Where our top travel writers want to holiday (or not) this year

Make it happen: Seven nights’ B&B from £1,123pp, including flights (britishairways.com)

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Never again … Somewhere that will never lure me back is Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. I went some years ago for a supposedly romantic getaway with my husband, Ian, and the vast static lake gave me the creeps, as did the severe waiters in the silent hotel restaurant (dinner served strictly between 7pm and 9pm, no music). The town was dead by 9.30pm. Taking a rowing boat out on the second morning was about as exciting as it got, and we both realised we wanted to get a flight out. Give me the noise, fun and spontaneity of a Greek village any day. At least you feel alive!
Hislop’s latest novel, The Figurine, is out now

Sophy Roberts, travel writer and author

On my wish list… There are mentions of 108 beyuls, or hidden Himalayan valleys, in the Buddhist scriptures. A few years ago I made a pilgrimage to one of these divine lands, the Sherpa village of Junbesi in eastern Nepal. Following the advice of my local guide I took the long route, hiking up from the Happy House in Phaplu — a guesthouse I’ve been coming to for years — to a high-altitude lake called Dudh Kunda. I walked with yak herders for five days, climbing up through misty rhododendron forests. When we arrived at the lake a snow leopard had just left, leaving its pug marks in the snow. In a few minutes the marks disappeared in the thickening blizzard. I know magic doesn’t happen twice but I’m going to risk it in April on a pilgrimage to another beyul, this one even further east, tucked inside a gully. I tried to get there last year but the weather — or perhaps the gods — locked me out.

Make it happen: 11 nights’ full-board ­Pikey Peak Trek in Nepal from £1,171pp, ­including domestic flights and guided treks (responsible­travel.com). Fly to Kathmandu

Never again … Provence in August isn’t for me. Whenever I stepped outside the house we rented for our family holiday I felt defeated by the crowds and the clichés: a sea of tourists in the same sage and white linens, overpriced antiques in the flea market of L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, which was a place I used to adore. There are no bargains here, no little discoveries that haven’t already done the rounds on eBay.
Roberts’s latest travel book, A Training School for Elephants, is out on February 20

Caitlin Moran, Times columnist and author

On my wish list …When the kids were very little we did a mule-trekking holiday in Switzerland, walking from village to village through flower meadows, then sleeping in haylofts or small inns. Whenever the kids got tired — and they were very small — they’d spend half an hour on a mule, eating sweets and singing. We all remember it being utterly idyllic, a proper Heidi fantasy, waking at dawn and hearing the cowbells. It would be fun to revisit it now the kids are adults. We just need to find a new mule-trekking holiday somewhere with better food because, God bless the Swiss, but a salad made of tinned potatoes is an outrage against the noble tuber, and even I blanched at the volume of cheese involved. Maybe a couple of hundred miles south, so we get the same mountains, but with Italian buffets. And we’d go there by train, partly to avoid eco-grief but mainly so we could take the dog with us. I’m becoming increasingly militant that it’s simply not a holiday if you don’t have the dog.

Make it happen: A Trekking in Trentino self-guided donkey-trekking tour has three nights’ half-board from £335pp (happydonkeytours.com). Fly or take the train to Bolzano

Never again …The only holiday I’ve left early was in Florida. The year before we got married, Pete and I decided we should probably try and have a holiday that wasn’t in Wales — where we always went — because: we were young! We should see the world! We landed at Orlando in the middle of an electrical storm and drove through the kind of biblical rain you just don’t get in Britain. We drove past Cape Canaveral as lightning lit up the Nasa launchpads. It felt as if we were suddenly somewhere utterly alien and way too intense. The idea that this was basically a bus stop to the moon seemed totally barking, like humans were really overreaching themselves. Sit back down, guys! Stay on the planet!

And then, for the next six days, I just hated everything about Florida. I hated how sweaty and menacing it all felt. I hated how gigantic and crappy all the food was. I hated how obvious the racism was. I hated being somewhere with the death penalty. I particularly hated how the blades of grass on the garden lawns were a weird dark green and way too wide. On day three we went “tubing” in Kissimmee — floating down a river on an inflatable inner tube — and the size and frequency of the gigantic spiders on the riverbanks inspired a full-on panic attack. You don’t get dinner plate-sized Shelobs on the Wye! Why had we left Britain? On the morning of the sixth day we sat on a white-powder beach watching pelicans catching fish, and I said to Pete: “This isn’t as good as Wales, is it? Can we go home now?” Three hours later we were at the airport. The next month we went to Abergavenny. It was just better.

