10 dream trips to take in Europe in 2025

It’s a new year and the perfect time to start planning your travels and vacation time in 2025. If Europe is on your bucket list, but you’re not sure where to go, be inspired by epic Icelandic road trips, glamorous sojourns to the south of France or hikes through the far-flung islands of the Azores.

We’ve collected 10 of the best adventures in Europe from our new book, Dream Trips of the World, to help you decide where you want to go this year.

1. Drive Iceland’s epic Ring Road

Iceland’s Ring Road (Rte 1) passes blackened lava fields, scalding-hot pools and craters that belch sulfurous steam – but infernal landscapes are just part of this road trip’s allure. Rte 1 wraps around the entire coast of Iceland, so it’s practically a showreel of the country’s variety. In a 1322km (821-mile) journey, the landscape transforms from monochrome to technicolor and back again. One stretch might appear unearthly and barren, then around the bend the scenery morphs into a fairy tale of lagoons, meadows and grass-roofed houses. Considering the ever-changing landscape, the Ring Road is a surprisingly easy-going road trip. Rte 1 is fully paved and, unlike the interior roads criss-crossing Iceland, there’s no need for a 4WD. You can drive it clockwise or anticlockwise.

2. Visit Europe’s great capitals by rail 

Travel by rail in Europe and you won’t waste a single moment, turning transport into sightseeing. On sleeper services, you can wake up in an entirely new country and disembark in the heart of a city. The tricky part is choosing where to start, and that's where we can help.

Amsterdam is a well-connected springboard to Central and Eastern Europe. Rent a bike straight from Centraal Station, and cycle past the canalside homes en route to the poignant Anne Frank Huis. That night, board the European Sleeper and wake to the train clattering into Berlin Hauptbahnhof, where you can explore the city’s flea markets, modern art galleries and nightlife. Roll on to Prague, where you can take in the twin-spired Church of Our Lady Before Týn and tourist favorite Charles Bridge. By now, your brain is brimming with quaint canals, baroque buildings and modernist art, but you can keep going to Vienna, Bratislava and even Budapest. Hungary’s capital is a fitting last stop – travelers have been resting their weary feet in Budapest’s thermal springs for centuries. Or you could head behind the grand facade of Budapest Keleti station to catch another train – who says your adventure needs to end here?

3. Harvest la dolce vita in Cinque Terre, Italy

Vineyards soar vertitudinously to the sky. Teasing the heavens, they accompany every walker lucky enough to cross such an improbable landscape. Autumn’s soft golden light spins an unmatched luminosity across grape pickers working in the vines and the toy-like trenino (cogwheel monorail) that lurches up the hillside, piled high with honey-sweet Bosco, Albarola and Vermentino grapes that will be dried, pressed and aged in pear- and cherry-wood barrels to make prized Sciacchetrà dessert wine. September’s vendemmia (grape harvest) is the essence of la dolce vita (the sweet life) in over-touristed Cinque Terre. With the summer crowds gone, train journeys along the cliff-chiselled coastline to these five pastel-hued gem villages – Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggorie – resume a yesteryear languor. Hiking trails hidden in the heights offer privileged encounters with the bedrock of this ancient hallowed land: passionate, tenacious winegrowers. 

4. Get glamorous on the Côte d’Azur

Anything goes on France’s most mythical coastline. Flaming cocktails, entertainers on stilts, sun butlers facilitating every last swim whim and sunbathing desire – all this and more is available on the Côte d’Azur in the country’s hot, sun-soaked south. And it has been for quite a long time. Artists, aristocrats and an era-defining British queen were the first to embrace this Mediterranean strip as their go-to destination in the 19th century, and an inimitable, old-school glamour still drips off every last cushioned sun bed and seductive dot of soft golden sand. No place says vintage cool quite like Nice, the party-loving seaside town where high season – originally winter – on the Côte d’Azur (or French Riviera) was born. Be it following in Queen Victoria’s royal footsteps in Nice, those of Matisse, Picasso and innumerable other modern artists around Vence and Antibes, or hand imprints of Hollywood stars in film-fest-famous Cannes, a journey along this coastline evokes the wanton abandon, unfettered creativity and unapologetic decadence of the most hedonistic period in French history. Indulge.

5. Find the magic in Lapland, Finland

Lapland is a real-life snow globe in winter. Swirling flakes blanket forests in white, with sparks of color provided by reindeer. Finland’s Arctic North has Christmas in its bones, with the icing on the festive cake being Santa’s HQ in Rovaniemi. Rudolph and his flying friends, glittery train rides, elves baking gingerbread and decorating trees – the gateway to Finnish Lapland delivers the whole shebang with (jingle) bells and whistles on. But there’s so much more to see. Just a snowball-throw from Rovaniemi and you’re in the Arctic proper. Unwrap the region and you’ll find the winter wonderland of your wildest childhood dreams, whether you’re dashing through the snow on a reindeer-driven sleigh, mushing a team of yelping, run-hungry huskies across the frozen tundra, ice fishing on a lonely frozen lake as temperatures dive below -20°C (-4°F) or padding out into the night on snowshoes as the northern lights ripple overhead. Cold? Forget it. The Finns don’t let several feet of snow stop them from getting out there. Bundle up, grab a thermos and throw yourself into the winter fantasy.

