Instagram can be frustrating, with ever-changing algorithms and engagement, but I still love it for pure travel inspiration. I have three previous posts with my favorite accounts:
- Best Instagram Travel Accounts 2015
- Best Instagram Travel Accounts 2016
- Best Instagram Accounts for Family Travel Inspiration 2016
I still follow and recommend every account that I highlighted in those posts. But enough accounts have caught my eye in the past year that it seems like a good time for a new list of favorites.
What I look for has remained consistent. I like accounts that show people in the photos, without being personality-driven – they’re simply more inspirational from a travel perspective. I also like accounts that use their real names. There are too many generic-sounding accounts like “A Traveling Couple” or “Around the World Family” that don’t tell me anything about the people behind the account. Be proud of your content! Also, I judge a gallery by its least-inpsirational photos. If you’re mixing in photos of Starbucks cups, watch and detergent product placements and quotes, that’s fine, but that account probably isn’t inspiring me to travel to new places.
These are the 25 accounts that I’m loving right now. Did I miss one? Please let me know in the comments!
Tamara @ Globe Guide
Excellent travel photography, and when she places herself in her photos to add perspective/life, it’s never about her.
Natasha and Cameron @ The World Pursuit
One of my favorite accounts – I’m surprised I haven’t included them before. I’ve been loving all of their Africa photos. What a travel account should be!
Gloria @ The Blog Abroad
I mentioned above that I don’t find personality-driven accounts inspirational. And I don’t – it’s really easy to recreate the same shots of the middle table at Giraffe Manor, or the riad pool in Marrakech, or the cave pool in Santorini, and hundreds of bloggers do it every year. It’s copying, and it’s not inspiring. Gloria is different though. While she’s in almost all of her photos, she’s the most alive person I’ve ever met, and her account is about the beauty in the world, and the joy of travel and discovery of new places. Look through her photos and tell me that you don’t want to find somewhere beautiful and just enjoy it!
Ferry Zievinger @ ferryzievinger
Ferry is the GM of Sandals Barbados, so he has cool job in a gorgeous location. He’s also an excellent photographer, capturing the natural beauty of Barbados in creative ways. I’ve never been to Barbados but he makes me want to visit.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BStQFgohg8L/?taken-by=ferryzievinger
Hannah and Adam @ Getting Stamped
I’ve met up with Hannah and Adam in Sri Lanka and Orlando the past year, and I love following them. Always great travel photography, with excellent water and drone shots.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVhg09cDcdU/?taken-by=gettingstamped
David @ 2straws
Head straight to David’s gallery and check out the overall feel – the colors and the unique-perspective shots will immediately jump out at you. Eclectic but always enjoyable photography.
Sara @ sara_
I love Italy, and I love Sara’s take on Italy!
Lee Abbamonte @ leeabbamonte
Lee is the most well-traveled person I know, and everywhere he goes he takes incredible photographs. Always great composition, contrast, color and exposure.
Jade @ vagabond3
I love Jade’s photos, and how she successfully combines great photography with family travel.
Oksana and Max @ Drink Tea and Travel
I met Oksana and Max earlier this year in New York and started following them, and this quickly became one of my favorite accounts. Perfect travel photography that includes themselves just enough, plus locals and, from time to time, cows.
Piper Mackay @ piper_mackay
Piper is a professional photographer who spends most of the year in Africa, and her photos are amazing and truly inspirational. I traveled around India with her on a photo trip, and chose our African safari company and destinations per her recommendations – even running into her in both Tanzania and Kenya. I highly recommend traveling with her on one of her photo expeditions, but in the meantime follow her and dream of Africa!
Corinne @ _nomadicmom
There are a lot of accounts that I follow that combine great photography, lifestyle and family travel, but most skew more to lifestyle or family. Corinne combines everything perfectly and makes me want to travel. There are so many of her photos that I absolutely love!
Mike and Anne @ Honeytrek
One of my favorite traveling couples – they have fun and travel deeper wherever they go. I’m enjoying following their current US-based adventures.
Greg @ gmcnulty90
I met Greg camping in California earlier this year and I love his style. Great city shots, and his landscape photos really pull you in.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSxhNxgF5za/?taken-by=gmcnulty90
Candace @ candacerardon
If I could only pick one account to follow, it would be Candace’s. She brings destinations alive through sketching. She makes me want to travel, and makes me wish that I could draw!
