Where to Go in 2025

Algeria

If you don’t know much about Africa’s largest country, that may be by design. Algeria retreated inward to preserve its culture after two especially difficult chapters in its history: a brutal eight-year revolution that ended French rule in 1962, and a bloody civil war between the military and Islamist groups in the 1990s. Now Algeria is stable—and in 2023 the government introduced a visa-on-arrival program as the first step toward building a meaningful tourism economy. By 2030, it aims to welcome 12 million annual visitors.

Visiting Algeria now, before it’s fully primed for the spotlight, is a rare privilege. It lets travelers take in panoramas such as the palm-­studded Saharan oasis near Timimoun utterly unblemished by tour buses and witness a vibrant culture lived with practically zero interest in the Western gaze.

Start in the elegant capital of Algiers, where the stately French-built National Museum of Fine Arts stands in the shadow of the swooping spire of the Martyrs Memorial, honoring the 1.5 million Algerians killed in the war of independence. Then weave your way to Constantine, a city of a half-million people where seven bridges hang across the wide gorges of the Rhumel River like elaborate, sky-high tightwires. Last up is the once-thriving Roman colony of Cuicul, now a dizzying assortment of astonishingly preserved ruins. Anywhere else in the world, a cache of antiquities at this scale would require a tangle of barriers to protect the relics and walkways and plaques to usher the hordes of tourists. Here, you’ll get it almost all to yourself—for now.

Seychelles

Being 1,000 miles from the mainland—Kenya’s eastern coast—has helped the 115 islands of Seychelles remain an exclusive and rarefied escape, with luxury hotels and prices to match. That’s not simply a byproduct of its remote geography; it’s mandated: Legislation has long limited hotel development to very low-density projects, making the openings of a Waldorf Astoria and LVMH’s Cheval Blanc Seychelles an exciting new reason to visit.

For Cheval Blanc’s 52 villas on the main island of Mahé, the French company tapped architect Jean-Michel Gathy to build glassy structures with the high-pitched rooflines common to Seychellois Creole design. Inside are intricately woven wall hangings by Joël Andrianomearisoa of nearby Madagascar. Guests can access a Guerlain spa and five restaurants—several facing a shoreline piled with granite boulders that look like beached whales. Waldorf Astoria’s 50-villa retreat on the tiny, gardenia-strewn private island of Platte—a sanctuary for hawksbill sea turtles—is accessible only by a 25-minute plane ride. It’s a place for kitesurfing, fly-fishing, scuba diving and guided reef walks.

And then there’s Frégate Island, which many locals considered Seychelles’ first luxury resort when it made its debut in 1999. It reopens in the back half of 2025 after a three-year closure. Its 17 already-spacious villas will have been expanded, with the addition of floor-to-ceiling windows, solar-power hookups and new furnishings. Just as important is what remains unchanged: protected habitats for the critically endangered species that live on the resort’s 750-acre grounds, including the magpie robin, Frégate beetle and giant Aldabra tortoise.

Los Angeles

At a time when fine dining has been declared dead, Tinseltown is making it legitimately exciting again. Foremost in the city is Somni, where chef Aitor Zabala makes 20 courses seem to fly by with his super-modernist $495 Spanish menu—the caviar service includes meringue blinis with smoked butter cream.

By the time 2025 rings in, Alinea alum Dave Beran—who trained Jeremy Allen White to act like a chef in The Bear—will have opened Seline in Santa Monica. His $295 parade of 15 to 18 modern SoCal courses will be served from an open kitchen that flows directly into the dining room. And the first US location of the famed Tokyo sushi spot Udatsu is now open in a former recording studio on Sunset Boulevard; its modern $225 omakase is served to only eight lucky diners at a time.

It’s not just high-end places that are making noise. Noted LA chef Bryant Ng is getting ready to open Jade Rabbit, with dishes like orange-mango chicken that mash up Korean and Cantonese flavors. By next summer, the 200-seat Super Peach, the first new Momofuku in years, will come to the Westfield Century City shopping center, building on the casual energy of the original Noodle Bar in New York.

Of course you’ll need to sleep it all off. For that, there’s the Regent Santa Monica Beach, with 167 breezy rooms and suites that evoke a yacht. And, yes, breakfast is an event here, too, courtesy of spots from both Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry. Consider it a warmup for each delicious day ahead.

