The Best Places to Go in Asia in 2025

How to plan it: Kuala Lumpur is a year-round destination with world-class shopping and dining, particularly at the recently opened Exchange TRX mall. Whether you are in the mood for chilled tapas at Las Meninas, fine dining at Union Bistrot, or Japanese-Italian fusion at Hokkaido Table, you’ll never go hungry here. The 279-suite Waldorf Astoria is scheduled to open this year, complete with its iconic Peacock Alley lounge and bar, adding even more reasons to visit this under-the-radar Asian capital. —Charukesi Ramadurai

Muscat, Oman

Go for: dramatic landscapes and new luxury hotels

The Mandarin Oriental, Muscat, opened in 2024 and sets the tone for the crop of new resorts slated to arrive at the desert capital over the next few years.

GEORGE APOSTOLIDIS

Muscat has a long legacy as a tableau of Oman’s greatest wonders with its limestone massifs, formidable castles, and wind-sculpted deserts—go now, before everyone else catches on.

GEORGE APOSTOLIDIS

For centuries, Muscat was known to Indian Ocean mariners as a gateway to Oman’s raw, rugged beauty, limestone massifs, formidable castles and wind-sculpted deserts—but tourists have long overlooked this charming city tucked into the wrinkles of the Hajar Mountains.

This is set to change, with a crop of new resorts arriving in the sultanate’s laid-back capital. Two of the most anticipated are in hidden coves just south of the city. The celebrity-loved Nikki Beach Resort and Spa in Yiti Bay opens in 2025, with a beach club, upscale beach villas, and a private marina to follow. In 2026, Anantara will open a resort in Bandar Al Khairan, with chalets, beach villas, and a stargazing majlis. For now, travelers can stay at the Mandarin Oriental, Muscat or the St. Regis Al Mouj Muscat Resort, which both opened in 2024.

If you can drag yourself away from the beachside pampering, wander the historic Mutrah Corniche, get lost in the frankincense haze of its 200-year-old covered souq, or catch Verdi operas, subtitled in Arabic and English, and Lebanese superstar Ragheb Alama in the 2025 spring season of the resplendent Royal Opera House Muscat.

How to plan: Skip the scorch and visit from November to April, when temperatures are perfect. Extend your holiday with a road trip along Oman’s wild south coast or drive north for dhow cruising in the fjords of Musandam, an easy trip with the GCC Grand Tours Visa. This single visa will cover entry to six countries in the Arabian Gulf and is due to launch in the first few months of 2025. You can now fly business and premium economy to Muscat on Emirates’ new A350 aircraft. —Anna Zacharias

Osaka, Japan

Go for: luxury hotel openings, new eco-urban spaces, and the forward-looking World Expo

From April to October 2025, Osaka will host the World Expo, themed around the creation of sustainable societies—apt for a city blooming with green space and eco-friendly urban stays.

JENNY ZARINS

The Osaka Station Hotel from the Autograph Collection is one of the most spacious new openings in the city with over 1,000 rooms—but don’t be intimidated by its scale.

Miyuki Kaneko (Nacasa & Partners inc)

Once travelers visiting Japan get a taste of cosmopolitan Tokyo, they often cast their gaze west towards the poised and sagely Kyoto. But make time—nay, dedicate a trip—to energetic and in-your-face Osaka, the thrumming heart of the Kansai region, which is easily accessible from Kyoto via a 30-minute train ride (grab a JR Kansai Mini Pass, which lets you move freely between Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe). Emerge at JR Osaka Station, the largest train terminal in western Japan, to discover new urban developments and luxury hotels that have cut their ribbons in 2024, with more opening in 2025.

Two urban openings are connected to Osaka Station: Food haven KITTE Osaka opened in July 2024 within the JP Tower Osaka, featuring 50-plus new dining spots, embodying the essence of “Japan’s kitchen”. There’s also Grand Green Osaka, a green space project that opened in September 2024. Among its residential and commercial spaces (offices, culinary outposts, shops from local brands), there’s Umekita Park, with public recreation areas, event and exhibition spaces, and verdant lawns with trees that offer color beyond cherry blossom season, and give locals and travelers fresh breathing room in this densely packed city.

Where to Eat, Stay, Play in Osaka, the In-Your-Face Cousin of Tokyo

This buzzing metropolis known as “the kitchen of Japan” takes food and fun to another level.

Part of the Grand Green development are hotels making their debut in the region, including the sure-to-be-slick Waldorf Astoria Osaka in 2025. There’s also the Patina Osaka, which is due to welcome guests this year at its prime location right across from Osaka Castle. If you can’t wait, the Osaka Station Hotel, Autograph Collection and Four Seasons Osaka opened their doors this summer. Not only do these new properties offer more than 1,000 new rooms, but they add a level of elegance and serenity to a city that’s known to overwhelm first-time visitors.