You submitted your high images to our Best of the World Your Shot Challenge—listed here are our favorites

National Geographic invited our social media viewers and pictures neighborhood to share their favourite journey locations main as much as the Best of the World 2026 reveal, our record of 25 must-see locations that supply one-of-a-kind experiences within the yr forward. 

For this Your Shot Hashtag Challenge, our world neighborhood of aspiring visible storytellers tagged their inspiring Instagram images with the hashtag #NatGeoYourShotBOTW2026. We checked out greater than 3,000 unbelievable photos and chosen 10 of our favorites, listed under in no specific order.

Take a take a look at the highest of this text. Alex Edmunds snapped this cool shot of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway in Alaska. The railway, initially constructed to succeed in the gold fields of the inside Yukon, now serves as a historic civil engineering landmark and vacationer attraction that runs between Skagway, Alaska, and White Pass Summit. Edmunds remembers, “I spent most of the ride leaning on the railings in the frigid cold with my camera, rather than staying in my warm train car, because it was just one scenic view after another. The trip resulted in some of my favorite shots from Alaska.”

2. Sunwapta River, Jasper National Park, Canada

This photograph captures the dashing Sunwapta River because it cascades into the Sunwapta Falls in Jasper National Park. Photographer Ben Lauckner took this photograph on the second day of his three-day Canadian Rockies expedition from Banff to Jasper. A girl really useful this space of the park after recognizing them with their digital camera. 

“The Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque Centre is a masterpiece of light, symmetry, and silence. Photographing it felt like stepping into a dream made of white marble and perfect geometry, with every line, dome, and reflection designed to capture purity,” says photographer Nina Znidersic. “The stillness, the symmetry, the brilliance of white meeting the blue desert sky … it’s one of the most peaceful and visually pure places I’ve ever photographed.”

Joe Seifert captured the sensible fall colours of the Superior National Forest within the morning on the North Shore close to Lutsen, Minnesota. 

The iconic Kirkjufell peak and the highly effective Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall usually outline Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula. This “cave” is an phantasm created by Sebastián Tan, who slots the lens right into a slim opening beneath protruding basalt rocks, proper subsequent to the thundering water. “Stitched together into panoramic shot, the image juxtaposes the waterfall’s furious energy with Kirkjufell’s vast geological history, offering a unique, earned view of Iceland’s elemental landscape,” explains Tan.

Thomas Walker took this photograph of the Austrian National Library’s State Hall in Vienna, which encompasses a outstanding statue of Emperor Charles VI. This baroque library homes greater than 12 million treasures, together with uncommon manuscripts and maps, and serves as a dwelling archive of Austria’s wealthy literary legacy. 

7. The Wave, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

“The Wave, in Arizona’s Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, is a masterpiece carved in sandstone,” says Etienne Babel. “It is an essential pilgrimage for landscape photographers and passionate hikers. But there’s a catch: Only a handful of lucky winners are granted access each day through a lottery system.”

“While watching the sun go down behind the Coachella Valley from Keys View, in California’s Joshua Tree National Park, the whole landscape turned into a painting filled with the most surreal colors I’ve ever seen,” explains Estefania Villar Iriberri.  “I turned around to look at the Juniper Flats and San Bernardino Mountains, and that’s when I saw it: this twisted tree with its roots almost lifting out of the ground was standing there alone.” 

Serena Rocchigiani says goodbye to summer season atop the Galata Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. “Whether it’s the golden light of the ancient rooftops or the bustling streets below, there’s something undeniably special about this city.

After sunrise in Srednji Vrh, Slovenia, the first light of the day shines on a small wooden house and part of the valley, while the surrounding mountains remains in shadow. Paolo Gabriele Maiero recalls, “I was drawn to the quiet contrast between light and shade—a simple, peaceful moment that captures the calm beauty of the morning in the Julian Alps.”

(See extra unbelievable pictures. Check out our 2025: The Pictures of the Year.)