Americans took 107.7 million international trips in 2024, up 9.2% from the year before, and of the roughly 53.8 million who went overseas rather than to Mexico or Canada, only about a quarter visited Europe’s biggest markets — the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain combined — according to the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Travel and Tourism Office. So when American Express Travel published its own list of where cardholders are actually booking for 2026, the surprise wasn’t that Europe made the cut. It’s which spots did, and which famous ones didn’t.
What Amex’s own booking data actually shows
The list comes from a survey of 2,083 U.S. adults with household incomes above $50,000 who fly at least once a year, fielded July 25–28, 2025, with results weighted for age, gender, race, education and region and a margin of error of plus or minus 2 points, according to American Express Travel’s own 2026 trending destinations report. The ten places that came out on top: the Indian Himalayas; Killarney, Ireland; Las Vegas; Marbella, Spain; Marrakech, Morocco; Japan’s Okinawa Islands; Panama City, Panama; Costa Rica’s Papagayo Peninsula; Colorado’s San Juan Mountains; and St. Julian’s, Malta. It’s a list built from where cardholders are putting money down on bookings, not where they say they’d like to go someday.
Killarney, the under-the-radar pick in Ireland’s most scenic corner
Killarney sits along Ireland’s Ring of Kerry and made Amex’s list on the strength of its rolling hills, lakes and castles, framed by the mountain backdrop of Killarney National Park, according to Amex’s own destination writeup. Visitors gravitate toward Muckross House, the 19th-century estate where Queen Victoria stayed in 1861, and the surrounding parkland that borders Kerry’s lake system. Amex flags April–May and early September–October as the ideal windows — shoulder-season timing that avoids peak summer crowds without sacrificing the weather.
Marrakech’s medina pulls cardholders past Europe entirely
Morocco’s Marrakech is the other standout, anchored by Jemaa el-Fnaa Square and the 12th-century Koutoubia Mosque at the heart of the city’s historic medina, according to American Express’s own listing. The appeal is architectural density packed into a walkable core — palaces, mosques and market stalls within a few blocks of each other — and Amex points to March–May and September–October as the months that avoid the harshest desert heat while keeping the medina in full swing.
The other eight destinations tell the same story
Beyond Killarney and Marrakech, Amex’s own report leans hard into destinations that reward a longer stay over a quick photo stop. The Indian Himalayas and Colorado’s San Juan Mountains both cater to travelers chasing altitude and scenery rather than a single landmark; Panama City and Costa Rica’s Papagayo Peninsula pair rainforest and canal-side history with beach time in the same trip; and St. Julian’s, Malta, and Marbella, Spain, offer walkable Mediterranean old towns without the cardholder crowds that Rome, Paris or Barcelona pull every summer. Japan’s Okinawa Islands round out the list as the country’s warm-weather counterpoint to Tokyo and Kyoto, the two cities that usually absorb most first-time Japan bookings.
Why the list skews away from the obvious
Las Vegas and Colorado’s San Juan Mountains are the only U.S. entries, and the rest of the list leans toward destinations that are scenic and culturally dense rather than beach-resort obvious — a Himalayan mountain range, a Mediterranean Maltese town, a Central American canal city. That mix tracks with what the NTTO’s own outbound data shows more broadly: Mexico alone drew nearly 40 million American travelers in 2024, more than the UK, Italy, France and Spain combined, and vacation trips accounted for 61% of all outbound travel. Americans are booking in volume to destinations well outside the postcard-Europe shorthand — Amex’s cardholder data for 2026 is simply one of the clearest, most current pictures of where that volume is actually headed next.
The practical takeaway for anyone planning a 2026 trip is timing more than geography. Amex ties each destination to a specific shoulder-season window rather than a generic “anytime” recommendation, which tracks with how cardholders appear to be booking in the first place — not chasing the cheapest fare to the most photographed skyline, but building trips around when a place is actually at its best. Killarney in early fall, Marrakech before the summer heat sets in, Panama City outside its rainy season: the destinations on this list reward travelers willing to plan around a calendar instead of a bucket list.
