Where to Go and What to Pack If You’re Planning a Stylish Trip This Year, According to Experts
Blame the weather or the lack of sunlight, but at this time of year, we're hard-wired to start planning how to use our annual leave. I spoke to experts from across the travel industry and spent hours researching the buzziest new hotel launches to compile a guide to the stylish holiday destinations worth adding to your bucket list for 2025.
A quick glance through this list reveals just how much streaming habits are influencing global travel—this trend for Netflix-inspired itineraries has been named "set-jetting." Thanks to the upcoming third series of The White Lotus, Thailand is poised to be one of the key destinations to visit in 2025, whilst Emily in Paris has led to a surge in visitors to the French Alpine village of Megève and people are embarking on their own Race Across the World-inspired voyages.
If you want something a little more off-the-beaten-track and away from the TikTok crowds, consider staying in a remote treehouse in Nicaragua or gorilla trekking in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda. At a time when over-tourism is at an alarming high, we've also highlighted a number of sustainably minded and conscious hotels that promise to protect and conserve precious local ecosystems.
From the island set to be the star of the Mediterranean this year to the New York icon reopening its doors, below we're bring you nine holiday ideas that will make 2025 a year to remember.
TRAVEL TRENDS 2025: 9 STYLISH DESTINATIONS TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR
1. South Coast of Sri Lanka
Image Credit: @_livmadeline; @speddingemma
In 2024, Sri Lanka experienced a significant boom in tourism—a comeback after the UK government warned against travel to the country after economic unrest in 2022. The likes of Mia Regan and Bel Powley (and me) started off 2025 exploring the country, where you can assemble a rich and varied itinerary, stalking leopards in Yala National Park one day and hiking through the beautiful Knuckles Mountain Range the next. Listed as Kuoni’s second key travel destination for 2025, it is proving particularly popular amongst honeymooners, thanks to beautiful luxury resorts such as Ceylon Tea Trails, Amanwella and Uga Chena Huts (to name a few).
Where to stay: Although Sri Lanka will always be a popular multi-stop touring destination, clusters of surfer towns along the south coast are making this a new hub for digital nomads and 30-somethings, likened to Bali before it became a victim of overtourism. I spent two weeks snaking my way along the jungle-lined coast; eating egg hoppers, catching tuktuks to the beach and attempting to surf. I can confirm it was the ultimate factory reset. Ahangama in the Galle region has been dubbed the "Shoreditch of Sri Lanka", with highly aesthetic boutiques like The Kip and The Palm, whilst Hiriketiya and Dickwella Beach were my favourite spots.