Portillo,
Chile

The Chilean ski resort Portillo is as legendary among in-the-know powder chasers as the sugar-dusted slopes of Niseko in Japan. Its 1,235 acres of mostly advanced-level slopes skirt the edge of a teal lagoon in the shadow of the Western Hemisphere’s highest peak—a combination of spectacular conditions and eyepopping landscapes. But what makes the place most unique is how little it’s evolved since Bob Purcell, a New York businessman, ditched his city life to take over the continent’s first winter resort in 1961.

In an industry dominated by global resort behemoths, Portillo remains defiantly independent. There’s no resort town, tubing or sleigh rides. Instead, every amenity you need—whether cinema, disco or piano bar—is contained in a single six-story, lemon-yellow ski-in, ski-out hotel. Visitors sign up for either a full-week or half-week stay and eat their four daily meals (including Chilean tea time) at assigned seats in Portillo’s wood-paneled ballroom, chatting with fellow travelers as if they were on a cruise. With a maximum occupancy of 450 guests, though, it means wide-open, uncrowded terrain when you leave the “ship”—there’s no such thing as a lift line on this mountain.

So why prioritize it now, if it’s been this way for decades? For its 75th anniversary, the Purcell family is bringing in a few (temporary) bells and whistles. There will be mountaintop dinners led by Chilean winemakers and adventures such as guided star walks and cold plunges available only this season. It’s also easier to arrive, with Santiago’s new $990 million international airport terminal only two hours away. Bookend the trip at Debaines, a 50-key property by Small Luxury Hotels of the World that opened in December next to the capital’s neoclassical opera house.

Skåne,
Sweden

The next great coolcation destination is practically lying in plain sight of Copenhagen, a mere 30-minute drive across the Øresund Bridge that connects the city to Sweden. Skåne is the country’s most southerly region, filled with lonely lighthouses, quaint fishing villages and rambling royal gardens—a place to slow down for walks on long beaches with colorful huts and extended fika breaks made up of strong coffee and cardamom buns.

But there’s some very cosmopolitan excitement in the air. The newly opened Maryhill Estate, a renovated baroque castle with 163 floral and candy-striped rooms on the rocky Øresund Sound, is grand enough to rival the châteaus of the Loire. With its intimate pool club and croquet lawns, it’s the first great place to stay in Skåne and raises the bar for Scandinavia as a whole. Use it as a base camp for days spent exploring cider factories, cathedrals and palaces—or an excuse to check out the regional capital, Mälmo.

Big culinary news is also on the way. Chef Magnus Nilsson, who made a global reputation with Fäviken Magasinet, his now-shuttered restaurant at the far northern end of Sweden, will open Pensionat Furuhem this spring in a whitewashed building that once was a boarding school for women in the town of Båstad. It will be a destination dining experience collectively owned by its cooks and staff, offering traditional local cuisine, an all-day bakery and a few hotel rooms above.

Costa Palmas,
Mexico

Almost all of the ever-increasing volume of tourists that come in via the San José del Cabo airport near the tip of the Baja California peninsula (3.86 million in 2023) inevitably wind up on the Los Cabos Corridor. But roughly 60 miles away on the East Cape of the peninsula, a more exclusive alternative is emerging in Costa Palmas.

The 1,500-acre private beachfront community was first put on the map by Four Seasons in 2019 with a meandering complex of white-on-white villas and an acclaimed golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II. In 2025 the luxury will reach a fever pitch as several more resorts and restaurants open within Costa Palmas’ gates, led by an all-star cast of design- and food-world luminaries.

Athens-based Elastic Architects is behind an Aman Group resort called Amanvari: Its boxy bungalows will have retractable glass walls and stairs plunging into the sea. The interiors at the forthcoming Casa Blake, whose residences can be rented by vacationers, are by maximalist Martin Brudnizki of London. Brudnizki, who plays masterfully with colors, textures and florals, was also tapped to create an enchanting nightclub at the Four Seasons, where painted alebrijes—mythical folk art creatures—climb the hot pink walls. The lineup of chefs descending on Costa Palmas includes Ludo Lefebvre and Nancy Silverton, both from Los Angeles, and there’s also an outpost of global Greek favorite Estiatorio Milos.

The Costa Palmas Foundation, funded by the resorts, is meant to appeal to travelers’ desire to have a positive impact on the places they visit. It organizes beach cleanups, sea turtle release parties, toy drives and other volunteer opportunities to connect guests and residents with nearby villages—and it has also worked with locals to enhance parks and build schools and medical facilities. It adds up to a new model for Mexican tourism that’s simultaneously more rarefied and more interconnected with local communities.

