The dawn of every year brings with it the age-old question: where should you be heading on that renewed annual leave allowance? If you’re after some inspiration, why not plan your trip around a shiny new museum opening, a debut music festival, the inauguration of a new hiking route or a stunning new hotel?
Every year, produces an annual roundup of all the most exciting, cool, wonderful and weird stuff opening or taking place for the first time, and our 26-strong list for 2026 has just landed.
Included are activities to honour Rabat’s new title as Unesco’s World Book Capital 2026, the centennial celebrations of Route 66 in the USA, a beautiful new luxury hotel in a Brazilian sculpture park and a four-day festival in Iceland to mark the summer’s once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse.
But what’s the absolute best new thing to do in the world for 2026, according to ? It’s a strikingly designed, free-to-attend outdoor exhibition on Paris’s oldest bridge.
That’s right – 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of Pont Neuf Wrapped, a dazzling display by Christo and Jean-Claude where the limestone bridge – which sits over the Seine between the Louvre and the quays of the Grands Augustins – was draped in thousands of metres of fabric. Below are some images of the original installation, from 1985.
Inspired by this monumental undertaking, JR, a French street artist and photographer, has designed La Caverne du Pont Neuf. It will see the bridge encased in enormous, jagged, rock-like formations, inspired by the quarries from which the bridge’s rocks were extracted, and visitors will be able to view the bridge in this incredible reimagined state from June 6 to 28, 2026. Have a scroll for a sense of how it will appear.
Looks like a stunning addition to Paris’s legendary art scene for the year ahead, right?
Check out ’s full list of the 26 best new things to do in the world in 2026.
Did you see that this is now officially the world’s largest city, overtaking Tokyo?
Plus: The world’s best tourism villages to visit in 2026 have been named.
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