The 5 best places in the world to visit in 2025

Whether youre hiking remote mountains or sailing aquamarine seas, heres the definitive list of the most exciting destinations of 2025

Determining the best places in the world to visit in 2025 was no easy feat. After all, most of our readers suffer from the same affliction we do: an insatiable desire to go everywhere, see everything, and be dazzled by the planet’s rich and varied environments. Treating a new year as a blank slate for new adventures can feel daunting, no matter how tattered our passports are .

Maybe that’s why we’re so excited about change—as a way to narrow down the abundance of options. The places in the world that are evolving and those that are just getting started. The destinations that are being reshaped by new openings: the standout restaurants , the culture-defining museums , and the boutique hotels opening in the coming months. It’s those places, imbued with a sense of fresh beginnings, that sneak to the top of our must-see lists .

These are just a few of the stories you’ll find below. There are 25 in total. Twenty-five destinations that, no questions asked, our editors would love to visit in the coming year. Twenty-five places we want you to know about before your TikTok feed —or your kid’s TikTok feed —is filled with them. Twenty-five spots that speak to our values ​​as travelers in 2025 , whether it’s conservation innovation, astonishing creativity, or a deep sense of human connection. We hope you’ll see the names of not only places you’ve been wanting to visit—and consider this your cue to make it happen—but also places you’ve never heard of. Because just when you think you’ve seen it all, we promise to shine our light on intriguing new corners of the world .

These are the best places in the world to visit in 2025 , on all continents:

Ahr Valley, Germany

In July 2021, large parts of the Ahr Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate were destroyed. The gentle murmur of the Ahr turned into a raging river, with floods, overflows and avalanches causing widespread tragedy. But today, visitors are once again welcome – as evidenced by the slogan “ We AHR open ” – even if the Ahr Valley is not yet fully rebuilt. The railway through the valley will be running again at the end of 2025, connecting its villages with a picturesque 35-km-long red wine trail . It runs through the most beautiful terraces and steep slopes of the wine-growing region and offers numerous places to stop for a Pinot Noir , which, along with Blanc de Noir , is the region’s speciality. Be sure to try it at the wineries of Jean Stodden, Meyer-Näkel and the Mayschoss winegrowers’ cooperative.

Numerous winegrowers, restaurateurs and hoteliers have not only taken the reconstruction of the region into their own hands, but also its further development. They have seen opportunities, invested, worked tirelessly and developed new, modern ideas. The Sustainable Tourism Concept 2025 is the joint result of all those who have already felt the effects of climate change . Most of these projects will not be launched until 2025 – after that you can see how they develop – but some of the best examples are already here. Markus Bell, who runs the restaurant Bells Genusshof, serves local products in a space that looks like a cool concept store. In Altenahr , Andreas Carnott has expanded his Hotel Ruland to include a spectacular wellness area with views of the slate cliffs ; he is also considered one of the best chefs in the region. At the restaurant Brogsitter, Benjamin Schöneich will regain his Michelin star in spring 2024, having started there in autumn last year.

Around 80% of all establishments in the Ahr Valley will reopen by summer 2024, and the hotel offer is also increasing. New openings include the lovingly designed boutique hotel Burg Adenbach & Alter Weinbau in Ahrweiler, alongside reopenings such as the grand dame of the Ahr, the Steigenberger Hotel in Bad Neuenahr at the beginning of June 2024. Not only will its huge indoor pool and spa reopen at the end of 2024, concerts will once again be held in the event rooms – and the thermal baths will follow next year.