6. Hop around the Ionian Islands in Greece 

The ferry glides in and makes a gentle ripple in a sea as still and blue as stained glass. Pine-clad mountains stagger above scalloped bays. A happy burble rises from kafeneia (coffee houses), terraces and tavernas in harbors lined with pastel-painted Venetian houses, each one prettier than the next. Up in the hills, monastery bells ring, goats hop from rock to rock and time slows. Greece has 6000 islands and islets, but the Ionians – closer to Italy’s heel than Athens – are special. These lushly green, cypress-studded places, ruled by the Venetians for centuries and swirling in Homeric lore, have an irresistible pull. Go for a week. Go for two. Go by boat, drifting from the fortress-topped old town of Corfu to sleepy Paxos, with its white-pebble coves and cicada-filled olive groves, then move gradually south to the likes of Lefkada; legend-steeped Ithaka with its forgotten mule trails; wild and mountainous Kefallonia; and rugged, cliff-rimmed Zakynthos.

7. Road-trip the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland

There’s no better way to soak up Ireland than on the Wild Atlantic Way, an uninterrupted drive that stretches 2600km (1615 miles) from the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal to Kinsale in County Cork along Ireland’s west coast. Naturally, this weather-beaten route has always been there, sculpted over centuries by prevailing Atlantic wind and rain. But these wild, wonderful shores are now also the backdrop for a gigantic eco-tourism network promoting sea kayaking, hiking, fishing, surfing and foraging all along the full length of the West Irish mainland. This is a drive full of heart-stealing diversions, from the sandy beaches and sea cliffs near Malin Head, Ireland’s northernmost point, to the UNESCO-listed Skelligs of County Kerry. In the portrait-posing seaside villages between are myriad areas of outstanding natural beauty. Consider stops at Gola and Dowey Islands and the cliffs of Sliabh Liag. Achill, Ireland’s largest offshore island, recently a filming location in the 2022-movie The Banshees of Inisherin, is also within easy reach from the road. And, of course, what would any Irish trip be without folk music, food and plenty of craic with some of the most welcoming people on the planet?

8. Embrace adventures in the Azores 

The Azores provide one of Europe’s last great island adventures. Whether it’s watching the sunrise creep up Pico’s cloud-shredding cone or tearing around an ink-blue crater lake by mountain bike on São Miguel, past spluttering caldeiras (hot springs) and smoldering fumaroles, there’s plenty to do here. These isles are a place of natural wonders too, which you’ll sense when walking through botanical gardens that are a fragrant mass of azaleas, camellias and hydrangeas on Flores, or holding your breath as sperm whales and humpbacks surface from the ocean on Faial.

Asking someone to pin the archipelago on a map would have drawn a blank look until quite recently. But this chain of nine islands, sprinkled like stepping stones across the mid-Atlantic, is finally getting its moment as an outdoor activities travel hub with impeccable sustainability credentials. Where else can you hike from volcano to vineyard, kayak across a vivid-blue caldera lake and roam tea plantations all in one action-packed day?

9. Hop along Croatia’s coastline

Nothing defines Croatia like its long coast with its dizzying number of islands. There are more than 1100 of them, stretching across the glittering blue-green of the Adriatic Sea. Each has its own character, proud traditions and folk culture, and peculiarities of landscape. Some are home to patches of verdant Mediterranean forest, others look more like the surface of the moon. All are surrounded by a fabulous coastline of rocky coves, sea cliffs, stony bays and the occasional arc of golden sand, where you can sit and watch a sunset so mesmerizingly beautiful it might make you cry. Of the islands in the north, Rab has its beautiful Old Town bristling with bell towers, while Pag has its salt pans and lunar landscape. In central Dalmatia, you’ll find Brač with its iconic beach, Zlatni Rat, and Hvar with its atmospheric old squares and splintering of smaller islands. Vis charms with its ancient port, founded by the Greeks, while Korčula is home to a magnificent walled town. On the mainland, Diocletian’s Palace in Split is an unforgettable place, so thoroughly integrated into the fabric of the city that it’s like wandering a living ruin. And no-intro-needed Dubrovnik is arguably the most exquisitely preserved medieval city in the Mediterranean.

10. Discover Andalucía’s most magical cities

For centuries a crucible of different peoples and cultures, Andalucía offers a deep dive into Spain’s history. And there’s no more rewarding place to jump in than its monument-rich cities. Founded more than 2000 years ago, Andalucía’s elegant capital, Seville, is a thrilling place, with countless tapas bars, a clutch of buzzing barrios, one of Spain’s greatest flamenco scenes, and a stash of unparalleled sights that includes the Islamic-origin Real Alcázar and the world’s largest Gothic cathedral. More dazzling architecture awaits in nearby Córdoba, where the UNESCO-listed mosque-cathedral on the banks of the Guadalquivir River – with its hundreds of distinctively striped arches – is another remarkable example of Spain’s Islamic and Christian past.

Venturing towards Andalucía’s windswept Atlantic coast, sunny Cádiz is a Phoenician-founded port city that helped nurture the birth of flamenco and has now grown into one of the country’s most-loved gastronomic destinations – you’ll catch wafts of pescaíto frito (fried fish) and other seafood staples as you wander its lively barrios. Few moments in Andalucía, however, can rival that first glimpse of the Alhambra palace-fortress looming over Granada. Built by the peninsula’s last Moorish rulers in the 13th and 14th centuries, it’s the culmination of their sophisticated, timeless architectural style.