The best places to travel in 2025
It’s no mean feat to pick out the best places to travel in 2025. When your wanderlust is as insatiable as ours, how do you choose? Yet there are some standout destinations that demand your attention this year. Whether it’s with culture-changing museums, undiscovered coastlines or deep, unexplored forests, the following places are announcing themselves as the stars of travel in 2025.
Written by Florence Derrick.
Tirana, Albania
From there, sun-seekers should head to what Tik-Tok influencers call the Maldives of Europe: Albania’s southern coastline, separated by Corfu by just two miles of Ionian Sea. With 300 days of sunshine per year, Albania’s got the weather to match its secluded sandy coves, cliffs and sea caves for an unrivalled beach holiday. Head to Dhërmi for Ibiza-style beach clubs and Kala, a dance music festival that takes over each June.
Brussels, Belgium
As the birthplace of the Belgian waffle, some of the world’s best chocolate, endless types of beer and even French fries (yup), you won’t go hungry here – and you’ll need all that fuel for exploring its many historic sites.
Kick off at the Grand Place, a magnificent, cobblestone square surrounded by ornate baroque facades, before embarking on a comic strip walking tour around the city’s murals (Belgium is the birthplace of Tintin and the Smurfs, after all).
Opening in 2025 is the KANAL-Centre Pompidou, a long-awaited offshoot of the Parisian contemporary art mecca – making Brussels one of the best places to travel in 2025 for art lovers.
Bay of Kotor, Montenegro
If you like the good life, you’ll want to experience Montenegro’s fledgling luxury offerings before the word gets out. Head to the Bay of Kotor, a stunning cobalt cove surrounded by cliffs and the picturesque Kotor town, where you can book a private yacht excursion or a room in one of the region’s swanky new hotels.
The recently opened Regent is part of a high-end development in Porto Montenegro – a former naval base in Tivat turned swanky marina – which will see all manner of new hotels, restaurants and shops along its posh promenade in 2025.
Head to Budva for beach parties or Biogradska Gora National Park to explore one of Europe’s last-remaining rainforests on horseback – all for a more affordable price than you’ll find in Western Europe.
Bath, UK
Today, fans of the novelist flock to the Jane Austen Centre, a limestone Georgian building in central Bath, to try on bonnets, have a go with a quill pen and ink, and have their portrait taken with a waxwork of the author. Bath will be one of the best places to travel in 2025 for Austen fans, as it’s the 250th anniversary of her birth – and to celebrate, the city has a year-long programme of festivities planned called Austen250. Talks, walking trails through the city’s literary hotspots and themed luxury hotel stays all bring Regency-era Bath to life. Just squeeze in a dip at the thermal spa before you head home.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Beyond the ornate pagodas and temples, bustling night markets and galleries, there are several other reasons why Ho Chi Minh City is one of the best places to travel in 2025. Check into the new, boutique Hotel Indigo Saigon The City, which is due to open at the beginning of next year and has a highly anticipated rooftop pool.
And the long-awaited HCMC Metro system will finally open at the end of 2024, with the first underground railway line running from Ben Thanh – a central spot that’s home to one of the city’s oldest markets – to the suburb of Suoi Tien and its eponymous theme park.
Benin City, Nigeria
In recent decades, the ancient bronzes have dominated a global conversation in the art world about the potential return of precious, stolen artefacts to their native homes – and part of the purpose of Benin City’s brand-new Museum of West African Art (Mowaa) is to provide a world-class facility for housing them.
In May 2025, Mowaa will open its inaugural exhibition – and what better reason for an arts and culture-themed voyage to the West African nation? In Lagos, explore up-and-coming artworks at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) and Nigerian cultural tradition at the enormous Nike Art Gallery. Then, hop on a quick 30-minute flight to historic Benin City to marvel at Mowaa’s red-hued, rammed-earth structure among the region’s lush plantain, yam and cassava fields.
Florida, USA
A crewed lunar flyby will send astronauts around the moon in September 2025 and the best way to be part of it is to base yourself near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the event. You can watch launches from the center itself, but we recommend you check into the Courtyard Titusville Kennedy Space Center, a nearby Marriott hotel with an epic rooftop bar. From The Space Bar, you’ll get unrivalled views of rocket launches, cocktail in hand – just check the board in the hotel reception for details of the next lift-off.
Nuuk, Greenland
Regular flights from United Airlines and Icelandair are scheduled for take-off in 2025, to one of the world’s lesser-visited capitals, known among the initiated for its iceberg-strewn fjords, resident humpback whales, waterfalls and ancient Inuit culture. Explore the latter at the Nuuk Art Museum and the Katuaq cultural centre. With two more airports scheduled to open in southern parts of the island, travel to Greenland is about to be as ubiquitous there as the Northern Lights.
Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi
But Saadiyat is one of the best places to travel in 2025 thanks to its opulent Saadiyat Cultural District, due to open next year, adding to the Louvre’s offerings with a new natural history museum, a national museum of the UAE’s history and culture, and the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Get to the island by shuttle bus or even a self-drive taxi, hailed via an app, and spend your days pottering between the glossy new museums and the powdery, boardwalked public beach when it’s time for a picnic on a sun lounger.
El Impenetrable, Argentina
Covering 130,000 hectares across the north of Argentina, it's close to the border with Paraguay and the natural habitat of some of South America’s most beloved wildlife: jaguars, giant anteaters and capybaras.
In 2025, a new three-day river safari will be available complete with glamping stays in luxury tents at the new Glamping Los Palmares.
About the author
Florence Derrick
Freelance journalist Florence Derrick has a decade’s worth of experience in travel media. She is a contributor to DK’s London Like a Local, where she shared her insider knowledge of the coolest spots and hidden gems in the UK capital. She was shortlisted as Young Travel Writer of the Year at the 2020 Travel Media Awards. Find out more about her work on her website: www.florencederrick.com