Your 2025 travel bucket list — before soaring tourist taxes come for your wallet
Save the quick, closer-to-home getaways for next year.
Your bank balance is going to sigh a relief if you manage to tick off one of these tourist hotspots before the snow falls on 2025. With tourist prices set to hike with an agenda next year, this is your window to just FIBI it. Mini-itinerarys below.
Japan
What’s going up: Tiered hotel tax; visa fees
Mini itinerary: Soak in an outdoor onsen; experience powder snow, warm up on ramen and yakiniku; visit the Snow Festival and, visit iconic spots like the Shibuya Crossing, Kinkaku-ji and Matsumoto Castle.
Thailand
What’s going up: Kha Yeap Pan Din, the local term for a tourist fee
Mini itinerary: Pick a spot between Phuket, Krabi or Similan Islands; explore Chiang Mai’s ancient temples, Ayutthaya’s ruins or Bangkok’s Grand Palace sans the heat; celebrate Loi Krathong or Chiang Mai’s Yi Peng Lantern Festival; load up on boat noodles, satay skewers and Thai tea; trek through Pai, Chiang Rai or Doi Inthanon National Park.
Greece
What’s going up: Disembarkation fee (even higher during peak season)
Mini itinerary: Visit the Acropolis in Athens, Delphi or Epidaurus (again sans the heat); visit Arachova, Metsovo or Kalavryta for ski slopes and stone chalets; fill up on moussaka, lamb stew and gemista; pick a spot between Santorini, Crete or Rhodes to wander through; experience a Grecian Christmas.
Spain
What’s going up: Tourism tax
Mini itinerary: Wander through Seville, Granada and Córdoba in Andalusia; ski near the Granada or through the Pyrenees; feast on some churros con chocolate, cocido madrileno and fabada asturiana; be spoilt for choice between Spanish Winter Festivals; let the magic of castles have you time travel through Toledo, Segovia and Salamanca.
Venice
What’s going up: Daily visitor entry fees
Mini itinerary: Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge are a must; visit Murano, Burano or Torcello; try the iconic hot chocolate at Caffe Florian in St. Mark’s Square; wander through Toledo, Segovia and Salamanca.
Where are you jetting off to for your year-end hurrah?
