Condé Nast Traveller's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards are out, and the resort category makes one thing clear: travellers are no longer defining "resort" narrowly. The winning list stretches from overwater clichés done properly to farm stays, Himalayan hideaways and safari camps — and the safari camp, notably, is where reader enthusiasm ran hottest.
On the classic beachfront side, two private-island properties earned top marks for location alone: Miavana in Madagascar and Vomo Island in Fiji. Both trade on that castaway fantasy — clear water, no crowds, everything on your schedule. Closer to Europe, Ikos Odisia on Corfu scored as the all-inclusive crowd-pleaser, prized mainly for its facilities, which matters if you're holidaying with a family that wants options without leaving the property.
But the interesting story is off the beach. Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, a fixture since the 1940s, continues to win over readers with farm-to-table dining and low-key countryside activities — proof that a resort doesn't need a lagoon to be loved. In Bhutan, Pemako Punakha in the Punakha Valley picked up credit for investing in its local community, a sign that sustainability credentials are now part of how readers score a stay, not just a marketing line.
Safari properties dominated the emotional centre of the list. Suján Sher Bagh in Rajasthan earns its place through genuine tiger-tracking expertise in the parks around Ranthambore, while Peru's newer high-altitude tented camps, Tinajani and Puqio, impressed readers with their design at elevation — a different flavour of adventure in the Andes. In Africa, the classic lodges keep pushing conservation forward.
The standout anniversary this year belongs to Londolozi in South Africa, celebrating a century in 2026. It drew some of the highest scores in the whole section for service, its vintage-styled rooms and nose-to-tail dining experiences — a farm-to-table ethos applied to the bush. A hundred years in operation also makes it one of the longest-running private game reserves anywhere, so if you've been waiting for a milestone excuse to book a safari, this is a decent one.
Who is this list for? Anyone stuck at the research stage with a hundred browser tabs open. The takeaway is that a great resort holiday in 2026 can mean a Corfu beach week on a budget you can predict, a Bhutanese valley retreat with a conscience, or a tented camp where a guide wakes you before dawn to find a tiger. Readers voted across all of it, and the scores — averages of overall satisfaction — reward service and a sense of place over sheer luxury. If you want a shortcut, safari camps and private islands are where satisfaction levels peak this year; if you want better value, the European and American properties on the list deliver much of the same goodwill at lower price points. Full scoring for every resort is in the original feature.
