Every year, travel publication National Geographic drops a travel bucket list for the year ahead. This year’s edition has just gone live, featuring (appropriately, for 2025), a list of 25 intriguing, under-the-radar spots, from the Ocala National Forest in Florida to the Cenobitic Monasteries in Italy.
In South Africa, brand-new safari destination Kwazulu-Natal is opening next year, which will provide a much less tourist-saturated experience than Kruger National Park. Excitingly, the location is home to some of South Africa’s most ambitious rewilding projects, and you can even take part in wildlife monitoring.
Elsewhere on the list is a hike across Romania. Thanks to the opening of the first new airport in Romania in 50 years, Dracula’s homeland of Transylvania has just become a whole lot easier to reach, so 2025 is a brilliant time to explore the Transilvanica Trail and absorb some of the region’s mystery and scenery.
But there’s plenty more where that came from – hanging out with mosaic moray in New Zealand, gorging on ceebu jën in Senegal and observing Indigenous traditions in a sparkling new facility in Canada, to name a few. Check out the rest of the list below. Oh, and you can view last year’s roundup here – did you tick off many places?
The 25 best places to travel in the world, according to National Geographic
- Antigua, Guatemala
- Ocala National Forest, Florida
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Raja Ampat, Indonesia
- Guadalajara, Mexico
- Cenobitic Monasteries, Italy
- Los Angeles, California
- Greenland
- Kanazawa, Japan
- Eastern & Oriental Express, Malaysia
- Brasov, Romania
- Cerrado, Brazil
- Northland, New Zealand
- Senegal
- Haida Gwaii, British Colombia
- Barbados
- Suru Valley, India
- Boise, Idaho
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Murray River, Australia
- Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
- Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden
- Cork, Ireland
- Outer Hebrides, Scotland
- Tunisia
For more inspo on where to travel in 2025, check out our roundups of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods, coolest streets and the world’s best cities.
Did you see that this European country could be getting a brand-new ‘supercity’?
Plus: The best (and worst) countries for nature conservation, ranked.
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