James Stewart, travel writer

On my wish list … For two decades intrepid surfers have braved cartels to ride waves off El Salvador’s coast. Now it’s our turn. With the stability following last year’s re-election of the reformist president Nayib Bukele, El Salvador represents a new Costa Rica: jungly and mountainous, with black-sand beaches lapped by bath-warm surf. El Zonte has benefited from $1.2 billion government investment plus new design hotels in what otherwise remains a nicely scruffy surf village. My surfing, on the other hand, has room for improvement.

Make it happen: Four nights’ B&B from £1,724pp, including transfers, lessons and spa treatments (purosurf.com). Fly to San Salvador

Never again … Luxury does funny things to people’s perception. After several choppy overnight passages six of the dozen passengers aboard a small luxury motor yacht forgot all about the privilege of experiencing the Galapagos, the greatest wildlife show on Earth, to throw a volcanic hissy fit. When the chardonnay ran out — not white wine, just chardonnay — one threatened “a f***ing mutiny”. The atmosphere on board soured and the rest of us couldn’t escape it for a week. Next time I’ll go cheap and cheerful.

Cal Flyn, travel writer and author

On my wish list … I’ve been abroad a great deal over the past two years so have recently been yearning to spend time relaxing closer to home. I’ve got my eye on a stay at the Taybank in Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, a beautifully styled boutique hotel that serves cocktails and wood-fired pizzas under canvas in its riverbank gardens, with outdoor cinema nights, saunas and long-table brunches. Dunkeld is delightful too, with a 13th-century cathedral and the unmissable Aran bakery.

Make it happen: Room-only doubles from £190 (thetaybank.co.uk)

• 17 of the best hotels in Scotland

Never again … If I never set foot inside Dubai airport again I will be happy. While in transit, time seems to pass at a fraction of its normal pace. I have spent years, decades, centuries in that twilit limbo land of travelators, fountains and plastic-wrapped food. A long layover, where clock time feels meaningless, presents ideal conditions for a long dark night of the soul.
Flyn’s latest non-fiction book, Islands of Abandonment, is out now

Stanley Stewart, travel writer

On my wish list … Stylish, sophisticated, elegant Buenos Aires is one of the world’s great cities. And it’s now buzzing with cool new openings — I’m excited to check out the Floreria Atlantica bar and the new Casa Lucia hotel (B&B doubles from £325; hotelcasalucia.com), both in Calle Arroyo. I love the morning coffee rituals with medialunas, the endless parks, the street markets of San Telmo, the speakeasies of Palermo, and the retro late-night dance halls where I can be found trying not to trip over my own feet. Like anyone or anywhere you fall for, there is also a vulnerability about Buenos Aires — economic hard times, a mad president. However, there is an upside. Best not to mention this to your new Argentinian besties but the exchange rate has made it all very affordable.

Make it happen: A Buenos Aires, Patagonia and Mendoza tour has 12 nights’ room-only from £5,995pp, including flights, transfers and excursions (audleytravel.com)

Never again … Machu Picchu may be the most magical of Inca sites but the crowds, queues and forests of selfie sticks rob it of any atmosphere. Head south instead towards Arequipa to be alone with the ancient Andean world.

Oliver Smith, travel writer and author

On my wish list … Six years ago I hiked half of Mallorca’s GR221, a path that travels the island’s northwestern coast. The route begins not far from the foam parties of Magaluf and ends where retired people slump on deckchairs by the bay of Pollensa. In between are 80 miles of wild mountain landscapes, holm oak forests and old shepherd’s paths quiet but for the clatter of goat hoofs. I enjoyed two days walking the northern half of the path in 2019 — a short trip. Back then we were two months away from expecting our first child: a nursery needed painting and stocking with nappies. Now said child can wipe his own backside, make his own cereal and switch on CBBC. Which means 2025 will be the year to return to Mallorca and finish the job.