Japan

The Land of the Rising Sun is full of places for deep contemplation, and Tadao Ando’s latest project on Naoshima Island, just south of Okayama in the Seto Inland Sea, will be one worth prioritizing. As part of the spectacular Benesse Art Site complex, the Naoshima New Museum of Art joins nine other cultural institutions on a tiny speck of land that may have more polka-dotted Yayoi Kusuma pumpkins than it does permanent residents. When it opens in the spring, the three-floor space will feature works from big-name contemporary Asian artists including Takashi Murakami and Cai Guo-Qiang in a minimalist, pebble-walled building designed to blend into the hilly seaside. From a terrace café on the top level, you’ll be able to watch fishing boats pass through a landscape that’s dotted with fog-shrouded volcanoes.

Of course there are plenty of luxuries to splurge on, too, especially while the yen remains weak. After topping the World’s 50 Best Hotels list with its Bangkok property, Capella is heading to Kyoto with 92 rooms, an onsen-inspired spa and an enviable location: a short walk from the Unesco-protected Kiyomizu-dera temple. A Kengo Kuma-designed outpost of the Shangri-La hotel chain is also set to open in the historic capital.

Over in sprawling Osaka, the just-opened Four Seasons inserts traditional ryokan inn elements like tatami flooring and shoji screens into a gleaming glass-spire. It’s paving the way for a parade of new five-star stays, including a Waldorf Astoria and an outpost of Patina, a sibling brand to Capella, this one overlooking the winged roofs of Osaka Castle. All that will open in time for Expo 2025, a six-month celebration with global pavilions themed around sustainability innovation.

Canary Islands

You’d think getting to the Canary Islands would be no small feat—given this Spanish archipelago is closer to Morocco than Madrid. But a slew of international carriers will take you directly to three of the largest islands—Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote—where you can hike through vertiginous landscapes, shop in boutiques tucked along cobbled lanes or lie on the beach with a book.

Just as the Balearics evolved quickly from the clubbing-and-cruising set to a much more varied patchwork of luxurious experiences, so, too, have the Canaries, with their surfable coves, charming medieval villages and rambling farmsteads attracting loads of hotel investment in recent years.

If you have time for only one island, make it Lanzarote, which has recently become the first with grade-A resorts. A Grand Hyatt along the sea and a more secluded Alila (the debut European outpost of the luxury brand) high in the hilly interior are due in 2025. They’ll join the recently opened César Lanzarote, a boutique inn with a high-concept design near the wineries of La Geria, and the newish Hotel Casa de las Flores in the colonial village of Teguise.

Make sure to grab a meal at Restaurante Palacio Ico to savor local dishes including cherne fish and Canarian black pig. Then hit the waves at Famara Beach with Lanzasurf, a quality outfitter operating along, for now, blissfully secluded shores.

Out Islands,
Bahamas

Of the Bahamas’ 700 islands, only about 30 are inhabited—and only one of them, New Providence, has the urbanity (and enormous cruise port) of Nassau. Besides that and Grand Bahama, you have what’s known as the Out Islands, home to pristine beaches, untouched mangrove-laden keys and now a host of new luxury resorts accessible mainly by tiny turboprop planes.

Next year’s most anticipated arrival is Montage Cay, a 53-acre private-island residential resort in the Abacos chain. Built at an estimated cost of $68 million, it will have 50 suites, a 47-slip deep-water marina and seven private beaches upon completion in late 2025—along with the detailed, highly personal service that makes Montage hotels such reliable hits. The forthcoming Banyan Tree Bimini, with its Maldives-esque overwater bungalows, won’t be done until 2026. But some features will be ready imminently, including an outpost of St. Barts’ famous Bonito.

All this builds on recent momentum making the Out Islands increasingly worth the trek. On Eleuthera, the Potlatch Club, a 1960s icon, was revamped in 2024 to have 11 fashionable rooms. As for how to get there? Semiprivate jet company Tradewind Aviation LLC has added direct service from South Florida to North Eleuthera, and American Airlines has added new flights to Nassau from Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Egypt

The land of the pharaohs has been on a vertiginous tourism ascent—in 2024 it’s set to break its own tourism records with 15 million visitors, even amid regional turmoil. That buzz is set to continue with the highly anticipated grand opening of the now-in-previews Grand Egyptian Museum—nearly 20 years in the making—which will contain more than 100,000 artifacts less than a mile from the Giza pyramid complex. The entirety of King Tut’s 5,000-object treasure collection, including his gold burial mask and sarcophagus, will fill a single gallery—set to be the museum’s primo viewing opp.

