The Travel Wire: best travel reads #18

Notes on places to go in 2025, the borderless Capital of Culture, powerful passports, where to go by train in Europe

Welcome to The Travel Wire, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

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Travel reads

• 52 places to go in 2025

The annual NY Times travel list is out now. You will need a login to read this (or open a new private window in your browser). I check it to see who made the list, but I can’t say I’ve ever used it for inspiration. This annual list is now 20 years old, and there is an accompanying article about 20 years of ‘Places to Go’ (archive):

"The list made its debut in 2005, when world travel was about half of today’s 1.3 billion arrivals and phones were for making calls. Here’s how The Times’s annual travel list — and travel itself — has changed in the last two decades."

One of the places to visit is Toyama City in Japan. The city was selected by Craig Mod, who wrote an interesting article about the behind-the-scenes process of destination selection.

[Toyama City (by Craig Mod).]

• Europe's first borderless Capital of Culture (archive)

• How mobility issues changed the way I plan travel with my mom

• Japan coastal city aims to ride digital nomad wave

"In April, Japan began issuing 6-month residency visas to traveling remote workers known as digital nomads who can show they earn at least 10 million yen per year. NHK World visited Shimoda City in Shizuoka Prefecture, a coastal city south of Tokyo, that is banking on these fresh arrivals to breathe new life into its community."

• The nomadic mini-city behind the Dakar Rally

• The World’s Most (and Least) Powerful Passports in 2025

The Henley Passport Index has been updated, and Singapore is still at the top.

• Why are Thailand, Cambodia clashing over Koh Kood island?

"Parts of the popular island of Koh Kood are claimed by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh, but the real roots of the dispute run much deeper."

• Where can you go by train in 8h?

“This Europe train map shows you how far you can travel by rail in less than 8 hours.”

Living in Europe turned me into a rail advocate (which is why write about improving railways at Future Southeast Asia). There are so many places you can go without flying.. and with this map you can pick a start destination and maximum travel time. For example, train destinations from Sankt Gallen in 3h.

• Mohd Daud’s epic 20-country adventure in a 1968 Mercedes

"At 65, the retired entrepreneur travelled 24,000km in a 56-year-old Mercedes, braving snowstorms, visa issues, and the open road."

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James Clark (Nomadic Notes)