Nitmiluk National Park.
Strap on the backpack and grab your walking poles, here are next year’s top places for an adventurous holiday.
Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory
Plans for a glamping-style guided hike along Nitmiluk’s Jatbula Trail might have been postponed until 2026, but there’s much to brighten 2025 around Katherine Gorge. The Jawoyn-run Cultural Footsteps of our Ancestors tours will be back for the first time since the pandemic. Helicopter tours are also returning in 2025, taking adventurers to remote swimming holes and waterfalls in the upper reaches of the gorge, or rock-art sites inaccessible on foot. For the first time, hire kayak and stand-up paddleboards in the large lower plunge pool at Leliyn (Edith Falls) – paddle to a waterfall, or simply drift below the towering cliffs. See nitmiluktours.com.au
Tibet
Majestic views from Rongbuk Monastery, Tibet.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The world’s highest plateau is back on the adventure agenda, with companies such as World Expeditions returning to the region after the pandemic. It opens the door to journeys to Mount Everest’s less-visited north side, where treks towards Everest’s imposing Kangshung Face are possible (Everest’s Tibetan base camp has been closed to trekkers), or you can just soak in the views from Rongbuk Monastery. Also beckoning is the holy Mount Kailash. The source of four major rivers, the 6638-metre peak is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists and is ringed by a 50-kilometre path that trekkers share with pilgrims. One loop is said to erase the sins of one life. See worldexpeditions.com
Aland Islands, Finland
Midsummer in the Aland Islands.Credit: Getty Images
If you prefer your pilgrimages with more monastic solitude than is possible on Spain’s Camino de Santiago or Japan’s Kumano Kodo, look to this Swedish-speaking archipelago, an autonomous region of Finland. Created in 2019, the St Olav Waterway is one of the world’s newest pilgrimage routes, and its island-hopping international route – crossing from Turku on the Finnish mainland to Trondheim in Norway – can be covered on foot, bike and kayak (think of it as a hallowed triathlon). This being Scandinavia, you can steam out any aches at day’s end in a sauna. See stolavwaterway.com; nordicpilgrim.com
Georgia and Armenia
Trekking the Transcaucasian Trail in Georgia’s lush Svaneti region.Credit: Getty Images
The 3000-kilometre Transcaucasian Trail remains a work in progress, but about half of the transnational trek is open through Georgia and Armenia. Time magazine has named the trail one of the world’s 100 Greatest Places, and it highlights a region that warrants greater outdoors attention – after all, Europe’s highest mountain all but rests against the Georgian border. The entire 819km route across Armenia can now be hiked (plan on 30 to 40 days). A 140km stretch through Georgia’s mountainous Upper Svaneti, crossing five high passes, is also complete (as is a lower, unmarked 74km stage from Imereti to Racha in the middle of Georgia). See transcaucasiantrail.org; thecascadetravel.com
Portugal
The Tras-os-Montes district in the north of Portugal.Credit: Getty Images
Portugal, already a popular starting point for alternative Camino de Santiago hikes, soon will also possess what’s billed as the world’s longest circular hiking trail. Within two years, Palmilhar Portugal – the brainchild of a single Portuguese hiker – will make a 3000-kilometre loop through the country, taking in more than 100 tourist sites. The first section, near the town of Alenquer, 50km north of Lisbon, launched in the middle of 2024, with 15 stages forecast to be open by January. Get a jump on things in 2025 with an early look at the trail along the cliff-lined Alentejo coast, or among the vineyards of the northern Tras-os-Montes mountains. See palmilharportugal.pt
Kosciuszko National Park, NSW
Rocky boulders on a peak in Kosciuszko National Park.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Australia’s loftiest national park has reached new heights with the completion of the Snowies Alpine Walk. Connecting Guthega to Charlotte Pass, Perisher, Thredbo and Lake Crackenback, with a crowning ascent of Mount Kosciuszko, the four-day, 55-kilometre trail finally brings a marked multi-day hiking route to the Snowy Mountains. The centrepiece day is a 22km loop around the Main Range, passing the country’s highest summits and the craggy rim of alpine Blue Lake. Each day starts and finishes in one of the resorts, allowing the luxury of nights in lodges rather than tents or hiker huts. See nationalparks.nsw.gov.au; auswalk.com.au
Dolomites, Italy
Fassa Valley in the Dolomites.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Dolomites are a perennial adventure option, but there are new enticements in 2025 following the recent opening of the Cammino Retico, or Rhaetian Way. This 170-kilometre hiking trail loops out from the small town of Aune, following routes travelled by the ancient Rhaetian people. As much about culture as the mountain backdrop, the trail is designed to be walked in seven days, hopping between villages along the southern edge of the Dolomites. And if you’re just getting warmed up by its end, Aune is also a trailhead for another of Europe’s most spectacular and challenging trails, the Alta Via 2, which makes a rugged 180km crossing of the Dolomites to Bressanone. A companion cycling trail to the Cammino Retico is planned to open in 2025. See camminoretico.it; intrepidtravel.com
Balkans
Cycling in Logarska Dolina, Slovenia.Credit: Getty Images
In the centenary year of Albania’s declaration as a republic, cyclists’ focus turns to the Balkans for another compelling reason. Trans Dinarica is among the newest of Europe’s long-distance cycling trails, connecting eight Western Balkans nations – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Albania – along a 5500-kilometre network of cycling routes. First mooted in 2016, and taking six years to link, Trans Dinarica can be cycled in its entirety on an epic lollipop loop. Its website has handy suggestions for shorter circuits and rides of five to 22 days. See transdinarica.com
Southland, New Zealand
New Zealand’s newest “Great Walk”… Hump Ridge Track in Southern Fiordland.
The Southland region is no stranger to Great Walks. Home to the Milford Track, Kepler Track, Rakiura Track and a chunk of the Routeburn Track, it also just became the keeper of NZ’s newest Great Walk, the Hump Ridge Track – a three-day, 61-kilometre circuit with a difference. Along the way, you can have your pack (or even yourself) transferred by helicopter up the slopes to the first hut, you can upgrade to a plush king bed in the lodges, order a beer and even tack on a jet boat ride. See humpridgetrack.co.nz
Lencois Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
The pristine sand dunes of Lencois Maranhenses National Park in north-east Brazil.Credit: Getty Images
In July, UNESCO bestowed World Heritage status on 24 new sites, including this sandy marvel in Brazil’s north-east. Its 1550 square kilometres are largely composed of lines of sand dunes up to 50 kilometres inland from the coast. In the rainy season (February to May), the hollows between the tall dunes fill spectacularly with crystal-clear lagoons. The best time to be here is immediately after the rains, from about May to September, when the lagoons provide perfect sand-fringed swimming pools. Four-wheel drive tours, focused on the lagoons, run from base towns such as Sao Luis, Barreirinhas and Atins. See icmbio.gov.br; aventuradobrasil.com