Massive investments are giving the country plenty of modern marvels, too. The Waldorf Astoria Cairo Heliopolis has just opened with 252 decadent rooms near the airport, while India-based luxury stalwart Oberoi is readying to take VIP visitors down the Nile on a pair of luxury dahabeyas—sailboats traditionally made for royalty. Both will have space for 14 guests in seven river-view cabins—not including the resident Egyptologist and a full staff of butlers—plus a pool bar, a restaurant with an interactive kitchen for daytime cooking classes and onboard spa.

The most exciting accommodations—be they riverborne or landside—may be the ones from only-in-Egypt brands. Kazazian, which started sailing its panoramic glass-walled ship down the Nile in 2021, has already welcomed Kuwaiti and Qatari royals on its helipad-equipped vessels. Now it’s building its first hotel in the port town of Siwa, so guests arriving by boat can spend more time exploring the ancient desert fortresses. It joins Al Moudira Hotel, in Luxor—where the pool is lined with reclaimed marble from Alexandria palaces—in a trend of bringing exceptional historical preservation projects to Nile-facing villages, creating exciting ways to see both the country and the river itself.

Lexington,
Kentucky

Horse races, elaborate hats and bourbon trails: Tradition-filled Lexington will celebrate its 250th anniversary in June, offering a chance to see the Southern belle in rapid evolution. The city will soon cut the ribbon on a $35.5 million, 22-mile-long paved pedestrian and biking trail system connecting some of its most appealing neighborhoods—including the aptly named Distillery District and the restaurant-packed Downtown—to the waterfront of the scenic Kentucky River.

Four newly updated African American Heritage walking tours offer highlights of the city’s past, including little-known stories of Black horse jockeys and the historic alleyways once used by enslaved people and domestic servants to get to and from work unnoticed. Fresh Bourbon, one of the state’s first Black-owned distilleries, recently added mixology classes and whiskey tastings with food pairings. And in June, a 10-day SoulFeast Week will showcase Black-owned restaurants with hip-hop brunches and farm-to-table dinners at Coleman Crest, Kentucky’s first Black-owned organic farm.

And look out, Nashville. Lexington is gaining cred for its flourishing music scene, which is now easier to tap into. The Manchester, the city’s first luxury boutique hotel, is just blocks away from Manchester Music Hall and the Burl, where the band Uncle Lucius, Bayker Blankenship and other emerging country stars are set to play in 2025. And in May, during the famed Kentucky Derby that’s just a 90-minute drive away in Louisville’s Churchill Downs, it’s worth betting Taylor Swift will make an appearance: Her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s racehorse is expected to compete. Its name? Swift Delivery.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam has long been overlooked by tourists in favor of better-known Dutch cities like Amsterdam and the Hague, an unfortunate omission given that the city—the Netherland’s second largest by population—has some of the same charming waterways and pencil-thin canal houses as its peers. But two world-class museums will soon definitively tip the scales in the city’s favor, making it worth the 30-minute train ride from Schiphol Airport.

The first is Fenix. When it opens in May, it will use art to showcase how the world has been shaped by migration and cross-cultural exchange. Its collection will feature works by international stars including William Kentridge, Steve McQueen, Gorgon Parks and Alfred Stieglitz, along with migration-themed installations and artifacts such as the very first refugee passports, issued after World War I.

Don’t miss the views over the city’s massive harbor from the “The Tornado,” a gleaming new double-helix staircase and observation deck atop the museum. On that site, more than 3 million emigrants boarded ships to start a new life somewhere abroad (including Willem de Kooning and Albert Einstein). Many millions more arrived, too, shaping Rotterdam into the culturally diverse city it is today.

If you visit later in the year, you may catch the reopening of the Nederlands Fotomuseum—one of the world’s greatest photography archives—now in an eight-story coffee warehouse on Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven harbor. Either way, stay at the Mainport Hotel, which will wrap up a head-to-toe renovation and join Hilton’s Curio Collection this spring; it has rooms with panoramic windows facing the vast Maas river.

