Original article published at AFAR.com.
Our 2026 picks champion a better way to travel the world: responsibly, creatively, and with eyes on places long overlooked…
Birmingham, Alabama
This Southern hub is hungry for the title of top U.S. food city
Pork ribs in red sauce, oysters on ice, fried green tomatoes, sugary French patisserie: Birmingham, Alabama, is quietly obsessed with food. “I wouldn’t say the cat’s out of the bag, but there’s a paw,” says Melissa Booth Hall with a laugh. Hall is codirector of the Southern Foodways Alliance, which protects and promotes Southern culinary culture and hosts an annual symposium in Birmingham that draws hundreds of chefs. “Serious foodies know Birmingham,” she says, “but I think [most] travelers are just waking up.”
Visitors should rise early on Saturdays for the downtown Farmers Market at Pepper Place, with about 80 farmers and vendors. From there, make a beeline to Continental Bakery, a mainstay of the English Village neighborhood, to get cinnamon rolls and wild-yeast sourdough loaves fresh from the oven.
For restaurants in town, James Beard Award nominations grow like the kudzu vine. José Medina Camacho, cofounder of the Mexican spirits–focused cocktail bar Adiõs, was a 2025 finalist for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service, and multiple Best Chef Southeast winners call the city home. One is Frank Stitt, a Southern food legend and owner of the Italian spot Bottega and the French bistro Chez Fonfon. Adam Evans won the award in 2022 for his Automatic Seafood & Oysters and co-opened a second spot, Current Charcoal Grill, in 2024.
Another chef gaining recognition is Rob McDaniel, a multiple James Beard Award semifinalist, who opened his second restaurant, the seafood-forward Bayonet, in 2025. “Our oyster list is extensive,” McDaniel says. “We also break down fish in front of guests. It’s important to who we are.”
Dining downtown has never been more vibrant. Recent openings include Armour House—a brasserie with an attached craft cocktail bar, Pogo—and Johin’na, a Japanese restaurant offering an omakase experience, oysters, and sushi (the Birmingham roll has crab, cucumber, fried catfish, and spicy mayo).
Where to stay: Elyton Hotel, Autograph Collection is set in a 1909 skyscraper of molded terra-cotta and pink granite. Located downtown in the theater district, it has 111 guest rooms and six suites. The Painted Lady debuted downtown in 2025 with 22 whimsically decorated rooms inside the historic Eyer-Raden Building. The hotel’s name is a nod to Louise C. Wooster, a brothel owner who went on to become a town hero as a nurse during a cholera outbreak in 1873. —Jenny Adams
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