Dune seas, high plateaus and far-flung coasts — the twelve destinations every travel creator has circled for 2026.
Every January, travel creators compare notebooks and circle the same dozen places: dune seas at golden hour, high plateaus above the clouds and coasts you can only reach by boat. Here is the 2026 shortlist.
Deserts are the new studios
Dune fields offer what studios cannot — infinite cyc walls, free golden light and total silence for clean audio. Arrive an hour before sunrise, shoot until the heat shimmers, then hide and log footage at noon.
The plateau towns come second: cable-car access, café infrastructure and ridgelines in every direction. Base yourself for a week and film the weather changing by the hour.
“Pick one landscape and let it direct the video.”
Permits first, drones second, water always. The desert rewards the prepared creator like nowhere else.