San Diego

Although it’s long been defined by Top Gun and top surfers, San Diego is evolving into a bona fide arts destination, too. The $125 million renovation of the San Diego Symphony’s Jacobs Music Center, which wrapped in September, is a perfect complement to its reimagined outdoor venue, an elegant waterfront structure aptly named the Rady Shell.

Now, the $105 million expansion of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art by Selldorf Architects is similarly inviting visitors to better appreciate the city’s ample natural assets; the new galleries have skylights and giant windows to bring in epic Pacific vistas. (Have lunch in the new ocean view restaurant, which is still something of a local secret.)

Landmark hotels are meeting the moment with overdue upgrades, including the 938-room Hotel del Coronado, whose red Victorian turrets are a San Diego signature. The hotel’s half-billion-dollar makeover, which wraps in April, will add a vibrant new look, 75 seaside villas and a Nobu restaurant. Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa’s own transformation has brought a contemporary ranch style to its tired rooms and polished up its 10-acre property, a former equestrian estate. And early in 2025, CH Projects, which already whipped the Lafayette Hotel into a fantasy of wild mismatched patterns, will reveal its reimagination of a broken-down beach motel, the 31-room Baby Grand. It’s almost enough to overshadow the arrival of two giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo—but not quite.

Cap Ferret,
France

The new balm for French jet-setters who’ve grown weary of Saint-Tropez’s billionaire bling is Cap Ferret. Not to be confused with Cap Ferrat, which lies a few towns farther up the tony Riviera, this boho-chic paradise is on a spit of land dotted with fresh oyster stands, giant sand dunes and wooden cabanas (plus luxury homes, natch) that separates the Atlantic from Arcachon Bay. It’s like workaday Montauk, New York, a decade ago.

Stay at La Co(o)rniche or Ha(a)ïtza, two newish inns across the bay that blend Tudor timber with Cape Cod sensibilities for a more elegant effect than their overstylized names. Both are owned by the Techoueyres family, who’ill open a third property in the area in 2025.

Going with a group? This is an equally good spot to rent a private villa, such as those from Iconic House, a newish company with a quickly growing portfolio of high-end homes in the region.

Even Bordeaux—the nearest big city, only 40 miles inland—is reinvigorating its image to go beyond its world-class wine industry. This emerging “petit Paris” sports a Mondrian hotel designed by Philippe Starck set amid the hipster hangouts of the Chartrons neighborhood. And just outside of town, carved between the area’s fabled wineries, is the brand-new Cabot Bordeaux, an offshoot of the beloved Canadian golf resort with 79 mod rooms and a hyperlocal wine cellar.

Antigua and Barbuda

Designated by the United Nations as the fastest-growing economy among the Caribbean islands in 2024, Antigua and Barbuda are enjoying tremendous investment—$1 billion in new hotels will have opened here from 2023 to 2025. Of the 1,000-plus rooms included in that figure, 12 are particularly eye-catching: Antigua’s first overwater bungalows, found at adults-only, all-inclusive Royalton Chic. Each has its own plunge pool, overwater hammock and glass floor panel that lets you spy on kaleidoscopic fish from the edge of your bed. On Barbuda, there’s also the 36-room Nobu Hotel, which Robert De Niro is opening in November on the secluded and lush Princess Diana Beach.

All this amped-up competition has inspired the twin-island nation’s longtime standard-setters to raise their game. Oetker Collection’s Jumby Bay, for instance, has added butler service and a private-island beach club called the Hut, where multicourse, large-format meals can be shared on tables in the sand. And Carlisle Bay Antigua is rolling out $100 million in phased upgrades through 2026, including ocean suites by British-Nigerian designer Miminat Shodeinde.

Don’t expect the momentum to slow down anytime soon. Rosewood, One&Only and a resort from Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris are all also on the way—giving Antigua and Barbuda as much luxury cred as Anguilla and St. Bart’s in the years ahead. The key difference? You can fly here directly from most major East Coast airports, in about four hours or less.

Rome

During the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee year, the Pope will open five Holy Doors at churches including St. Peter’s Basilica as a symbol of salvation for Catholics around the world. And the surrounding city will be exciting and more accessible even for nonreligious travelers, as $1.4 billion in citywide infrastructure investments reach completion. Those funds have gone toward the renovation of all three fountains in the Piazza Navona, upgrades to green areas around the Vatican and the Mausoleum of Hadrian, more commonly known as Castel Sant’Angelo, and the christening of the flagship stations for the $3 billion Metro Line C that runs under Roman ruins. In addition to relieving traffic, the Porta Metronia and Fori Imperiali-Colosseo stops will double as archaeological museums, allowing you to look through glass walls at ancient history while awaiting your train.

