Explore, Differently: Top 5 Destinations to Visit in 2025

New Year, New Reasons to Travel: Our Top 5 Destinations for 2025

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We firmly believe that travel can transform your life. But every journey depends on where you're at, what you're looking for and who you want to be. For 2025, we’ve curated our go-to list based on fresh perspectives, local insight, conscious travel and positive change to see the world differently.

1

Where to Go to After You Quit the Job You Hate:
Bangkok

Bangkok
Bangkok (Myles Mansfield)

If 2025 is the year you finally quit the job you hate, a trip to Bangkok could be what you need to remedy any career anxiety. Bangkok is one of the most visited cities in the world, but much of it remains elusive to visitors. The energy of the city means it is one that is always changing, pulsating with the rush of finding gems tucked under the shadow of skyscrapers or almost seemingly lost within the riddle of streets. This is a place where ideas bloom in the most unexpected ways, nurtured by the city’s tight-knit creatives.

From dance floors like Beam to independent boutique stores like Sell the Souls, locals mingle and collaborate across a spectrum of spaces. "Before, there were more individual artists, but now we have more community," says Prynlada, a producer, performer and director from Bangkok who runs the publication Arc Tribe and media production company Nock Studio.

Kanrapee is a photographer who co-runs Arc Tribe and Nock Studio. He attributes the thriving creative scene to LBGTQ+ rights, attracting a wealth of queer talent across Asia who have come to establish careers in Bangkok: “We were the second in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage after Taiwan, which has made many queer friends want to come to Thailand.”

With a crop of homegrown creatives driving a forceful cultural scene, Bangkok is the perfect place to find inspo for resetting your career path. Arc Tribe have sent some recommendations to get inspired by the Thai capital: indie theatres such as Galile Oasis, restaurants like ZAO, or wine bars including Salon Kiku. Check out their full guide here.

Next step? Draft the resignation letter. Afterwards? Book that flight.

2

Where to Go Breathe Fresh Air (And Quit Vaping):
Kyrgyzstan

Breath Fresh Air in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan (Andrej Russkovskij)

Perhaps quitting your job wasn’t the plan for 2025—but that just means you need a break to avoid burnout. And what better way to take a breather—and ditch bad habits like vaping—than escaping the city? Check out Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia's landlocked beauty. With an average elevation of 2750 m, this mountainous country is literally the place to drink in majestic views and take the deepest of breaths on some of the most mesmerising hikes.

“In the high mountainous areas, it’s an intense feeling just to exist there. You just have to focus on getting from A to B, which could just be 30 km but it will take a lot out of you. You’re definitely not going to think about smoking! ” says conservationist Dan O'Neill, who has spent time in Kyrgyzstan as an explorer in residence for the Snow Leopard trust. He recommends anyone to visit—from the great food, safety and warm hospitality to the untouched beauty of the scenery. “I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s the most breathtaking country with zero light pollution. We’ve been drinking straight from the river.”

As the Kyrgyz have a traditionally nomadic culture, horses hold extreme importance. They will be left in the wild for months at a time and are ridden only when needed for travel. “The horses are as well cared for as humanly possible,” says O’Neill. Many locals will arrange horse hire, and can guide their horses through vocal command alone. But guides won’t be happy if you attempt to speed up your journey: "Don't gallop or canter” cautions O’Neill. “Blood is thicker at altitude so it can risk heart attacks or strokes. Nothing is done fast.”

For true remote beauty, O’Neill recommends the Sarychat-Eertash Nature Reserve, which is 14 hours by car from Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek, before switching onto horseback to journey through the reserve.

Natural beauty awaits. Get the hike boots on and put down the vape.

3

Where to Go to Get Inked:
Poland

L-R: @decaytattooer ; @elektrastation; @local_pirate
L-R: @decaytattooer ; @elektrastation; @local_pirate

Travelling to get a tattoo is an interesting way to see the soul of a city that will leave its mark on you—you meet the city’s artists, have time to swap stories and find like-minded communities. If 2025 is the year you’re getting inked, whether it's the first time or adding to a sleeve, Poland has a number of urban hubs that offer tattoo studios well worth travelling for.

Poland’s emergence as a tattoo hotspot comes at a time of change. A few years ago, the central European country made headlines for regressive politics, with strict anti-abortion laws and "LGBTQ-free zones" under the far-right PiS government. Tattoos were similarly stigmatised, linked to criminality and dismissed as art. But last year, the PiS lost to the progressive Civic Coalition, reflecting a shift toward liberal values, with attitudes towards tats changing in tandem.

"A few years ago, older generations weren’t too comfortable with people covered in tattoos," says Natalia, a 28-year-old tattoo artist who tattoos under the moniker Zimna Panna. "But now, people are starting to accept them more."

She’s not sure if Poland’s current tattoo boom is down to political change—(“maybe it’s just me trying not to connect everything with politics”, she says). Today, Poland's tattoo scene is thriving, with studios across the country showcasing some of the world's most talented artists. This includes a new wave of younger tattooists unafraid to experiment with fresh styles like ignorant tattoo, 3D surrealism and collapsed art.

