Why you should visit Slovenia in 2025

Fairytale days, culinary nights

If Slovenia seems very small – best known for Slavoj Žižek and its proximity to Venice – then you’ve only got a slice of the story. Widen the aperture and you’ll discover a place of heart-pounding natural beauty, swanky Habsburg cities, and a happy home for bon vivants; particularly those who have a fancy for Michelin Guide restaurants (there are sixty-three, including three-starred Hiša Franko). It’s our top pick for year-round fairytale days and culinary nights in 2025.

Slovenia: what to do and where to go

Slovenia exquisitely captures the best of its bordering countries – from the delicious platefuls you’d expect from Italy to the scenic, soaring peaks you’d find in the Austrian Alps. We’re talking stylish boutique stays (like the recently opened AS Boutique Hotel), wandering – and then wobbling – wine safaris (thanks to the scenic hills of Brda), underground caverns the scale of cathedrals (that’s the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves), and alpine hikes through the Upper Sava Valley – with the razor-peaked Julian Alps as a backdrop. Think Switzerland with exaggeratedly fairytale characteristics; topsy-turvy, hungry-drinking, and big on the sublime. And did we mention that you’ll be really close to Venice?

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Why you should visit Okinawa in 2025

Eating out and winding down

This string of 160 idyllic islands – and the cities that decorate them – has a shrugged-off, easygoing ambience quite at odds with the formalities of well-trodden Kyoto and the freneticism of Tokyo. The pace of things is gentler here. And we like it.

So did Anthony Bourdain on his pilgrimage to Okinawa, during which he uncovered one golden rule: “don’t eat the same thing every day”. And there’s a lot of eating and drinking to be done, here. There are Okinawa soba restaurants dedicated to serving only the regional style of ramen (it’s that slurp-worthy), and local Izakaya (the Japanese answer to the British pub) are open from dusk till dawn for laid-back, nourishing food and a couple of drinks.

Once you’ve paired all the dining out with plenty of winding down, you’re in for a seriously tranquil 2025 escape.

Okinawa, Japan: what to do and where to go

For Japanese mainlanders, Okinawa is where you go to let your hair down – and loosen your belt. You’ll get your fill of awamori (a type of local sake, sort of), Ryukyu performances, Uechi-style karate lessons, bars, bistros, and beaches. The hotel scene is evolving (notably, the new Rosewood Miyakojima is set to open in 2025) and for the adventure inclined, there’s even ocean parasailing off the coast of Miyako Island. It really has it all.

We like to visit Okinawa in autumn, just after the headiness of summer (when things can get a little elbow-to-elbow; unless you’re into that). Go earlier in the year when the islands erupt in a flush of pink, and you’ll catch a case of cherry-blossom fever (this is a very, very good thing). It’s the time of year for whales, too – so we can send you sailing out to spot them, if you’d like.

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Why you should visit Luang Prabang in 2025

Spiritual ease and saffron skies

Once upon a time, Luang Prabang was the capital of an eponymous Laotian kingdom. Today, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site – and the slow-paced, spiritual heart of central Laos. Travel here and you’ll be rubbing shoulders with monks, shrines, weaving communities, pétanque-players, royal palaces, and wide, meandering rivers – as well as the boats that serenely ply their waters; bringing banana leaf and freshly-caught fish to the thriving markets of this ancient, soulful city.

Luang Prabang, Laos: what to do and where to go

We’ve curated a handful of culturally connected moments in Laos for 2025. Like witnessing the sacred morning ritual of monks collecting alms; participating in a regenerative travel experience with Dr. Linda McIntosh, a Laos-American professor who works with remote communities to keep weaving traditions alive; and playing lively games of pétanque with locals. We also know a quite beautiful elephant conservation center (called MandaLao) where you can witness the heart-filling efforts to rewild once-captive elephants into their natural habitat.

What’s more, there are places, like the historic boutique hotel of Satri House, that are a true pleasure to rest up at; particularly in the Fall, when the climate is cooler, and the rains have abated.

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Why you should visit Greenland in 2025

The last great frontier

Do you like places that are very, very remote – and very, very wild? Greenland – which is almost comically large – is a thing unto itself, but you might think of it as a heady mash-up of Iceland and Norway, albeit with the overdrive pedal pushed to its maximum. Sometimes, we use the word “primordial”; implying that it’s a sort of lost, Jurassic frontier. That’s partly true. And it’s partly why we’ve included it in this list: for those seeking something truly uncharted in 2025.

Greenland: what to do and where to go

What you’ll find in Greenland is a surging landscape of straits, bays, glaciers, and mountains – a true adventurer’s playground, which also happens to boast a surprisingly sinuous culinary scene. Catch Artic char with your bare hands; sail a traditional schooner up the coast; camp in elevated luxury at Kiattua; hike and forage through the Arctic interior; soak yourself in an outdoor hot tub as you watch glaciers float serenely by. If this is really a “lost” frontier (and we believe it is), then it might just be the perfect place to lose yourself in.

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Why you should visit Mongolia in 2025

In the land of Chinggis Khan

The drive into Tsambagarav Mountain National Park curves like an ancient river; rolling hills giving way to increasingly vertiginous, snow-capped mountains. You begin to see fewer and fewer cars. Now you’re watching gers – nomadic tents – pop up like mushrooms in one of the most remote corners of the Earth.

In Mongolia, we can take you fully off-grid. To press pause and hit reset in a place where time seems to stand still.

Mongolia: what to do and where to go

In the Kazakh wilds of western Mongolia, you’ll discover somewhere entirely unknown. No, you won’t forget what it feels like to ride a horse to an electric-blue mountain lake; nor the feeling as an eagle tightens its claws around your (heavily gloved) wrist. To help get your bearings, you’ll post up alongside an Uriankhai family to learn what it really takes to live here; sitting, in the warmth of a ger, with cups of fermented vodka and forkfuls of khorkhog. And we’ve not even mentioned the Orkhon Valley, the sight of tattered prayer flags blowing in the breeze, lone Buddhist shrines that smell of woodsmoke and incense, the calls of Kazakh riders as they wrestle and race. It’s an easier picture to paint if you drop us a line.

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Why you should visit Montana in 2025

A big-screen blockbuster in the American west

Have you been watching Yellowstone? If you have – and maybe you’re just about to press play – then Montana should already have your heart. If you’re not a fan of the Dutton clan’s antics, then you’re still going to get a lot – and we mean a lot – from the great “treasure state”.

Just one highlight is the 10-year project “Big Sky 2025”, set to complete later in the year. Re-envisioning the on-mountain experience of Lone Mountain, there’ll be new pedestrian access to its summit; scenic lookouts; ziplines; a mountain coaster; and expanded mountain biking access. Montana is well and truly about to have its moment.

Montana: what to do and where to go

Where else can you risk a neck injury because you spend so much time staring up at mountains and stars and then pivoting down to a plunging riverine valley? Where else can you go on a sunrise moose and grizzly safari, followed by a spot of fly-fishing, before capping off with a dose of luxurious outdoors camping? This year, we’ve corralled some truly scintillating ideas for what to do in Montana; like taking in the sights of Big Sky and Yellowstone – along with a whiplash whitewater expedition down the glittering Gallatin River. But hold yer’ horses, there’s more: a 2025 opening of One&Only Moonlight Basin. It’s lining up to be one of the most luxurious wilderness escapes across the glorious States.

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