TIME World's Greatest Places Magazine (Digital Version)

Around the world, more people are venturing far from home. In 2025, some 1.5 billion tourists traveled abroad—about 4% more than in 2024. Among the destinations seeing especially strong momentum were Egypt, Brazil, and Bhutan, each of which recorded tourism growth of 20% or more last year. Travel trends can shift quickly, of course, and global events can reshape itineraries. Yet the impulse to explore endures. At its best, travel is a bridge—an opportunity to encounter new cultures, welcome visitors, and discover how much the unfamiliar can feel surprisingly familiar. Each year, TIME solicits nominations of places—including hotels, cruises, restaurants, attractions, museums, parks, and more—from its international network of correspondents and contributors, as well as through an application process, with an eye toward those offering new, exciting, and relevant experiences. The result: 100 extraordinary destinations to stay and to visit this year. Among this year’s World’s Greatest Places: Cizhong, China’s Songtsam Lodge, a boutique hotel network that seeks to tempt tourists out of China’s bustling cities and into the lush countryside; Philadelphia’s Netflix House, the ultimate destination for fans of original shows from Stranger Things to Is It Cake? to Squid Game; the United Arab Emirates’ Surf Abu Dhabi, which made waves as the first artificial surf park to join the pro surf championship circuit, and is open to visitors of all abilities; and London’s new V&A Storehouse East, which is making art more accessible by allowing visitors to check out priceless pieces and spend intimate time examining them up close.