2025: Best Places To Travel

From bubblegum-coloured lakes in Australia to a solar-powered safari camp in Botswana, these are BBC journalists' top destinations this year.

1. Dominica

Ever wanted to swim alongside sperm whales? Dominica now offers the chance to do it in an ethical, sustainable way as part of the Caribbean island's groundbreaking commitment to marine conservation and regenerative tourism. The island nation recently established the world's first sperm whale reserve, a protected marine area designed to safeguard its resident giants. Limited permits for whale swims ensure intimate, respectful encounters, offering visitors a once-in-a-lifetime experience to share the water with these incredible cetaceans while facilitating research and creating sustainable tourism opportunities for local residents.

New for 2025, expanded infrastructure and systems are set to welcome visitors, including digital immigration forms to ease arrival and the development of a cable-car system taking riders from Roseau Valley up to Boiling Lake, one of the world's largest thermal springs. Access to the island has never been easier: on top of existing American Airlines flights from Miami, United Airlines is launching direct flights from Newark starting 15 February. Several new hotels are opening in 2025 (adding nearly 500 rooms with a 25% increase in inventory), including the six-star Hilton Tranquility Beach Resort and Spa in Salisbury. Or choose a tried-and-true classic such as Secret Bay, a luxury eco-property that frequently tops sustainability lists.

Dominica is also home to Project CETI, a groundbreaking international effort to decode whale language, clicks and codas, led by National Geographic Explorer David Gruber. Elsewhere, visitors can explore hidden gorges, towering waterfalls and feast on local cuisine at unique eateries, such as the farm-to-table Lacou. Dominica isn't just a destination – it's a movement to support a burgeoning model of eco-tourism that balances biodiversity conservation with economic growth, ensuring that your adventure helps protect this natural paradise for generations to come. – Pier Nirandara

2. Naoshima, Japan

Home to one of Yayoi Kusama's iconic yellow, polka-dotted Pumpkin sculptures, the Japanese island of Naoshima has become a must-see destination for connoisseurs of contemporary art and architecture. Once known (if at all) for its highly polluting copper smelting industry, the island's transformation is thanks to Benesse Art Site Naoshima, which has helped create major museums and site-specific artworks in the scenically stunning (and dramatically population-dwindling) Seto Inland Sea, located between Japan's main island of Honshu and Shikoku.     

Spring 2025 sees the opening of the Naoshima New Museum of Art, designed by Tadao Ando, the award-winning architect behind nine other projects on the island. This new showcase for works by Asian artists will be a major highlight of this year's Setouchi Triennale, with events and unveilings of artwork scattered across 17 islands and coastal areas of the Seto Inland Sea. Scheduled over 100 days and split between spring, summer and autumn to allow visitors to enjoy the region through the different seasons, this is the largest iteration of the Triennale since it began in 2010. The festival and activities of Benesse Art Site Naoshima have been instrumental in turning not only Naoshima's fortunes around but also reviving the neighbouring islands of Teshima and Inujima.   

Book ahead to visit Rei Naito and Ryue Nishizawa's Teshima Art Museum, a one-of-a-kind synthesis of art, architecture and nature; while on Inujima, travellers will be amazed by the remains of a historic copper refinery reimagined as an epic-scale art installation. Memorable places to stay include Roka, a contemporary-styled ryokan on Naoshima, and the elegantly minimalist Espoir Inn on Teshima. – Simon Richmond

3. The Dolomites, Italy 

Perpetual fan favourite Italy hardly needs more press – especially in a year when its supremely overtouristed capital, Rome, will be even more overwhelmed due to the 2025 Jubilee. But if Italy is still on your bucket list for 2025, consider taking a detour north to the Dolomite Mountains.

For Italians, the ruggedly beautiful Dolomites are synonymous with family fun and luxury holidays. The stunning sawtooth limestone cliffs sprawl across the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, attracting vacationing Italians in droves each year for their exquisite villages; peerless "white week" skiing; epic hike; and world-class, stick-to-your-ribs Alpine dishes. This classic Italian playground is often overlooked by overseas visitors – but that's all poised to change.

