Iceland’s Best of the Best — Westfjords

Global guidebook publisher Lonely Planet has picked Iceland’s Westfjords area as the world’s best region to visit in 2022.

Westfjords snatched top honors ahead of other awesome and adventurous regions like Chile’s Atacama Desert, Canada’s Vancouver Island, the Xishuangbanna area of southern China, Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, and France’s Burgundy region.

A huge peninsula that dominates Iceland’s northwest coast, Westfjords is known for its dramatic fjords, snow-covered peaks and rugged landscapes, as well as the Látrabjarg sea cliffs where millions of birds nest each year, and Drangajökull, the island’s northernmost and fifth-largest glacier.

The town of Isafjördur — the economic and cultural hub of the Westfjords region — is a port of call of both the “Best of Iceland” and “Iceland Circumnavigation” voyages offered by Iceland ProCruises.

A three-to-five-hour drive north of Reykjavik, the peninsula is also easy to explore by land. From rental car and hotel reservations to planning the route, Iceland ProTravel can set you up with everything you need to make the journey.

Lonely Planet’s annual “Best of the Best” lists also featured the Cook Islands in the South Pacific and Auckland, New Zealand as best country and best city to visit next year.

To compile the rankings, Lonely Planet draws on the knowledge of its global network of travel writers, bloggers, staff members and other experts.