Add to that an enticing array of hotel openings from Corinthia, Rosewood, Nobu and Orient Express—plus the 74-room Romeo Roma, one of Zaha Hadid’s final projects, with multiple pools and a rooftop lounge in a 16th century palazzo near Piazza del Popolo.

Bangkok

How do you go from backpacker haven to crazy-rich oasis in a decade? You might find the answer in Bangkok, where the upcoming season of The White Lotus will provide ample proof of the city’s dizzying ascent. Take the Mandarin Oriental, whose recent $90 million renovation will get featured (at least momentarily) in the show; it’s Bangkok’s original grande dame, now with a crystal-clad lobby and two river-facing pools. And yet, the city keeps raising the bar with a succession of luxury openings that will have just missed the cutoff for HBO’s shoot.

In the ritzy Phloen Chit district, Aman will soon make its highly anticipated Bangkok debut with the Jean-Michel Gathy-designed Aman Nai Lert Bangkok, while Six Senses Forestias will put the little-visited Bang Kaeo suburb on the map with an ambitious wellness-­focused members club tucked into the woods some 10 miles east of the central ­business district. There’s also Dusit Thani Bangkok, which reopened in September after a $1.3 billion reconstruction with modern Thai interiors by Hong Kong design legend André Fu Studio; by the time its final elements wrap later in 2025, it will have taken five years.

But the glitziest new arrival isn’t a hotel—and it’s free to the public to explore. Opened in October, the $3.9 billion, 41-acre One Bangkok skyscraper super-­development rises out over Lumpini Park with three interconnected shopping malls, a mile-long loop lined with more than 250 restaurants and public art pieces by the likes of Anish Kapoor and Tony Cragg. Add an extension of the city’s metro and organized cleanups of the waterways that snake through the city, and there’s plenty of reason for Hollywood’s cast of bratty holidaymakers to consider a return trip.

The Colombian Amazon

Deep in southeastern Colombia, near Amacayacu National Park, the new Nomad Lodge beckons adventurous travelers with an ambitious ecotourism project that eases access to the pristine jungle and supports the 22 Indigenous Aticoya communities that live there. Only eight guests at a time can sleep in its solar-powered bungalows, which have canopied terraces that jut straight into the landscape. They’ll wake at dawn to canoe through sunken forests teeming with pink dolphins, laze on hammocks during the hottest hours of the day, then reemerge at dusk to scan the canopy for snoozing sloths.

Getting here is an adventure in itself, beginning with a two-hour flight from Bogotá to Leticia, followed by a two-hour boat ride up the Amazon. As the first of 10 planned Nomad Lodges in South America—whose business model shares revenue with local communities—it reflects a broader trend that helps travelers (delicately) tap into the world’s final frontiers.

Witness these other fresh avenues for exploring: Harry Hastings of Plan South America Ltd. sends guests by hydroplane from Nomad to nearby lodges in Iquitos, Peru, for those who want to dive deeper into the Amazon rainforest. In January, river cruise company AmaWaterways will offer its first itinerary, along a 500-mile stretch of the Magdalena River, taking 60 passengers at a time to isolated Spanish colonial towns. One of them, Mompox, is said to have inspired the fictional setting of Gabriel García Márquez’s epic novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude—now a Netflix series.

If your vacation ends in Cartagena, treat your inner adventurer to well-deserved relaxation: The city’s upcoming Four Seasons Hotel opens midyear in a 16th century building within the historic walled city.

Jaipur

In the early 1700s, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II brought skilled craftsmen from around his kingdom to fill the new capital of Rajasthan with intricate temples and sandstone palaces. Now, its royal patrons, the 26-year-old Maharaja Padmanabh Singh and his sister Princess Gauravi Kumari, are perpetuating the Pink City’s legacy of beauty for the next generation.

In November the maharaja unveiled the Jaipur Centre for Art, showcasing international and Indian contemporary artists; then in December he opened a fine-dining restaurant in a palace courtyard called Sarvato. The princess’ new jewel-toned concept shop, Palace Atelier, is like a shoppable museum. It features locally made home goods, designer saris and fine jewelry.