The "Queen of the Dolomites", Cortina d'Ampezzo, has been slated to co-host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The preparations, which will take place throughout 2025, include a vast series of infrastructure improvements throughout the area – all against a backdrop of pre-Olympic buzz. Visitors can expect to find expanded ski lift networks in the Dolomiti Superski area, where the towns of Alta Badia and Val Gardena will launch modernised lifts and enhanced connections to public transit operating within the area. New and upgraded cable cars, lifts and gondolas will also be introduced throughout the regions' towns. 

But the Dolomites is a thrilling destination in all seasons; visit in spring, summer and autumn to enjoy excellent trails, like 2024's new Cammino Retico (The Rhaetian Way); a 170km, seven-day trail connecting remote villages between the Veneto and Trentino regions. And for pure relaxation, the luxury Aman Rosa Alpina hotel will have its grand reopening in 2025. The property will now offer 51 guest rooms and suites, two presidential suites and the private Chalet Zeno. Visit now, before the crowds descend. – Eva Sandoval

4. Greenland

There is nowhere on Earth like Greenland. Spanning more than two million sq km, the world's largest island has a population of less than 57,000. Covered by a vast ice cap and spectacular mountains, its unspoiled wilderness and majestic fjords aren't just a coveted geopolitical entity; they offer adventures of a lifetime.

Stunning hiking and spellbinding whale watching in summer and traditional dog sledding and the magical aurora in winter all make Greenland a bucket-list destination. However, it has been remote, expensive and time-consuming to reach – until now.

With the opening of a new international airport in the capital city of Nuuk and two more following in 2026, getting to Greenland has never been easier. The country is welcoming mindful adventure travellers who love exploring while also respecting its incredible nature and unique Inuit culture. Greenland has adopted a pledge "towards better tourism" and a new law aims to steer funds from tourism towards benefitting local communities.

A modern town with a historic waterfront, informative museums and impressive art galleries, Nuuk is also a launchpad for hiking, fishing and glamping trips and acts as a gateway for exploring a remarkable Arctic territory. Further north in Ilulissat, visitors can discover the jaw-dropping icebergs of Disko Bay and dramatic Unesco-recognised Icefjord. In the south, a region once settled by Vikings, there are gorgeous fjords and scenic green hills dotted with sheep farms. – Adrienne Murray Nielsen

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- BBC

COME A.I. CONE : PRECIS

 

The more powerful A.I. gets the less humans understand about it - but perhaps we shouldn't judge ourselves too harshly for that. As it turns out, A.I. doesn't even understand itself.

The models were pretty bad at introspection.  Explaining their chain of thought, step by step, made them perform worse at some tasks.

Emmy Liu, a doctoral candidate at Cargegie Mellon on the research team, told me. But then, that's how people are, too. Mr. Wolfram wrote : Show yourself a picture of a cat, and ask :

'' Why is that a cat? Maybe you'd start saying, '' Well, I see its pointy ears, etc. But it's not very easy to explain how you recognized the image as a cat.'' 

It's one thing to honour the mystery of the human brain, but quite another to admit that  artificial intelligence - both creative and conniving - is slipping away from our understanding.

QUOTE OF THE DAY : '' A company ought to be a community, a community that you belong to, like a village. Nobody owns a village. You are a member and you have rights.

Shareholders will become financiers, and they will get rewarded according to the risk they assume, but they're not to be called owners.

And workers won't be workers, they'll be citizens, and they will have rights. And those rights will include a share in the profits that they have created. ''

Charles Handy as quoted in Strategy + Business, a Pricewaterhouse Cooper's publication [ Fall 2003 ]. Handy, a management theorist, died on Friday at age 92.

The World Students Society thanks Peter Coy for his opinion.