“We have a lot of extremely talented and unique artists. We’ve definitely developed some great modern tattoo styles but we also have a lot of strong players in an old school scene,” says Warsaw-based Domi (@decaytattooer/), who describes her work as modern, gothic, ‘bestiary of the bizarre’.  She believes that Poland, in particular, is home to a contemporary anti-style that's in “constant creation”: “before it was bold trashy outline, atm its all about messy shadings and playing with chiaroscuro”.

Meanwhile, Natalia/Zimna Panna leans on local sources of inspiration: citing embroidery as one of her current fixtures. Her work embraces an ignorant-style defined by simplicity, humour, and freestyle creativity. In the decade she’s been involved in Poland’s tattoo scene, she’s witnessed the evolution of the country’s tattoo culture firsthand. "When I started tattooing, it was all about geometry, floral compositions, and realism," she recalls. "But over time, more people got into it, and now it feels like there are more tattoo artists than clients.”

Poland’s tattoo scene is a hub for modern styles, with innovative artists establishing studios across the country. If you’re ready to get inked, discover the best studios here.

4

Where to Go to Heal Your Broken Heart:
Athens

Heal Your Heart in Athens
Athens (Bastien Roy)

Still aching after a recent (or not so recent) break up? Get the ick when you see your Insta feed plastered in couples’ holiday selfies? Solo trippin is on the rise for a reason, with more travellers relishing the opportunity to make new friendships or enjoy alone time. Athens is an ideal place to branch out and explore the city on your own terms.

“Like every metropolis, Athens can be a city of contrasts, a place where the desire to preserve a glorious (or just glorified) past clashes with the need to make space for the present,” local journalist, Maria Pappa. “Yet, despite the multitude of influences, ideas and trends, Athens succeeds in maintaining its own unique character, its own codes and secrets, its own identity.”

Athens is known as the City of the Gods, but its charm isn’t just tied to history. Athens is “a creative cornucopia with a radical edge” that offers visitors a wealth of activities; a banging underground queer scene with venues like Cantina Social to BEqueer, or just take a seat at informal tavernas to rock up and eat in the charming Ouzeri Lesvos or fishy delicious O Andreas.  “Athens is full of visitors from all around the world which makes it difficult to feel alone,” says Pappa, so even if you're doing some more of the well-trampled sites alongside tourists, you’ll probably strike up a conversation or run into a potential travel bud.

Just want some quiet reflection? Athens, of course, is steeped in history that’s fascinating enough to lighten any lingering woes, with a genius flair of modernity mixed in. “The city has been through a lot – just look at the recent debt crisis which prompted a long, harsh period of austerity,” reflects Pappa. “Athenian locals continue to push culture forward in new and exciting ways, capturing the attention of creatives all over the world.”

Where better to contemplate how you'll rebuild when you walk among the ruins of Hephaestus or the Agora of Athens? You are your temple.

5

Where to Go to Admire Groundbreaking Artistry:
Dakar

The Standing Warrior by Ousmane Sow
The Standing Warrior by Ousmane Sow (Solar Klinghofer Bar Dov)

Always been drawn to art but found it a bit daunting? Major events like Venice’s Biennale Arte, which sold 700,000 tickets last year, or Art Basel, with over 80,000 visitors, can feel overwhelming. For a welcoming, culturally rich experience, Dakar, Senegal, offers a vibrant art world with a fresh perspective. The Senegalese capital is home to Africa’s longest-running biannual art festival—Dak’Art, which was first held in 1990, evolving into the premier event to explore African art. Originally focused on literature, the festival has since grown beyond the confines of the country’s capital with art exhibitions across the country, addressing the vital need to give African art an acclaimed international platform in its homelands rather than solely in Western exhibits.

“Dakar is an ideal staging ground to convene such a contemporary and artistic conversation on environment and repair,” writes Senegalese curator and art critic Salimata Diop in the programme notes of the 2024 Biennial. “In the soil of the city and the shores of its land - a West African Finisterre - that understands climate change, extractivism, social upheaval and the usefulness of imagination to transcend the challenges of contemporary life. This place is able to speak to the rising concerns brought up in research and exhibitions, that are thematically connecting environmental concerns, social concerns and colonial histories.”

The sheer number of pop-up venues and temporary artistic exhibits is a testament to the creativity pulsating through Senegal’s contemporary art scene that at once reckons with Senegal’s brutal colonial past while embracing the concepts of freedom.

The year ahead may not be a year of the biennale, but you can enjoy the art scene regardless in intimate settings away from the ceremonial buzz. Check out spaces including Loman Art Gallery, which specialises in metalwork, or Selebe Yoon, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2020 that has several exhibition rooms, studios, a cafe, library and accommodation for residents.

Dakar is a colourful backdrop to a uniquely powerful arts scene, where streets unexpectedly meet in a mosaic of abstract pattern, the city itself resembling one of the artistic works it so proudly exhibits. If you want to experience art tied to power, resistance and community in a transformative and enlightening way, then the city is a perfect travel resolution for the year ahead.

Header Image: Athens (Dimitris Lambridis)