A new year means new holiday allowance for everyone – and that means new perfectly filtered snapshots of paradise cluttering your Instagram feed. So where will those in the know be headed this year? Do your research now and you’ll be first with a pithy comment under those carefully composed pics – or better still, first on the plane there yourself. Whether it’s pool legs, amazing food or art selfies, these are the places you can expect to be liking on the ’gram over the next 12 months.

Travel tastemakers have been tipping Anguilla as the coolest island in the Caribbean for years (just ask Mr Justin Timberlake or Mr Leonardo DiCaprio), and now flights from Trans Anguilla Airways have made it much more accessible. For a small island, it’s been making big waves in the luxury sector too, particularly since the opening of the Belmond Cap Juluca Hotel in December. Look out for its infinity pool, considered one of the most spectacular in the world, and guaranteed to be splashed across Instagram ad infinitum.

belmond.com

The “Monaco of the mountains” has always been where those on the up go to tear downhill, but this year there are a number of new openings promising even more social media gold. Leading the way is EMP Winter House (a pop-up from New York City’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park), where guests summon waiters to their private yurt by pressing red twinkling lights, and Bad Harriet, a _Great Gatsby-_esque speakeasy which has swiftly become the ski town’s sexiest late-night hangout. Add new supper club 7908 and the much-anticipated W Aspen, and you have a picture-perfect town where you can ski hard and party even harder.

thelittlenell.com

Cairo is set to have a serious moment in the sun with the opening of the long-awaited $1 billion Grand Egyptian Museum early this year, while the brand new St. Regis Cairo should provide the perfect luxury base once it opens in February. The plummeting value of the Egyptian pound over the last two years means Cairo is not only an exciting and easily reachable destination, it’s also an affordable one.

marriott.co.uk

Rwanda has recovered from two decades of brutal civil war to appear on countless 2019 bucket lists. The country’s celebrated gorilla trekking experiences remain its biggest draw, but they can now be combined with stays at a swathe of new high-end properties. Bisate Echo Lodge, Rwanda’s first luxury lodge, opened last year on the edge of Volcanoes National Park, while the boutique Heaven Retreat appeared in the capital, Kigali. Meanwhile the best hotel of the lot, One & Only Nyungwe House, is finally open for business, spread across a working tea plantation near picturesque Lake Kivu.

oneandonlyresorts.com

Ask any bartender worth his celery salt and he’ll tell you the same – mezcal is having a major moment. So too is the spirit’s, er, spiritual home, Oaxaca. Recently crowned Culture Trip’s number one destination for 2019, the southwestern Mexican state combines year-round excellent weather with sensational cuisine (it’s nicknamed the ‘land of the seven moles’ thanks to the rich and complex sauces it’s famous for). The capital, bustling Oaxaca City, is a hidden gem ripe for discovery with an outstanding contemporary art museum, excellent outdoor market scene and, of course, a more-than-generous selection of mezcal bars.

caminoreal.com