Make it happen: A Tramuntana Trail self-guided trip has seven nights’ B&B from £1,175pp, including transfers (macsadventure.com). Fly to Palma

• 21 best walking holidays in Europe

Never again … I’m a great fan of British seaside towns but one of the most famous leaves me cold. It took me an hour to find a parking space in Salcombe, several more working out why everyone comes. Countless spotless Range Rovers crawl past with the solemnity of a North Korean parade, navigating streets barely wider than their wing mirrors. Pedestrians scrum among the fudge shops and boutiques, where everything is nautically striped. In every other holiday rental you’ll find a chunk of driftwood inscribed with “to the beach”. That beach, however, is on the opposite side of the estuary, out of reach. I’ll stick to Weston and Llandudno, cheers.
Smith’s latest travel book, On This Holy Island: A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain, is out now

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Mariella Frostrup, broadcaster and writer

On my wish list … I am a travel book addict and one of my favourites, In Trouble Again by the Oxford don and Victorian-style explorer Redmond O’Hanlon, inspired my lifelong ambition to travel to the Amazon. In it O’Hanlon, who thanks to his nose for sticky situations sheds travelling companions faster than we humans shed hair, describes a four-month journey along the waterway in an evocative portrait of a wilderness world light years from our own. So I’m hoping to catch a ride on Abercrombie & Kent’s newly launched 32-passenger Amazon cruiser, taking a leisurely journey on the headwaters of the river in Peru, lounging on deck sipping whisky and playing poker (channelling Jodie Foster in Maverick) while marvelling at the pink dolphins, sloths, monkeys, caimans and birdlife along the way.

Make it happen: Seven nights’ full board from £10,995pp, including flights (abercrombiekent.com)

Never again … I’m otherwise planning to avoid air travel in favour of trains, and not just for planet-saving reasons. A recent experience on British Airways highlighted our once flagship airline’s descent into the lowest-cost level of service and efficiency.

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Pico Iyer, travel writer and author

On my wish list … The one place I long to see this year is Uzbekistan. Iran was far and away the richest and most surprising country I’ve visited and I expect similar. I’m reliably informed that this is Uzbekistan’s moment.

Make it happen: Nine nights’ B&B from £2,675pp, including ground transport (steppestravel.com). Fly to Tashkent

Never again … Atlanta. Friends there assure me that it’s transformed in recent years but when I used to visit it seemed to imagine itself a global metropolis, though I couldn’t easily find there the sophistication I associate with a Shanghai, a Beirut, a Kyoto — or, for that matter, an Isfahan. Happily, however, places keep disarming me; when young I could never have guessed that London would one day become so young, so cool and so international.
Iyer’s latest book, Learning from Silence: Lessons from Over 100 Retreats, is out on February 6

Gemma Bowes, acting associate editor, Travel

On my wish list … After spending most of a decade’s family holidays walking in the Alps or the Lake District I’m longing to escape somewhere with more cultural va-va-voom, where plastic trousers and fleece are not required. A return to two of my favourites, Sri Lanka or Mexico, would be dreamy, to stay at those boho guesthouses run by eccentrics that they do so well. But I’m leaning towards finding similar somewhere new, perhaps Guatemala, where I can indulge my penchant for shopping for handwoven textiles and folksy crafts. Guatemala’s volcanic mountains, though … a certain amount of hiking will be surely have to be involved. At least I can swap the fleece for a fetching poncho.

Make it happen: A Complete Guatemala itinerary, involving market tours, mountain hikes, Mayan ruins and a visit with a textile co-operative, has 20 nights’ B&B from £4,500pp, including car and driver (beyondtheordinary.co.uk). Fly to Guatemala City

Never again … Taking the Caledonian Sleeper to Scotland this autumn for a west coast break was great but the necessary time spent in bleak Fort William before the return felt rather grim. A singing drunk kept our family awake through the night at a mediocre guesthouse and despite Ben Nevis glowering famously above, the town vibe was decidedly dead and downtrodden. Saving the day: the West Highland Museum’s exhibits on local life and the cool Highland Cinema’s café.

Julia Brookes, consumer expert, Travel

On my wish list … A spring break in ancient Thessaloniki in northern Greece. I want to ride its new driverless metro line, which took more than two decades to complete because digging exposed 300,000 Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman archaeological finds, including gold-stuffed burial sites, marble-paved roads and an early Christian basilica. Thrillingly, many are now displayed in the 13 “archaeo-stations” en route. I’m just as excited by the thought of the food: freshly baked flaky bougatsa (filo pastry pie) for breakfast, dill-flecked mussel pilaf for lunch and local malagouzia wine at sunset in a café on the waterfront.

Make it happen: Three nights’ B&B at Onoma Hotel from £465pp, including flights (easyjet.com)

Never again … I like Tromso, deep in Arctic Norway, but won’t return in midwinter, when the sun doesn’t rise at all. Three days wandering its dark, icy streets in spikes was enough.

