.

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Bay Area Travel Show

March 15-16, 2025, santa clara convention center, america’s favorite travel show is back in the bay area.

Get ready to pack your bags and make the first stop on your next vacation the Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show! Discover thousands of the newest vacation options from the top destinations from around the globe and meet the experts who are on-hand to help you personalize and book your trip.

Learn the latest travel tips, trends and advice on 4 theaters located right on the show floor, and get the chance to meet your favorite travel celebrities including Phil Keoghan and Peter Greenberg. Plus, you’ll have access to over ten-of-thousands of dollars in travel savings, trip giveaways and exclusive show-only deals, all included with your ticket. Click below to learn more and we’ll see you at the Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show!

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