BEST AUTHOR BEST : MARK LEYNER [1]

 

'' A Shimmering, Serrated Monster ! : The Mark Leyner Reader '' is no final chapter : ''I'm like one of those deranged soldiers they find on some remote island still fighting a war that's ended decades ago.''

.-  Describe your ideal reading experience.

It's very early in the morning, preferably before sunrise, before I can get mangled in the farm machinery of the day. My preference is always poetry or some intensely belletristic prose.

I've also been known to bring books to the gym, which is egregiously bad taste, and which you do at your own peril. If you're reading Schopenhauer's '' The World as Will and Representation '' between sets, someone's going to drop a dumbell on your head. You're asking for it.

.-  What's the last great book you read?

'' Little Dorrit.'' Not only did I think it was great, but I discovered a whole substratum of '' Dark Dickens '' in there, a whole phantasmagoria like something out of Lautreamont or Burroughs.

What books are on your night stand?

Including on my Kindles: Iris Murdoch’s “The Sea, the Sea”; the Upanishads; “Gérard de Nerval: Selected Writings”; “Super-Cannes,” by J.G. Ballard; “Pakistan’s ISI: A Concise History of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate,” by Julian Richards; “The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia,” by Mark Galeotti.

.-  Do you count any books as guilty pleasures?

You're talking to someone who genuinely enjoys watching '' The Golden Bachelorette,'' '' Naked and Afraid,'' street fights on YouTube, random clips on Pornhub, etc., so I'm not sure '' guilty pleasures '' is a thing for me.

I do like reading material that I don't understand in the least, that's complete gibberish to me -articles about theoretical physics, about string theory, quantum gravity, amplituhedrons. Maybe that qualifies.

.-  Why a '' Mark Leyner Reader '' now?

If I am following a paranoid line of reasoning [ as I am apt, to do], I'd say it's a trick, a sort of veiled send-off. As exceedingly, shamelessly, over-the-top proud of it as I am, it can feel a little bit as if someone's throwing me a retirement party.

So if '' The Mark Leyner reader '' is indeed a ploy to get me to stop writing, nice try, but I'm not done yet. In fact, I'm Just getting started.

.-  What role did you have in the selections?

Absolutely none. That was all the editor Rick Kisonak's doing. If anyone has a problem with what he chose, and wants to go kick his ass, I'm happy to provide directions to his house.

The Publishing continues to Part [2].

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.

Norway On Track To Be First To Go All-Electric

 

Norway is the world leader when it comes to the take up of electric cars, which last year accounted for nine out of 10 new vehicles sold in the country. Can other nations learn from it?

For more than 75 years Oslo-based car dealership Harald A Møller has been importing Volkswagens, but early in 2024 it bid farewell to fossil fuel cars.

Now all the passenger vehicles for sale in its showroom are electric (EV).

"We think it's wrong to advise a customer coming in here today to buy an ICE [internal combustion engine] car, because the future is electric," says chief executive Ulf Tore Hekneby, as he walks around the cars on display. "Long-range, high-charging speed. It's hard to go back."

On the streets of Norway's capital, Oslo, battery-powered cars aren't a novelty, they're the norm. Take a look around and you'll soon notice that almost every other car has an "E" for "electric" on its licence plate.

The Nordic nation of 5.5 million people has adopted EVs faster than any other country, and is on the cusp of becoming the first to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel cars.

Last year, the number of electric cars on Norway's roads outnumbered those powered by petrol for the first time. When diesel vehicles are included, electric cars account for almost a third of all on Norwegian roads.

And 88.9% of new cars sold in the country last year were EVs, up from 82.4% in 2023, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.

In some months sales of fully electric cars were as high as 98%, as new petrol or diesel car purchases almost fizzled out.

By contrast, in the UK electric cars made up only 20% of new car registrations in 2024. Although this was a record high, and up from 16.5% in 2023.

In the US, the figure was just 8% last year, up from 7.6%.

- Author: Adrienne Murray, BBC