Susan d’Arcy, hotel expert, Travel

On my wish list … I loved travelling by train in Europe last year so the Netherlands, which I’ve previously found remarkably resistible, is on my radar. Quick-to-reach Amsterdam has more museums per square metre than any other city (the Rijksmuseum’s The Night Watch is surely as bucket list as the Louvre’s Mona Lisa), more canals than Venice and is a rising foodie destination, for its street food (patatje oorlog, fat fries slathered in satay sauce, sound interesting). Then there’s its canalside grande dame hotel, the De L’Europe, owned by the Heineken family and so bound to refresh the parts other hospitality peers can’t reach. Plus it’s the city’s 750th anniversary — who doesn’t love a good 750th party?

Make it happen: Room-only doubles at De L’Europe from £417 (deleurope.com). Return Eurostar from London to Amsterdam from £78 (eurostar.com)

Never again … I really could do without ever seeing inside Gatwick airport again.

Qin Xie, travel journalist

On my wish list … My current obsession is snorkelling so Okinawa, the smallest of Japan’s main islands, has worked its way up my list — I’ve heard there are incredible reefs. The weak yen has brought overtourism back with a vengeance in Japan so the trick is to head to even smaller islands, stay in a simple guesthouse and snorkel off the beach. Tokashiki island is a fine example.

Make it happen: A Highlights of Japan and Okinawa tour has 15 nights’ B&B from £7,835pp, including flights and transfers (wexas.com)

Never again … Is there anywhere as boring as Copenhagen? Sure, you’ve got the colourful Scandi houses and the Michelin-starred restaurants you have to book months in advance. But after that, what else? For me, it’s a frigid city that has no personality.

Cathy Adams, senior commissioning editor, Travel

On my wish list … Now that my son has grown out of toddlerdom (and, having started school, has tied us to school holidays — weep) I’m on the hunt for some more immersive, gently adventurous family holidays, which are also affordable and have direct flights. Sri Lanka seems to hit all bases. I’m excited to take my four-year-old on a safari to see animals such as elephants and leopards, which he’s only read about in books; to explore the surfy beaches of the south coast; and to show him that proper south Asian food isn’t just from the back of a takeaway menu.

Make it happen: Seven nights’ B&B from £3,112pp, including flights, transfers, activities and some extra meals (stubbornmuletravel.com)

• Best things to do in Sri Lanka

Never again … Cancun — the megawatt all-inclusive hotel was nice enough but the rowdy 18-30 vibe of the resort town just didn’t appeal. Great margaritas, though.

Julia Buckley, travel writer

On my wish list … Instead of planning a January health reset like everyone else I’m aiming for a spring visit to Park Igls, a health clinic in Austria. Yes, it’s based on fasting and rebooting the gut via the beloved-by-celebrities Mayr method, but the brilliant medical director is more interested in his patients’ health than their weight. My first visit in 2018 stopped my chronic migraines, much to my hospital consultant’s delight, so after a year of autoimmune issues I’ll be keen to see what miracles they can work.

Make it happen: Four nights’ full board from £1,970pp, including daily treatments (park-igls.at). Fly or take the train to Salzburg

• 20 best medical spas around the world

Never again … Last May I went to Palma, in Mallorca, for five nights. It was before the real high season began but even staying in a hotel and eating in local restaurants I felt part of the overtourism problem. I won’t go back unless it’s out of season.

Ellen Himelfarb, travel journalist

On my wish list … My brief visit to Osaka two years ago left me wanting more of everything: whisky and karaoke down a cobbled lane, video-game bars, shopping in frenetic superstores with giant animatronic neon signs and especially the food. There aren’t many places on Earth I’d trust with a chicken-artery skewer but Osaka’s street food is epic — it’s known for that potentially lethal fugu (blowfish) sashimi.

Make it happen: Seven nights’ room-only Golden Route Japan Tour from £2,680pp, including a day’s Expo entry and transport from Tokyo via Kyoto and Mt Fuji (alljapantours.com). Fly to Tokyo

• Read our Osaka travel guide

Never again … I may not have given it enough of a chance but Nantes disappointed me. I spent a weekend there at the height of summer and kept wondering, where is everybody? Where’s the heart?