Keryn @ Walking On Travels
A perfect mix of inspiring domestic and international travel, family, landscapes and details, and always excellent photography.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTXtgWgAxcx/?taken-by=walkingontravels
Marta @ In A Faraway Land (infarawayland)
Stunning photography in stunning locations, and one of my favorite human beings on the planet. She also leads photo tours if you want to see/photograph some of the same places with an expert.
Matt @ Expert Vagabond
The second largest account that I’m including on this list, but absolute perfection in terms of photography, locations, adventure and people. His fiancé is awesome too!
Nancy @ nancyfarese
Consistently excellent people photography that draws me in and makes me want to be in the middle of her scenes. Nothing posed, nothing crafted – she has an amazing eye.
Ken @kenkaminesky
Powerful, atmospheric photos of his travels around the world.
Sab @ Just One Way Ticket
Sab’s photos are always fun and colorful and she includes the people she meets. She does amazingly cool things with drones too.
AFAR @afarmedia
Usually I highlight personal accounts, but AFAR’s feed is truly inspiring – great photos that stay true to AFAR’s philosophy of Traveling Deeper. I love discovering new accounts to follow through the photos that they select.
Maya and Michal @ Travel with the Smile
Another traveling couple that’s fun to follow, with perfect photography. They’re usually in rural/remote places so not many people around – instead they insert themselves just enough to put the landscapes nicely in perspective.
Lola @ lolaakinmade
Lola has incredible travel photography that always puts you in the middle of the scene. She splits her photos and posts for her gallery, not for your standard scrolling IG newsfeed. Usually it annoys me when people do that, but she’s consistent with it and does it so well that I wanted to include her. Head to her gallery and you’ll see what I mean.
Eric @ Travel Babbo
I’m including my account as #25! Follow along!
And per my earlier note, if I missed you and you want me to take a look at your account, just comment below. Roughly 60 accounts barely missed inclusion. When I looked through their galleries, they were eliminated because they had too few photos in their galleries (less than 100), or hadn’t posted in a few months, or had distracting watermarks, or didn’t include people in any of their photos other than themselves (travel is about people!), or are a better fit with my next Family Travel roundup post.
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Great list!
Glad to see at least two parents in this list! (You and Keryn!) But it is always great to be inspired by the crowd that can still shoot with tripods.
Yep, I started doing Instagram family travel posts last October because what I look for is slightly different. But some people straddle the line really well. Keryn, Jade, Corinne and I (on this list) all have kids and include them, but the focus is rarely on the kids. Too many people with family accounts have their kids front and center in all of their photos. That’s fine – they’re essentially personal photo albums. But they’re not inspirational, and I always feel creepy “liking” a photo of someone’s kid!
Thanks so much for including us, Eric. We sure are in a great company.
Absolutely! I hope to run into you guys someday.
This in an incredible list and I feel very honored to be included. I followed almost everyone you recommend and I am looking forward to be inspired. Thank you!
Dear Eric, thanks for sharing this list and your views about each account. They look amazing and I am hoping to be enthralled by the beautiful captures shared by you all, inspiring me to travel and explore our beautiful planet. I am so glad I came across your account on twitter through Forbes.
Thank you so much Sonia!
Eric, we’re honored! What a list of inspiring explorers and photographers!
Thanks for this list, Eric. I have been trying to find this kind of inspiration. They are all wonderful! Couldn´t love Marta Kulesza more. Cheers!
I followed all the accounts I was not already following. It is a great list. I am always looking for inspiration!
Such a great list!
I love some of these Instagrammers, they’re a huge inspiration for us! We’ve managed to become pretty prolific too, racking up nearly 75.000 followers 😀 I think we are just addicted to producing great photos like the rest of these accounts.
Hi Emma. I’ve never met you, and you might be the nicest traveling couple out there, but your extremely aggressive follow/unfollow kept you off this list. You followed and unfollowed me at least four times in a short period of time, even as we were corresponding on Twitter and Instagram about Six Senses Zighy Bay. So I finally unfollowed you and took you off my short list of accounts to highlight here. At some point when you want to make Instagram social again and mutually support each other, let me know.