Alaska, United States

It will be another 34 years before Alaska as a state turns 100. But some of its best-known events and attractions will hit that milestone in 2025, including the Serum Run , a sled dog relay that brought life-saving diphtheria antitoxins from Nenana to Nome in 1925. The event is celebrated annually with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race , which captivates visitors and locals who gather along its 1,000-mile course to watch the best mushers and their canines compete. To witness the start of the race, stay at the Wildbirch Hotel , Anchorage’s first new major lodging in 20 years. This boutique hotel , featuring 252 rooms with cutting-edge design and collaborations with local artists, is set to open in early 2025 and offer unobstructed views of the Iditarod starting line. Also turning 100 is the relentlessly beautiful Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve — which became a national monument in 1925 — filled with rugged mountains, wild coastlines and abundant wildlife. It is the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit people , who in recent years have collaborated with the National Park Service to restore previously suppressed oral histories and cultural traditions. One effort was the construction of the Xúnaa Shuká Hít tribal house , the clan’s first permanent home on these shores since a glacier destroyed the villages more than 250 years ago.

The Huna people also own nearby Ice Sound Point , one of Southeast Alaska’s most exciting cruise destinations . New sailings are scheduled to begin in 2025, including Princess Cruises’ 22-day Ultimate Alaska Solstice voyage , departing from San Francisco in June. The itinerary takes advantage of the 19-plus hours of sunlight available during the summer solstice , giving you plenty of time to enjoy the sights of Glacier Bay National Park, Hubbard Glacier , College Fjord , and more.

If you want a land-based adventure with a side of guided bear viewing, head to the Native American-owned Kodiak Brown Bear Center on lush Kodiak Island , where small groups of visitors share space with the world’s largest subspecies of brown bear . In summer 2025, KBBC will open a new wellness center built into a picturesque cliff and offer new six-day fly-fishing programs on the Karluk River ; at dusk, guests can retreat to their log cabins overlooking the lake after a communal banya -style steam bath that the Alutiiq call maqiwik . Notably, Alaska Airlines expanded its schedule in 2024 by adding a daily nonstop flight to New York , along with its current service to San Diego, Nashville and Portland, Oregon, making it easier than ever to get here.

Cuba

Cuba has long captivated tourists with its Afro-Cuban culture , UNESCO-protected cities, gelato -colored classic cars and talkative, witty locals. In the wake of the pandemic, travelers can once again enjoy all of this. Cuba’s new e-visas , launched in August 2024, pave the way, as does the return of several U.S. tour companies that had halted travel to the island.

Beginning in January 2025, Abercrombie & Kent tours will take guests first to Camagüey , Cuba’s third-largest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with churches, figurative sculptures and celebrated ballet performances at the city’s Teatro Principal, before traveling west to charming Trinidad , with stays at the gleaming new Meliá Trinidad Península. Travelers will then continue to Cienfuegos , the City of Columns, and Santa Clara , home of the monumental Che Guevara Mausoleum , before landing in Havana .

Geographic Expeditions is preparing a series of immersive experiences in Trinidad, as well as a live performance in Cienfuegos by the Chamber Orchestra, with meals from authentic Cuban paladares – private restaurants – and private salsa lessons ; guests will drop off their bags at the tropical retreat Mansión Alameda, opening in 2023.

With Tauck, who returns to Havana in September 2024, there are opportunities to interact with fascinating locals: a baseball star, a tobacco farmer from the lush Viñales Valley , and members of a vintage car club. ReRoot Travel’s brand-new program is similarly designed to take you off the beaten path and into the homes of artists, farmers, and even Santeria priests.

If you want to time your visit with Havana’s dazzling festival calendar , join Project Por Amor with Cuba’s Adolfo Nodal on new multi-day trips centered around the International Jazz Festival in January and the Biennial of Havana art fair from November to February. A number of gorgeous boutique stays have opened in Havana over the past 18 months , including La Distancia, in an elegantly restored mansion in the leafy Vedado neighborhood , and Estancia Bohemia, a luxurious residence in a renovated 18th-century palace. In late 2024, Havana’s third Kempinski property will open in northern Old Havana : the 219-room Gran Hotel Metrópolis, with a rooftop pool and panoramic views. Forget about sleeping in and spend the night at Mayko’s Lounge Bar, opening in February 2025 in southern Old Havana. Its owner, Wilson Hernández , is Havana's best-known bartender , a former waiter at the trendy hideaway El del Frente, so you can expect heady cocktails , cult music from the seventies and all the sensations of the era.