Bridget Harrison, Times executive feature editor

On my wish list … In May I am spending a week at a surf camp in Pavones, a village backed by jungle at the end of the road on Costa Rica’s west coast, before you reach Panama. The waves are peeling and glassy all day long and sloths hang in the guarumo trees. I booked the trip with Siren Surf Adventures, run by women’s world champion surfer Kristy Murphy, last April with my friend Charlotte, who at the time was undergoing gruelling radiotherapy and chemo for bowel cancer. Our ladies’ trip to Pavones was to be the light at the end of the tunnel. She is now recovered and our trip will be a celebration for both of us of life, two fingers to middle age.

Make it happen: Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £2,847pp, including surf-coaching from Kristy Murphy but excluding flights (sirensurfadventures.com).

Never again … Two years ago I felt smug finding a business class ticket to Mexico for £600 with Aeromexico, overnight, with a flat bed. This year prices have doubled so I booked premium economy for £300 more than economy, thinking the overnight flight might still be a little more comfy. It turned out the only difference to economy was priority boarding. Next time I’ll stump up for business, or fly economy.

James Marriott, Times columnist

On my wish list … I went to Uzbekistan last year. I absolutely loved it and, ever since, I’ve been wondering why it took me so long to go on holiday somewhere other than Europe. I’m now bubbling over with ideas and am constantly announcing that I will shortly be disappearing to India or Bolivia or Lesotho. My most cherished ambition is to go to Japan, which I’ve long been fascinated by. I’m also filled with yearning to get back to central Asia — perhaps Kyrgyzstan or Turkmenistan — but I suspect my girlfriend may not tolerate being dragged out to the steppe two years in a row.

Make it happen: 14 nights’ B&B from £3,520pp, including transfers, guided city tours, some meals and activities (insidejapantours.com). Fly to Tokyo

Never again … I am not keen to return to Lanzarote, where I went with a few of my university friends last summer. It turned out — and should in hindsight should have been obvious — that all of us were too neurotic to sit around doing nothing for more than an afternoon. Sitting by the sea eating a full English breakfast in blazing sunshine was an experience I struggled to enjoy.

• 21 of the best affordable holiday destinations for 2025

Claire Irvin, head of travel

On my wish list … So many places, so little time — but while my children are still holidaying with us, Canada and Alaska top the list. Their focus will be the wildlife; mine will be their faces. And since this is a wish list, I’m picking a tailor-made itinerary so we can max out the moose, be where the bears are and keep the sightseeing to an enjoyably educational minimum.

Make it happen: Eight nights’ B&B from £8,295pp, including flights and some extra meals (abercrombiekent.com)

• The best Canada itineraries

Never again … Ten years ago the appeal of Center Parcs was real — a spacious lodge with a barbecue and family-friendly restaurants welcoming our noisy group of close friends. The reality was torrential rain, mealtime meltdowns over sticky tables and oversubscribed activities. However, the toddlers are now teens and the appeal of group bath times has waned, so “never again” is less pledge, more certainty.

Chris Haslam, chief travel writer

On my wish list … I have a yearning for a long, long walk in a strange land. Camino de Santiago again? Not in a jubilee year. The E8, running for about 3,000 miles from Ireland to Bulgaria? Tempting, because I know no one who’s done it. The Himalayan explorer Pawan Tuladhar has asked me to join him on a recce of the valleys of far eastern Bhutan, which sounds like a laugh, but it’s America that’s calling loudest. I grew up believing the USA was the best at almost everything but now I feel like I’m watching the empire collapse as states once united fracture along fault lines of race, politics and money. In 1999 the conservationist Mike Fay walked 2,000 miles across the Congo basin, recording every species of animal, plant and insect he saw en route — I’d like to do the same on the Pacific Crest Trail (2,663 miles), the Continental Divide Trail (3,100 miles) or the Appalachian Trail (2,185 miles), studying every species of American I meet.

Make it happen: It takes five months on average to hike the Appalachian Trail across 14 states from Georgia to Maine and you can do it independently for about £5,500 including flights. If you’d prefer a guide for the duration, a five-month fully supported trip costs from £18,300 (57hours.com). Fly into Atlanta and out of Boston

Never again … I spent two weeks in Sierra Leone drinking palm wine and eating lukewarm rice and preserved fish slathered in sauces of unimaginable spiciness in roadhouses, remote villages and a semi-derelict jungle research station. There, spiders the size of children’s mittens fell from the rafters, the bathroom was so flooded that the cockroaches were amphibious and you touched together bare wires to turn on the light. And I was absolutely fine. Then I checked into a mid-market business hotel in Freetown, the capital, and ordered a pizza. The ensuing gastric catastrophe lasted five days.

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