Vacation spot of the Yr 2025: Thailand

Full disclosure: I didn’t like Bangkok at first. I didn’t get it — the chaos, the site visitors, the truth that every part was laborious to search out. However like all good amorous affairs, my relationship with Thailand — which deepened once I moved from Vietnam 12 years in the past to work at Journey + Leisure Southeast Asia, the place I’m now editor in chief — took time to blossom. When you perceive the place, it’s not possible to not fall for it. 

Possibly it’s the Thai idea of kreng jai, which places excessive worth on respecting all individuals; perhaps it’s the truth that I can prepare a seamless commute through bike taxi, tuk-tuk, subway, and Skytrain for optimum effectivity; or perhaps that I get to eat pad krapow gai, a stir-fried hen dish topped with an egg, for breakfast day-after-day. 

I additionally get a thrill from observing the fixed evolution of a rustic the place stark contrasts are the norm. Take the truth that this majority-Buddhist and sometimes conventional society lately legalized marijuana and same-sex marriage. Or that Thailand has among the greatest luxurious resorts on the earth — many at unbeatable costs — but you’ll discover the identical heat hospitality and a focus to element within the humblest of houses.

Bangkok’s restaurant scene, probably the most dynamic in Southeast Asia, is dwelling to cooks who experiment with bitter, fiery, and fermented substances pulled instantly from rural areas like Isan and Nakhon Si Thammarat. 

Thailand additionally has 1,430 islands — from the diving haven of Koh Lipe, the place you could find a non-public stretch of ocean, to the resort-packed Koh Samui, one of many settings for the soon-to-launch third season of The White Lotus.

Whether or not you go to the mountainous north or the southern shores alongside the Andaman Sea, the nation reveals its treasures regularly, and often by phrase of mouth. There’s a lot creativity within the artwork, meals, and hospitality scenes that it may be laborious to determine the place to go and what to do. Beneath, you’ll discover tales that can make these choices a bit simpler. Little question you may totally get pleasure from Thailand by winging it, however comply with the recommendation of our trusted editors and contributors, and I promise you’ll fall without end in love. 

– Jeninne Lee-St. John, Editor in Chief of Journey + Leisure Southeast Asia