The billionaire's social calendar for 2026: The must-attend events for the world's wealthiest business icons

Business leaders and politicians gather at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to kick off their year with policy discussions, networking, and, if time allows, some ski runs.

This year's summit, which runs from January 19 to 23, is themed "A Spirit of Dialogue." While speakers have not been announced, regular attendees include BlackRock CEO Larry Fink (a cochair of the WEF), Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

Access to the invite-only event can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and most of Davos' luxury hotels, such as the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère and AlpenGold, are closed to the public.

Apartment rental rates typically jump during the event, with nearby units commanding at least four figures a night. The surge pricing also applies to food. With most of the restaurants booked up for conference events, you may be left paying $43 for a hot dog.

NFL teams are popular toys of the ultrarich: Walmart's Rob Walton has the Broncos, hedge fund manager David Tepper owns the Panthers, Clark Hunt and his siblings control the Chiefs, and so on.

These billionaire owners — as well as billionaire fans and friends — flock to the Super Bowl, and this year's game on February 8 in Santa Clara, California, will be no exception.

"The Super Bowl is always a draw. It's an excuse to see the best of the best in terms of sports, parties, and entertainment," Elisabeth Brown, client manager at travel and lifestyle concierge company Knightsbridge Circle, told Business Insider.

Host committees and travel agencies curate luxury experiences for the wealthiest football fans, which can cost six figures and include chartered jets, five-star accommodations, and access to the field after the game. Throughout the weekend, there are VIP parties featuring celebrity guests and billionaire hosts, like Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, who's become known for his star-studded annual Super Bowl bash.

The most exclusive celebration of them all, though, is in the winning team's locker room. Just ask billionaire Jeffrey Lurie, whose Philadelphia Eagles snagged the trophy last year.

As Hollywood and the tech world become increasingly intertwined, the Academy Awards and the various events surrounding it have become a magnet for billionaires.

Oprah Winfrey took the stage at last year's ceremony to honor Quincy Jones, and the Vanity Fair Oscars Party drew Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos — Amazon produced nominee "The Nickel Boys" — as well as Alphabet cofounder Sergey Brin and Skims cofounder Kim Kardashian. Two other billionaires, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, typically throw a rival after-party at Chateau Marmont.

This year's Oscars, which will be held on March 15, are likely to draw a similarly monied crowd. Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison leads the storied movie studio Paramount, may make an appearance, as may billionaires Steven Spielberg, who produced in Best Picture hopeful "Hamnet," and James Cameron, director of "Avatar: Fire and Ash."

The Masters Tournament, taking place from April 9 to 12 this year, kicks off the run of major professional golf championships and signals the start of spring for billionaires.

Each year, hundreds of private aircraft land at the airports around Augusta. In past years, billionaires like former Nike CEO Phil Knight, hotelier Robert Rowling, and investor Herbert Allen Jr. have had their planes touch down. So has Tiger Woods, the only billionaire winner of The Masters.

The tournament's venue, the famously exclusive Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, counts a number of billionaires among its members.

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Warren Stephens, David Ziff, and Stanley Druckenmiller have belonged to the club, Bloomberg reported in 2015. It's invite-only, and new members can only join when existing ones leave.

The general public can spectate alongside some of the biggest names in business. Tickets for the Masters are available through a lottery system.

Every year, the Milken Institute, a think tank founded by billionaire investor Michael Milken, hosts the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles.

Dubbed the Davos of the West Coast, Milken launched the summit in 1998 as a forum for discussions on economic and policy matters.

While the program for this year's conference, running from May 3 to 6, has not been announced, last year, Henry Kravis, Bill Ackman, and Jensen Huang were among the billionaire speakers.

The event isn't technically invite-only; members of the public can pay $35,000 to support the Institute as a council member and receive complimentary admission.

While billionaires tend to spend June in the Hamptons or on yachts crisscrossing the Mediterranean, this year, many are expected to head to arenas across North America for the FIFA World Cup.

"The big, big, big thing everybody's talking about and getting tickets for right now is the World Cup," Charlie Garcia, the founder of centimillionaire membership club R360, told Business Insider.

The soccer competition, which takes place every four years, starts in June and runs through early July. Tickets for the final at MetLife Stadium start at over $9,000 on the resale market.

While the tournament organizes teams by country, many star players are signed to clubs owned by billionaires, including Todd Boehly and Mark Walter's Chelsea, Stan Kroenke's Arsenal, and John Henry's Liverpool.

There will likely be at least one billionaire on the field: Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to play for Portugal.