Even the city’s newest hotels take their design cues from age-old artisanal craftsmanship. Anantara Jewel Bagh will open in March just south of the city with 150 rooms draped in Indian toile fabrics and the types of grand spaces that will cater to enormous weddings (the ballroom fits 2,500). On the other end of the size spectrum, the perpetually booked, five-room Johri has added three more suites, each themed around a precious stone. And right in between is the elegant 50-room Raffles Jaipur, modeled after a zenana, or women’s palace. It opened last summer with a dreamy rooftop pool flanked by chhatri, open-air pavilions displaying typical Mughal architecture.

Bonus: As of Dec. 15, there are four new weekly flights from Abu Dhabi on Etihad Airways. That puts Jaipur—and its royal life—within easier reach.

Seville

It’s possible you’re already hearing the buzz about Seville, which has emerged as a more-obvious next stop after Barcelona, Madrid and Mallorca. Long overlooked for its lack of a major airport, the capital of Andalucia boasts 300 days of sunshine and a mesmerizing mix of Moorish and Baroque architecture. And what it’s missing in international flight connectivity, it makes up for in cultural clout. This is the birthplace of flamenco and home to modern marvels such as the Metropol Parasol, a public plaza where you can shop under umbrella-like structures that resemble Seussian mushrooms.

All this is enticing enough for travelers on the hunt for character-packed B-side destinations instead of overcrowded tourism hubs. But a pair of stylish boutique hotels—with rates under $200 a night—are livening up Seville’s hospitality scene, too. Pick the Vincci Selección Unuk if you’re liable to spend afternoons on a rooftop deck, surveying the Gothic spires of the city’s cathedrals at eye level. Or book into Ocean Drive Sevilla, with its Scandinavian-inspired decor, if you’d rather be at the doorstep of the city center’s winding cobblestone streets.

São Tomé and Príncipe

São Tomé and Príncipe, a nation of two volcanic islands off Africa’s western equatorial coast, is what South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth calls “the Galápagos of Africa.” It’s a place where jungles crash into pearlescent beaches dotted with Jurassic-looking palms and vistas are pierced by little more than the odd thatched roof and emerald hills. The seas are warm year-round, filled with vast troves of rare creatures endemic to the Gulf of Guinea, including fish that walk on land.

Shuttleworth, a software executive, has morphed what was supposed to be a personal vacation property—a dilapidated, abandoned resort built in the 1980s by an eccentric fisherman—and three other buildings, into four hotels scattered across Príncipe. And he’s not nearly done yet: Having already spent $50 million building up the island’s nascent eco-tourism industry, he’s now turning each of his resorts into true five-star stays, starting with the low-slung, 18-bungalow Bom Bom that reopened in September.

Far more wide-reaching is his plan to launch a “Natural Dividend” program in 2025: a quarterly sum paid to all Príncipeans on a sliding scale that depends on how carefully they maintain the unique ecological value of their island. It’s a wild idea meant to preserve a wild place—and a possible model for the future of conservation.

London’s Elizabeth Line

Many of London’s most exciting hotel and restaurant openings will have one thing in common: proximity to the Elizabeth line, which went into service in 2022. Hop off the Underground at Bond Street in Mayfair, and you’ll soon find the city’s newest ultraluxury contender, the Chancery Rosewood. The hotel will fill the former US Embassy with 146 spacious rooms and two big-deal restaurants: the first UK location of New York’s celebrity-packed Carbone and the resurrection of storied London hot spot Le Caprice. A few stops away at Liverpool Street, Gordon Ramsay will spread five venues throughout London’s tallest new office building at 22 Bishopsgate. That includes Lucky Cat on the 60th floor, which, when it opens in February, will be the highest dining room in the city.

Don’t overlook Canary Wharf, a burgeoning food and drink destination on the line’s eastern end, where you can sample playful takes on British classics on the water at the 500-seat Roe. (Get the snail vindaloo flatbread and crowd-pleasing bloomin’ onion.) The just-opened Hovarda offers an Aegean menu starring the roasted lamb dish kleftiko and raki drinks. There’s also new French brasserie Marceline, on a floating pavilion on the Thames, where you can dine on Dover sole grenobloise and mussels marinière. Like the Elizabeth line, it’s already bringing the masses.

Paros and Antiparos,
Greece

The Cyclades are no strangers to mass tourism, but there’s so much more to the islands than the sunsets on Santorini and club beats on Mykonos. Beyond them are dozens of other islets dotted with dramatic rocky coastlines, blue-and-white stucco towns and miles of pebbly beaches.

