Closed-door travel is the biggest luxury trend for 2027

Jacada, a luxury travel company that designs bespoke private guided trips worldwide, has released its list of the best places to travel in 2027. They argue that true luxury travel means having the world’s most famous places entirely to yourself. With experiences like deserted corridors for a dawn visit inside the Sistine Chapel and a 14th-century BCE tomb in Egypt rarely opened to outsiders, your next vacation could be the one you’ve only ever dreamed of.

Crowding at the world’s most famous landmarks explains why more travelers want these places to themselves. The company behind the list said those travelers increasingly bypass crowds and queues for private, closed-door encounters. It offers that access through insider relationships with site managers and local guides who can open doors that no one else can. Lately, the company said, its clients want those doors to lead somewhere that matters, not just somewhere exclusive, pairing their request for privacy with support for the people who look after these places.

The pattern behind Jacada’s 2027 list

Jacada specializes in closed-door travel, and its 2027 list spans eight countries across four continents. At nearly every stop, the appeal lies in what’s closed to everyone else: a chapel before opening hours or a temple with no one else inside. In Japan, that even means a private samurai swordsmanship lesson inside a historic temple normally closed to the public.

Founded in 2008 by Alex Malcolm, the company already arranges trips across all seven continents and more than 80 countries. Travel + Leisure named it one of the world’s best tour operators in 2026, with two of its designers on the magazine’s A-List and seven listed among Condé Nast Traveler’s Top Travel Specialists. The company also runs a separate purpose-led program launched in 2024 called the Positive Impact Collection, which includes more than 100 properties and experiences evaluated against the United Nations’ sustainability goals.

Dawn at the Sistine Chapel

In Vatican City, Jacada’s designers can arrange a private visit to the Sistine Chapel at dawn, walking deserted corridors with the Vatican’s own keyholder before the museum opens to the public. This kind of closed-door access runs through the rest of Jacada’s list, arranged through the company’s own relationship with the Vatican rather than a standard booking. The company expects this preference for privacy and exclusivity to keep influencing luxury travel well into next year.

A tomb almost no one sees

Egypt’s Valley of the Queens is where Jacada can arrange rarely granted private access to the 14th-century BCE tomb of Queen Nefertari, a site that typically doesn’t open to outside visitors. Jacada’s list centers on that kind of closed-door access, along with private after-hours visits elsewhere on the itinerary. These include a private study of Monet’s Water Lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris and an illuminated, empty visit to Bangkok’s Grand Palace and Wat Pho with a royal cultural advisor.

Tracking rhinos with Akagera’s rangers

In Rwanda’s Akagera National Park, travelers can join expert rangers on foot at the private Wilderness Magashi Peninsula concession to monitor reintroduced black rhinos and the park’s apex predators. This is a walking visit, not a drive-by in a safari vehicle, done alongside the rangers whose job is keeping those animals alive day to day.

The company built this stop around the same idea that runs through the rest of the list: at this level, closeness to wildlife has to be earned through relationships with the people who manage the land. The stop is one of the clearest examples of privacy and purpose showing up on the same trip, rather than as two separate kinds of travel.

A private welcome in the Bay of Islands

New Zealand’s Bay of Islands offers a different kind of access. Travelers can arrange a private visit with a local Kaumātua, a Māori elder, or join a private tour of Ohinemutu Village paired with a steam-cooked hāngī lunch prepared alongside a Ngāti Whakaue host. Like the Rwanda stop, this one isn’t about a locked door; it’s about time with people who choose to share their culture on their own terms. The company treats that as part of the same trend. Travelers aren’t just paying to get past a gate; they’re paying for an actual exchange with the person on the other side.

The part you can’t book yourself

Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park takes the same approach with a foraging walk with the reserve’s Pangolin Guardians, a program that works with nearby communities to protect pangolins. Most high-net-worth travelers already rely on a luxury travel advisor to arrange trips like the ones on Jacada’s list, according to the company’s own client research, and they cite tailored planning, destination expertise and unbiased advice as the reasons why.

About the author

Jennifer Allen is a retired chef turned traveler, cookbook author and nationally syndicated journalist; she’s also a co-founder of Food Drink Life, where she shares expert travel tips, cruise insights and luxury destination guides. A recognized cruise expert with a deep passion for high-end experiences and off-the-beaten-path destinations, Jennifer explores the world with curiosity, depth and a storyteller’s perspective. Her articles are regularly featured on the Associated Press Wire, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, MSN and more.