Private jets descend on the small town of Hailey, Idaho, every July for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference.

Since 1983, boutique investment bank Allen & Co. — its president, Herbert Allen, is a billionaire himself — has hosted the event, which attracts the biggest and richest names in business, such as Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffett.

The conference has become known for the deals struck in between rounds of golf, guided hikes, and tennis matches. It's where Jeff Bezos snagged The Washington Post for $250 million in 2013 and where the seed for Disney's $19 billion acquisition of ABC was planted in 1995.

Last year was no exception. David Ellison, the scion of billionaire Larry Ellison, met with Bari Weiss at the conference to discuss Paramount Skydance's potential purchase of The Free Press, The New York Times reported. In October, the $150 million deal was announced.

The vacation-cum-business-meeting is invite-only and pretty much restricted to masters of the universe. Security is strict, with even the press walled off from most of the wheeling and dealing.

Burning Man — the anticapitalist art and music festival in the Nevada desert — has been a rite of passage for the tech elite for decades.

Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are longtime Burners — the festival inspired the very first Google Doodle — as is Eric Schmidt, Google's former CEO. Facebook cofounders Dustin Moskowitz and Mark Zuckerberg, and Uber cofounder Garrett Camp have also attended. Even Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund manager, joined in 2019.

Last year's festival, marked by storms in Black Rock City, drew fewer billionaires than in previous years.

Still, hundreds of private planes flew into Burning Man's temporary airport during the festival. The starting price to charter a plane through Burner Express Air was $18,000, one way.

This year's festival runs from August 30 to September 7, with planning already underway by the Burning Man Project.

The coastline of Monte Carlo, already a haven for the ultrawealthy, becomes crowded with superyachts at the end of September for the Monaco Yacht Show, where billionaires scope out their new toys.

The 120-plus superyachts on display feature elevators, bars, spas, pools, gyms, hot tubs, and helipads, and were worth a combined $5 billion last year. Jet Skis and submersibles are popular add-ons.

Last year's yacht show featured yachts owned by the likes of billionaires Denis O'Brien and Paul Fireman. The largest of them, Mar, is still listed for sale with an asking price of $230 million.

In the past, yachts owned by billionaires such as Paul Allen, Steve Wynn, and Sergey Brin have been exhibited at the show.

The Monaco Yacht Show is open to the public, with one-day passes starting at about $800.

October presents numerous opportunities for the affluent to expand their art collections.

First, the Frieze Art Fair and nearby Frieze Masters, held annually in London, focus on contemporary art and pre-21st-century art, respectively. In years past, collectors like Point72's Steve Cohen and Diamond titan Laurence Graff have been spotted there.

Shortly after, across the English Channel, is Art Basel Paris, a relatively new addition to the art fair circuit.

Last year's fair drew James Murdoch, an investor in Art Basel's parent company, as well as Delphine Arnault, the daughter of Bernard, and billionaire art collector J. Tomilson Hill.

A painting by Gerhard Richter marked the fair's biggest sale, fetching $23 million, and several works sold for seven-figure sums. Exactly which moneyed collectors are behind specific purchases tends to be kept under wraps.

While the VIP previews, when most billionaires are spotted, are invite-only, anyone can buy tickets to these shows themselves, which begin on October 14 with the Frieze fairs.

Formula 1 has become a passion for billionaires over the past couple of decades.

The racing business itself is owned by John Malone's Liberty Media, and nearly all of the teams are connected to billionaires through their ownership structures.

The various Grand Prix attract these wealthy owners and fans thanks to the races and parties. Monaco maybe a marquee of the F1 calendar, but newer events like the Las Vegas Grand Prix increasingly draw big names.

Last year's race drew billionaires, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Magic Johnson, Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin, and Aston Martin Team owner Laurence Stroll.

Three-day passes for the Sin City heat, which runs from November 19 to 21 this year, started at $400 for general admission last year but rose considerably for various seating and package options.

While Aspen and Vail remain billionaire favorites over the holidays, no destination is as popular as St. Barts when it comes to ringing in the new year.

Last year, superyachts owned by the likes of David Geffen, Jerry Jones, and Eric Schmidt were moored off the Caribbean island's coast. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos were seen partying at a beach club.

For those who don't stay on yachts, rooms at popular luxury hotels like Eden Rock and Cheval Blanc, owned by Bernard Arnault's LVMH, cost upward of $7,000 a night.

"There is nothing mass-market about it," Winston Chesterfield, the founder of Barton, a consulting firm focused on luxury and the wealthy, told Business Insider. "It's impossible to be there unless you are really wealthy."