Now it’s suddenly upon us, what trips do you have in your sights for 2025? Perhaps you’ll carve out a week to spend in the city that you’ve dreamed about for more than a decade? Or immerse yourself in some of the planet’s last remaining wildernesses? Either way, assuming you’re open to a slight steer, we went ahead and asked seven ridiculously well-travelled tastemakers where they’re heading – from the destinations they’re gearing up to dive into for the first time to the much-loved places they’re hell-bent on returning to again and again.

Jackson Boxer

Chef and restaurateur of Brunswick House, Dove and Below Stone Nest fame

“I have a deep-rooted desire to visit and explore China. Cantonese food was the first cuisine outside of the European tradition to which I was exposed as a child and, as such, it played a foundational role in my understanding of deliciousness. It is not, however, particularly well-documented, and by all accounts many of the master practitioners are ageing into retirement. My dream, therefore, would be for a serious exploration of some of the great temples of high Chinese gastronomy, to celebrate and better understand the cuisine while this great generation of cooks are in their final decade.”

Chris Wallace

Writer, photographer and author of Twentieth-Century Man: The Wild Life Of Peter Beard

“Maybe it makes sense that what I’m most looking forward to is running away from it all; escapism seems weirdly rational at the moment. I’m crazy-excited about my first big trip in 2025, to Oman, as it is a kind of return to my escapist source material. Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Sands – in which he recounts his travels through the Empty Quarter in the middle of the last century – was maybe the first book that made me want to get all the way out of Dodge; to press to the edge of my experience, and the world, while I’m able to. And his photographs of the dunes and of the people with whom he made his excursions gave me the idea that someone might have something to say in more than one medium.”

Louis Barthélemy

Multidisciplinary artist and designer

“I’ll start next year in Benin, West Africa, where I’ll attend the Fête du Vodoun – a profound celebration of culture and spirituality – for the second time. After that, I’m looking forward to losing myself in Old Cairo’s bustling souks, admiring the stunning Islamic architecture and wandering the historic streets near Bab Zuweila. Another destination I’m set to return to in 2025 is Uzbekistan, where I’ll contribute to the inaugural Bukhara Biennial. The architecture and skilled artisans have always captivated me, and having recently read Robert Spengler’s Fruit From The Sands, I now have a deeper appreciation of the way in which Silk Road cities such as Bukhara have shaped culinary traditions and cultural identities across the globe.”

David Prior

Co-founder of experience-centric travel community PRIOR

“The Cinque Terre aside, the Italian Riviera remains underrated, and blessedly so. Genova is a city I love for its crumbling grandeur and grit, and in 2025 I’m looking forward to visiting towns like Nervi and Recco for an old-world taste of the Italian seaside before they go the way of others. Also high on my list of destinations to revisit is the isolated time warp of New South Wales’ Lord Howe Island – home to Island House, with its tin-and-timber architecture and astonishing Indigenous artworks. On the subject of Australia, I’m from Brisbane, and while I’ve spent most of my life trying to leave, I find myself being drawn back to it. Along with great waves close by on Stradbroke Island and the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, there’s a burgeoning food and culture scene nowadays, meaning it’s long overdue its time in the sun.”

Jaisal Singh

Conservationist, author and founder of Rajasthani safari-camp collection SUJÁN

“I yearn to be in the wild and I always go for camps and lodges making a measurable positive impact. In 2025, I hope to revisit Botswana, specifically the Selinda Reserve, run by Dereck and Beverly Joubert, and the Oppenheimer family’s Tswalu Reserve in the Kalahari, particularly as we used to do a ranger exchange with them. I’m gearing up to spend a few weeks on the polo fields of Argentina in April, too, and whenever I’m back in London, a few days at The Goring Hotel is just the ticket – its lobster omelette is perfection on a plate.”

Chris Schalkx

Travel writer and photographer

“This past year, my work carried me to all seven continents. I drifted between camps in Antarctica, slept in Gabon’s untamed rainforest and shared meals with nomad families on Kazakhstan’s endless steppes. Exhilarating, yes, but also exhausting. Next year, I’m hoping to travel less feverishly and to forge deeper connections with the places I visit. Lately, I’ve been drawn to corners of the world still untouched by Instagram’s ceaseless scroll, which is why I’m headed to the Central African Republic and, later on, Socotra island – Yemen’s ‘Galapagos of the Middle East’. I’ll be camping on windswept dunes and washing off the day in the lagoons. It’ll be simple, sure, but it’s exactly the kind of unfiltered, back-to-nature jolt I’m craving.”