Emerging as the Aegean’s rising stars are Paros and its smaller neighbor, Antiparos, two bougainvillea-covered oases separated by a five-minute ferry. They’re popular with a well-heeled crowd that’s keen to visit villages such as stone-walled Parikia or to drench themselves in tanning oil along the deep azure sea. In the town of Naousa, the nightlife is every bit as vibrant as in Mykonos—but without the sky-high prices.

It’s no wonder the hotel scene has had a glow-up. In the past year, the intimate Andronis Minois on Paros has added 44 rooms with secluded terraces only 500 feet from the water’s edge. It’s a perfect plan B if you’re unable to snag one of 17 glamorous rooms at Rooster Antiparos, the pioneering property on the island’s undeveloped western shore. Go to this island duo now, and you’ll see some of their most staggering sights in relative solitude: Our favorites include a 5,000-year-old theater and what might be the most ancient cave in Greece, around 45 million years old and considered by some a passageway to the underworld.

It’s unlikely to stay quiet for long. A $45 million revamp of Paros’ airport is underway, and by summer 2026, a longer runway will receive direct international flights for the first time. Get there before the planes full of crowds do.

Greenland

With giant icebergs, miles of tundra and spectacular aurora borealis sightings, Greenland shares many of tourist-packed Iceland’s natural charms. But few can enjoy the wonder of its mythical frozen landscapes. Those who journey to the Danish territory typically do so aboard cruise ships that disembark for a mere handful of hours: In 2023, 74 different ships visited Greenland on a total of 183 voyages—a 64% increase over 2022 alone.

Now deeper explorations are becoming far more feasible. In late November the first international airport opened in the capital city of Nuuk near the territory’s southwest coast, bringing five weekly flights from Copenhagen. Two more airports are expected in the southern cities of Ilulissat and Qaqortoq by 2026, reducing reliance on the cruise ports.

All this airport expansion has prompted tour operators like the UK’s Black Tomato to introduce trips highlighting culture and nature in Greenland’s under-the-radar destinations. Forage for mushrooms and wild berries in Saqqaq, zip through the tundra on a dog sled in Ilulissat, or catch Arctic char the local way (with your hands) in the Amitsuarsuk Fjord. Then hike to the second largest ice sheet in the world in Kangerlussuaq and dine on Greenland’s own version of modern Nordic cuisine back in Nuuk.

Although luxury accommodations are still sparse, a pair of glamping sites provide easy access to—and total immersion in—greater Greenland. In Saqqaq, Nomad Greenland operates a collection of glamping teepees outfitted with Scandinavian decor on the edge of Disko Bay. Many of Black Tomato’s itineraries base guests at Kiattua, a secluded camp in Nuuk with sauna tents, hot tubs and close-up views of the region’s fjords and icebergs. Don’t expect it to be mobbed by the masses any time soon: This special spot, like many others, is still only accessible via boat or helicopter.

Upper East Side

Manhattan’s most-Botoxed neighborhood has just gotten a lift of its own. Look no further than the Frick Museum, one of the gems of early 20th century New York, which is reopening in early 2025 following its first renovation in 90 years. As part of its head-to-toe makeover, the museum is opening the mansion’s second floor to the public, adding a café and restoring the once-lush gardens into a proper urban oasis.

The hotel scene, too, is getting an upgrade: The Surrey, a local staple, has undergone a stately overhaul by high-end European brand Corinthia Hotels, creating competition for its celeb-packed neighbors, the Carlyle and the Mark.

That’s a lot of fresh energy in a traditionally sleepy neighborhood, and it doesn’t stop there. Three new restaurants are joining the ranks of Manhattan’s most-difficult-to-book spots: Cafe Commerce is a spinoff of a shuttered West Village favorite, with its famous old murals preserved and hanging over the new bar. (Expect to see chef Harold Moore’s towering coconut cake and a version of his epic roast chicken.) Chez Fifi, from the tradition-minded team that brought us Sushi Noz—where the omakase costs $550—has a similarly reverent take on old-school French classics. And Le Veau d’Or, one of the area’s OG celebrity hangouts from the 1930s, has been given new life by Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, the acclaimed chefs behind Francophile dining rooms Le Rock and Frenchette. Even the restaurant on the ground floor of the Surrey is bringing some heat: Casa Tua is where the who’s who dine in Miami, and the New York outpost is packed with a glittering crowd of designers, execs and socialites at virtually all hours of the day.