It’s that time of year again. No, no, not jingle bell season. It’s “irresistible destinations for the new year” season, when every travel site offers up a where-to-go list. This week, Conde Nast Traveler is throwing its Santa hat in the ring with “The 25 Best Places to Go in 2025.”
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It’s a diverse list with everything from Greenland — “once a feather in only the most seasoned travelers’ caps,” the CN Traveler editors say — to the Great Barrier Reef. Greenland’s Nuuk airport expansion makes travel easier, they point out, with more flights bound there in the new year. Ho Chi Minh City gets a shout out on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
In Germany, just south of Bonn, the Ahr Valley is welcoming visitors back for the first time since the region was devastated by a 2021 flood. Among the temptations ahead: trains will be running again by this time next year, connecting this wine region’s villages with a 22-mile-long, red wine hiking trail that offers plenty of pinot-sipping opportunities.
And in South America’s Gran Chaco, a destination long considered so far off the tourist track as to be impenetrable, river safaris and glamping accommodations have popped up. Now is the time, CN Traveler says, to head for Argentina’s El Impenetrable National Park within the 300,000-square-mile Gran Chaco.
Here’s the top 10. Find the full list and details on all that lies ahead at www.cntraveler.com
1 Ahr Valley, Germany
2 Alaska
3 Cuba
4 Djerba, Tunisia
5 Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica
6 El Impenetrable National Park, Argentina
7 Emerald Coast, Nicaragua
8 Faroe Islands
9 Greenland
10 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam