The 2026 Sunset Travel Awards Open Next Week
Tell us your favorite destinations, hotels, restaurants, wineries, activities, and more in the West!
There’s so much to explore when you travel out West. Luxurious resorts, natural wonders, new dining experiences, and restorative wellness retreats.
That’s where the Travel Awards come in. To help readers navigate the riches of the West, each year we honor the best-in-class destinations, hotels, restaurants, wineries, activities, and more. Tell us about those secret spots, exciting newcomers, tried-and-true favorites… we want to hear it all!
The 2026 Sunset Travel Awards are opening soon—we’ll be accepting submissions from March 16 to April 17. Sunset’s editors will judge the entries, and the lucky winners will be honored in our fall Travel print issue, on social media, and in a robust online package. We’ll be including every entrant in our dedicated online travel directory, too. We hope you’ll submit and be a part of this year’s awards. Visit awards.sunset.com to learn more.
The submissions will be divided into these categories:
- Where to Go: The best destinations in the West, from bustling cities to quiet mountain towns, beachside getaways, national parks, and everything between.
- Where to Stay: The high-end hotels, national park lodges, unique inns, glamping sites, and charming B&Bs across the West. If you can sleep there, this is your category.
- What to Do: The tours, parks, museums and galleries, zoos and aquariums, music venues, festivals of all kinds, wineries, spas, and other Western amusements.
- Where to Eat & Drink: The very best bars and restaurants across the region, from historic diners and rowdy beer halls to neo bistros and craft cocktail bars.
- How to Get There: The West’s best airlines, train routes, public transportation, rental-car agencies, ferries, tours, and other ways to get from point A to point B.
- Cruises: The best itineraries along the West Coast from Alaska to Mexico, as well as Hawaii, Asia, and Oceania. Cruises can embark from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Asia, and Oceania.
We can’t wait to read all of the submissions. Best of luck!
