Top Nat Geo and Lonely Planet Destinations for 2025 Include Los Angeles, Stockholm, New Zealand and Florida. Edmonton, too!

It’s that time of year. No, not Halloween. No, not the even scarier U.S. election. It’s time for travel magazines and online publications to issue their suggestions on where we should go in 2025.

One of the first off the mark was National Geographic, a publication I have written for in the past. Nat Geo’s top 25 destinations for 2025 has some intriguing destinations including Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Greenland and Los Angeles. Here’s what they said about L.A.

“L.A.’s cultural scene is getting a jolt of new energy. Destination Crenshaw, the largest public/private Black art program in the U.S., is transforming a 1.3-mile stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard with landscaped community spaces and over 100 commissioned works by Black artists. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is nearing completion of the glass-walled David Geffen Galleries to house the permanent collection. And the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, opening in ​​2026 in L.A.’s Exposition Park, will display works collected by Star Wars creator George Lucas.”

Ocala National Forest in Florida also made their list.

“Most visitors to Central Florida are drawn to the area’s theme parks and beaches—but tucked between them is a green oasis,” Nat Geo said. “The southernmost national forest in the continental United States, Ocala is home to manatees, black bears, and rare plants, along with 600 lakes and natural springs spread across 387,000 acres. The National Forest Foundation has further expanded recreation opportunities for visitors with new fishing piers and improved trails, while also working to restore the preserve’s longleaf pine ecosystem by removing invasive species and planting seedlings.”

I’ll be in Ocala next February and hope to check it out.

Some of my other fave places on the list include Barbados and the north end of the North Island of New Zealand (fabulous), as well as Scotland and Ireland. Stockholm also made the list. I was only there once, and that was WAY back in 1979, but I thought it was a magically beautiful city.

Oh, here’s what National Geographic had to say about Haida Gwaii:

Haida Gwaii—the ancestral home of the Indigenous Haida people—comprises some 150 misty islands along the coast of British Columbia. The Ocean House, which made its name as a floating eco-lodge, recently moved ashore to the northern end of Graham Island, where it’s set on eight acres and overlooks a protected bay. Once opened, lodge activities will include roaming nearby Naikoon Provincial Park, spotting humpbacks and dolphins on whale-watching excursions, and meeting Haida artists in the village of Old Massett, where towering totem poles honor and preserve Haida traditions.

Here’s the Nat Geo full top 25. It wasn’t presented in an order or ranking.

Antigua, Guatemala

Ocala National Forest, Florida

Bangkok

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Guadlajara, Mexico

Cenobitic Monasteries, Italy

Los Angeles

Greenland

Kanazawa, Japan

Eastern and Oriental Express, Malaysia

Brasov, Romania

Cerrado, Brazil

Northland, New Zealand

Senegal

Haida Gwaii, British Columbia

Barbados

Suru Valley, India

Boise, Idaho

Abu Dhabi, UAE

Murray River, Australia

Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Stockholm Archipegao, Sweden

Cork, Ireland

Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Tunisia

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

LONELY PLANET BEST FOR 2025

The editors at Lonely Planet named Edmonton, Alberta  as one of their top 10 cities for the coming year.

In its write-up, Lonely Planet said Edmonton “has long been celebrated for its fringe festival and bohemian Old Strathcona district. Today the city is doubling down on its downtown with the opening of the Ice District, the second-largest sports and entertainment complex in North America. Further enrich your visit by learning about Indigenous history at Royal Alberta Museum’s Human History Hall.”

 I also like that they put Pittsburgh in their top 10 cities to visit for next year. I grew up hating the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, but visited the city to write a story about Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger many years ago and quite liked it. I’ve been back twice since and really enjoy the city. The people are super-friendly, the food is terrific, and there’s a great cultural scene. And, yes, big-time sports.

TOP TEN COUNTRIES

Cameroon

Lithuania

Fiji

Laos

Kazakhstan

Paraguay

Trinidad & Tobago

Vanuatu

Slovakia

Armenia

TOP TEN CITIES

Toulouse, France

Pondicherry, India

Bansko, Bulgaria

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Genoa, Italy

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Osaka, Japan

Curitiba, Brazil

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Edmonton, Canada